Vintage Soured Heavy Cream Sugar Cookies

I recently have started attending MOPS

and have really enjoyed it. A friend I recently made from there, named

Jessica, was talking about this recipe. She also spoke a little bit about her husbands ancestry 

and needless to say I was rather enthralled. I also just had to make these cookies. 

These cookies were her Great Grandmother-in-laws recipe.

I just love things with a little history. Not too long ago Jessica was looking through a book of her husbands genealogy and noticed that down the line one of the Great Great Great(?) Grandparents, when coming over from Germany started a candy store. Jessica apparently couldn't help but giggle because they are all wonderful bakers with a bit of a sweet tooth. 

Now that you have the back story here are these dang good cookies...

Vintage Soured Heavy Cream Sugar Cookies

My Notes: 

1) ITS 2 Cups Sugar NOT 2 cups of SUGAR Cookies haha

2) This recipe makes around 6 dozen cookies so I cut when making I 

cut in half

3) The flour you end up adding is around 6 cups

4) Feel free to sour your heavy cream yourself with mixing 1 TBL of vinegar to your cream, let sit for 15 minutes

5) mix your softened butter and sugar first for one minute or two (AKA cream your butter and sugar), then add wet ingredients, lastly mix dry ingredients separately then add little by little to wet ingredients in stand mixer

6) you must chill your dough in the fridge for 4-6 hours or overnight to make rolling easier

This is the texture of my dough before I chilled it for 4 hours

I made some fun alligators with my daughter :) and then some more traditional ones 

For the frosting I used BHG Butter Frosting 

 which was so yummy and creamy. I did substitute cream for the milk because I am naughty like that. creamy...

My husband could not keep his hands off of these things and he is a self proclaimed anti-cookie and cake person. These babies are a winner

Mommy's Pick II "Favorite Childrens Book"

Brief Thief by: Michael Escoffier 

This book was my daughters favorite out if the bunch. I'm sure it had little to do with the toilet humor the book is peppered with. :D 

I liked it for it's adorable illustrations.

One cute story about a Geoko using what's in hand and paying for it later. 

Pint Size Glam

My daughter dresses better then I do.

She's always styling.

Here's what she wore two days ago. 

Mommy's Pick

I'm sure there are a lot of other moms out there that have a favorite childrens book that sticks out from the bunch. That one out of the ten that week they don't mind reading over and over, until the next visit to the Library. Whether it's the story or the illustrations there's usually atleast one I really enjoy.

I thought I would do a series this summer posting my stand out of the week. 

Here's this weeks

 

When My Baby Dreams

By Adele Enersen

The photos in this one were so enchanting. Real life Mama Adele makes stories around her daughter as she sleeps, they represent the dreams she imagines her baby having. My daughter loves babies so she really enjoyed it also. I also teared up reading the dedication to her daughter. 

Chevron Toddler Tank

Made a new tank as a gift. Completely my own design and out of my own head only. For once. Its so fun see things take shape as you go. 

My model showed it off well :) 

Girls Maxi Skirt Tutorial

( UPDATE:

This is an up-cycle. I had that originally in the title but when checking where my traffic was coming from in search engines some people were looking for a combination of the wording I used in the original title. Its very upsetting, especially when "Little Girl" was part of it. I would like to find people like that and publicly humilate them among other things)

I was in the sewing mood.

But I wanted something quick

I dig quick

Quick gets me a finished project Inbetween "nursings"

Quick got me this maxi skirt for my daughter in 15 minutes flat. I didn't even use pins.

I walk on the wild side.

Here's a quick "Tutorial"

Child's Maxi Skirt

Find a woman's knee to calf length knit skirt with elastic waist.

Have your daughter step into it

With your fingers pinch the waist on both hips to where it fits. 

Mark the spots on both hips with a pin or a washable marker. Make sure you mark the front of the skirt and back of the skirt on both hips (4 marks) 

Now sew the skirt. With jersey knit use a zig zag stitch so the fabric will still have give to it aka stretch.

As you sew down flare the stitch out (as seen in photo above) just a little or the fit will be more like a pencil skirt and not a maxi. 

BAM

You're done!

The Hem should be already done but if you're  unhappy with the length you can always raise the hem higher

Labor/Delivery Christian Playlist

The Prince is Here!

I have not talked about it much on here but my baby doll is here!

7 lbs 3 ounces 20 1/2 long

He's 2 weeks today

WOW

I haven't talked about it much on here only because I never got around to it not because 

I lacked anything to say :)

I was busy blabbing my mouth on instagram

Barrett was a successful VBAC.

For all you other VBAC or wannabe VBAC mommies I

know you know how big of deal that is.

How much research, time, tears, anxiety, and prayer you

poured over that upcoming birth.

I was so very prepared this time around for delivery so 

I thought I would make sure to share some of my resources I used for 

Labor/Delivery.

Eventually I'll write Baby Bear's Birth Story but for now I'm going to do 

the quicker thing and just share with you the "Peaceful" Christian playlist I 

used for Labor and delivery.  I put quite a bit of time and thought into this playlist wanting just 

the right words and mood to be set in the room. 

I think I won the Labor/Delivery playlist with this one...if there is such a thing as beating everyone else :)

I cannot tell you how much I know I will cherish these songs now

I think they bring me closer to the Lord after all of this then they helped me through labor...

