Holiday Craze or Holiday Laze?

I love the holidays!  I always have.  Maybe because I'm a Christmas baby, Christmas time is my favorite.  I love shopping for presents in general, but come Christmas time, I have always love love loved finding that "perfect" present for someone.  and Holiday Baking... oh how i love holiday baking.  Every year for at least the last 10 years I've made cookies boxes for Co-workers.  Boxes filled with at least 4 different types of cookies... if not more.

However, this year... I don't know what it is... maybe its having a newborn on my hands that seems to drain all my energy?  Whatever it is...  Present hunting seems more like a chore... and baking cookies... well, I can't seem to find enough time in the day to bake enough cookies.  And why can't i seem to decide on what kind of cookies to bake.  My list keeps changing and shrinking.  So, I think now, I might only do one kind of cookie...sad.  And my elaborate packaging idea...forget it! I think I might just throw them in boxes and call it good.

I hope this is just a phase... and one that passes by ... say tomorrow :)  I don't want my love of this holiday season to diminish.

Maybe a nap will help me snap out of this mindset!

xoxo

Balancing Act.

How do people with more than one child keep their sanity?  I know its possible, I've seen many stay-at-home moms maintain a regular, healthy life... but HOW DO THEY DO IT?  I absolutely adore my sweet little baby, but when she's in one of her "moods" and all she wants to do is cry cry cry... I can feel myself losing it... so I ask you then... if you've got more than one...how do you do it?  What if they both want you to hold them... at the same time?  how how how?  For the last couple of weeks, I've been watching my friend's son for a little bit in the evenings. He is one of the calmest most well-mannered one year-olds I've seen, thank goodness for that.  But even angels get tired around the 6:30ish hour.  Last night, my husband had somewhere to be at 7pm.  So around 6ish, he left the house and I was left alone... with my baby, and my friend's sweet little son.  O.M.G.  My sweet child decided it was the perfect time to NOT be sweet... and instead...  cry her hysterical cry... you know, the one where she can barely breathe because she's exhausted all her energy crying bloody murder.  anyhow, simultaneously, my friend's son wanted to be cuddled and held to... it was afterall, very close to bed time.  I attempted to hold them both. FAIL!  That doesn't work.  I can't even remember how I got the both of them to calm down (I think mom's mentally block out things to keep their sanity)... but they did.  whew!

Maybe the key is to not have the children so close together? These two are only 10 months apart?  or rather, maybe that will be the key for me!  I use to think 2 years between each child... but now... maybe like 4 years?  and maybe not that many kids afterall?  :)  Why am I even thinking about this?  My baby is only a mere 5 months old.  Am I ready to be thinking about this?  I don't think so.  I'm still trying to find balance right now.

Luckily for me... I have one of those babies that I refer to as closet monsters!  She's a complete ham out in public... cheeses it up...smiles, laughs, cackles, and bats her ridiculously long lashes and melts everyone's heart.  But at home... when it's just mommy and her (or not even at home, once we get in the car and the car door slams shut) she has these fits... these heart breaking screams/cries of death.  As if I'm hurting her... because how and why else would such a sweet little baby cry bloody murder???  Clearly something... ANYTHING must be wrong.  But nope... she just likes to do that.  At least once everyday... for an extended period of time.  Tonight it was about 45 mins ago.  And now that she has exhausted all her energy making me feel like I've failed as a mom, she is happily napping until her next feeding.  Well, Thank you Emma!  In all seriousness... I am thankful that she is a closet monster.  I feel bad for the moms that have the opposite... the ones that are little monsters when they are out, because I know, at this age... the babies don't do it on purpose... and its certainly not because we're bad moms that they act this way.  But the stares and hisses, and whispers that you get ...that is what causes moms to get frazzled and frustrated and THAT is how moms lose their sanity...  because people judge...ridicule...JUDGE.

I've completely lost my train of thought and lost track of where I was trying to go with all of this... one of the side effects of being a mom :)

I guess until I remember why or what I was trying to blog about... I better just say goodnight now, I have dishes to wash and a house to clean.

So, until next time.
Good night!
xoxo

Baking and overeating pumpkin GOBs!

I made pumpkin Gobs today!  What are Gobs you ask?  well, they are better known as whoopie pies these days!  You know, those delicious looking treats that are essentially two cookies bound together with frosting!  My friend (who is from Pennsylvania) assures me that that correct and proper name of those treats are GOBS... and NOT Whoopie Pies....  who ever calls them whoopie pies is clearly not from Pennsylvania.  Well, whatever they are called who cares... all you need to know is that they are absolutely delicious and I can't stop stuffing my face with them.

My friend normally makes these without a mixer. she HAND mixes everything!  How she does that, I'm not sure...all I know is that each time I bake, I fall more in love with my KitchenAid Mixer.  It really does make baking so much easier.  The Gobs took us no time at all to whip them up, the most time consuming part was the baking.  Now if I could only have multiple ovens...  now THAT would be a dream come true!

Anyhow, after weeks for trying to decide what cookie to contribute to a "cookie exchange" that I'm a part of this holiday season.  I think Pumpkin Gobs are the perfect item!  Now the only problem is whether or not I'll be able to make enough to deliver to the cookie exchange since I can't stop eating them.  I have literally eaten so many already today that I feel sick... yet I swear the remaining ones are calling out at me and SCREAMING at me to EAT THEM UP...  I don't know if I can resist... I very well may eat the remaining 4.... self control...self control... 

As for the triple berry pies I spoke briefly about in my last blog... well, they were DELICIOUS!  I'm still eating the last of the remaining one.  I cheated a bit tho, you see, I don't make pie crusts.  I made many attempts in my younger years at pie crusts... and I'm pretty sure they never turned out tasting good... so since Pillsbury has perfected their pie crust... and Costco sells it in a value pack...  why would I waste my time making my pie crust from scratch.  So, my pie crust had the Pillsbury pre-made pie crust as the bottom layer.  I used frozen berries (again, thank you Costco for providing a value pack of triple berries)...  took the recipe from the side of the pie crust box...  thru it all together.  And topped it all off with the crumb topping that I normally make for my triple berry crisp.  The end result?  2 ridiculously easy pies made... and some VERY satisfied pie eaters.  All in all... a success in my Semi-home-baked book!


xoxo

Hello Blog world

Hi, this blog thing is way more foreign to me than it should be.  I'm nearly 30 years old... and i'm not kidding, after setting up my account, it took me nearly 30 minutes to figure out how/where to post my first official "BLOG".  Wow.
Anyhow, I decided tonight, on my way home from a friend's house that I wanted to start a blog.  My husband asked me why... and to be honest... I don't really know.  I mean, I kinda know.  I like to talk... alot... and now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, I don't have that many people to talk to during the day.  So I guess this is like my way of talking to the world... without actually talking to the world.  If you know me at all, then the way I type is EXACTLY the way I talk.   I've also been following a couple recipe bloggers lately and they've inspired me to blog my cooking/baking journey.  How fun... right?
I did bake some pies today that I'd love to share about, but I've just been informed by my husband that its time for bed... so I guess... its time for bed.  I promise to get to the pies the next time I blog...  and I'll share more about me.  Don't hold your breath tho, and be patient with me... I have a sweet little 5 month old that keeps me PRETTY BUSY.

xoxo
Ada