Happily Ever Mock

Nursery…Finally!

I have been meaning to post pictures of Hallie’s nursery for some time now! My sweet Aunt Jane came just a few weeks after Hallie was born to take pictures of Hallie and the nursery, and I have yet to share them! So here we go! She wasn’t being very cooperative that day, so here are the best ones mixed with a few I have taken as well

Here is the view to the right as you walk in.  Here are some of the details that I love:1. In the left corner are 2 cross stitchings made by my mother, Hallie’s Nana.2. The black and purple finger paintings were made by Cleo and Sadie (the girls I nanny for) when they were younger.  They match great though and I thought it would be a nice touch to have something special from them in her nursery.3. My best friend Joyce and I modpodged the letters of her name with scrapbook paper and added the little flowers and tulle.4. The beautiful quilt was made by Hallie’s Godmother, Jennifer.  This side has ballerinas and the other side has a bunch of different colored fabric and Jennifer and her brother’s (Hallie’s God Father) hand prints in the middle with a cross. between. So beautiful!
The changing table is from Babies R Us.   

The little purple baskets I got at….hold your excitement…The dollar store! SERIOUSLY! 
I keep socks, hats, and shoes in them.  

Diaper Genie, available Here






Best idea ever for her hairbows.  I got a little candy jar from Target so that
 a.) I can display them nicely.

b.) I can see what I am looking for…this kid has a ton of bows! 




 I love the pattern of Hallie’s changing table pad cover.  It can be found at Land of Nod.














I got the glider from my cousin and we bought new cushions for it which was super nice.  (You can kind of see the hand prints on the quilt in this picture)



Looking back at these pictures makes me realize how BIG she has gotten!















My mom bought the curtains from Land of Nod, but sewed them to fit our window.






 I fell in LOVE with this bedding from Land of Nod before we found out Hallie was a girl, and it made me want a girl even more than I already did!!!

The crib was given to us by a family I previously nannied for…so sweet of them!

My mom, mother in law and I painted the tree, butterflies, birds and flowers.  You can read about that here. 
 


Jennifer and I made the mobile, and you can also read about that here.
http://www.happilyevermock.com/33-weeks-birthday-maternity-pictures.html
















Last but not least is her little Ikea bookshelf…though I already need another because our toy and book collection keeps growing!!!

The Madame Alexander dolls and the dolls on the bottom shelf belonged to me when I was young and the Monkey was Christopher’s, which he named Mr. Peepers….love him! 





And That’s Hallie’s nursery! It’s my favorite room in the house! 
I love seeing nursery pictures! Share yours with me in the comments pretty please!!!
<3 Kelly

Nursery

Hallie has the world’s BEST grandmother’s! Today my mom and Christopher’s Mom helped me paint the mural on Hallie’s wall where the crib will be! They are both so talented and it turned out so lovely! I can’t wait to get the crib and the rest of the furniture in! Here are some pictures so far! I’ll post more of the finished nursery later! (Oh and shout out to my sister! Happy Birthday Katie!) 




Bacon Cupcakes…yep its a thing

For the cake: 
3/4 Cup Softened Butter
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
4 Egg Whites
2 1/4 Cups Flour
2 ts baking powder
1 ts Vanilla
1/2 ts Salt
3/4 Cup Milk
1 TBS Cinnamon



Cream Butter and Sugar together. Beat in egg whites and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture and stir in milk gradually.
Bake 16-18 minutes at 375. Cool before adding frosting  










Frosting:
2 8 oz packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 ts vanilla
1 package of bacon 
1 Cup maple syrup


In a Med. bowl cream together cream cheese and butter. Mix in vanilla and add sugar gradually.  Store in fridge.  Fry bacon until crispy.  Before removing from skillet pour a line of maple syrup down each strip of bacon. Once cool, crumble bacon over iced cupcakes and drizzle with leftover syrup. Enjoy! 

4th of July Crafts

The girls and I had a really fun time preparing for 4th of July!


First we made yummy 4th of July cookies


























Then we made Festive Tiaras



































The last thing we did was “Firework” painting!  I had the girls dip koosh balls we got at the dollar store into red and blue paint and smack them onto poster board!



They had so much fun…I think maybe a little too much fun! Haha! 

























Click on the little links to pin on Pinterest


I hope everyone had a fun and
safe Fourth of July! 
-Mrs. Mock

Spaghetti Night!

Wednesday night was spaghetti night at our house! And not just regular spaghetti night….HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI NIGHT! If you have never had hand made pasta, you should march yourself over to your nearest Williams Sonoma and get a pasta machine ASAP! 
We were fortunate enough to get one for our wedding and this was the first night to put it to use! It was SO much fun and ridiculously delicious! Seriously! 
We had to take our rings off for this messy task!
     
We started out by making a fresh Marinara Sauce with some fresh ingredients:
   

 Tomato Squashing….really fun!

 YUMMY!!!!!

Then we started on the dough…

First We hand rolled it out! 

 
Then we fed the dough through the first part of the machine that flattens it out as thin as you want.  

Next we fed the flattened piece through the pasta cutter, and ended up with a ton of spaghetti strings! 

Before it was cooked

 During

 
After! I told you…a ton!

I grated some fresh Parmesan! 

 Put a salad together!

Poured some wine 
 And we sat down to the most delicious meal I have ever had! It was so good! I can’t wait to do it again!

Weddings, Babies and Water Balloon Painting!

So a lot of exciting things have been happening! 
Friends Matt and Olivia were married last weekend! It was a beautiful wedding! I made the Flower Girl’s tutu:



































They seem so Happy!!!










We also have a brand new baby that entered the world on Monday!
Jennifer had baby Luke on Monday at 6:28 p.m! He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz!


























