How to make sugar cookies healthier for you

I pretty much never do anything special for St. Patrick's Day. And this year won't be any different. But last year was a different story. Last year we did do something (kind of) special.
St. Patty's Day was coming up and I had just been given shamrock cookie cutters as a present. It was Sunday and we were going to some gathering later that evening and I thought it would be nice to make some shamrock sugar cookies with my new cookie cutters. So I made the cookies and looked up how to make homemade icing. Easy enough.
But then I realized we had no food coloring and it seemed weird to just leave the icing white. It needed to be green, of course. And since it was Sunday, we couldn't just go to the store and get some green dye. I googled how to make homemade green food coloring. Because everyone knows that google has the answers to everything. More than one result to my search told me to do the same thing: If anyone was ever wondering, all you have to do is boil some spinach leaves in water which turns the water green and then you add as much of the green spinach water as you want to your icing. Soooo easy. And we even had spinach leaves in our fridge!
Except, it didn't work. Spinach leaves don't exactly turn the water "Crayola" green when you boil it, if you know what I mean. It's more of a puke green than anything. But I did what I had to do and used it anyway and took shamrock cookies with spinach-flavored icing to the little gathering where they were happily eaten. Not by me or Steve though. We didn't touch them. There's something weird about eating a cookie you know has been flavored with spinach. Honestly, I can't believe we let other people eat them. But what you don't know can't hurt you, right?!

And sorry to disappoint, but no, there is no picture of these puke green shamrocks.

I guess I was kind of embarrassed about it at the time and wasn't all about telling the whole world about it like I am now, so I didn't take a picture. Darn it.

I don't know if this was that same night but if it wasn't, it's close to it. 

I feel like my face is saying "Don't ask me if I put spinach water on those cookies."

Because that's probably what I was thinking!

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Now go do something special!

Mr. Munchkin Man

This poor kid has a horrible rash on his face :(

You can kinda tell in this picture:

Poor thing. Don't worry, buddy, you're still super cute.

It's probably from his momma kissing his face all day.

And rubbing his cheeks up against mine!

But thanks to Cetaphil and new laundry detergent, it's finally starting to go away! yay!

Some More Wishes

ONE. I wish I had stuck to ballet when I was four (I only went once because I was such a scardy cat)

And then I could be a real dancer like my little sister, Lissie:

Actually, probably not because I just don't have the coordination.

Isn't she cute? :)

TWO. I wish that I could go see the Stonehenge so bad!

I've always wanted to go so when my friend Connie went, she sent me and my friend, Molly a postcard. This postcard was hung up on my pinboard for years!

THREE. I wish I could eat waffles and maple syrup every morning for breakfast. 

What am I saying, I kind of already fulfill this wish every morning. And they're soo good :)

I'm linking up with Brooke:

Link up too if you want!

Nicknames

Steve has a lot of nicknames for Cole. A lot!

There are the ones that make sense...

Colecito,

Colemeister,

Coleslaw (my least favorite),

Colio

The Colester

And then the ones that don't make as much sense...

Mr. Man

Jazzercize (???)

And the other night it was "Bunsen Burner."

So I was like, "Babe, Bunsen Burner?! Why?"

"Because he lights up my life."

Oh ok. I guess that's cute :)

sucking those fingers

Remember how I said that Cole sucks his top lip whenever his pacifier falls out? Well, he figured out a new trick and now he tries to stick his whole fist in his mouth when that pacifier falls out. He can only fit a few fingers in at a time though and he'll suck suck suck away :)

I woke up the other morning to find him sucking away on his thumb! I'm not sure I'm ready for a thumb sucker (even though it is really cute) but what can you do? Especially if he's doing it in his sleep.

I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be a lefty like his daddy. It's always that left hand he sticks in his mouth.

And these are his I-am-so-totally-fascinated-with-that-cell-phone looks.

I swear I take pictures of him all day with that thing.

(ps, Baby boy is 10 weeks already. crazy.)

And last day of this little photo challenge!

Day 30. a photo of you when you were happy

I look pretty happy in this picture, right? ;)

Baby Laughs

We finally caught some of his giggles on camera.

It's not the best quality because it's just our digital camera but you get the idea.

After we took this video he passed out! The laughing wore him out :)

First trip to Arkansas ever.

All the states I've been to include:

California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and now Oklahoma and 

ARKANSAS!

This is pretty exciting for me since I've never been this far east or this far south. I'm slowly making my way to the east coast.

We got to spend the long weekend with Bekah and Jordan and their families in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although it's technically farther north than Dallas, we felt like we were more in the south. Before I left my mom told me to take lots of pictures. I actually didn't pull out my camera once but at least I got my handy cell phone camera!
Even though it's really not all that different, Arkansas seems so far away! It's the land of plantation-looking homes, porch swings, sweet tea and fried pickles!! (I actually tried them and they're good):

This was also little Cole's first trip ever and he did great. Just think, in his short little life he's been to the states that took me 24 years to get to. What a dang lucky kid.

The trip consisted of.....

... getting our hair done at the salon. Bekah is amazing! (Cole got some love from the hair girls)

Brazilian Blowout, highlights and a trim..I'm like a completely new person.

...eating out:

...meeting Bekah's gran and grandfather:

...relaxin':

By the end of our trip Cole was pretty tired.

This is his tired face. He literally slept the entire day yesterday.

And we sure enjoyed the southern hospitality. Thanks Bekah, Jordan and families :)

Oh, and of course by the time we left Steve had a fake southern accent. He just can't help it ;) 

Like Mother Like Son

Does his outfit look familiar? It should. 

It's the exact same little outfit I'm wearing it in my baby picture I posted a couple days ago!

Let's just pretend that there isn't any lace on this outfit. And no ruffles. And definitely not a little teddy bear with a bow. It's yellow so obviously it's perfect for a baby boy too. :)

Yeah, we look nothing alike.We're both about 2 months in this picture.

My mom saved the outfit all these years and sent it to me so that I could dress my own baby up in it. My grandma gave it to my mom and the blanket in the background is also one that my grandma crocheted.

Let's just hope that Cole thinks he looks just as cute in this outfit as I think he does and that he doesn't hate me for posting these pictures when he grows up!!