a baby sprinkle

until yesterday i did not know that a baby shower after your first baby is called a baby sprinkle.
i'm not always up on the latest trends, so that's really no surprise.
but whatever it's called it was a wonderful treat when my friends from the library surprised me with one yesterday morning.
i received beautiful baby gifts - many handmade, and all very special.

did i ever mention how much i love books?
even though finding the time to read seems to be the difficult part these days.
L.O.V.E.
i even used to pretend to have a library in our house when i was little and i was the librarian.

and i don't remember if i ever really mentioned it but i had been working at our local library part-time since last december.
but since the beginning of september i have been off the schedule. 
we decided it was best with baby arriving in november and the library was changing hours too.
i do miss working there and the friendships i made... but i am happy to be at home full-time again too.

a special thanks to my friends at the library!
you've always made me feel at home.

the library & apple dumplings

Recently Jake was home from work during the week and I was able to escape to the library by myself during nap time.  This may not sound exciting to you, but I was thrilled.  I LOVE the library! In fact, I'm there every week on Tuesdays - for Toddler Story Time.  And even though I really enjoy sharing story time with Ben, it doesn't really give me time to go browsing through books for myself.

  I think I spent about 30 minutes just wandering and looking.  I found myself looking at books about everything from sewing to making skin care products at home.  It was great!  I eventually found myself with a pile of cookbooks and a couple of novels.  Did I mention I also love the library because it's FREE???  This causes me to checkout a large amount of books because I know that even if I don't finish them I can always recheck them, and if I don't like them I just return them.  Perfect - no hassle, no risk, and great for someone who can tend to be indecisive.

Little did I know this cookbook from my recent library visit

would be a common topic over the weekend.

It was pretty surprising when Jake's cousin and aunt brought this dessert to lunch at Grandma's house on Sunday.  It was delicious!  We also talked about the cookbook and The Pioneer Woman.  It was fun!  The Apple Dumpling Recipe is not in the book, but you can find it on The Pioneer Woman.  I have started reading through the book and it looks like all the recipes will be just as tasty.  Hope to try one of them soon!