Checking In

I just realized that I haven't written a post in 3 weeks! Life just runs away with you when you let it. Nothing really big has happened but we are getting close to some! In 2 months we take a nine day European trip to 4 countries. In 3 months my little boy turns 5, and in 4 months we will once more pursue IVF. Right now is kind of a limbo between calmness and our life possibly changing in a huge way.

Bradley is growing by leaps and bounds! He has gotten very good at reading and sounding out simple words. Every where we go he points out words that he can read. He loves books and LOVES school. He was pretty sad during spring break when he had to stay home. We went to his parent-teacher conference a couple of weeks ago and his teacher said the only thing he needs help with is his social interaction....ha! Just like his momma and daddy. He is still learning how to control his emotions and how to interact with several children, but I told his teacher it is not something we can work on at home because we don't have other kids! He is already enrolled in Kindergarten and will be in school all day in August! I know he will love it.

I am still doing both recovery room and ICU nursing. It is working out well so far and has really helped me get more hours in at work. I love having my life back since I cut way back on how much call I take and have actually turned my pager OFF. I went from being on call around 15 days per month down to about 3-4 days per month.

We are all looking forward to the springtime and I have already started some seeds indoors. I don't have a green thumb by any means so I'm hoping that at least a few sprout! Not too much longer and I will be planting lots of pretty things outside when the nights warm up a bit more.

Thank you for reading!

Super Easy Homemade Slice and Bake Cookies

 This isn't so much a "recipe" as it is a neat trick! My first time trying this turned out just as I imagined so I thought I would share it for anyone else out there interested in making homemade food a little easier.

First you take any of your favorite cookie recipes and double it. When it is all mixed up and ready to drop onto the cookie sheet you stop and divide it in half. Take a large piece of plastic wrap and plop one of the halves onto it. Then you fold the wrap over the mound and start to work it into a log shape. It will be very soft and squishy so just work with it until it is a log then cover it all up with the plastic wrap. Write the temperature and time that it needs to bake (and what kind of cookie it is!) then throw it in the freezer! It should look like this:

The roll I baked today had been frozen around 3 months and tasted just fine. I probably would not recommend freezing longer than 6 months for taste. When you are ready to bake, take it directly out of the freezer and unwrap it. While your oven is preheating you just slice it up into 1/2" thick rounds and place on a cookie sheet. You will need to bake it a few minutes longer than the original recipe (because they are frozen) so keep a close eye. Cool on a cookie sheet like normal and enjoy!!

 This is the perfect way to have cheap homemade cookies with almost ZERO effort. I have started doing this any time I make cookie dough. This batch pictured is peanut butter cookies, and I also have a log of chocolate chip cookies frozen. Homemade is best!