Holiday Baking

The first week of December, I decided to bake cookies for some family and friends just as a little early Christmas gift.  I ended up with eighteen dozen cookies and four dozen bars.  I made Chocolate Crackle Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Coconut Meltaways, Frosted Sugar Cookies, White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies (my favorite), and Chocolate Layer Bars from the new Smitten Kitchen Every Day book.  It was so much fun and made the start of the holiday season feel extra special!

What are you baking this holiday season?

A Snow Day

We received fourteen inches of snow yesterday!  I think that's a record for us in December.  It definitely has made it feel more like Christmas.  Charlotte had a blast playing out in it and even built a snowman.  

She has the day off from school today, so we are staying inside where it's warm and cozy, eating cookies and drinking lots of hot tea.

  

Do you have snow where you are?

Feeling Festive

Hello friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It's hard to believe that today is December 1st - really the start of the holiday season.  Charlotte was very excited to start on her advent calendar this morning.  

We put our tree up last weekend, as we always do right after Thanksgiving.  The house is feeling very festive and cozy and I love it.  Have your started decorating for Christmas?

We are planning to see the Nutcracker play in two weeks and we are so looking forward to it.  I really need to order our Christmas cards, so I can get them addressed and in the mail before Christmas.  Still lots of little things to do before the big day and a few more gifts to buy.

I'm baking about fourteen, or maybe more, dozen cookies and bars for friends and family next week and a few will be shipped to friends on the west coast.  I'm looking forward to two full days of baking and I'll be sure to shares photos of all my baked goodies.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are doing.  Charlotte is at a birthday party now and she has another birthday party to attend this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to relaxing with some thai take-out, a glass of prosecco, and watching a Christmas movie tonight after all the busyness from today!

  

Oh, Charlotte's new pink heart flannel sheets are keeping her warm and cozy on these cold, winter nights.  I might need a set for our bed, too!

Welcome, November

This first morning of November welcomed us with cool temperatures and gray skies, and some rain is expected for later today.  I'm drinking a cup of hot, Earl Grey tea as I type.  I could drink hot tea all day long.  Earl Grey and green tea are two of my very favorite.  And coffee, too!  Below is a picture of my cafe' au lait from brunch at our favorite brunch spot a few weekends ago.  I would say that sweater weather has finally arrived and I couldn't be happier!

We celebrated Halloween by carving a pumpkin over the weekend and some trick-or-treating in the neighborhood last night.  Charlotte dressed up as Fancy Nancy.  She looked so cute!  Halloween has never been a favorite holiday of mine, but my kiddo enjoys dressing up and getting lots of candy most of all, I think.  

Happy November!  Enjoy this very cozy time of year.

Happy Autumn

Just a quick "hello" as I'm off to the school soon for afternoon pick up.  

I hope it's looking and feeling like autumn where you are.  We headed north to the mountains last Saturday and it definitely looked like autumn there with leaves falling and temperatures in the high sixties.  We are still waiting on cooler weather to arrive here.  It is 90 degrees today - way too hot for October.  It may not feel like autumn, but at least my porch looks like it.  I'm dreaming of sweater weather!

Catching up

Hello friends!  It's been a while since I've had a chance to update my blog.  Life has been very busy since Charlotte started back to school last month.  We are back into our routine which feels nice.  Third grade has been a big transition from second grade for Charlotte and myself, really.  The children are expected to be much more independent this year.  She seems to be happy and adjusting well.  

I've been cooking/baking quite a bit which has also been very nice.  One of my favorite places to be is cooking away in my kitchen!  I made our favorite  chocolate cake and topped it with buttercream icing.  Twice a month, during the school year, I make this chicken noodle soup and stash it away in the freezer for school lunches and a quick dinner here and there.  I also made these delicious pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I'll definitely be making them again this fall.  And the granola bars are a weekly staple in our house.  I almost always have these on hand.  They are perfect for a quick breakfast or snack. I add chocolate chips, raisins and pumpkin seeds to mine.  I also made dutch oven bread to go along side spaghetti and meatballs last week.  Lately, my lunch several days a week has consisted of leafy greens with olives, pumpkin seeds, Dubliner cheese and a big scoop of quinoa topped with lots of olive oil and it seems to keep me full all afternoon.

Hopefully, fall is beginning to arrive where you are.  We are still waiting on cooler weather, as it has been hot here since May.  Once it fully arrives, it will be much welcomed.  I am not a hot weather person.  Fall and winter suits me just fine!

Hurricane Florence has been making her way through our area over the weekend with just some off and on rain and wind - thank goodness.  I made brownies and cozied up on the sofa last night to watch a new Hallmark movie and it was delightful.  Yes, I'm a Hallmark movie junkie!

Summer!

Our summer days are filled with swim lessons, play dates, gardening, errands, cooking, playing, watching movies, visits to the library, day trips here and there, lots of slow mornings (Yay), and that just about sums up our summer days.  

My plants are doing really well, as long as I remember to water them daily.  I planted my sunflowers and zinnias from seed this year and it's been fun to watch them grow.  It's been so, so hot here this summer, but it's hot here every summer.  I think I try to forget just hot and muggy our summers are, but July always reminds me again.  

I've been eating lots of blueberries.  I made a berry cobbler for the fourth of July and Smitten Kitchen's blueberry crumb cake yesterday.  I think we have one slice left, so everyone loved it!  

I hope you are enjoying your summer!