you know how i feel about cookies. we are made for each other- the cookie and i. and you probably know how i feel about sheena's cookies. we are all forever in her debt. lately i've been playing around with the recipe.. cutting back on sugar, adding more oats, figuring out the eggs, etc. one time they baked up like meringues (yuck), and ever since then i've been timid with my eggs. but this week i landed on what i think might be perfection. the best batch yet. it's very exciting.

what's to love about them? peanut butter. chocolate. chewy softness that lasts for days.

i feel like i will never need another cookie in my life.



best batch peanut butter cookies
adapted from this recipe on the little red house

1 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, divided (preferably not too large)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

i'll be very specific in my instructions, since i'm not sure which step caused the best batch result.

mix peanut butter and brown sugar on medium speed until well blended, about 2 min. add one of the eggs and mix just until combined. add oats and soda, blend. mix in chocolate chips. add the last egg, using a fork to blend it into the dough. line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use your hands to pack dough into 1-2 inch balls. (dough will not be very cohesive, so the hand-packing is necessary.) bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, use a fork to flatten at this point, then continue baking 2 minutes more.

*if you're concerned that your eggs are a little large, you could try using just the yolk of the 2nd egg.

enjoy! they blew us away. i hope that's how it is for you.

ps. wow. guys, thanks for the amazing response to the work-hating lesson i gave myself last friday! i love when a conversation is born through a blog post. and i'm hoping that now that i've bared my soul, it will help me stay accountable.

it takes guts for me to try anything artsy. it's just not in my nature. but i got it in my head that i wanted some "art" in the baby's room. and if there's one thing i've learned at preschool, it's that my favorite art is imperfect. imperfect, i thought... i can do that.

so i got brave. i bought white frames at ikea and a cheap set of watercolors. and painted. grant painted too! he is by far the artist in the family. and you know what? it was so fun. i sat at the table all sunday afternoon, just playing with paint. not worried about perfect. i love how they turned out!

fooled you.
my absence from this spot has not been due to a recent birth. that was mean of me! i'm sorry. i've just kinda been in the zone lately. the "before a baby" zone. it's a fun place. but i've been in too deep to actually finish and press "post" on the 6 blog posts that i've started. which reminds me- i have new pancakes to tell you about. don't let me forget. (thanks to you sweet people who've been thinking about me. i love your emails and prayers!) 

so, is it even may anymore? don't ask me. i don't have a clue about time. i'm just hanging out. in the zone. here, the days fill themselves without any prompting from me. there's been phone calls and pilates, laundry and dishes, movies and the music man soundtrack, check-ups and chipotle, bread dough and pizza crust, calcium and magnesium, walking and water. (by the gallon.) there's a lot of sleeping late and visits to the bathroom, too. and before i know it, i end up in bed at night, finished with some stuff.

i feel really peaceful as we enter this waiting period. i know it could be a long time, but i also know it could be any time. and i'm just so curious! i can't help smiling about it. while the mystery continues, my goals are to stay comfy and healthy and keep growing this happy, hiccuping baby. and maybe to keep on not crossing my legs. and to keep eating every couple hours. both of these jobs prove harder than they sound. but by the way, i am feeling great.. praise the Lord for that!

it's cool and cloudy today. i almost turned on the heat in our house, but instead threw on a big sweatshirt and socks and will be spending the afternoon baking cookies. i can't stop thinking about peanut butter and oats together. i've also been in the mood to turn on a movie lately, just to have something in the background. if there are any good ones that i should be dvr-ing, let me know what you know. :)

more soon! (unless, of course... you know.)

back in the day, summer vacation would've kicked off with the first box of freeze pops sliding into the freezer and mom picking up our pool membership tags. i would've had my annual "summer schedule" mapped out, which would've included the lofty goal of vacuuming my room every morning by 9:00. swimming lessons would be on the calendar. the beginning of my mountain of library books would be checked out. (proof that i was a nerd.) at lunchtime we might've watched an episode of scooby doo while we rubbed sunscreen on our arms, preparing for an afternoon at the pool.

well, no pool for me today. (i was still wearing slippers this morning.) maybe it doesn't feel like the summer vacation of old, but that's alright. the summer feelings will come, soon enough. instead of popsicles and scooby doo, today has been like this:


and have i mentioned how excited i am for camp next month? ahhh! i can't wait to spend the summer with all the camp goodness. including this cutie... (who answers to champ, champion, champy, champy-poo, etc.)


and this one, of course. (who has popularized the wearing of wigs for most major camp activities.)


and a new one, too. arriving shortly. :)
bring on the summer. 

last day of preschool.. yaaaaay!! when i come back, i'll be on summer vacation!

this past weekend we went down to nebraska, because my sister graduated from high school! congratulations, chels! i got to talk with lots of old friends, eat lots of brisket and gummy bears, play dominoes with my grandparents, and try to grasp that chelsea is now at the point where i was- wearing the cap and gown. and me? i am going to be a mom shortly. time is so weird. we also got to celebrate grandma and grandpa's 50th anniversary... wooohoo! what a lovely legacy. we took some family photos to honor the happy couple- you can see our little family as you scroll down :)




...and i got a haircut! my wonderful stylist-twin sister squeezed me in for a summer cut that i so desperately needed. thank you, haley!! i feel more like myself being at shoulder-length again. love it. i actually told grant that having all those inches gone has helped me see myself as a mom. maybe that's silly, but i can picture it better now.

...and this week the baby is officially full term! it blows me away that this little person could be born today and it wouldn't be pre-mature. whoa. things are close, guys.



