Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

How is it possible Mr. Spencer is 2 today?  I figure the birthdays get harder and harder to take as they get older, but man looking at all these pictures makes me sad.  We hope you have a wonderful birthday and Mommy and Daddy love you with all of our hearts!  Bring on the Terrible 2's!!! (yikes, did I just say that??)

June 30, 2009

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Congo Bars

Absolute goodness coming your way with this one!  I made this instead of a cake for Spencer's birthday party and I've already had two requests from different people for the recipes AND to make them again!  They are called Congo Bars and I got them from the Bakerella blog.  They are very easy and oh so yummy.  You can either make these with a mixer or mix them by hand.  I mixed them by hand and they turned out really good.  The pictures on their blog look just like they did when I made them.


2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened (10.5 tablespoons)
1 lb. light brown sugar (2 cups)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)


By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.


Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

I iced a '2' on Spencer's because the kids needed some icing!

(picture is not the greatest because I took it with my Blackberry and it wasn't flashing for some reason)

Birthday Party!!

Saturday we had Spencer's birthday party at his favorite park, Legacy Play Village.  We had a great time and Spencer enjoyed getting to play with all his friends at the same time.  We kept it simple and just let the kids run off and play.  They only came back to the tables when they were thirsty, hungry or were opening presents. 

Spencer's buddies that he loved playing with! There's no picture of Manning because he had to leave early, but Spencer loved showing him how to slide!

I love how each of them has a completely different facial expression!  Too cute!

One tired, little, birthday boy!

Summer Fun

Wednesday was really the first of many summer free days for me!  I've been doing school stuff on every day that Spencer is at school.  I have some more trainings to do for the district throughout the summer, but those are just half days.  I've had so much fun with the little man this summer on the few days that we've had together.  Of course, the only thing missing each time is Daddy.  A boy needs time to love on his Mommy, though! :)  So many more fun times coming!!  YAY!!!

Here's a peek into the absolutely fun & memorable times we've had this summer!

Getting to see this sweet face (and crazy hair) after naps!

Spencer gets more and more excited to go swimming each time we go.  He's really going to be a water kiddo!

Play time...

Fireman Swindell to the rescue! (equipped with my plastic fireman's hat and all!)

Fun days at the Science Spectrum...

Helping mom bake...

We were making banana bread and Spencer was splitting the bananas in half and putting them into the food processor, but took a bite out of each and every one of them before he put them in there.  Check out his mouth!

Crazy, sugared up boy!!

Hope your summer is going just as wonderful as ours!

Oatmeal Coconut Chewies

I usually try to wait until the end of the week to post my recipe of the week, but I can't wait any longer and you need to get the ingredients for this so you can make them this weekend!  I found these on one of my "tasty" recipe blogs down to the right, My Kitchen Cafe.  These are so easy and oh so good!  Here's the recipe:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to cool room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 cup quick oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined (silpat or parchment) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned (bake a few minutes longer for a crispier version).

Enjoy and let me know what you think!!

Fun at the Park

Spencer and I went to play at Legacy Play Village today before lunch.  Oh my gosh it was fun and Spencer would not agree with me more.  He had more fun going up and down everything and then even dared to do the big slide by himself.  I was not comfortable letting him, but he wanted to and so I gave in to his dare-devilness.  SUCCESS!!  He was so good at it and would climb alllll the way to the top and do it over and over again.  Spencer's birthday party is at this park this Saturday so I know now it will be a hit!

Something so cute happened as we walked through the entrance.  Spencer immediately began saying something like, "Addie" and he kept saying it over and over.  We have a friend named Addie, but I didn't see them.  He kept saying it over and over and we just went to play.  Then, this little girl about his age ran up to him and started saying, "Spencster".  Her mom ran over there and said she was sorry and then said, "His name isn't Spencer, right?"  I told her it was and after a little talking, Spencer and Hadley (get it, Addie?) are in the same room at day care.  Aren't the little minds of little children amazing?? 

One other amazing little mind story...as we were leaving, Spencer is pointing across Marsha Sharp Freeway and saying, "ball, ball".  Guess what's across the freeway??  That would be Target!  A store he frequents with mommy way too much and they have huge red balls out in front that he always likes to touch and stand on.  How does he know that's Target from clear across the freeway??  Love him!

Quite the little climber!

I love this picture!!

All by myself!

And I leave you with the sweetest picture from this past weekend.  Spencer has the most wonderful dad in the world.  He is Spencer's hero and Spencer loves his Daddy to pieces.  I love his Daddy to pieces too!!

French's Onion Chicken

ReCiPe of the WeEk

You've probably seen the commercial for this and when Rick and I first saw it, we both looked at each other like, "Man, that looks good!"  So, I tried it this past week.  It was DELICIOUS and super easy!!!  Here's the recipe and again, the things in red are what I changed up.

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 oz.) FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions (I used two whole cans of the onions that was just enough to cover the chicken breasts.)
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
4 (5 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.

Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet. (When I make it again, I will line the baking sheet/dish with foil because the pan had to soak overnight to get all the "stuff" off)

Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

This is a picture from google, but more of what it really looks like.  YUMMMMMMMY!!

Let me know if you try it.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!!