My Boys.......

Brownie Extravaganza

It's that time of year again.......yup, it was time for some holiday baking. Every year I do a big baking day and make goodies for Ben and I to take to all the people we work with. To give you some perspective last year I ended up making over 1000 cookies. I knew there was no way I could take care of Riley and still be able to make that many cookies so I went with something a little less labor intensive and made brownies this year. I ended up making 9 different kinds of brownies and ended up with 288 large brownies.

I made: Peanut Butter Hazelnut Brownies, Choco-Marshmallow Bars, Peppermint Bark Brownies, S'mores Bars, Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies, Fudge Brownies, Fudge Brownies with Walnuts, Cream Cheese Brownies, and Black and White Brownies

The baking part ended up being the easy part of the whole process. For the past couple of years I have always had my sister Cindy around to help me during the packaging portion of the process. Not this year!! Since I was wrapping each brownie individually and labeling them and then packaging them it was quite a process.....I was my own little sweat shop! I had a blast though and can't wait until next year to come up with something new!!

Here are some pictures of what I ended up with:

Last Year's Cookie Extravaganza!

The 9 different kinds of brownies

Each of the brwonies individually wrapped and labeled

The finished products......the front and back of the bags!!

The label on the bag

Where Does the Time Go

So sorry about not keeping up with the blog. I warned all of you that I'm not great about this!! Here's a little photo montage of what we have been up to since Thanksgiving.......

Quentin and DiDi were out from Arizona for a visit the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had a little seafood cookout at the house and hung out. It seems like it has been forever since we last saw them so it was a nice chance to catch up. We'll be going to Las Vegas in March for their wedding!!

King of the Bathtub!! We had to do a little strategic cropping to make this PG13!

I always like to go and get a Christmas tree as soon as Thanksgiving is done with. However, the past couple of years has taught me that trying to find a "nice" tree in LA that early is next to impossible since it is never cold here and the stores don't want to have all their trees die so they put out trees later. So, we waited until the first weekend of December to go on our hunt. Like my mom and sisters I want the "perfect" tree....the right size, the right height, the right bushiness, the right shape, etc., etc. This usually means that Ben is opening and shaking out multiple trees...however this year, much to the shock of Ben, we opened up only one tree and it was perfect!! The tree is up, the house decorated, and the presents wrapped......we're ready for Christmas!!

Ben went on his first job interview this past week to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Riley missed his papa and wanted to send him a good luck picture telling him how much he loved him!! Riley would make an adorable cowboy if we ended up in Texas.

I love to bake but it's been awhile since I've been able to do much since the pregnancy (who wants to bake when it's 90 degrees outside and you're pregnant!) and Riley's birth. Caroline's birthday was a great reason to pull out the cake pans again and do some baking! Ben was gone at his interview at the time and Riley decided that he had to be held so making the chocolate swirls for the border with Riley in one arm was a new experience!! However the cake - a chocolate cake filled with strawberries and bananas and a cream cheese cream and ganache filling - turned out great! Happy Birthday Caroline!!