....and one more for fun. with grant's creeper eye. (on purpose. this is so him. i love it.)

the blogger malfunction has me feeling like i need to step back before i can move on. we missed a tiny bit of life there, so i'll try to recap. week 36 happened last week, and it was a fun one.

Cookies for breakfast!!! I hope you enjoy them. It's a judy recipe, so you know it's got to be amaaaazing. 


Breakfast Cookies by Judy Harms
(to be eaten anytime, including breakfast)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups oats
2 T. milled flax
2 T. sesame seeds
2 T. quinoa

*add the "chunks" of your choice..
3/4 cup dried fruit
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 cups chocolate chips

cream butter and sugars. add egg and vanilla. mix together remaining ingredients and add to wet mixture. bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. makes 36 medium size or 26 large cookies.

dear baby,

yesterday was my first mother's day. thank you for making me a mom! it's been so fun - meaning, the best thing ever - to take care of you these past 8 months. your daddy got me some truffles and yellow tulips to celebrate, and we spent the evening getting ready for you. there is now a dresser in your room, a little rocking chair, a bookshelf, and a sweet crib that i will love to come rescue you from at the end of every nap. now all we need is you.

these days i'm feeding you fresh salsa and lots of strawberries, good sandwiches, and guess what else? prunes! aren't they yummy? some people say they're icky, but i could eat them by the pound. (although that's probably not the best idea ever.) i think they're really helping my digestion, which has slowed to a crawl in this last trimester. your mom's body is working hard to do this double duty thing!

lately i've been doing stuff like.. small clean-y things around the house, putting a few meals into the freezer for after you arrive, listening to eric hutchinson, doing end-of-the-year tests with the preschoolers, watching our yard green up and get mowed by your dad, getting into the hands-and-knees pilates positions because they feel so good, and singing my favorite hymns to you- so that you'll recognize them when you're here. and i can tell that you hear me when i sing!

a little update on you: wow, you are super strong now. and long. and heavy! there's getting to be a lot more of you inside me. each movement is so precise and visible, i can barely believe that they used to feel like tiny waves deep inside me. it's fun to be so familiar with your moves now.. i know just where your favorite kicking spots are, i feel your hiccups as soon as they start, and i know your little bottom sliding by my belly button better than anything else. i wonder if you've "dropped" in the past couple days because suddenly there is a lot more pressure going on down south. at your last check-up we found out that your head is "engaged" in my pelvis, so hooray for that!

so, we are now officially less than one month away from your due date. exciting! in fact, next week we will be "full term". very exciting. your dad and i are getting really close to finishing up another school year, and i know once summer vacation hits it's just going to feel like one big waiting game. waiting for you. we'll just be hanging out, maybe doing some stuff at camp, so come whenever you feel like it!

mom's praying for you. all the time.
i can't wait for you to come be ours.
loves.

your mom

i know. i'm one day late. but i got a little too busy last night to do any posting... eating BLT's, buying diapers, tailor-sitting on the couch, reading a super interesting book on breastfeeding, watching leslie knope and tom haverford.. you know. anyway, isn't it nice that my craving for fruit salsa coincided with cinco de mayo? i know. it wasn't until i was home from school and already in the process of making it that i realized how perfect it was!

so, it's fruit salsa. there isn't much to it, except for a few minutes with a cutting board and remembering to break it out every once in awhile. it's best eaten immediately, but the more it sits together in the bowl, the more the juices fuse and make a nice salsa-like sauce.



make sure to give each fruit a pretty fine dice. you'll be surprised how much you like the tiny bits of fruit all together in your mouth.. way better that a traditional fruit salad.

if you want to make the homemade cinnamon crisps to go with this: lightly brush some tortillas with oil, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, cut into strips (a pizza cutter works nicely for this), and bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

and actually, we ate some of ours with regular salty tortilla chips yesterday, and it was pretty delish, too.

the bedroom for the littlest harmsie is coming along.
new paint (robin's nest from benjamin moore)... check.
new trim (crafted by grant)... check.
crown molding (to cover up a bad paint job from before we moved in)... check.
sweet vintage chair that rocks (literally)... check.

now we just need to paint the doors and put them back in, then we can start moving in the rest of the furniture! i say "we" but you know who i really mean... :) thanks for all your hard work, grant.

i'm sitting in my super quiet house right now, hearing the clocks tick, smelling blueberry muffins baking, enjoying the general afternoon-ness, and the fact that we get to go have a baby check-up when grant gets home today, and maybe most of all, enjoying the sunshine.

it is sunny today! i can't say it enough. and i can't remember the last time the world has looked so clear and bright and crisp. like i just put in brand new contacts.  i am so grateful for a break from those april showers. we had serious rain for a stretch there. no sun for days and days. i remember it was raining the night i made this dish. cold, drizzly rain. but quiche and rain seem to go together. so maybe it's rainy where you are today, and you can make quiche and feel cozy.


Spinach & Asparagus Quiche

5 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded cheese



preheat oven to 350 degrees. sprinkle a bit of the cheese over the base of the pie shell, then spread veggie fillings and meat (if using) on top. in a small bowl, beat the eggs and add milk, mustard, salt and pepper, and cheese; pour into pie shell. bake for about 45 minutes, or until center is firm. let rest 10-15 minutes before slicing.

for the veggie filling: i caramelized 1/2 of a small onion and sauteed some asparagus and a couple handfuls of fresh spinach. you can use toss in whatever you have on hand-- i also love to use kale and green onion!