Christmas cookies are here!

I am taking orders for Christmas cookies through December 21 (to be delivered on December 23). Cookies are $1 each, or $10 for a dozen. I also have some super cute party trays for $17. The trays include a baker's dozen (13) of your choice of Christmas cookies on a colorful platter, all wrapped up with a fabulous bow! See below for more pricing information. All my cookies are made fresh from scratch, so I need at least 2 days notice for each order. This gives the dough enough time to chill, and the icing enough time to set.

Prices:

Sugar cut-outs decorated with royal icing - $1 each, or $10 per dozen

Petite gift bag - $2.50 each (includes 2 decorated sugar cookies of your choice in a cello bag with a bow. Makes great party favors or stocking stuffers!)

Medium gift box - $10 each (includes 6 sugar cookies of your choice packaged in a white cake box with a festive bow and a gift tag. Makes great teacher gifts!)

Large gift box - $15 each (12 sugar cookies of your choice in a large white cake box with a festive bow and a gift tag.)

Party tray - $17 each (13 sugar cookies of your choice on a colorful Christmas platter accented with foil-wrapped candies and a festive bow. Perfect for your family gatherings!)

A Day at the Park

Last week, I took both my daughter and my nephew to the park for a “play date” with a local moms group here in Baytown. At first, I was a little nervous about watching over two toddlers at the same time, but we ended up having such a fun day! The kids played on jungle gyms, shot each other with water guns, and ate snow cones. Mia and I look forward to our next day at the park with little Hayden.

"Our Land"

That's so much fun to say! Today we went to visit "our land" in Beach City, Texas. We are still waiting on a call from the design center to go pick out all the colors and styles of things like kitchen cabinets, wall colors, and fixtures. I am so anxious to get started! If all goes as planned, we'll be in the new house by Thanksgiving this year. Yippee!

Did someone say, "Spa Day"?

Gone are the days when a birthday party consisted of playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey while eating pimento cheese sandwiches and whacking a pinata with a stick in the backyard. Nope, these days little girls are celebrating their birthdays by getting manicures and pedicures and drinking pink lemonade from sugar-lined champagne glasses. And what lucky little girls they are! Last weekend my pretty little niece, Belle, had a "Spa Day" for her seventh birthday party. My sisters and I set up a manicure station, two pedicure stations and a "make-your-own-facial" station. Everyone had a blast and, when we could keep the girls from eating the cucumber slices that were meant to be placed over their eyes, we all had quite an unforgettable day. It just goes to show you're never too young to say, "ahhhh spaaa!"

Some Bunny Loves You

Ahh, the chocolate Easter Bunny. Do you remember the first one you ever tasted? I can't say I remember the first one, but I do remember that the chocolate Easter Bunny was the one thing I looked forward to the most when I woke up on Easter morning. And not just any chocolate bunny would do. No, it had to be the smooth, milk chocolate, hollow kind. The one with those borderline creepy, almost hypnotic, sugar eyeballs that you could (and always did) pick off first and pop in your mouth one by one.
Watching my daugher giggle as she ate her very first hollow chocolate Easter Bunny reminded me that my joy and happiness is not wrapped up like it once was in what kind of car I drive, or whether I can afford the trendiest, most expensive clothes on the market. But it really is the little things in life that make you richer, and it is the memories you create that will stand the test of time.

Deep in the Heart of ... Baytown?

OK, so this year we didn't have time to make our annual trek to beautiful Brenham, Texas, home of world-famous Blue Bell Ice Cream and the prettiest wildflowers you've ever seen.

But being the resourceful mommies that we are, we found a patch of bluebonnets in front of my sister's church and just snapped away! After what seems like a long, rainy winter, it is really refreshing to see everything in bloom.

We're moving!

Well, not yet. But we're close. We had a lot of interest in our house and a few people made offers on it. Now we're in the option period on one of those offers, and we are so ready to get this done! I will be a little sad to leave the house where we brought home our first born child, and the first house we came home to as husband and wife. BUT ... there is a whole lifetime of memories yet to be made at our new house! Now if we can just agree on a new one ...

Starting Out

Now that all of my friends and a lot of my family have their own blogs, I figured I should step out into the "world of technology" and create my own little blog, too. Of course I feel incredibly guilty that I haven't kept much of a historical record on the huge, life-changing events that have happened over the last few years such as training for a marathon, getting married, having a baby, and quitting my job as a PR specialist to become a full-time SAHM. But all we can do is look forward, right? So here goes! In this blog you'll read about my beautiful baby girl, Amelia (we call her Mia for short), and about my amazing husband, Chris (who, as a computer programmer by trade, is no doubt chuckling at my attempt at being blogger savvy). I also like to share things that are happening at our church, Sagemont Church, which is what some might consider a "mega-church," but it feels amazingly like a small, hometown church you might have known as a kid.

I'm also pursuing a part-time career as a freelance writer, so I'll probably throw some of my article ideas out there from time to time. I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoy writing them!