24 months.

Dear Addy,

I would venture to say I know why were were given to me. Clearly it's a huge assumption on my part to believe that I know the answers right now as to why you are mine and what I did to deserve you but I truly think I know. You are me, maybe not so much in looks but your personality bleeds through with shining colors in perfect resemblance to your momma. You're bubbly and friendly with a side that becomes easily frustrated while still tender-hearted, all of which has been packaged into an itsy bitsy body of sorts. Sometimes your frustrations are so overwhelming that you can't control them and you sob and cry uncontrollably because, well, you just know of no other way to express yourself. Luckily, your larger than life emotions will fade over time and you'll learn to control them.

I know the feelings of frustration that you already carry and I already know how big your heart has grown and will continue to do. I know that in a flip of switch you will go from bubbly to meltdown and right back again in a matter of minutes. Right now you've just finished a nice meltdown on floor--it's a common occurrence around here. And in an instance you then climbed up next to me at the bar and you are now lost in a sea of pen swirls while incessantly reminding me of the dog barking outside. It's a beautiful moment and no amount of picture taking or videoing can truly capture the love I feel for you at this very moment. It's a perfectly ordinary moment that seems to have captured the most perfect moment of parenthood and it's times like now that I must keep on reminding myself to "remember this."

I know that along with your strong personality comes this thickness. It's more than thick skin, it's confidence, determination, and with a hint of stubborness, all of which will serve you well later on in life. I love with an enduring type of love. It never wavers, it continually grows, and it fill me with the greatest type of joy every day. 

I love you baby girl. 

And just so you know...

You love you baby dolls and your the most amazing mother to all of them. Constantly tucking them in and kissing them "good night."

You're a Frozen fan. It's to be expected I suppose.

You still nap. Most times you just lay in bed talking to yourself, but you nap at least for a little while.

Your foods of choice are watermelon, carrots, and popcorn. 

You've started to say the prayer at night. Whenever your Dad says the word "to" during the prayer you will immediately say "three." It's cute and comical.

You are slowly learning your ABC's but your block building skills are reveled by none :)

You kiss with your tongue...

French Maracons

I've had the pleasure of working with Chocoley, an online provider of gourmet chocolate ingredients and candy making supplies to help with all my baking necessities for Addy's 2nd birthday. Usually I lean towards festive decorations and fun gift bags when planning parties for my family but this year I decided to dedicate more time to baking and since one of my goals for my 30 Before 30 was to successfully bake french macarons I thought now would be the perfect opportunity to test out my not-so-natural baking skills.

Chocoley so graciously provided the key ingredients to make my tasty little morsels a success. And because I'm a firm believer in trying true and tasted recipes you can follow this tutorial for foolproof french maracons. I also believe that one of the key factors in creating good food is good ingredients. For my macarons I went with a creme de' menthe chocolate ganache and a light lemon cream cheese frosting. The two flavors though drastically different were perfect compliments for one another. 

Cool Creme De'Menthe Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

12 ounces Bada Bing Bada Boom Candy & Molding Formula in Extra Dark

1/2 Cool Creme DeMenthe Flavoring

Bring the heavy whipping to a light boil (Edges should be bubbling). Pour over chocolate. Add in cool de'menthe flavoring then stir with a clean spoon until all the chocolate disks have melted. Allow adequate time to cool, then use a piping bag to place ganache on the french macaron cookies.  

Light Lemon and Cream Cheese Frosting

1 brick cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup softened butter

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 TSP sour cream or 1 TSP heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp Lemon Flavoring Oil

100 drops yellow food coloring OR 1 tsp yellow food coloring

Mix ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use. Use piping bag to place frosting on the french maracon cookies. 

For party favors I used white ballotin candy boxes and filled each with french macarons to complete the perfect party for perfect little girl. 

Enjoy.

And because some may ask I got my silicone fiberglass mat here. It helps beginners (like me) make evenly shaped cookies. 

Two it is!

Addy Mae turned two yesterday! Between building the house and all the other little things that have been consuming both our days and nights we decided to do a small low-key party with the few family members who were visiting. It was so nice having my little brother here and my babes absolutely adore him. He's missed so many little milestones living so far away and we're so happy we get to see him now, even if it's only for the summer. And between you and me, it was surprisingly perfect having a small party--less dishes, no large meal to cook, just a small cake and a few presents made for a perfect day. And in reality, a two-year-old doesn't really care, it's more for the parents anyway. And simplicity of less to clean-up made it that much sweeter. 

This little girl is so perfect. She's fiery and sassy and in some of the most cherished moments her little heart abounds with so much love that I just want to bottle her up forever. I love her dearly and I am so happy I get to be her Momma!

Happy Birthday baby girl. We love you!

Here's more sweet moments of our baby girl: birth//one

Busy. Busy. Like Busy.

We've been busy. I'm sure if I said it was a good-type of busy John would strongly disagree with that assumption but I find that I thrive when our schedule is a bit chaotic and the days seem to fleet by in an instance. I guess our lives are taking one of those dramatic turns that happens occasionally. You know the kind, where you're just puddling along and all of the sudden there are a million and one changes happening simultaneously. Yes, that's where we're at in life. 

And we're playing T-Ball, which has been a little nerve racking. Albeit, it has been wildly entertaining to watch a passel of small four and five-year-olds bee line it to third base only to realize that they were going the wrong direction. My poor boy has the genetics of his mother and was bred for the warmth of Arizona so a majority of the pictures taken have been those moments of desperation where he thinks his toes and fingers are going to fall off. But cold weather or not we have braved the fields every Saturday and I find that the far off dream of childhood sports is now upon us in full swing and I couldn't be more delighted.

We're also building a home. Yes, a bonafide-no-longer-rental-of-a-home-with-hardwood-and-granite- and-absolutely-under-no-circumstances-will-there-be-carpet-in-the-dining-room kind-of-home. I'm sure you've gathered by now that all the hyphens are to show my utmost disdain for carpet, especially in areas of eating. For two years we've lived in a rental and I feel like a small part of me died when we moved it, many boxes have still remained packaged up, and making memories in a place that has never felt like our own has always been a bit unsettling. The thought of once again having our own home is not only my saving grace right now but it also means I get to start decorating again and I love to decorate. Ask John, he'll roll his eyes...

I would say our level of busy is currently under the somewhat sane tinkering on the edge of crazy stage. We decided long ago to general our own house this go around and so far the work has been tremendously hard, I should clarify that it has been hard John, I just do as I am told and follow orders. It's been so hard in fact that I have made a household rule that the last few minutes of the day have to involve talking about anything other than tile/flooring/carpet/hardwood/porches/decks/light fixtures...just so I can go to sleep without dreaming about our home.

 I'm excited to share the journey with all of you and I'm exciting for all the little details I get to plan and I'm so eeeking (it's not a word, I know) to finally be able to decorate the babes' room with all the items I've collected over the past few years. 

Days to ground breaking: 12 and counting...