Peanut Butter Hershey Kiss Cookies

My sweet friend Bekah (who is also extremely close to her due date) posted a picture of this kind of cookie earlier last week on her Facebook, and ever since I saw them on my news feed, I've been wanting them! Last Sunday night after an extremely busy and productive weekend (and a Redskins win!) I decided to take a stab at these delicious cookies that I had never tried making before. They were extremely easy and they are so good!! Here's the recipe that I found on Pinterest:

Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter

- 1 cup peanut butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 3 cups flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 package of Hershey's kisses

Yields 3+ dozen cookies

Instructions:

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars with a mixer.

Beat in eggs and vanilla, then stir in the dry ingredients.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll lightly in sugar.

Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.

Remove from the oven and immediately press a Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie.

Let sit for about 3 minutes, then move to cooling racks to cool. That's it!

They were delicious... Enjoy!! :)

The Nursery! :)

After two extremely busy weekends full of finishing up the preparations for Bennett's arrival in less than a month (ah!), we finally finished the nursery! After my Cecil shower two weekends ago, my Mom came back with us and spent the weekend helping me unpack everything, wash everything, run a million errands and started putting things away. I couldn't thank her enough for all of her help - we got so much accomplished and were so exhausted after working so hard on everything! (I took a 3.5 hour nap after she left last Monday afternoon) :)

This past weekend my girlfriend Ashley and her sweet 6 month old came for the weekend to help me put the finishing touches on the decorations that I have been working on. While we worked on decorations, Eric assembled the rock 'n play and a stool for Bennett's bathroom. During our late night of getting so much done, Ash put together the swing, pack 'n play and even installed the carseat in our car! When all of our crafts were done, we started hanging everything on Bennett's walls!

Now that his nursery is finished, I feel like we are even more ready (and even more excited if that's at all possible) for our little man to arrive. I'm so excited to share the final photos of the nursery with all of you. (Be sure to take a peek back at all of the "before" stages of the nursery... It has come such a long way!) I'm obsessed with the way it turned out and love all of the personal little touches found throughout the nursery.

Nursery Stage 1 - Prepping & Painting

Nursery Stage 2 - Blinds & Furniture

Nursery Stage 3 - Painting Project

Nursery Stage 4 - The Closet

One awesome thing to note that I am so thankful for, is that Ashley's Mom Mom made all of our bedding - from the quilts, curtain, pillow, rail cover, crib skirt, and car seat canopy - to a ton of little blankets, receiving blankets and burp cloths. As soon as we found out that we were expecting a little boy, Mom Mom told us to pick the fabric that we loved and that as our gift for the baby shower, she wanted to make all of our nursery pieces. Words can't describe how beautiful everything turned out to be and how much time and work she put into everything - we love it so incredibly much!

We already love spending time in the nursery and enjoy sitting in there just thinking about how incredible life will be once our little man is here. 

Next item on our to do list... packing our hospital bags! :) 

Tucker's 2nd Birthday

And our (not so) little guy is two already! [Click here to read about his 1st Birthday and first year with us]. Another year has flown by and he has brought so much more love and happiness into our lives this year! With the addition of a soon-to-be little (human) brother, he's also gained a new role this year as big brother - one that I'm not yet sure he's fully aware of at this time (but he's extremely smart and definitely knows that something is up). I cannot wait to see what this next year brings, and how he will be with a little baby under our roof! Tonight Nonie and Poppy joined us for dinner and we all (including the birthday boy) celebrated with a steak dinner, sweet potatoes and ice cream for dessert - a meal fit for a little king! :)

Age Two Favorites: (in no particular order)

• The dog park! He loves meeting new friends and running like crazy with other pups
• Going for car rides
• Laying on Eric's side of the bed (some things never change)
• Going on walks (which we now have to spell out when we talk about taking one, or he'll go absolutely crazy until we're out the door!)
• Peanut butter
• Large carrots - one of his favorite snacks
• The goats at Meme and Pop's house (they run and play together through the fence... he still can't figure out why he's not allowed on the other side of the fence to actually play with them)
• Cuddling - He's always been a huge cuddler, but now that Mom's pregnant and he senses something is up - he's been so attached and wants to constantly be touching and snuggling close at bed time
• Deer antlers
• Gazing out of the window during the day - acting as a neighborhood watch dog
• His neighborhood friends! He's quite the popular pup in the neighborhood between all of the dogs and the kids - everywhere we go, someone is yelling "Tucker!" and running over to pet him and ask how he's doing
• Playing tug-of-war with his rope toys
• Laying on warm laundry
• Playing in the snow!
• Laying on the cold leather couch in the man room with Dad
• Scrambled eggs, strawberries and red bell peppers

Age Two Facts:

• Weight - 76 pounds 
• Eats - Twice/day, dry food (2 cups) + ground turkey for each meal
• Still sleeps with Mom and Dad - usually at the bottom of the bed by our feet, but lately, he wants to be either in between us or spooning with Mom on her side of the bed.
• He's paying more attention to the TV - when he sees any animal on TV, he becomes super focused and concentrated until the animal disappears - it's so funny
• New role of Big Brother, starting in 4 short weeks (or less!)

Here are a few photos from this past year:

The goats at Meme & Pop's house

Tucker loves the snow!

Receiving the news of his new promotion this year!

He loves his deer antlers!

Running crazy with friends at the dog park

One of his favorite places to nap - the man room!

Loves his car rides

Such a handsome boy!

XL Carrot sticks!

Post-dinner walks <3

And some birthday photos from this evening...

Looking forward to another fantastic year with our handsome pup! :)