Here are some lyrics that really stuck out to me from each song:

1) Love knows No End

"I know my help is in your name
In everything Held by hands
Of mercy I will run and not grow weary
I will rise in God my strength"

2) Oceans

"You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown, where feet may fail...
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made strongerIn the presence of my Savior"  

3) Still

"When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with you above the storm

Father you are king over the floodI will be still and know you are God"

4) My Hope Is In You 

"A peace that passes, understanding is my song and I sing

My hope is in You aloneI wait for You and my soul finds rest"

5) While Im Waiting 

"While I'm waiting I will worship

While I'm waiting I will not faint

I'll be running the race even while I wait
I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord

And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord"

6) What A Savior

"Jesus, You are stronger More than any other

Hallelujah, what a SaviorJesus, You are higher

My souls deepest desire"

7) Safe and Sound

"Couldn't wait to meet you...

I get the funny feelingLife will never be the same

Safe & sound

You're here with me now

Like I hoped you'd be"

8) Yearn

"Holy design

This place in timeThat I might seek and find my God My God"

9) Forever Reign

You are good, You are good When there's nothing good in me

You are love, You are love On display for all to see

You are light, You are light When the darkness closes in

You are hope, You are hope"

10) You're Here (just in case he was born on christmas)

"You're here, I'm holding You so near 

I'm staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator 

You could've left us on our own, but You're here"

11) How Deep the Fathers Love For Us

"How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure" 

12) Hope Now

"When my life is like a storm

Rising waters all I want is the shoreYou say I'll be ok and

Make it through the rainYou are my shelter from the storm"

13) Grace For Me

"This jar of clay and all its weakness;

Somehow inside dwells Your fullness.

Even though I’m not yet flawless,You are forming me"

14) Beautiful Things

"You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us"

15) In Your Arms

"When the waves dash against the boulders 

and my ships tossed on an angry sea i feel your 

hand rest gently on my shoulder you guide me home and seal the storm in me "

16) Carry Me Through

"There's a mountain

Here before me And I'm going to climb it

With strength not my ow nHe's gonna lead me

Or the mountain beats me Carry me through"

17) Mine to Love

 "Theres a weight off my shoulder

Theres laughter in the air

You are the answer to every midnight prayer

Youre mine to love

We have all been waitin on you"

18) You are for Me

"I know that You are for meI know that You are for meI know that 

You will never

Forsake me in my weakness"

19) God I Look to You

"God I look to You, I won’t be overwhelmed 

Give me vision to see things like You do 

God I look to You, You’re where my help comes from"

20) How He Loves

"I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me."

21) Only You

"Take my fret, take my fear

All I have, I'm leaving here"

22) On Fire

"And you're on fire when he's near you

You're on fire when he speaks

You're on fire burning at these mysteries"

And I'll leave you with some pictures...

DIY Fall Family and Maternity Photos

So our fall pictures took about 10 minutes, 15 tops to take. Basically that's how long my daughter/husband lasted. At least we got that long haha. She was whining because she just woke up and kept getting pissed when I would have her stand anywhere but right next to us. There are tears in her eyes in most the shots but I'm still glad we did them. In five years all that will be forgotten.

So here are some of our DIY Family/Maternity Pictures, tripods are amazing!

Oh what a cute shot...

 Oh wait the sono picture was just covering her crying face. 

She was mad because she thought she wasn't in the picture...

Here is my absolute favorite shot. The last pose we took. My husband took this for me. 

I cant decide if I like the B&W one or Color better 

Hope this gave you some ideas on how to save money on Family pictures!

Nursery Update #2

My little Baby Bears nursery is coming along. I love starting these types of things way earlier 

and just slowly letting them come together.  you get fresh ideas along the way, its not matchy-matchy, and its so less stressful.  I'll try and do a more detailed one when its finished but if you have any questions I'll try and answer just comment. 

 Here's the ombre quilt I made for the little guy. Again hopefully I can get around to making a post on just it. This quilt was so fun and easy. Took me 2 hours to cut and sew!  The crib skirt is an upcycle from an old bed skirt we didn't use anymore. I used velcro and a hot glue gun for that project :D  I really love how the decal turned out too.

 My husband came up with the awesome antler tie backs to hold his DIY curtains. I am in love with them. You can see my curtain post DIY peg board info here

See his side table? 

Yeah that came from a tree we cut down a couple weekends ago. 

It'll be nice to put a lamp on for night nursing and a glass of water, again for night nursing haha. 

I'm really struggling with lamp ideas though :(

DIY peg board info  here

7 more weeks till I can smooch and snuggle my little guy! I'm so excited to do this again.
Pregnancy and Child rearing is such a beautiful blessing and God given privilege.

One Project Down

Finished painting the side table and absolutely love it! Not too bad for and $8 thrift store find. I attached fabric to the front inserts, and spray painted it white since it was dinged up and had that old yellowing paint that so many pieces from other decades have. I should be a Spokesperson for spray paint I love it so much, and believe in it :) Now onto the next ten things to finish in my daughter's soon to be Big Girl room. Bring it on!

Here's the side by side comparison of the before/after (but before I painted it)