More baking!

You may have guessed by now, but I love baking.....mostly because I love the end results. Christmas is the one time a year I can sort of justify mass amounts of homemade sugared goodies in my house! Mmmmm, the smell that goes along with it is almost as good as the taste. I just finished making my second batch of apple cider caramels, and with any luck they will turn out. I kind of botched mixing the ingredients, but I think I was able to sort it out! Lol, the first batch was perfect though, and I am still doing it all with a broken candy thermometer!

This is where my thermometer freezes EVERY time. It never  goes higher than 210˚!

I also tried making an English toffee recipe. This specific recipe didn't want you to use a candy thermometer, so I thought it would be perfect. Well, it didn't turn into the hard break apart toffee it was supposed to, but it was deliciously chewy, and Mike an I still downed the whole batch. Maybe I will try again, because I really love that crunch.
I also tried a new recipe that I found off Pinterest. These were a total hit! Chocolate Turtle Cookies. I took them to a Christmas party and they were thoroughly enjoyed, and the recipe was requested by many. Mike is already asking me to make more because they didn't last long. I doubled the recipe and used some of the extra dough to stick candy cane kisses into. I love the peppermint chocolate combo too!

I also made a delicious Peanut Butter Toblerone no-bake cheesecake. I made it last year and we loved it, so it made it onto this years baking list. I didn't get a picture of the one I made, but you can check out the recipe and what it looks like here.
I may end up baking another batch or two of cookies, and I will probably give that toffee one more shot, but other that that I am nearing the end of my crazy Christmas baking spree.
I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!! And a Happy New Year!

Third trimester!

So there is a bit of a debate on my dates....nothing serious, as I know a due date is irrelevant.... baby comes when baby comes. But according to my second ultrasound they put my due date at March 3rd, and my doctor is still referring to my dates according to March 8th. So I am somewhere between 27 and 28 weeks. Either way....I have essentially arrived at the third trimester! Leaving it at the latter date, I only have 90 days to go! If I am really lucky it might be less. But more likely it will be more! :) I was late with my others! This one probably won't be any different.....sooooo to update!
- overall I have still been feeling pretty good.
- mild heartburn once in a while, enjoying food a lot again.
- overall weight gain about 8lbs
- only mildly waddling....but I am trying to prevent it! :)
- rolling over in bed is only going to get more difficult from here on out.
- luckily no swelling or weight gain in unwanted places.
- baby is just over 2lbs, and is just going to keep putting on weight.
-we are finally getting closer to choosing a name. We have narrowed things down significantly.
- baby is wiggling lots and starting to push out once in a while and I can feel his head or back or some other hard surface. It hasn't gotten uncomfortable yet though which is nice!
I am excited that I only have about 12 weeks left. I am sure with Christmas and New Years these next few weeks are going to fly by! We are very excited to meet this little guy and so are the kids! Here are some belly shots for this week!

Have to have a little fun! Not too bad for 27-28 weeks!! 

Baking.....

      I am in my groove for Christmas baking! I love this time of year for that! Mmmmmm, homemade goods make me happy. We have done some gingerbread Santas......Mason unfortunately couldn't figure out what they were. Ha ha, his guesses included ninjas and spacemen. Oh we'll, at least they tasted good.

       We also made up some sugar cookies, and I had fun decorating them with a glaze icing that is fun to make cool patterns with. I used this recipe last year and loved it, I still have extra dough and plan on making some more but decorating them differently.

      I should mention that my go to website for recipes these days is ourbestbites.com . I love their website. I have never had a bad recipe off it! The gingerbread cookie recipe can be found here. And the sugar cookie recipe can be found here. They also have lots of different ideas for decorating all your cookies. The glaze/flood icing is also found on their website!
      Though this isn't specifically a Christmas dessert....I made it in the midst of my Christmas baking so it gets entered here. I had a few very over ripe bananas that needed to be used up, and I couldn't resist trying this recipe. The name alone makes it sound irresistible. Caramelized Banana Bread with a Browned Butter Glaze. Ummmm yes, I will take some please! I don't know if you have ever had "browned butter" anything, but it is amazing. I never knew butter could smell so good. This recipe didn't disappoint either. It is nice and moist and rich and the glaze is a perfect extra! The recipe for this can be found here.

I still have lots and lots of recipes that I want to try out. And some favorites from last year. I will for sure be making the Apple Cider caramels that I made last year. And I have a whole stash of recipes on pinterest that I am excited to try! I am sure there will be more posts about it all in the next couple weeks.

Crafting....

So I have been crocheting a lot lately. I have been doing a few other things than hats lately too. But I have been really forgetful/lazy with getting my camera out and I have usually just been taking pictures of things with my iPad. So I will apologize in advance for the poorer quality of photos in this series.The biggest project that I recently finished was the baby quilt for upcoming baby boy!

I have made blankets for my other children, but both of those were denim rag quilts. Without easy access to a fabric store, extra old jeans, and a sewing machine, that blanket was out of the question. But I had lots of yarn, and was happy to do that for now. I would still like to make a rag quilt too, but that can come later.
I tried a new stitch pattern, and really love it. I also tried something new, and not on the pattern, by adding my own border. Overall I am really happy with it.....it took a lot of hours.
I still did a few hats, on specific request. My brother wanted a minion hat for his upcoming baby, and I happened upon some bright yellow yarn for free! Doesn't get any better than that. Once he saw the one he and his wife wanted matching ones too.

Next up mike asked if I could make him a case for his guitar slides. So I whipped this up. It has two pockets, one for his slides, and one for extra strings and his tuner. I loved it so much I decided to alter the dimensions a bit to make a wipes case for the new baby. My last wipes case was really cute, but really girly. This will be cute, but very neutral! I made this pattern up completely, and was really happy with the outcome too, especially since I figured out the button holes. This pattern could very easily be altered for many things.

Though it isn't even started yet, Mason has also requested a new hat. His old one has a much looser stitch and ear flaps, and with the colder weather he has been saying it hasn't been keeping his head warm enough. So that is what is up next on my list!