Baby Cherry Pies

Hello again! Need a great dessert recipe? I got one just for you! Normally I am not a huge pie girl, but when they are tiny and cute, sign me up!
I found this recipe on pinterest and decided to modify it a titch and they were delicious and just the right size for an after dinner treat!

I should have cracked this one open to show the ooey gooey filling, but I just not a great food photographer!

You need:
1 can fruit filling, I used cherry, I suppose you could use anything!
2 pre-made pie crusts, I am sure you could make some, but pie crust is also not my jam, so ready made it was! 2 crusts made 10 baby pies
4 inch round cookie or biscuit cutter
1 egg white
1/4 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 400. Lay down some parchment on a cookie sheet.
The recipe is really super easy. All you do is roll out the pie dough when it gets to room temperature. I fetched my wooden roller out from the depths of the cabinet full of things I don't really use for this one! I rolled the dough to be a little thinner than it comes to stretch out my dough usage.
Next cut out the circles, like so...

Next, top with the fruit filling. Seriously small scoops here. My first few were a little large and they definitely oozed out! 

Next top with another dough circle and press the edges shut with a fork.

Then place on the parchment lined cookie sheet and brush the tops with the egg whites.

 Pop those babies into the oven for 14 minutes.

While they are cooking whip the powder sugar and milk.

After the pies come out (again, I should have taken a picture!) let them cool for about 15 minutes on the sheet. 

While they are still warm, carefully dip them, both sides, into the icing. I just used a spoon and spatula to dip and retrieve and to my surprise non of them fell apart! Hurray!

Then put them back on the parchment to cool and let the icing harden.

Serve with ice cream or cool whip.

They were super yummy and oh-so-easy to whip up! 

Fabulous Florals!

Another scroll through my camera revealed that in addition to a ridiculous amount of stripes, I am also addicted to all things floral this freezing spring! I got out a bunch of super cute dresses and capris and such to wear this week, only to find that the next 2 weeks are going to be rainy and cold. Colorado you need new weather!

Floral top: Kohls

Jeans: Old Navy

Flats: J. Crew

Top: Express

Jeans: Target

Heels: Target

Dress, shoes and scarf: Target

Top: Kohls

Jeans: Old Navy

Flats: J. Crew

Top: Jane.com

Capris: Target

Wedges: Target

Dress: Thrifted

Cardigan: Target

Leggings: Nordstroms

Necklace: Target

Flats: J. Crew

All the happy flowers! I wonder what next week's trend will bring?

Thifty Finds

Last weekend Callie and I had a little girls day and squeezed in some thrifty thrifting! I found out our favorite little place is a-closing down, sad times! So we had to resort to our old go-to, and thankfully we found some fun treasures!

Loft dress:$ 6.99

I almost wore this for Easter, but I changed to a more comfy dress the morning of Easter. This one is so super cute and I love the cut!

Loft tee: $3.99

I need some lazy summer tees and this fit the bill!

Stripey APT. 9 tee: 3.99. I have been looking for a new black and white striped tee and this one is too cute!

Target shorts: I have been needing some new shorts for working out this spring. I can't wait to get back to running this summer! Plus these still had the tags! $2.99

Callie cleaned up! A dress, 3 tees and a pair of super cute shorts for $12, seriously you can't beat that!

And not so thrifty finds, these amazing shoes! If I didn't wear a new dress at least I had new Easter shoes! Not super comfortable, but they look awesome!

Super Stripes and Cozy Cardigans

It is a rainy Colorado day, but I will take rain over the snow any time! I was clearing out the photo section of my phone again to make room for Easter pics and I noticed I have been wearing stripes like it is going out of style!

Top: TJ Maxx

Pants: Thrifted, Gap

Flats: J. Crew

Necklace: Jane

Cardigan: Forever 21

Tank: Thrifted, ??

Jeans: Target

Flats: Old Navy

Necklace: Jane

Cardigan: Jane

Tee: Target

Pants: Thrifted, Gap

Flats: J. Crew

Peplum top: Old Navy

Vest: Target

Jeans: Target

Flats: Target

A little Saturday casual. These shoes have become my official weekend shoes. They go with EVERYthing!

Cardigan: Forever 21

Tee: Old Navy

Jeans: Target

Shoes: Target

Do you see what I mean with the stripes? They are everywhere!

Tank: Target

Cardigan: Thrifted, Loft

Jeans: Target

Flats: Wal-mart

Necklace: I made it!

Don't worry about those speckles in the picture, it's just snow flakes. Boo

Sweater: Gap

Pants: Old Navy

Necklace: Target

Heels: Target

Tee: Target

Cardigan: Target

Jeans: Target

Flats: Old Navy

Tee: Gap

Scarf: Target

Jeans: Target

Flats: Wal-mart

Happy Thursday and happy stripes and cardigans! 

Happy Easter

I love Easter! I love the thought of spring and warm and renewal. This weekend felt like just what I needed sun, things turning green and spending time with the family.

We had to forgo our annual egg hunt tradition due to a blip in my usually solid calendar and planning skills (I kid. I stink at keeping our schedules organized) So the boys helped Brien's brother get settled in his new place and the girls were left to our own devices! We had a blast spring cleaning and shopping for Easter. Callie even said and I quote, "Mom I like to listen to music when I clean. It makes it more fun." Yes, child of mine, it does.

