Meal Planning... here goes nothing!

Huge shopping trip planned for tomorrow followed by two weeks of dinner at home....wish me luck!

Our menu includes...

Chicken Broccoli Braid, Chili, Fried Fish (my favorite!), Spaghetti and meatballs, Chicken Lombardi, homemade mac and cheese, Tortilla soup, reuben sandwiches, steak, and taco salad. Whew!

I miss cooking at home and am strangely excited at the challenge. Hopefully it won't kick my butt.

Banana Bread

I've been craving some good homemade banana bread and decided that with the snow and cold weather today was definitely a good day to bake some. I took photos but don't have a way to upload them at the moment, so I'll just have to post them later. Thanks to I am baker for the recipe - it turned out great!

Here's her recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups mashed overripe bananas

1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional:
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (for mini loafs)
1/4 to 1/2 cup heath chips (for mini loafs)


Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs,mashed bananas, and vanilla until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake at 350 in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes for mini loafs (60-65 for regular size pan), until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Emmaline's 1!

Sunflower cupcakes from Oh, Cupcake!

My own ladybug creation. Yes, that's a Mr. Potato Head smile. :)

Emmaline's birthday was adorable. The cupcakes and cake turned out great and she had lots of fun. I couldn't have done it without my Mom's help - Thanks, Mom!
Em's party was on Sunday and by Tuesday she had gotten her first bad cold. She ran a fever, cried constantly, and was just miserable. I've spent the past week and a half comforting my poor girl :( She's on the mend but still has a runny nose and some grumpiness. Prayers are still coveted!

She stayed pretty clean until her Popi decided to play "peekaboo"!

In other news, we found out that we're expecting a baby boy! It's all puppy dog tails from here.... :) Jack Harrison should join us sometime in the beginning of August and we can't wait!

For my little cupcake....

{via}

I can hardly believe that my baby is turning 1 this weekend. Time has flown! We're throwing her a party at my parents' house and having lots of family over to celebrate. I'm most excited about making a cake and some cupcakes. I love baking and decorating but don't have much experience, so I'm hoping that having kids will give me an excuse to practice more!

I'm thinking a cute ladybug cake made from a round mixing bowl and a little pyrex prep bowl (for the head) with a bunch of these adorable sunflower cupcakes from the book Hello, Cupcake!. It should be very cute! For once I'm going to try to post pictures (and maybe even a video!) of the baking and the partying. Check back sometime next week to see what we did!

Naturally sweet...

{via}

Loving these DIY valentine labels from Twig & Thistle. So cute! 

and the winner is...

{via}

Thanks to everyone that entered my giveaway! I put the total number

of entries into random.org, and it chose no. 28....

Hope!

Check your email for your $35 CSN promo code! Congratulations!