LIFE

“When you decide to live out what you believe. When you decide you want peace in your possession, then you will find out what that looks like & feels like. You begin to pray for God to give you peace. You incorporate peace in your relationships. You decide to respond differently. You speak in love. Act in tenderness. You imitate what you know about peace until it becomes a reality for your character & your life."

ENJOY.... YUMMY!

Let's make these bad boys together:

Whoopie Pie Ingredients:

2 packages of Devil's Food Cake Mix

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup Crisco {shortening}



Frosting Ingredients:

4 cups of powdered sugar

8 ounces of cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

pinch of salt 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Combine all the whoopie pie ingredients and mix.  The batter will be thick, that is normal. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. This is VERY important.  The whoopies cook really fast and the parchment paper helps prevent them from burning on the bottom.

Use a tablespoon to scoop spoonfuls and place 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.





Bake for 8-10 minutes. Watch closely because they cook really fast. 

This batch will make about 24 complete whoopie pies {2 cookies per pie}.



While you finish baking the rest of the pies, get started on the frosting.

Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Put all the frosting in a large Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the tip.



Take your cooled whoopie pies and apply a large dollop to one side using the plastic bag.

Put the other whoopie on top.

Add your favorite sprinkles.



And enjoy!



You can even add food coloring to the frosting for a more festive look.

  

Holy cow, these are good. Seriously.

Hurry and wrap them up and get them out of your house,

unless you're prepared to eat all 24 by yourself in one night.

Thru a child's eyes...

Thru a child's eyes...

All is new. All is fresh.

Wonder lies ahead...

The sun shines forever.

The hard times don't exist. 

Each day is something new,

thru a child's eyes. 

I see myself,

in my child's eyes. 

A mirror reflection shining back at me.

It's the craziet thing,

to see the world, 

thru my child's eyes.

I get to be a kid again,

and relive those Christmas mornings.

Disneyland, Family vacations, 

1st pets, 1st bike.

The world of make believe.

Thru my child's eyes. 

Most importantly,

I get to be that role model,
thru my child's eyes.

I am so thankful for the many blessings in my life.

When the hard days should arise,

I hope I remember all is good because I am living thru my child's eyes.

Strawberries and Cream Bars

   

                          

     

 Strawberries and Cream Bars

            2 pounds of strawberries, hulled and halved. (6 cups)

            1 1/2 cups sugar

            coarse salt

            7 large egg whites

            2/3 cup cold heavy cream

            1 teaspoon vanilla

            1) In a blender, combine strawberries, 3/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt and

            puree until smooth. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Transfer to freezer

            and scrape with a fork every 30 minutes until mixture is thick and slushy, 

            2 hours. Smooth top with rubber spatula.

            2) In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat egg whites on high

            until foamy. With mixer on medium, gradually add 3/4 cup sugar. Increase

            speed to high and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, 3 minutes. In another

            bowl, beat cream and vanilla on high until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes.

            With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into the egg white mixture.

             Pour over strawberry mixture and smooth with rubber spatula. Freeze until

             firm, about 4 hours. Makes 12 bars. 

This is a perfect recipe for the 4th of July!

Madelyn Marie

Madelyn Marie, 

Words will never be able to describe how special you are to me. 

As challenging as you have been lately,

I would not trade any of this for a minute.

You have changed your Mommy and Daddy's life in more ways than you could ever imagine. 

You have become mommy's little sidekick,

 my best friend. 

As long as you are by my side, you are happy. 

Your larger than life personality is made known when you step into a room.

You prefer playing with all the boys, and that is fine by me.

 Watching you grow and develop into your own little person is amazing.

 You have momma's fair skin and daddy's ringlet curls, and THAT makes me weak at the knees.

The LOVE you have for your Grandma and Papa, melts my heart. 

You LOVE all things WATER.

Trying on shoes and playing with momma's jewelry is your favorite pastime. 

Your best friend is Dora.

 ABCs and Ring around the Rosie's are your favorite songs...

you like singing them over and over and over again.

5 little monkey's is a nightly MUST.

You ADORE babies and want to be near them every chance you can.

Mac and Cheese, Nuggets, and Grilled Cheese are your staples.

Seeing your beautiful smile every single day is the best feeling I could ever ask for.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for you Madelyn. 

I promise to hold your hand the entire way. 

Love,

Mommy

Maple BBQ Turkey Burgers

Here is a picture of the delicious Maple BBQ Turkey Burgers I made. The recipe really called for pork sausage, but I used turkey sausage to make it healthier and by was it yummy!!!!

