I've got this sister...

...who's pretty great. She could be my twin, my carbon copy, my stunt double...if only we were born 10 years closer. Hmm. Interesting thought. Instead, she was born a little less than 10 years AFTER me. And her birthday was yesterday. How old you ask? Well, if I tell you you will officially know how old I will be in a week. So take a guess.

Madi and Sawyer when he was just a puppy!

Anyway--quite frankly, she rocks. A high school junior she is much more a women than I was at that age. Beautiful from the inside out this chick has it all. She impresses me daily and embodies the true morals and values any 17 (oops--figure it out?) year old high schooler should strive for. Her strong relationship with Him sets an incredible foundation for the woman she has become. If only I was where she was ten years ago.

A few years ago at camp.

As we have grown older, our relationship has changed. She is no longer "little" Madi that I was forced into babysitting (FOR FREE) or "little" Madi who was trying to listen to my phone conversations outside my door. She is no longer my baby sister who I could trick to do my chores or bribe into being on my side of an argument. Instead, our relationship has grown into that of great friends. Now I call her to borrow her jeans and raid her closet on my trips home. We have sleepovers where we overindulge in ice cream and I even call her to puppy sit for Sawyer. I vent about things going on in my life (via text message, hello 21st century) and turn to her for advice when I need it. I often forget the ten years that stand between us as they have dissolved over time. 

Matt and Madi out on the lake. 

Hanging out at camp.

Gingerbread houses with Bax!

There's not many words that can explain the blessing of a sister like Madi, let alone the even more incredible blessing I recieved of two sisters. Although years ago we may have have wanted to kill each other, today there are no two women that I look up to more than my two sisters (well, besides my mom...sorry gals). I thank Him for them everyday. Two best friends that can NEVER get rid of me. What more could you want? Happy Birthday Madi! Can't wait to see the great things that He has in store for you. I love you!

                                                  

Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

WARNING: Do not continue if you have no self control like myself. Continuing to read this post will make you start to drool and drop everything you are doing to make these incredibly delicious and addicting bars. Once you start, you won't be able to stop. Ask anyone who has had them.

It was weeks ago when my morning blog checks brought my attention to the most incredible recipe--chocolate chip sea salted caramel cookie bars. Two Peas and Their Pod, a blog I check daily, posted these bars a week or so before the Superbowl. I knew they were an immediate must make. As I had suspected, these caramel bars were amazing. The first night we ate them right out of the oven. Ooey and gooey we messily enjoyed every last bite. They only got better with time. The next three or four evenings after dinner Matt and I cut ourselves a generous portion and ate with a big glass of milk. The final night they were in our home we warmed them up and put a giant scoop of ice cream on them. So, drooling yet? One day after school I cut myself a small piece before dinner. That small piece quickly turned much larger and I finally realized they needed to be OUT of my house. The next day I brought the few remaining bars to school and they were gone in less than five minutes. Several teachers asked for the recipe and with a brief warning I passed it on.

Since the first time I made them, these caramel bars have been made appeared in our home. Each time, I end up bringing them to school due to my lack of self control. They have quickly become my go to dessert to bring to school (peanut free!) and dinner dates, etc. You MUST make them. You can find the recipe here. While you are there check out other Two Peas and Their Pod recipes. They are great!

Here's a close up so you can realllllly see all that caramel. Did I mention I froze half a batch once and the next day defrosted it and ate it? Yah. They are that good. 

Thought for the Day

Enough said. 

(new kitchen decor)

February Vacation's Spring Cleaning

This post is a bit overdue, but like everything else, February vacation came and went so very quickly. Friday the 17th finally arrived and I was feeling more drained and mentally exhausted than I had in a long time. I'm not sure if it was the lack of snow days, sleep...or what, but I was so very ready for February vacation to arrive. Most February's we are waist deep in snow, but this vacation brought hopes of flats without any socks!

48 degrees at 3:23 in the afternoon. Yes please! We were fortunate to have several beautiful, 50 degree days! I could get used to that. So, what do two teachers on vacation do together with temperatures like this? Clean! We took advantage of the beautiful weather and got into a bit of a spring-ish mood. Who ever said spring cleaning can't be done in February? How glorious it felt to vacuum up every piece of dog hair! It felt so good I was tempted to open the windows...but I didn't. I had to remind myself it was only 45 degrees and the heat was set to 68. I have a tendency to get a little ahead of myself. 

Perhaps I should have taken before pictures for the full effect, but check out this s-p-o-t-l-e-s-s living room. You could eat off this floor! (Even though I may not recommend it.)

The rest of the house was this clean too! Thanks to my husband who was a trooper through all of this and actually did the bedroom on his own. Yes, he is quite a guy. Although it took two full days, I can't tell you how great it feels to have a perfectly clean home. 

Exciting, thrilling first few days of vacation together? No. But, it felt SO good! A fun, added touch are the beautiful, blooming daffodils in the kitchen. Although it may not officially be spring (especially with the foot of snow that fell Thursday), spring cleaning and daffodils give our CLEAN home a very spring feel.

PS. This post may lead you to believe my house is not normally "clean". Trust me, it is--this was just a reallllllll deeeep cleaning, k?

Pinterest

Move over facebook, I have a new way to waste time. Pinterest. Have you heard of it? I am sure you have. The B-E-S-T and what I see to be the most organized, valuable way to waste precious time. This delightful site allows you to "pin" things all over the internet onto different "boards" (essentially categories) to share with other "pinners", but also to save as a bookmarked site. Make sense? It's ok if it doesn't. I had no idea what I was doing at first. All you need is a facebook or twitter account to sign up. That means basically anyone I know, aside from you mom, is able to sign up. If you haven't already, check out my page here.

You will notice the category with the most pins is "Cooking Love". This board holds near and dear to my heart and there are days where I think I have pinned more times than should be legal. However, I have used this board as a go to on nights where I am don't know what to make for dinner...or snow days where I get the sudden urge to create something delicious! Thursday we had our second snow day of the year. Impressive. Anyway, after puttering around the house avoiding the baking itch, I finally succumbed and turned to pinterest for inspiration. I had had my eye on these delicious creations for a while and decided to go for it. I just so happened to have all the ingredients...suspicious? Perhaps.

These cookies, the perfect balance of sweet and salty are seriously to-die-for. They were better than my palate every imagined! Chock fill of salty pretzel bits and peanut butter and chocolate chips, topped with sea salt...oh my. They were just incredible from start to finish! Yes, that means I ate a good portion of the dough...I dare you to try just one spoonful. Three days later we still can't get enough. This my friends is why I need to start cutting my recipes in half. Each day since Thursday has been filled with cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

You can find the recipe for Pretzel Cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter chips on my pinterest site or here at Sugar Cooking's blog. Now go--all you have to decide is to pinterest...or to bake!