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...

Easter 2014

Is it just me or does Spring time directly correlate with insane busy-ness?! It really has been insane-- Easter egg hunts, egg decorating, stealthy Easter egg hiding at five in the morning, deviled egg makins' and such. My head has kind of been spinning. Not to mention John and I both spoke in church on Easter Sunday which turned out to be such a blessing. Throughout the entire week of chaos that Sunday morning really brought into perspective all the things that had been weighing heavily on my mind the past few months and I truly felt so blessed for all that I have--

//This picture may be a new current favorite. If you can't tell...she was really happy.//

"In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.” Dieter Uchtdorf.

I hope you all had a great Easter and thank you for all the great messages of support for our little family right now. 

Instagram and a little about where we're at...

I guess I write this post not really knowing what to say, I know a "thank you" is in order for all of those that have helped us over the last month and my heart is full of gratitude for those that have shown us so much love. This past month's roller coaster of emotions felt like the carnival ride that would never end. And between the sickness and pain and sometimes the most somber moments of sadness I've been reminded that being strong is never skin deep. 

Lately, it feels like we've been living in this perpetual state of repetitive questioning, the questions and concerns haven't bothered me and the unceasing love for my family has been a reminder that people are good. Mostly I've been asked  "How are you doing?" at first my reaction was simple and direct about the pain but as time passed I began to realize more and more that I wasn't quite sure how I was doing. So in the most matter-of-fact way I don't really know where my emotions are at these days and I'm fine with not knowing or even understanding them completely. 

Two weeks ago or so John and I decided as a united front that it was time to sell off all our baby items (I know it may seem a bit rash)--basically the whole gamut of swings, clothes, shoes, bouncers, you name it, it's now gone. When it came to finally get rid of it all I had a small panic attack at the years of memories that were filled within each box, but as I went through each item one-by-one only trying to only keep the most precious and memorable pieces a weight slowly lifted off my shoulders. And it wasn't until the last thing finally sold that John and I realized we had made the right decision for our family. It seemed that holding onto each article of clothing and every morsel of babyhood had taken it's toll on us, it was like a small army of baby items had bogged us down in trench that could only be escaped by purging it all. And when it was all gone I cried out of relief and a bit out of guiltiness.

And as with all fresh starts I'm trying to find one for myself as well. We've been steam rolled over the last five years in terms of pregnancies and realizing the burden that each one has placed on our marriage made us realize even more that a break was in order. A break from babies, a break from worrying about the inevitable, a break from dreading the worst, and a break from feeling completely helpless. So we're breaking. I don't know if it's a permanent one or not and while I'm so sad, a sadness that seems so hard to even describe, I know my focus needs to be on being a wife and a mother to the people that I already have in my life.  

And I finished Whole30 yesterday, which has been a small victory for me and big victory for my pants. More on that later. Happy Easter, friends!