Our Outdoor Adventure

Lately we have been staying inside because it's been soo hot outside, well that, and I'm lazy and don't really want to try and handle all three boys all by myself. But there was one day last week where the boys were driving me crazy, and I knew it was because they were so bored. So I looked outside, and it was a little overcast and it "looked" like it could be a decent day to get out. 

FYI- Never go by how it "looks" from the nice confines of your home!

Nevertheless, we went out to this nice big park here in Liverpool, and the boys had a blast.

I actually remembered to bring to the camera. But alas, they were too busy playing to even look my way. Hence, the reason no one is looking at the camera...

 He heard a plane going by...right before I snapped the picture he was looking right at me with a big grin on his face...stupid plane!

Jacob enjoyed my attempts to get him to look at me...he would say "cheese" and then turn and run the opposite direction!

My boys love to watch other children play too...that's why the serious faces

Stinking boy would not look at me!

Chasing after some seagulls

running away from Mommy...

"Let me out!"

Don't ask me why he's biting the stick...he's just weird like that, and he's 3.

It might have been overcast but it was so stinking humid the poor boys were dripping in sweat.

Showing off their disgusting sweaty heads...actually they were watching more kids, but I took the picture anyways so you could see the sweat! haha

And afterwards, my major mistake! They were so hot I thought it would only be nice of me to get them some ice cream to help cool them down. They looked so cute sitting there holding their cones...

It was not so cute when we got home and they had ice cream covering themselves and their car seats! I got them the chocolate covered cones because I thought the chocolate would contain some of the melting ice cream, and it did...to a point. Never making that mistake again!

And this is what Gabe did for most of the time there! His outfit says sit all! :)

A Mistake that I Will Probably Be Making Again!

Last night I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies...actually I've been in the mood for them for a couple of days now, but last night was the first night I actually wanted to spend the time to make them. haha So I did...let me set the stage for you...


It was after a very long day with three boys who didn't want to sleep at all. Actually, I think the only one who really did was Jacob and he only took a nap for 1 1/2 hours, very different than his usual 3 hour naps. We have decided to not let David take any more naps (even though he still needs them) because when he does he then doesn't go to sleep until really late at night. And I don't know why Gabe wasn't sleeping, I would get him to go to sleep in my arms or in the swing and then lay him down in his bed, and 15-20 minutes later he was up screaming again.


So pretty much it was a day of screaming, cranky children. And then I had to make dinner, which wasn't so bad, but still tiring. Looking back, I'm not too sure what made me want to make cookies, but nevertheless, I started making them. I found this new interesting recipe on pinterest that I wanted to try, so I got everything ready and started mixing the ingredients. I got to the part where I had to add the butter and I read the recipe "3/4 cup unsalted butter." I looked at the stick of butter and for some strange reason I thought I read that a whole stick was 1/4 cup, so I thought 3 sticks makes 3/4 of a cup. Next thought, "Wow, that's a lot of butter." Read the recipe again to make sure that's what it said, yep, 3/4 cup of butter. In went the butter. I didn't even think to check the stick again...


I finished everything and realized my dough didn't look like the picture online, so I read through the recipe again to make sure I did everything right. Yep, everything looks great. So I put the first batch in the oven. They flattened so fast I knew something was wrong, so I began thinking about what I did. Thought about the butter and shock ran through my body, I ran over to the trash and pulled out the paper. Sure enough it said 1/4 cup- half a stick, 1/2 cup- whole stick. I had doubled the amount of butter! I thought about how I could fix it and just started to pour more flour in the batter. Luckily, that worked.


The cookies tasted very buttery when I tried them right out of the oven, so I started cursing myself that I ruined all of these cookies. Well, I tried them today and Oh. My. Gosh! Absolutely heavenly! They are the softest, sweetest chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted! They taste just like ones you would get from a bakery! They literally melt in your mouth! I just had to share my mistake! Maybe I should bake when I'm tired more often! haha

I got the recipe from here...but here is my mistake version. Enjoy!!


The Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!


Ingredients:
3 sticks of unsalted butter, soften
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in. Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.