Saturday evening, we were able to thankfully carry on at least one of our fun Easter traditions of dying eggs!

No green hulk hands this year for Kellen. He was a pro, now! After all the egg dying shenanigans we got out the baskets and carrots for old EB. I fear I may have accidentally made the Easter Bunny into something akin to Santa. You know, he comes in the night. You have to be asleep to get a treat. To the point that Kellen said we need to leave out carrots and maybe even some candy to entice him into our house. One of my girl friends at church said her son wanted to leave out cookies. So, at least I know I am not alone in this!

Easter morning came, bright and beautiful, yay! The kids dug right into their treats and we headed to grandmas for, yes, more Easter treats!

Cadbury eggs. The breakfast of champions!

After Grandma's we headed to church for a wonderful message! 

It was all about how Jesus didn't fix himself up after the Transfiguration so the disciples and us, who are all about the visual confirmation, could see that yes indeed he was tortured and died so we could go to heaven. So true.

After fabulous church, we drove up to Brien's parents to meet up with my family and have our combined Easter Feast. We are so beyond blessed to have families that love each other and get along! The thought of splitting holidays hurt my head a little!

We hunted eggs, ate amazing food and had a great time visiting and the cousins had a blast playing. I heart Easter! 

Pineapple Pie

I love dessert. There is just no way around it...I could seriously eat sweets all day, every day. I have a problem.
Speaking of dessert. You need to walk not run to the local store to make this deliciousness. And it's so easy, it's scary.

Ready for the the ingredients?

You need:
1-20 ounce can of crushed pineapple
1 premade graham cracker crust
1 cup of sour cream
2 3.4 ounce boxes of vanilla pudding mix (I used the no cooking kind. I have not a clue if it makes a difference or not!)
1 tub of cool whip

1. Mix up the pudding and sour cream and then fold in the pineapple, no need to drain. The crushed pineapple is not super liquidy.

2. Add to the pie crust.

3. Pop in the fridge for at least an hour. Or in my case in the freezer for like 45 minutes.

4. Last, frost it up with some cool whip topping. That's it, for real!

It didn't slice up super pretty, but let's be honest, it's the taste that we need and care about.

This one was a winner! Light and yummy and easy. I seriously cannot wait to make it again this summer for a tasty treat!

Take a little Trip

I was looking back the last week at some of my blog posts from when I first started. While they are not amazing, at least I was consistent. How on EARTH  did I find time to post so much?!? I have more time on my hands now and my day still seems filled to the brim with school and life and children. Yet, back then my kids were smaller and required more attention and my job was far more stressful and time consuming. Which lead to me the embarrassing conclusion that I am pretty much a slacker. I hearby promise to do better!

So lets get all kinds of caught up! Take a trip back in time with me... To a month called March....

So we took a field trip the farm with the second grade. 9 Mile Historic park is a strange little place right in the middle of the city... We had a blast! We played, fed chickens, had 1800's school, made some corn bread and then returned to life in the 2010's!

We did up St. Patrick's Day...

 On which these little nuggets got a visit from their favorite leprechaun!

Brien and I got a super awesome surprise date night! We checked eating sushi off the  bucket list! I have never been brave enough to eat raw fish, but when it's full of salmon and cream cheese and avocado and slathered in sauces, it was quite delicious!

This little cowgirl ROCKED the whole school with her amazing vocals at the talent show! She really was awesome. I thought I just had "mom" ears, thinking my princess could sing. But, afterwards so many sweet people said, "I had no a idea she could sing like that!" Even with sound issues, she smiled and sang her heart out! After the performance, we had to visit urgent care to take of an ear infection, so that was an interesting way to kick off spring break!

We spring breaked... It was rather uneventful and I was totally okay with that! The weather was kind of eh, so we fixed much needed things around the house and yard. We decorated for Easter!

We had late night, in the pouring rain ice cream trips!

And sadly, the most exciting thing we did, was a trip to Colorado's famous Casa Bonita. Or basa comita, as Kellen calls it! This place was a favorite for Callie when she was about three, so we decided hat Kellen needed to experience all the greatness that is Casa Bonita!

If you have not had the pleasure of eating at this fine establishment I suggest that you do. Let me preface that by saying, the food is awful. Truly terrible. But you pay for the atmosphere. 

I tried so hard to get a good picture....

The inside of Basa Comita is a huge waterfall/caves/Spanish villa/ tropical paradise. You really need to go and see to get the full picture! 

They do shows every 15 minutes to distract  entertain you while you dine on Mexican TV dinners!

Afterwards you play in an arcade full of broken games and explore spooky caves full of pirates and spiders. It is sensory overload. But the kids loved it and it was a fun little trip on a cold spring day!

Let's see. The rest of spring break was spent getting ready for my sweet sister in law's baby shower. The sad thing is that I got only got one,  one picture! Annnddd this was it....

I am pretty sure Callie took it with my phone, because she set up the hair bow table and wanted to show off how pretty it was. Hmmm, I am hoping my mom got some good ones on her camera!

So that's it for our little trip through March! April has been just as much of a  whirlwind! We are about to take off for the Colorado Culture Fest at school tonight so Callie can present what she has been working on! Time is running short on the end of school and Easter (My favorite!) is just a few days away. So there we have it, a month jammed into one quick post and a promise to do better! Until next time....