Backyard Camp Out & Mmm D'licious: S'mores Bars!

This being Memorial weekend, and the kick-of of summer, we had planned to take the kids camping in the local mountains for a night. When it came down to it, we decided it would still be too difficult with Emmy being so little and we didn't want to disturb her sleeping arrangements if we didn't have to.  We just moved her crib into the kids room, and they are all finally getting used to the new (at times louder) situation. So we decided we'd wait to do the real tent camping business till they are all a little bigger, but in the mean time, we could do a backyard campout!

And oh man were they excited!

They had so much fun helping set up the tent and roasting marshmallows, and eating s'mores! And I wasn't sure if Claire would last in the tent, but she did and they all had a blast! 

blurry- but here we are in the tent!

My Jacky Boy- all tucked in snug as bug, and ready for bed! He was in seventh heaven. He loves camping with Daddy and thought it was so fun to do it in the backyard! 

I slept in my bed so I could listen for Emmy (and because really...) so in the morning, I brought out hot cocoa with marshmallows for them! It was really fun!

In keeping with the Camp out theme, I thought it would be fun to try a recipe I saw on pinterest, for S'mores Bars! I modified the recipe a little so I'm posting my version! They were really delicious! Although, really, half the fun of a S'more is roasting the marshmallows and sitting by the campfire, so I wouldn't say this should take the place of real s'mores. It's just a delicious dessert. Perfect to take to a Backyard BBQ (which is what I did) or to a potluck or a birthday party!

Mmm D'Licious: S'mores Bars

Ingredients:

2 sleeves graham crackers

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Hershey's milk chocolate bars

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

1 C unsalted butter 

2 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

3 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat Oven to 375

Line baking sheet with parchment paper

In a large bowl cream sugars with softened butter.

Add eggs- mix.

Add vanilla- mix.

In another bowl mix dry ingredients.

Mix into wet ingredients gradually.

Add Chocolate chips.

Mix in 1 Cup of the mini marshmallows

Set aside or refrigerate.

"Cookie" batter. 

Break graham crackers into squares and fill the cookie sheet. They should be close and touching. *Note: I used Trader Joe's Graham Crackers and they do not break into perfect halves, and they are not as sweet as Honey Maid. Just use Honey Maid. :-)

Scoop dough balls onto each square using your cookie scoop.

Mmm.

Put them in the oven for 5 minutes.

Take them out and press a chocolate square onto each cookie. This also helps the dough spread a little more. 

Press the remaining 1/2 c marshmallows into any holes.  

Before they went back into the oven.

Place them back into the oven for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and the marshmallows are toasted! 

After.

Take out and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack. 
It can be refrigerated if you need to it to set a little quicker.
 

Go ahead, have a piece. And then have
S'more!!! 

Emmalise is One!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Emmalise!!

With each baby I feel like the years fly by even faster than with the child before! I still feel like we just had Claire's 1st Birthday, and now here we are, 14 1/2 months later, and Emmalise is already One!

We celebrated our sweet little Emmy with some family and a couple close friends! I wanted to keep it small because it is so overwhelming for little ones when there are so many people. Claire slept through most of her 1st birthday party and I think it was just because she was overwhelmed with all the people and the fuss! So this time I tried to keep it small. Plus we have literally been hosting parties over here non-stop since February, so we are all pretty partied out! But of course we still wanted to celebrate her precious life and her first year!

She is such a little sweetheart. She is so tiny, its hard to believe she is walking all around now! The crawling days are officially gone, which is good for her little knees (our carpet is not soft), but it presents a whole new set of "dangers" ie: two very energetic, somewhat oblivious older siblings that run past a still unstable little Emmy. Still, it's so amazing that one day she was cruising and crawling, only taking a few steps here and there; and the next day, she is just walking!  

She is talking a little bit- saying, "mama, dada, Jack," and she loves mimicking animal sounds! She loves animals. We went to the zoo a couple weeks ago and she was so excited every time she'd spot an animal! She also loves spotting birds or airplanes flying by in the backyard and she throws her little arm up as high as she can and usually makes a bird noise :-) 

She has four teeth and is loving eating everything that we eat. She also methodically tosses her food onto the floor to let me know she is all done. Sometimes I think she just figures that way she'll be able to come back for a snack in a bit if she gets hungry! 

Just like our other two babies, she automatically starts dancing if she hears any kind of music.  It's so cool to see how they all feel the music and really love it. She does the same little bounce that Claire did when she learned to walk. Too cute! And Claire really wants Emmy to dance with her, but she hasn't quite figured out that if she holds Emmy's hands and swings, Emmy will follow, but it'll be a face plant on the floor instead of dancing. And she of course is so eager to be apart of anything Jack and Claire are doing. She loves them both so much and they are so sweet to her and love her too. Jack really feels a sense of being her "big" brother, and he tenderly kisses her and says, "Hi there little Emmy." Ive even heard him whisper to her, "Do you know how much I love you!" Melts my heart. Claire loves her too and has lately been telling her, "You're my Beeesssst Friend!!"  This morning they were walking around the house together, both pushing their babies in their strollers. I know they really are going to be best friends. Thank you Lord for such sweet, sweet children. My heart overflows!!

For her party I decided to basically repeat the "Vintage Baby" party I did for Claire's 1st birthday because I loved it (and already had all the decor :-) I also threw a baby shower for my cousin-in-law two weeks before, so I got to use the table decor and a few new things I made for that as well!

For the dessert table I used my handmade fabric flag banner, the letter "E" that I wrapped in yarn and decorated with the felt flowers that I made, and spray painted the wooden frame pink! 

I used the high chair tutu that I made for Claire, but I added the "One" banner to it.

These were such a hit! They are "Pink Lemonade Cheesecakes" topped with homemade whipped cream and a fresh raspberry! It was almost 100 degrees, so I was nervous about the desserts melting, but they were fine! I was so glad!

I used my great grandmother's cheesecake recipe that I always make (see the cheery cheesecake below) but I altered the recipe a bit to include fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and the sour cream layer even had a little lemon curd in it! It turned out really tasty! A new family favorite!

This is one of my favorite details, the "Emmalise" banner with pictures of her from newborn, each month until one year! See some of those pics here!

Cherry Cheesecake with hand-stamped "Emmalise" bunting.

Hoop Art with her name and birthday!

I made these cupcake toppers thinking I was going to make cupcakes but then decided on the cheesecakes, so I just made some Ghirardelli brownies to stick them in! 

I made sugar cookies and decorated to look like circus pink and white cookies (although I made them pink and yellow). I also decorated little onsies with "1"s and "E"s. I made the cake stands last year for Claire's party!

Handmade Piñata

Pink Lemonade Drink Station

Daddy's little Girl!

Mommy and Emmy!

"E" is for Emmalise!

She was so cute after we sang "Happy Birthday" she wasn't sure about the cheesecake.... 

....then she LOVED it!!!

Our family. 

4 Generations! 

Grandma and Grandpa!

The Girls! 

The Uncles!

Our little walker! {Wearing Mama's Romper- Claire wore it for her first birthday too!}

Giggles with Grandpa!

More party people! We love our Coco and our cuzzies!

Opening presents, and kisses for her new soft friend!

All day she was trying to get into the sand...I finally gave up trying to keep her "clean"!

My two sweet girls!

We had such a fun time celebrating our baby! Emmy is such a little joy and we are tremendously blessed to have this precious baby in our family! What an incredible gift from the Lord. We thank Him everyday for His perfect plan for us and for giving her to us. I love her to pieces, and could not imagine our family without her!! 

Happy 1st Birthday Emmalise! We Love You!

xo