Weekend Vibes and The best Sugar Cookie EVER

Weekend, Weekend, where did you go?  We ended up eating out this weekend, way too much!  Claire is now extremely interested in "people food" aka real food and will snort like a pig until you give her what you're eating.  Here she is eating some rice noodles from a delicious Vietnamese restaurant that we hit up on Friday night!

Saturday morning snuggles, I love the way they love each other!  For now anyways!

We got the girls ready to run some errands and then to visit their Aunt and Uncle in DC.

Cliff wanted some new trail running shoes and suggested that I get some new running shoes too!  We both had never done a gait analysis so we went to a running store nearby and ran on the treadmill for a few minutes to see how we ran.  It is quite fascinating!  I got my very first pair of real running shoes and am so excited.  I usually just wear whatever I find on sale at TJ Maxx or on Amazon in my size so this was quite the treat!  It didn't hurt that they were half price either because they're last year's edition. #whocaresiftheyresoooolastyear #ballinonabudget haha

We then went to our newest restaurant addiction BonChon because nothing says running like fried chicken!  It is so delicious and if you live near one, you must try it!  I promise, it's the best fried chicken I've ever had! 

 Here's a couple mom hacks I recently discovered while eating out with a baby.  Claire's mum mums were getting smashed in the diaper bag so bingo, stick them in an empty wipe container and Walah! No more smashed Mum Mums!

And now that she's eating table food, these little place mats from Chick-Fil-A work perfectly for eating rice off of the table and whatever else we give her. You can buy them too which is what I need to do. haha

 Sunday afternoon (during naptime), I had a kickball scrimmage so Cliff stayed home with the girls as they have runny noses and he's now sick.....again!  I saw this meme today and found it hilarious and so true!

And what you've all been waiting for.....THE BEST SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE EVER!  I made these for our mountain weekend back in January and they were quite the hit so I made them again for Valentine's Day for our neighbors.  I'm just now getting around to sharing it.  This batch, I rolled in sugar and sprinkled some red sugar sprinkles on top.  I like to make them pretty small because it makes me feel less guilty for eating so many.  I then divided them into small cellophane bags from the Dollar Tree with some red crinkle cut paper and tied with red ribbon to be festive.  You could do any color for various holidays or occasions.

If you aren't using parchment paper for baking, you should!  I'm telling you, it's a game changer!  Side note, Wax paper is NOT the same thing.....I learned the hard way!

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling
2 oz cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl (no need to stir them together yet). Put the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a bowl and set aside. Pour the warm butter over the cream cheese mixture and whisk to combine – the mixture won’t be completely smooth yet, that’s fine. Whisk in the oil then the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

4. Use a rubber spatula to start folding the dry ingredients into the wet.  Continue mixing until a soft dough comes together. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. This dough is soft and sticky so it’s easiest to work with after it has been chilled.

5.  Make 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the sugar.  Place balls onto cookie sheet and flatten a little with the bottom of a glass.

6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will not look quite done but that’s fine. You don’t want to bake them until they are brown…they would be crispy instead of nice and soft!

*Makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on the size balls you make!

**Recipe from Joyful Momma's Kitchen

That's all for now!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!