Lets train

Today, Luke turns 4 years old (cue tears!!!!)

In honor of his birthday, I thought I would share Luke's favorite cookie recipe.

Luke asks me several times a week to make Sprinkle cookies.

 When I look back on Summer 2016, I will think of Luke & these Sprinkle cookies.

This is the summer he really got into helping me bake...and these Sprinkle Cookies are currently his favorite thing to bake (and eat!)

Here is what you need:

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature ( 1 1/2 sticks of butter)

1 cup  sugar
1 egg, plus 1 yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 (3.4 ounce packet instant vanilla pudding mix)
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sprinkles, plus additional sprinkles for rolling

Add in the egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined.

Add the dry pudding mix:

Mix on low for about 1 minute:

Add in the 2 cups of flour and mix for 2-3 minutes on low until combined.

Now, it's SPRINKLE TIME!

Mix in 1/4 cup sprinkles:

We love the non-perils Sprinkles, but you can use any type of sprinkle you want.

Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.

After your dough has been chilled, use a cookie scoop to make balls of dough:

THIS is the cookie scoop I use.

Luke really likes sprinkles, so after I scoop the cookies into balls, I roll them in MORE sprinkles!

You can never have too many Sprinkles...or can you? ;)

Sprinkles make everything better :)

Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes:

These cookies are SO soft & delicious!

All the sprinkles on these cookies just make me happy :)

YUM.

This recipe makes 2 dozen cookies.  We rolled the first dozen in Sprinkles, but I didn't do that for the 2nd dozen, because I wanted to see how they would turn out. They were still amazing. Kate liked this version better.

I thought they were both delicious :)

I can't wait to make these Sprinkle Sugar Cookies this December with Christmas Sprinkles!

In case you missed yesterday's post, it is my blog's 8th Golden Blogoversary, so I am having a week of giveways! 

Today's giveaway is:

Today, August 9th is National Book Lovers Day, so it's perfect for this giveaway.... 
$100 Gift Card to AMAZON!

I use THIS veggie spiralizer. It's awesome & so easy to use!
One of my very favorite zoodle recipes is my Chicken & Shrimp Pad Thai

Recipe {HERE}

{TWO}
Our trampoline is my favorite. I am so glad Santa brought it :)
Everyday after school, the kids jump on it before we start homework & it's a great way for them to get the wiggles out.

THIS is the trampoline we got. I HIGHLY recommend it!

{THREE}
Going to the Banff Mountain Film Festival Tour is one of our favorite things!
The past 2 years we have gone with some of our best friends.
It comes to UC Berkeley & The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco every year.
They are inspirational movies....if you have one on tour near where you live, I highly recommend going!
Before the show, we went to Homeroom in Oakland for dinner.
It is a hipster restaurant that only serves Mac & Cheese.
We are so not hipsters, but I love Mac & Cheese and have heard awesome things about this place.
It did not disappoint!
I got the smoky bacon Mac & Cheese:

It was Amazing. Mac & Cheese with Bacon is totally one of my favorites!

So, last week I made my Homemade Mac & Cheese recipe & I added 1lb of cooked bacon to it since I loved having that earlier this month.

 YUM! Recipe (HERE) and just add bacon to it!

Getting a sinus infection is not my favorite, but antibiotics working their magic in 24 hours is my favorite.   
If you know me, you know I rarely take medicine. But, I had to wave the white flag, this sinus infection is kicking my butt. I had to call in the big guns & get an antibiotic because its conference week at school so I don't want to take a day off. It's easier to teach sick than to take a day off, make sub plans and reschedule my conferences....I know all you fellow teachers understand!
This week has been a doozy....Daylight Savings, Conference Week & getting a sinus infection...it was a triple whammy.

SOOOO happy it's Friday!!!!

{FIVE}
Harry Potter is one of my favorite book series of ALL time.
 
Kate started reading Harry Potter last weekend. 
Kevin and I started reading the series in 2002 when we were on our honeymoon in Maui. I saved all 8 books of the series so that our kids could one day read them. 
That day has come & Kate  loves it as much as we do. She finished the 1st book in 3 days. 
She is starting Book 2 this weekend. 
I want to start re-reading them also. Such a great series!

{SIX}
March Madness.....this is my FAVORITE time of year!!!
I LOVE it. I have done a bracket every year for the past 20+ years.
This year I am not doing so well. My Colorado Buffs were in the tourney & I always have them going too far. They lost yesterday against UConn. So bummed!

I am in charge of the pool at school, but we also do a seperate family pool.

Kate's bracket is doing amazing....she was 15 for 15 for the first 15 games yesterday.
The last game of the day yesterday she picked incorrectly. Pretty impressive for a 9 year old!

Claire's bracket is doing pretty well & so is Luke's.
We told Luke the mascots & he picked which one he wanted to win.
Got to start them young in gambling ;)

Are you doing a bracket?
Who do you have winning?

{SEVEN}
Rodan + Fields is my favorite skin care!


{EIGHT}
Stitch Fix is my Favorite!  
Stitch Fix is now offering shoes! What?!? So excited!

It's like Christmas morning every month. I have gotten them every month  for almost 2 years (you don't have to do them every month, but I love getting them, so I chose the monthly option. :)
You don't have to do it every month, you can customize it to how you want it...every other month, every 2 months, every 3 months, etc.

When you sign up for Stitch Fix , you link your Pinterest Boards to them so that know what styles you like. If you don't have Pinterest, that's okay because they also have a style questionaire for you to fill out & they have collages of outfits and you rate them on how you like them.
Each Fix comes with 5 different items & it comes with a prepaid mailing envelope, so you can easily return the items you don't want.
You aren't obligated to keep any of it! I have kept at least 1 item each time, sometimes I keep 2 or 3.
It's fun! And now they can dress you from head to toe!


{NINE}
Celebrating Holidays is my FAVORITE!

Yesterday was St. Patty's Day
Here is what we did to celebrate:
The leprechaun came & brought Lucky Charms....
 And, as usual, he left his treasure map
The kids were so excited about the trail of gold coins (Rolos)
 The leprachaun leaves a map every year...
 And usually leaves some candy...this year he brought Kate m&m's, Claire got Skittles & Luke got peanut butter m&m's
 For St. Patty's Day dinner we did our usual, Guiness Stew (Recipe HERE)
 This year I added some potatoes & carrots to it and I served it with balsamic roasted brussel sprouts with bacon. YUM!
 Now that St. Patty's is over, it's time to focus on Easter, since it's a week from Sunday!
Here are some fun activities that you can do with your kids this week to get you in the Easter Spirit! Many of these will help you focus on the true meaning of Easter....that Jesus died on the cross for all of us and rose again 3 days later.  Some of the other activities are just for fun!

The girls and I are working on our 2015 tie dyed eggs next week. Can't wait!

Happy Easter to one of my favorite Peeps Printable:


Get the printable {HERE}

You've been Egged Printable:
Last year, I posted a "You've Been Egged" Printable.
We have had so much fun "egging" our friends last year..can't wait to do it again this year!


Download it {HERE}
Bunny Tails Easter Popcorn is my kids favorite Easter Treat:

Recipe {HERE}

Check out Women's World Magazine this week....PW is on the cover (she is my favorite!)

They featured 2 of my Easter ideas in the magazine!

 So fun!
 
{TEN}
Target is my Favorite.
Target was (is?) my happy place.
Then I had kids and going to Target with 3 kids is not so fun.
Know what is fun?
Giving away a $100 Target Gift Card to one of YOU!