What a difference a season makes!

Wow, what a stark contrast to the last time I posted...which I know has been foreeeeeevvvvverrrr!

We were dreaming of snow the last time, and today I am sitting in 70 something, perfectly sunny wonderful, beautiful day on my back deck...watching the girlies play and enjoying all the green scenery.

It wasn't my intention to not post for three months, but life happens.  Every time I would tell myself, "I will definitely post today!", the dream would be gone when my head hit the pillow at 11:00 or after, only to get 6 hours later and do it all again.  Oh there were so many stories, so many recipes, and a few recipe flops to tell of...but most have been forgotten.  My girls are a year older, and unfortunately/thankfully so am I.  We did have a snow storm, and then another, and a few ice occasions...is was a rough winter!  There have been trips, trials, and both of my girls grew an a few inches in one month.  I mean seriously they wore pants one day and the next week they looked as if they were preparing for flood waters!  We lost teeth, and there have been several emergency dental experiences!!!  It's been a great three up months, but a tiring three months!  We look forward to summer, but we don't want to rush through spring.  With four more weeks of preschool and five more weeks of first grade, I truly know what it means to say time flies!  

I hope to post some recipes soon, but I've learned not to promise myself anything when it comes to writing and recipes lately.  I also hope to write more, but with more end of the school year things making their way on the calendar, that more than likely may not happen either...but I will try hard!

I will close with this story...

My four year old, and yes my "baby" is now four and tells everybody she sees, started using a new big girl car seat.  I made the comment that I was going to have to get used to the new buckle and that it was too hard for Mommy!  She quickly replied, "Nothing is too hard for mommies!"  I laughed...not just at her trust in my ability and the abilities of all the mommies in the world, but because of the memory verse we had learned the previous week.  Great Teaching Moment!  

Today's Verse
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?"  Jeremiah 32:27

There is so much that is too hard for me.  Right now I am facing a decision that I know if I answer yes, it will be soooooo hard for me.  But, there is nothing, and I mean nothing that is too hard for the God of all flesh.  We rely on that promise everyday to get us through the hard parts!  We look to Him for the answers to the hard questions.  We trust Him for strength to get us through the rough stuff.  Is there anything you're facing that seems too hard...put it in His hands and know it will be worked out perfectly by the God of all flesh!

We're waiting!

We are home early from school!  We are watching the radar and peering out the window...hoping and praying for those first flakes of snow.  It has been a while since we saw those flakes fall and actually cover the ground, and I have two eager girls who can't hold their excitement much longer.  We sure want some snow cream and a snow man.  With a few extra groceries and my oldest making sure we had carrots for a snowman nose...we wait!

We wait for so many things.  I waited in line at the grocery store for a very long time last night.  I waited a while in the pick up line at school today as the whole school was released at once.  I wait for phone calls, for important dates, in the dentist office, for my girls to get their shoes on in the morning, and the list of waiting goes on and on.  But my biggest wait and my hardest wait is waiting on answers to prayers.

As a new list of waits and questions formed again at the beginning of the year, I had wondered if I could start another year with so much uncertainty looming again.  But an old faithful verse was brought to my attention last week.  As I faced a week of craziness with my husband out of the country, planning the biggest party I have ever thrown(and a surprise one to top it off), and so many other deadlines looming...the verse came and I was calmed.  It not only dealt with the waiting I feel like I am constantly doing, but it reminded me of my Source of strength and the only way I can get through it all!

Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

We wait; He gives us new strength; we soar with His help; we run through this life and we keep going because He is there...we wait because He asks us to and because we know He has the perfect and best plan!  

So we will wait for snow the rest of the day...just like answers to prayers it may come today or it may not...but we will have fun while we wait.  Just as I hope to have fun this year even with looming questions and prayers that have yet to be answered!


Stay warm if its cold where you are...if it is warm I might be a little jealous!



We do have a roll of cookie dough in the freezer we may be breaking out to bake if we are snowed in tomorrow.  We made this recipe last week, but only baked half and froze the other half to bake later.  It was a great recipe.  It's called Cowboy Cookies, but we changed the recipe just a tad (including adding the pink and purple MMs dad brought back from a trip) so we called them Cowgirl cookies.  Hope your family enjoys!

Ingredients

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup MMs candy
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
2. In a separate bowl, blend the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until fluffy, about 1-1/2 minutes. Blend in the vanilla extract.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir the dry mixture into the butter mixture one half at a time. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large, preferably light-colored baking sheet with aluminum foil, then grease the foil.
5. Using a scant 1/4 cup per cookie, shape the dough into balls and place them on the sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Use your fingertips to flatten each ball to 1/3 inch thick. Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for 13 to 14 minutes, turning the sheet about halfway through. When they're done, the cookies should be very lightly browned and still look moist. Don't overbake them.
7. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.

