Perfectly Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! The first time I made this recipe was in my 8th grade Home-Ec class, and I have been making them since! I love these cookies because they have just the right amount of chewiness (if that is even a word)! They are a little crispy on the outside, but not too crunchy. Our friend Blake always talked me into making them every time he and his wife, Katherine, came over! They are SUPER easy to make (hence 8th graders can even make them)! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Marianne

Perfectly Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Cream shortening and both sugars.

2. Add eggs and vanilla, and cream until well blended.

3. Sift the flour, salt, and soda together.

4. Stir flour mixture into the creamed mixture with a wooden spoon just until blended.

5. Stir in chocolate chips (I added 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips just for fun)!

6. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet by using two spoons (about 2 inches in size).

7. Bake for ten minutes at 350 degrees until slightly golden brown.

8. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk! 

House Tour: Dining Room

I thought it would be fun to give a tour of our house since decorating and hosting is one of my absolute favorite things to do! So, I will start with one of my favorite rooms!

The dining room is an important room to me because it represents a place where we come together and spend time as a family. Jeremy and I eat dinner at the dining room table almost every night. Dinner is a time where we can relax and spend time together talking out our day. It is important to me that our dining room is warm and inviting instead of formal and stuffy. One of my favorite things is having people over to share a meal with us. It is a time to get to know people better and share your life with them. If you think about it, Jesus often ministered to the people around Him by sharing a meal with them! So to me, this is more than just a place to scarf down a meal, it is a place to connect with people and show God's love.

I love having the mix of chairs and bench to make the room less formal. One of my favorite pieces in the room is this buffet that I had redone. The sister of one of my best friends in college found it and refinished it. I LOVE mixing old and new! Check out her page on Facebook: Hanna-Made Designs.

It has taken me FOREVER to decide on a centerpiece for the table... Everything I tried looked too small. So when I found these two candle holders at Pier 1, I had to get them! I like the natural look of them. Filling the pitcher with flowers also added some height. Hydrangeas are my absolute FAVORITE flower! We had them at our wedding, and I would love to plant some in our yard (hint hint, Jeremy)! It would save me a ton of money since I always buy live hydrangeas when I host showers.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I have to post at least one picture of Leah Kate in one of her cute outfits! 

Jeremy kept Leah Kate, so I had an afternoon at the spa! Then we went to dinner! Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Marianne

Leah Kate: 3 month update

Thought I would write an update on Leah Kate! She had her three month check up at the doctor this week. Yay for no shots this time!  I cannot believe it has been three months since she was born! Time has FLOWN by. She is changing so much every day. She is now smiling back at us and at herself in the mirror, and she is laughing a little. I love the look in her eyes when I can tell she is learning something. We have started putting her on her tummy to play, but she HATES it! She will play for just a few minutes before she starts crying, but we can really tell that her neck has gotten stronger. She also looks at her hands and puts them (and toys) in her mouth. Jeremy and I love reading books and singing to her. The Speech-Language Pathologist in me makes sure to read as many books as possible! I love walking in her nursery to find Jeremy reading her story book Bible to her before bed. Leah Kate is spoiling us and sleeping at least seven hours during the night. I have one more month before going back to work part time. I have enjoyed this time to focus on Leah Kate and learning how to be a mom. I am now getting to go to a women's Bible study on Wednesday mornings which is great. Leah Kate does great in the church nursery!

We hope everyone survived the Snowpocalypse! It was Leah Kate's first time seeing snow, but of course she had no clue what was going on! We have been lazy while being cooped up inside. It has been nice to have some relaxing family time! Hope you stayed nice and warm this week!
Marianne

Enjoying tummy time (for a few seconds)!!!