How to bake cookies 101

Baking the perfect peanutbutter chocolate chip cookie can be difficult. However with good help you can do it! Here's how: Step 1: Mix the cookie dough Step 2: Spoon it out onto a baking sheet Step 3: Feel for consistancy in texture (very important!!) Step 4: Taste for consistancy in flavour (also very important!!) Step 5: Bake @ 350F for 10 minutes Step 6: Feel for soft chewy texture Step 7: Taste for soft chewy texture Step 8: Taste again, but this time for chocolatey goodness! Step 9: "Baking cookie is tough but I think I'd do it again if you ever needed more help Mom" :) "Just you wait... I'm outta here the moment you walk out that door!" "You'd never know I was planning an escape by the cute innocent look in my eyes" Streakin' Visi-girl ~ had to dry on Daddy's visi-vest she found in the closet yesterday:)

Need a name!

Any suggestions for a good (female) puppy name? Please submit!!!

Aiden decided to get up close & personal with our new puppy this evening. He's a fearless little boy (and strong - when he grabs onto something he's got a death grip that won't budge). Thankfully our puppy is a gentle, submissive little pup! The moment he grabbed her fur she put her head down and waited for him to let go (or rather, to be rescued).

Our new 4 legged friend!!!!!

Well we've been talking about getting a dog once moving for awhile now... however I didn't expect we'd get an opportunity for awhile, infact we thought we'd wait a few months at least before seriously looking for one. However a work buddy showed up at the ranch where Kev's been working with the cutest puppy ever!! A girl there claimed him pretty quick so we when we disocovered there were still two left we drove to the house to see them. Let's just say we couldn't leave without:) She's a female German Shepherd/Husky - a BIG puppy! Our motivation for getting a dog was for two reasons: The first being that we wanted one to protect the kids from wildlife while in the backyard (believe it or not, our neighbor told us a cougar wandered through our backyard last spring), going for hikes or camping in the summer. The second reason being that Atalie is deathly afraid of anything living that isn't human and we would like to help her overcome that fear sooner than later. Today she even refused to touch the cute fuzzy black caterpillar on the ground and ran away screaming when she saw the puppy at the ranch. Sheesh! Well after observing her new pet for a couple hours this evening she got up the courage to touch it (quickly!) and seems to really like her! Yea:) :)

Aiden worm crawls

Aiden turned 6 months old yesterday and began crawling two days before. Here's his cute little shuffle!

SO with much frusteration I'm going to have to ask that you view the next two posts in reverse. This stinkin program won't let me publish them in the order I choose... read "Pictures of House" BEFORE "Pictures of house continued..." Thanks!

Pictures of house continued...

...pics continued... Kids room (Atalie's half) (Aiden's half) Main bath - mirror installation attempt #1 a failure. Yet to get around to attempt #2. Master bedroom - decided on a dark chocolate paint colour... yummmmm! Let's head downstairs... the doors straight ahead are the bathroom and utility/laundry rooms. Around the corner to the left is the office. Bathroom - just needs shower doors and faucet hooked up. Office Utility/laundry room - currently a disaster zone. Hallway leading to the entertainment room. Door #1 leads to a spare bedroom which I'll only let you peak into now b/c it's a temporary storage space. Door #2 leads to the spare bedroom which we'll soon have a bed set up in for all our lovely visitors!! Atalie's cherished box house (courtesy of our stove and creatively kind friend Mike) The movie couch - another cherished item! Entertainment/play area. Back stairway leading to the backyard, accessed through the utility room (please ignore the crack - revert back to the Foundation post I did in summer if curious). Garden shed in unfinished backyard - which is actually surprisingly large! Front deck with numerous tools to gaze out at while eating dinner:) Aahhh... can you feel the serenity??

Pictures of the house

So after many requests I've got up the motivation on a tidy-house day to take some pictures and post them. I've placed the descriptions below the pictures. Here you go: Above we have the stairs leading up to the front entrance. Come on in:) Living room Mainfloor (for lack of a better description) - you'll notice trim around the left windows... this will continue throughout the whole house but is only partially done. Kitchen Dining area View from kitchen window (my valentines gift from Kev infront!) MY beloved island!! Honestly the best part of the whole house:) Pantry and broom closet Hallway leading to kids room, bathroom & master bedroom