2014

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know we are a week into the new year,  but it is still relatively new!  Excuse my delay but better late than never in my opinion.  The new year has been awesome, Christmas was spectacular, and as my husband said...the break was good enough that we forgot how hard real life was for a while :)
Now that is a great break!

We have hit the ground running in 2014.  Things usually slow down in January, but it hasn't in our household...with trips and birthdays approaching, it looks like a crazy first quarter.  I am still in debate and prayer over what to do about blogging.  Oh don't get me wrong...the ideas are still there,  and the love of my fingers hitting the keyboard is there, but the time to do so seems less and less and less.  So we will just have to see how 2014 goes!

We have been organizing up a storm, and I have to say that it is going pretty well...the best start of a year with kids ever!  We are not tripping over new toys like usual!  New bins have been bought, things taken to the dump and to the thrift stores, junk drawers cleaned out, and cabinets reorganized.  There are still several things to do and one whole closet to completely reorganize, but we are excited about our progress. But here is the thing...I can't do this in January and expect it to just stay this way until next January.  It takes work.  It takes effort.  It takes discipline to keep life organized.

My relationship with God can be the same as organizing life.  We can start the year off right.  We may promise to pray more, love more, read more, serve more... but it takes work to accomplish these things.  We can't just buy the prayer journal and devotion book in January and expect it to impact our lives without our effort.  Just like keeping an organized house takes daily work, keeping in tune with God's will takes daily work, prayer and reading.

I hope to keep or home life in order and not get overwhelmed with stuff, just as I hope to not let my spiritual life overwhelmed with anxieties and lack of time.  I pray 2014 will be our best yet...we will focus on the positives and not on the negative, be thankful for everything, and know God is in control of this year!

This verse is a favorite and our verse for the year...
"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."  
Psalms 32:8


I was excited about my new kitchen appliances...the stand mixer and the new blender.  For my first use, I thought milkshakes with fresh whip cream would be the best option.  It was even better with our new milkshake straws from my aunt!  These are great!  We just blended milk, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and a touch of vanilla.  For the whipped cream, we used the mixer on high speed.  The heavy cream turned into whipped cream in no time and we simply folded in a little sugar...so yummy!

Fun Things

One week from today and the kiddies will be waiting for the night to come, finding it hard to sleep, and being so excited for the fun and presents to come the next day.  I truly can't believe it!  I truly am unprepared! But I am trying to get ready and be excited for my girls sake.  I have never quite felt so "off" during the month of December.  So not to bore you with the details and to be completely honest, I am looking forward to December 26th when the mayhem is behind us and then to December 27th when my hubby and I will celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage!

I have asked and prayed for the ability to find the joy of the season in even the smallest of things.   I have thankfully been able to see many small occurrences that brought a smile.   A couple of examples...While sitting in the dreaded Dentist office yesterday morning, I watched a small toddler just learning to walk play with an ornament and peer around chairs to smile at me.  And I found a little glimmer last night as my daughter asked if we would still have our tradition on Christmas morning.

I had to ask her which one she was talking about.  She went on to describe our Christmas mornings.  We go and get the girls from their beds.  We cover their little eyes so they can't see the surprises that await them. We snuggle in the bed while Daddy reads Luke 2.  Then Daddy goes ahead of us and waits with the camera to capture every smile and delight!

"Yes my darling, we will still do this."  And she was excited.  She didn't sigh, like in all honesty I might would have done at her age; she was genuinely excited.  I am so glad she likes our tradition, and I am so glad we can focus on our Savior before the ripping of presents ensues.

Don't forget to read the true Christmas story at some point during the craziness.  Don't just listen to the preacher say it, or Linus say it, or the Narrator of the Cantata say it...read it yourself.  Soak in the meaning. Reflect on the importance, the prophesy, the unimaginable sacrifice, and the miraculous events.  Make  reading the real story a priority in all the fun things that December brings.


Here are some of the new fun things we have done this season...

Donut Snowman...This was an absolute hit in my oldest daughter's class!  I wish I could share some of the hilarious pictures of her classmates while we were making these little treats, but I will just share our practice snowman.

http://www.worthpinning.com/2012/12/powdered-donut-snowmen.html

Cookie Cutter Ornaments...We used craft beads and poured them in metal cookie cutters.  Then we baked at 300 for about 10 minutes. We tied with pretty ribbon and it is a beautiful homemade ornament.

M and M Christmas cards...These have been the treats for my daughters' classmates and teachers.  Really cute!  We used double sided tape to attach the cards to the MMs.

I do hope you all have a Marvelous and Merry Christmas!  

