Three day weekend and Peanut Butter Crunch Cake

Yay for the weekend!  I'll be honest I had no idea we were headed into a three day weekend until this afternoon at four when Melissa informed me of it when she was picking up Macey!  WOOHOO! 
Last night I made the tastiest cake for Travis to bring to work.  I know it's tasty because my mom has made this cake for years.  It's a go-to recipe when you're needing something delicious yet fast!  And it's relatively inexpensive as well!  It's called Peanut Butter Crunch Cake.  I just googled the recipe (because I'm to lazy to get off the couch to walk to the kitchen to get it! sad but true :)  ) and apparently it's a Jif Peanut Butter Recipe.  Yum yum!  You should make it for your family to enjoy this weekend! 

*Just a side note on the recipe... my Mom and I always omit the peanut butter chips and replace them with the same amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  And we've never used peanuts on it either...I'm sure it would be tasty though!

*I don't have a picture of the peanut butter crunch cake... so I thought a picture of Colty would be just as nice:)

Have a great weekend everybody!

PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH CAKE

Ingredients

	•	1 pkg. yellow cake mix
	•	1 cup peanut butter
	•	½ cup packed brown sugar
	•	1 cup water
	•	3 eggs
	•	¼ cup vegetable oil
	•	1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
	•	1/3 cup peanut butter flavored chips
	•	1 cup chopped peanuts

Directions

	•	In a large mixing bowl, beat cake mix, peanut butter and brown sugar on low speed until crumbly.
	•	Set aside ½ cup of mixture.
	•	Add water, eggs and oil to remaining crumb mixture.
	•	Blend on low speed until moistened.
	•	Beat on high 2 minutes, batter will be smooth.
	•	Stir into the batter, ¼ cup each of the chocolate and peanut butter chips.
	•	Pour into greased 9 x 13” pan.
	•	Combine peanuts, reserved crumb mixture and remaining chips. Sprinkle over batter.
	•	Bake at 350 degrees in oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely

Baby steps

This week has been full of little baby steps for the kiddos! I've been working on potty-training with Emma this week. So far so good! And Colty is now sitting up!!! He still has yet to roll over (he'll be 6 months on the 23rd)... he just is not at ALL interested in rolling over! He's done it once before so I know he can do it...but it was that one and only time. In the meantime he's decided sitting up is his thing. :)
Since Emma's been potty training and we've been recovering from last week's sickness we've been home pretty much all week! The warmer weather (warmer as in.. warmer than last week) has given me the spring cleaning itch! I've been de-cluttering and organizing closets and cabinets. Our house is pretty small without a lot of closets (it was built in the late 1800s). So I've been trying to figure out creative ways to organize and store everything. What are some of your organizing tips? I'd love to hear any ideas you have! We've contemplated moving to a bigger home but have decided to stay put for another year or so. Since we're staying put I have thought of several projects that I want to do to our home... both organizing and decorating projects... I'll do some posts on them whenever they happen! Is anybody else getting the cleaning/redecorating itch?! :)
Babes are waking up... time to sign off! Have a great Thursday!


Vanilla Gorilla sitting up!
I thought this picture of Emma was funny:) Her new "smile"
The girls using watercolors

The Penguin Game, a Pink Hat and DP

My my my what a week it has been! Last time I posted I had commented that Emma had a cold. Monday morning I woke up to both kids barking like seals and horrible runny noses. I'm so thankful that I took them in because Emma ended up having an ear infection and strep and Colty had RSV. WHAT?! My poor little babes! So needless to say we have pretty much been shut-ins all week long. This was the perfect week to be home inside because the weather has been FREEZING!
Both kids are on breathing treatments with a nebulizer that looks like a penguin:) We told Emma that it's the "Penguin Game"...turns out our trick worked :) :) :) She sits like such a big girl and will read a book until her treatment is over. Colty on the other hand isn't to fond of the nebulizer. Whenever I give it to him he screams and flails around. I've tried everything...talking to him, squeezing him tight, singing to him. Nothing works. However when Travis gives him the treatment he'll sit as still as a statue while Travis sings to him (this in itself is funny because my husband doesn't have a musical bone in his body...he'll vouch for this himself). I guess Dad is more fun that Mom.
Oh and as for the pink hat... both kids had been crying and fussing ALL morning. I thought I was going to pull my hair out so I threw some warm clothes on the kids and away we went to get lunch at Sonic (and yes... I did have a Dr. Pepper... don't judge! It was either a Dr. Pepper or my sanity). Well...the only hat I could find for Colt had pink in it... when we got home I took a picture of him because he just looked so darn sweet:)
So that is the extent of my exciting week! Even though it has been a very long week with sick kiddos I am SO thankful for a warm home, a wonderful dr., medicine and babies that are getting better. I've had two friends miscarry their babies this week (one of my friends was 28 wks along) and it really puts alot into perspective about what really matters. So make sure to give your babes an extra squeeze tonight!
Hope everybody is staying warm and has a great weekend!

Missouri, Goals and Dr. Pepper

Over Christmas break we spent a week in Missouri at my parent's home. It was such a treat! Mid-way through the week Travis and I left for a two night get-away at the same place we went on our honeymoon. It was the first time we had gotten away for a couple of nights since both kids were born!
Here are some pics from the week...



The babes with their Aunt Kaitlin... I love her! She spoils them rotten :)
My little vanilla gorilla watching tv :)


The view from our balcony on the first evening away.
This is the only picture I got of the two of us on our getaway :)
They had a beautiful fire down in the lobby that we enjoyed sitting by after lunch...very cozy!
It snowed while we were there and this was what we woke up to before we headed back to my parent's.

Little Miss loves Grandma's house because there is an endless supply of chocolate coming her way :) whether it be from Grandma or her aunt's and uncles!
The morning we left to come back to Texas it was FREEEEEZING! (at least to us ha!)
On the way home I looked back to see Emma had fallen asleep with her foot inside of Colt's carseat...poor little guy!


We got back home yesterday and have slowly been unpacking. Emma has been battling a nasty cold so she spent the day in her pj's! We had such a great time with my family... I'm always sad to leave. But it sure does feel good to be home in my own bed! :)
I'm excited for the new year ahead of us. I have several new years goals that I am excited to stick to. One of which is to get caught up on the kids' baby books and also to get caught up on printing off all of my pictures and putting them into photo albums. I honestly have not printed off pictures since Emma was 4 months old. Terrible I know! Another goal is to lose the rest of this darn baby weight and another goal linked to this is to stop drinking my beloved Vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic. *sigh*. The last time I drank one was on December 30th...so far four days without one. I need to look up how many days it takes to get over an addiction. :) You know that you're addicted to Sonic Dr. Pepper's when the waiters/waitresses at Sonic ask you if you want "the regular" and also know you by name! ha!
Alrighty...off to bed! Have a great Monday tomorrow! I'll leave you with a pic of my sicky girl having a tea party this morning! :) yum yum