Babies

Lucy’s First Birthday

Published on October 13, 2011 by meteaandlucy3 Comments

I cannot believe that it has been a year since Lucy was born. In celebration, we had a big birthday party for her. She had a blast, and so did everyone else.

For the week before her birthday I was slowly covering the house in pink. To be honest, some of the decorations are still up because I think they are cute.

Here is a picture of Lucy helping me get ready.

She was a fan of the pink tulle.

I made more desserts than necessary too. I actually asked Alec if it was enough.

Here is mom helping Lucy get ready before the party:

Nice pic of Lucy and me:

Somewhere during the evening it became very apparent that Lucy did not like her dress, so I grabbed her giraffe onsies, and things were looking up. I also forgot to buy birthday candles, so that is a tea light stuck on a mini-bundt cake.

Lucy loved the presents. The book in this photo is from her Uncle Carl, the furry sparkle boots are from her Uncle Joe.

Happy Birthday my little Lucy! I love you so much.

Lucy

Published on June 23, 2011 by meteaandlucy2 Comments

Lucy started crawling this last week, which is very excited and also a little scary. Immediately after she started crawling she started pulling herself up. Here is a picture of her standing with just a little help.

She is getting so big!

Lucy and the Carrot

Published on May 10, 2011May 10, 2011 by meteaandlucy3 Comments

Lucy recently hit the developmental stage where she gets upset when we take things away from her. This is making life a little harder, especially because she wants everything I have.

Yesterday I felt like a carrot. So, I went and peeled one and sat down by Lucy. She grabbed it from me because that is what she does, and this is what followed…

She was quite excited about the carrot.

She was not going to let it go without a fight.

However I eventually did need to take it from her. As you can see she was not okay with that.

Then she tried to get it back.

When that didn’t work she decided to roll around angrily in her boppy.

Trying the sad look…At this point I took her outside to look at flowers in hopes she would forget about the carrot.

We found a dandelion which made her happy again.

Published on March 7, 2011March 7, 2011 by meteaandlucy3 Comments

Babies, babies everywhere. In the last couple of weeks two of my friends have had babies. Another friend is due next week, and my sister in law is due a couple of months later. I suddenly feel surrounded by babies. It is an exciting time. Plus it is great that Lucy will suddenly have so many new little friends.

In celebration of these beautiful little babies I decided to bake up some cookies for my friends. I went to the bible of baking, Dorie Greenspan’s baking book. I decided to pick a new recipe called World Peace cookies. At the risk of sounding a little sappy, I thought it was a nice name for some cookies celebrating these new babies. Boy were these cookies good. In fact, I would say they are some of the best cookies I have ever made. They were great with a cup of tea or on their own.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1 stick, plus 3 T butter (room temp.)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 sugar

1/2 salt

1 t. vanilla extract

5 ounces bitter-sweet chocoate

Method:

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda together and set aside.

Using a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt, vanilla, and beat for about 2 minutes.

Turn off the mixer and pour all the dry ingredients all at once. Put a towel over the mixer to stop flour from flying at you. Pulse the mixer a few times for a couple seconds each time. Take the towel off and mix on low for 30 seconds. It is vitally important to not over mix a shortbread dough which is what this is. The dough will look a little crumbly. Add the chocolate chips or chunks until just incorporated.

Divide the dough into two and roll into a log about 1 1/2 inches thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least three hours.

Baking:

After the dough is chilled, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Using a sharp knife cut the logs into rounds about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. They won’t look done, but they are. Take them out and slide the entire sheet of parchment with the cookies on it onto a cooling rack.

These cookies are absolutely wonderful. You can freeze the dough and keep for another time if you desire. After tasting these you may just think it is a good idea to always keep some dough frozen on hand just in case you feel like one of these delicious cookies.