These are actually pretty simple. Just chop up a green bell pepper, mix it into the turkey sausage and form into 4 (1/2-inch thick) patties, cover and refrigerate while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, combine 1  1/3 cups BBQ sauce, 3 T. maple syrup, and 3 T. apple cider vinegar.Then grill the patties about 5 minutes on each side. Baste one side with sauce and grill for 5 min. then flip and baste other side, grilling for 5 min. more. Then serve on some toasted Hawaiian rolls, top with some coleslaw and wahlah!!!!

OPEN HANDS

"When a woman has a kingdom heart, she has an active understanding of what matters most to the heart of God. She lives in the balance of passion and contentment. She learns to love well, give without regard to self, and forgive without hesitation. The woman with a kingdom heart may have a duffel bag full of possessions or enough treasures to fill a mansion, but she has learned to hold them with an open hand. Hold everything with open hands. I don't think we are ever allowed to grab hold of anything or anyone as though they matter more than the kingdom of heaven. When you hold relationships with open hands, then people come in and out of your life as gifts of grace to be cherished and enjoyed, not objects to be owned and manipulated. And then when you hold your dreams with open hands, you get to watch God resurrect what seemed dead and multiply what seemed small."

Watermelon Basket Floral Arrangement

I LOVE fresh flowers in my home, so thought I would turn a watermelon into a basket floral arrangement. 

Here is my step by step tutorial on how to make your very own 

Watermelon Basket Floral Arrangement 

Materials:

Giant watermelon

Sharp kitchen knife

pen

floral foam

fresh flowers

1.

 To begin, I traced a half circle on both sides of the melon, leaving a two inch strip in between your  half circles.

2.

I then began cutting out my half circles with a sharp kitchen knife.

3.

Your first cut out should look like so...

4.

Next, cut our your other section.

5.

And remove.

6.

TADA, a basket. 

7.

Now you will scoop out all the watermelon inside and throw it into a fruit salad.

Get the kiddies involved with the scooping.

8.

Basket complete.

9.

Lastly, you will fill the inside of your basket with a large piece of wet floral foam. 

10.

Begin cutting down your flowers. I cut my stems in half, and then arranged them how I liked into the floral foam.

THAT'S IT! 

A GORGEOUS, and professional looking floral arrangement for your summer party. I plan on bringing these as hostess gifts all summer long. 

The PERFECT centerpiece!

Happy Crafting!

 

3 tricks for getting young kids to smile:

1. One word phrases

"Cheese" is SO overdone...the kids are tired of it and by now they've heard it so much that they move their lips in a straight line and show some teeth but their eyes are totally annoyed and rarely even make eye contact. Change up those one word phrases you have them say. Some of my favorites for kids or groups: "Yee--haw" or "happy" or "Hooray!" or "pizza." Throw out any words for them to repeat. It can be anything from their favorite treat to their favorite cartoon character to their favorite toy. Have them repeat what makes them happy and they will think happy thoughts.

2. Sing a song

We want to get the children to a place that brings happiness in order to capture happiness. As the momma (or aunt or grandma), you know their favorite song, start singing it! If they don't sing along, they will surely smile as they hear it. Twinkle Twinkle or Old McDonald or Wheels on the Bus are standard favorites, but I often ask kids (if I don't know them well) what shows they like to watch and I am finding myself singing about Dora or Elmo or even Barney. Singing the words wrong can actually be pretty funny as well. The little ones will correct you. One time, I kept singing it wrong even after correcting, and I got a grumpy face. I think I just took that one too far;)

3. Have a bag of tricks

First, I pull out a little yellow hair scrunchy that has been converted to a duck. It wraps around my lens and I tell the young kids to look right at the duck and quack. I try to wait until I am desperate when I pull out a ball or a rattle to get their attention. I do this because often the little ones want to hold it and my plan could backfire. I throw the ball up in the air, or put it right by the camera and say I am going to throw it at them. The anticipatory smile is all worth it. I have a silver bell ornament from Christmas that I like to bring out because in the event that the young child wants to hold the ball, it isn't too ugly to stay in his hand for the pic. A stick or book can "bonk" the photographer on the head or leg and you can actually yell "OWW" and that brings on the laughs as well. This requires an extra person doing the "bonking." This shot below what my head getting "bonked" by my reflector as I pretended to get hurt.

Flowy, Flirty, Fun..

Flowy, Flirty, Fun..

 

And, oh so comfortable!

What's better than a maxi dress? 

Whether all dolled up, or going for a laid back look, hair in curls, or pulled back in a messy bun, worn with heels or paired with flip flops, the maxi dress is one of my favorite, go to, summer staples!

Thank you, Victoria's Secret..

Thank you, Forever 21

And, of course, thank you, thank you to the always faithful Nordstrom!!

huuu... 

Shopping anyone?