Phone Photos

As per usual most of our day to day life is captured on my trusty iPhone. So here's a little update on our lives in phone pictures.

Little missy is up to no good about 99% of the time now a days. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

All last week Daddy worked during the day and was home in the evenings for dinner and bath time. We loved it and I think he did too. The picture says it all. 

Yes, awww so cute. But seriously this dang dog is on the naughty list at our house. The day I took this picture she honest to goodness PEED ON MY STAIRS. Seriously, dog?! How is that even possible? She was trying to redeem herself here. I can just see her train of thought, "Hmmm mom is really mad. Maybe if I'm extra sweet to the tiny human she will forgive me!" ha!

MOPS wears a sista out. Too tired to even put down the cheerios!

She is such a DRA-MA QUEEN. She was sitting in this box, then fell out. She proceeded to sprawl out over the floor like she fell from the bed. I have no idea who she got her flair for the dramatic from... ;-)

 Beggar. Although I don't blame her. A few nights ago I made deer sausage baked ziti and it was quite delicious if I do say so myself.

Saturday night I baked and baked. I love baking but don't always love having the leftovers around. I am easily tempted! ha! So I've started baking on Saturday's and then I just take all of it to Sunday School the following morning. I get to feed people, we have a few baked goods leftover, the husband is happy. It's a win all around!

The weather was dreary and gross Sunday so I decided to dress EC is something bright and cheery. We are ready for spring weather and a bright and fun wardrobe around here!

Walking into church Sunday morning these two were cracking me up. EC was giggling the entire way and making crazy faces. I tried to snap a picture of her face but ended up getting this priceless picture. I love this man. 

She's like a sour patch kid. Sweet one moment then sassy the next. I literally took these two pictures one after another. One second she was sweet and smiley, then the next second she was sassing me and screaming! Do I have a toddler or a teenager?

These days are just flying by. I know that the next time I blink Emma Claire is going to be turning sixteen. While we do have tough days, for the most part I just LOVE this stage of her little life. She is funny, smart, goofy, sassy, and BRILLIANT. What? She's my kid, it's my blog...I'm totally allowed to say all of that. Plus, it's TRUE! :-)

New Beginnings

Last week I had my very first official newborn session. It was so much fun. Sweet Liana was the perfect "client". I am SUPER excited to share a little sneak peek with yall. 

Isn't she a doll? I just loved getting to work with her. Such a special morning. 

If you want to see more click here to head on over to Mallorie Gayle Photography's Facebook page!

I'm Dreaming of a White {House} Christmas

Several weeks ago we were honored to be able to tour the White House at Christmas time. It truly was a special treat and I have been itching to share our pictures. It was Emma Claire's first time to go inside the White House, as well as mine. We brought along our friends Chris and Hayley and their twin boys. It was a magical evening, and despite several tantrums we all survived and had a great time!

These two are too much. I'm crazy about them. This might be my new favorite picture.

 Emma Claire loved the trees. Although she wanted to touch every. single. ornament. I'm happy to say she didn't break any.

The trees were so elaborate and creative.

EC and I with our favorite first lady. And yes, she has an ornament in her hands. She swiped it off of the floor. Whatever it takes to keep the toddler happy.

Emma Claire's favorite part of the entire night. Playing with the ornaments in the hallway.

Our family pictures were less than perfect but I love them. They make me smile. So representative of the stage of life we are in.

She is a mess.

The rooms were breathtaking. These pictures just don't do it justice.

This was my favorite tree. Most of the ornaments were handmade by children of deployed soldiers. So sweet. 

Now if only I could have these chandeliers and crown molding into MY house! ha!

That is a gingerbread WHITE HOUSE! So neat!

Wouldn't it be fun to have a Christmas party in this room? I mean the chairs are already set up and everything!

So the funniest part of the night. Emma Claire found this ancient and outrageously expensive nice antique table and decided THAT was where she wanted to spend the remainder of the evening. It's almost like JFK knew what she was doing and wanted to watch her :-)

She was a HOOT! Everyone that walked by stopped and laughed. She was the entertainment of the night.

Headed to the exit we saw good ol' George. We love him.

The very last tree of the night.

Our little socialite. I felt like the paparazzi catching her as she left a ball at the White House. So glamorous.

And it wouldn't be a true blog post of mine without showing you how the end of our night ACTUALLY went down. Emma Claire did NOT want to leave and boy did she let us know. She kept trying to run back to the White House and was not a happy camper when we decided to just carry her {screaming} to the car.

Poor babe was exhausted and so so tired. She was asleep before we left the parking lot. 

So there you go! Your very own White House tour. You feel just like you were there, right? ha! I loved looking back on the pictures as I wrote this post. It was such a fun and special night, I can't wait to do this next year and make it a family tradition.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

If you are lucky enough to have tasted this dessert then you know what I mean when I say your life will be changed after eating one bite of sopapilla cheesecake. It is DIVINE. A few nights ago I made a Mexican casserole for dinner and wanted something "Mexican-ey" for dessert. So I thought about making sopapillas, hoewver I don't own a fryer so that idea was out. The next obvious choice was to search "sopapiilla" on Pinterest and see what popped up. That's when I found the wonderful recipe that is sopapilla cheesecake. I read it over and decided it couldn't hurt to try, sounded pretty good. I'm happy to report it is more than "pretty good". Try it for yourself, you won't regret it. 

Ingredients

2 cans Crescent Roll

 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese (softened)

 1 cup sugar

 1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 cup butter, melted 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 tbsp cinnamon 

Directions 

- Using a 9 x 13 baking pan, unroll one package of Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough and line the bottom of the pan. 

- Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and extract.

- Spread over the crescent rolls. 

- Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.

- Pour melted butter or margarine over the top and sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture. 

- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

- Serve warm or chilled. {I prefer mine COLD!}

So I'm not going to lie to y'all. I intended to take pictures of each step of this process. Totally didn't happen. I had a screaming child at my feet and I just forgot to take more pictures. Forgive me?

 

Obviously there are several steps missing between the last picture and this one. I spread the cream cheese mixture onto the first layer of crescents. Then in order to get the top on just right I rolled it out on parchment paper and then transferred it to the baking dish. Then I poured the melted butter on top and this part isn't pictures but I generously doused with cinnamon sugar. 

A very happy ending, indeed. 

So go, my friends. Go make this heavenly dessert. It is quick, easy, and your taste buds will thank you for it. 

This is an adaptation of the Pillsbury Sopapilla Cheesecake recipe.