Today's Verse

Luke 2:16

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

What's Cookin'

Now don't be afraid to try this!  I have always thought if I were to try to make these little tasty things I would have a messy kitchen, frazzled nerves and a burnt mess.  But I have to say this was so easy and soooooo tasty!  My daughter had asked me the night before Thanksgiving could we try to make crepes over the break.  So I found some bravery went searching for a recipe and this is what I landed on.  I wanted something festive and fallish, and this was exactly perfect.  We also tried with chocolate chips and with nutella and banana.  Delicious every way we tried it.  The crepes did keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.  We layered them with papertowels and placed in a ziploc bag.  Another tip was using my immersion blender.  The batter has to be very smooth so using a blender of some sort is recommended.  I used plastic chop sticks to help with flipping and a ladle to put the batter in the pan.  So much fun, not hard and so worth the effort.  We will be trying savory crepes soon and I'll let you know how that goes.  I hope your family enjoys!


Pumpkin Spice Crepes with Pumpkin Butter

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/10/pumpkin-spiced-crepes-with-pumpkin.html

Today's Verse

2 Corinthians 9:15  Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

A sliver of blue

After four days of nonstop cold, mist, rain, drizzle, fog and just plain grey... my spirits are down.  It's not just the weather, or the anxiety that is building from the endless to do list, or the busyness of this time of year, or the wrapping and spending and etc. and etc.; it's much more.  But the weather has definitely not helped the situation.

As I was driving to pick up my daughter, I thought  a lot about the grey around me.  About others feeling grey this time of year.  It is not always the happiest time for everybody.  There are people who are missing loved ones or dealing with so much pain that its hard to find the joy we sing about.  As the grey seemed to be stuck around me forever, it happened.  I crossed a bridge and looked over the lake...and there...small as could be...a sliver of blue... through the thick dark grey...it smiled at me.  A sign of hope to come.  A sign the sun and the gorgeous blue skies are still up there.  They may not be visible, but they are there.  A sign the grey would go away.

I thanked the Lord for the sliver.  For the remembrance that just as the sun is behind the clouds, He is still there as well when I am grey.  We may not always feel Him, but He is always watching.  We may be thinking He is not answering or listening, but He is always working.  We may not understand the circumstances, but He always has a plan.  A plan bigger than we could imagine.  A plan better than we could ask for.

Just like the saying goes, out of the blue, the sun appeared.  As if God just blew the thick dark clouds away the sun appeared and the warmth was so refreshing.  I smiled and thanked Him for the sun.  I prayed for those who are hurting right now and can't see past the grey.  I pray that something or someone will be their sliver...the remembrance that God is there and there is hope.




Today's Verse

Psalms 34:17
The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Broken Things

Broken.

That is one word to describe our Thanksgiving Holiday.

Broken.

There were several things broken over the time off, but thankfully, we did not let it break our spirits.

It started with our family traditions being broken.  It in turn broke my heart.  I spent a better part of Wednesday morning in tears and prayers.  What was happening?  How could everything I had known for my whole life, just not exist anymore?  Slowly, the Lord sent peace.  I decided the holiday would not be ruined. New traditions could be started.  The girls would still have fun, we would still have delicious food, and most importantly, we still had an immeasurable amount to be thankful for.  So by mid morning, we were making turkey cookies and turning my breaking, sad heart into a grateful, glad heart.

But the breaking didn't stop there.

Other things broke. I really think the devil was trying to break me into throwing a pitty party.  But instead, I figure all the breaking will be stuff we can laugh about later.

The next broken thing was actually my youngest daughter's face.   No laughing matter to begin with.  But once the tears were done and the black eye had appeared, we laughed at how she would tell people so frankly, "My sister hit me in my face."  Truth be told they bonked heads while playing a hide and seek game, but she loved to tell everyone just the short version.

An hour later I managed to break my tooth...and I mean I broke it BAD!  So there was a sign I was not suppose to eat so much :-).  We built a temporary tooth...and yes my teeth are so bad I keep that stuff on hand...and yes I am still in pain and will be having a root canal and crown in my future...but it is still funny to think about breaking my tooth on a piece of pizza the night before the biggest eating day of the year!

The next morning, Thanksgiving morning, when I dropped my wedding band and the diamond flew out, I was scared to leave the house.  What in the world would happen next!  But thankfully that was the last broken thing, and thankfully we remained positive and thankful!

We did celebrate my hubby's birthday over the days off.  We skipped the normal evening "surprise" party for a breakfast party since it was on Saturday.  And instead of the traditional cookie cake, hey why not break tradition and shake things up every now and then, I made my first homemade from scratch Chocolate Meringue pie.  And I have to say, it was pretty tasty.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I wish everyone a happy next few crazy weeks as we prepare for all the fun and hopefully focus on the Christmas season and everything it means!  Try to stay sane and if traditions are broken, just remember new ones can be super fun!



Pie recipe can be found at link below.  I made a simple crust of 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 stick of butter, 4 oz of cream cheese (room temp), and 1 Tbsp of sugar.  The crust was very good, but it was a little thick.  Hope your family enjoys!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/grandma-s-chocolate-meringue-pie

Today's Verse
Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."