And he is ABSOLUTELY precious! 


My latest fun activity with the kiddos was Water Balloon painting!


I filled a bunch of water balloons with paint and they had fun throwing them at the fence! Here are the pictures:

 

I have some  better ideas for next time to make the paint brighter and to have them pop better(Thanks to my cousin Hannah!)…a lot of them ended up in the grass! 

Tonight Christopher and I are breaking out the pasta maker we got as a wedding gift and making homemade pasta and sauce!! I am SUPER excited!!! Pictures on that to come!!

Until then,
Mrs. Mock

Kitchen Update!

We just made a few little changes to our kitchen to make it feel more like our own!  There are still so many things I would like to do to it (Paint, redo cabinets and drawers, counter tops), but we are slowly taking baby steps! 


First, we got a pots and pans hanger for our wedding, and Christopher was so sweet to put it up the night before my birthday, to surprise me! 



























So, another change I have been meaning to make is to put up all of the adorable plates all of our guests signed at our wedding (In lieu of a guest book) 


Here are all the plates:































I bought some cheap plate hangers at Hobby Lobby (1.99 each) 































Here is the kitchen before:





























And After:

 
 


Looking forward to making more cute changes! 
-Mrs. Mock

News, Recipe and Summer Planning

I would first like to start off this post by congratulating my Best Friend Sarah! She just got engaged!!! Congrats girl! 


 










Her beautiful ring!




















It has been a busy week or two! I have been working a ton and getting ready for finals week! (next week!)
Only 3 finals between me and summer vacay!!! (THEN 1 More Semester until GRADUATION!! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves!)


Speaking of Summer! I have been working on a list of Fun things to do with my girls! Here’s what I’ve got so far!



































































Mom’s and Nanny’s please let me know if you have any other fun ideas we should try!!!!
I will have to update everyone on our final list and keep blogging throughout the Summer as we complete our list!


So on that note I leave you with my favorite recipe of the week:


Spaghetti Squash Casserole and Lemon Parmesan Brussel Sprouts:


For the Casserole:


  • About 3 cups cooked spaghetti squash (1 medium one)
  • 2 large garden tomatoes sliced
  • Kosher Salt
  • Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dried Basil, Dried Parsley for sprinkling
  • 5oz of fancy shredded Mexican cheese blend (separated)
  • Fresh Basil for Garnish (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 11 x 9 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
Spread about 1 cup of spaghetti squash on the bottom.

Top with a layer of sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with kosher salt and spices.

Top with 1.5 oz of cheese.
Add another layer of squash, then tomatoes, spices and cheese. Top with a final layer of squash.
Top with the last 2 oz of cheese and sprinkle with the spices one last time.
Bake for 30 Minutes! 





We loved it!!!!




For the Brussels:
Ingredients

1 pound fresh brussels sprouts, cut in half


1 generous tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan

2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
sea salt and fresh black pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a medium sized baking sheet lightly with oil.
Add the brussels sprouts to a large mixing bowl. In a separate small bowl whisk together the oil, mustard, lemon zest and juice and 1 tablespoon of the parmesan. Pour over brussels sprouts and toss well.
Spread out on baking sheet so they aren’t crowded and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
Bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown and tender. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon of Parmesan over top before serving.





Yummy!!!





<3 Mrs Mock

Keeping Warm

On this ridiculously cold night in Dallas Tx, I refused to turn on our heater just to turn it off again in the morning.  (Tonight was a chilly 42 degrees!…Yes…in April!) So instead I  stopped and got a log for our fireplace on my way home from work then started a pot of chicken and dumplings!

This recipe definitely warmed us up! Here is the delicious recipe:

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 small yellow onion, minced
  • 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 carrots, diced medium
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups of chicken, cubed
Favorite poultry seasoning ( I used one with a bit of a spicy kick!)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for topping
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, coat bottom with olive oil.  Rub chicken with poultry seasoning and Cook chicken until done over medium heat.  Melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high. Add onion, celery, and carrots and cook until onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Add 1/4 cup flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Make dumplings: Whisk together 1 cup flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in milk. (Add extra flour if too wet) Roll dough into small balls (About the size of a nickle) and drop into soup. Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 12 minutes. Serve topped with additional chopped parsley.

    Enjoy! We really loved this yummy recipe on such an unusually cool night! Not that we were complaining! It gave us a chance to curl up and enjoy a movie! 
    XOXO
    Mrs.Mock

Mmm Mmm Good!

So…I have been trying to be a modern version of June Cleaver.
   >I Cook
   >I Clean
   > I do Laundry
   >I even perfected my own homemade BBQ sauce for my Texan husband!!!



But I also subscribe to the thought that when people come over, I must have some homemade snacks to serve them! 


So, Christopher’s buddy Brad came over with his fiancee Melissa last night to play games and hang out, and I had 3 hours to clean and throw together some snacks for us!
Pinterest to the rescue!!!


I Found a recipe for this oreo dip, and OH MY GOD…it was to die for!!!


  http://pinterest.com/pin/82964818107500096/

I also attempted a cajun “fried” pickle recipe that I also found on Pinterest. (Not as good)

Then I made my famous spinach artichoke dip and meatballs! 

We had a nice little spread! 

Brad and Melissa just got this cute new puppy named Tank, and they brought him over to play!!! We also played the Logo game that my mother in law gave us for Christmas and it was really fun!

 Tank!

 Sleepy Boy

 Melissa and her new baby! (He was hiding from Stella)
 Here they are meeting.

We had such a good time with them, and are looking forward to seeing them again real soon! 

 Here is Stella after they left still hoarding her toys! Uh-oh…worried what she will do when we add a baby to the mix!!
                                                              -Mrs. Mock