You've Come A Long Way, Baby

I love my girl so, so much!  I thank the Lord for these past five years.  She is the one who first made me a mama and opened up this world to me.  She brings joy and laughter to our home.  She keeps me praying for wisdom.  She is super smart.  She is an entertainer.  She loves to create and has the imagination to do it.  She is my helper.  She can fold a better shirt than her Daddy!  She loves her brothers and loves being the only sister.  She is a girl through and through.  She loves pink, all things princess, her Birthday, and presents.  I can see God shaping her little heart.  I pray more than anything that she will know Jesus and love him with every ounce of who she is.  That her life will be completely His. 

Happy Birthday, Ellie!!

Pretezels, Anyone?

Does anyone ever do this?  Dip pretezels in white chocolate.  I think they are so yummy, so easy, and such a fun thing to put sprinkles on.  I love, love sprinkles.  I would like to have them in every color there ever was. 

Then you get to do this...

The pretzels were to take to school along with the Hello Kitty cupcakes.  Ready for a birthday kind of day at school.  Tomorrow my little girls will be five years old.  How did this happen?  Severe weather is predicted.  We may be spending most of it in the closet under the stairs.

Bad Allergies and Microwave S'mores

I am sitting down on the couch for a few seconds. Steven gave Ellie, Luke, and Andrew a bath while I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. We had salad, baked potatoes, and bread. It was one of the messiest meals I have ever cleaned up. The toppings were everywhere. I should probably go upstairs and tell them it's time to start bedtime stuff, but I am going to enjoy my quiet time just a little bit longer. I have a feeling this post will not all be written in one sitting.

So, we have tried to fight allergies this season without any prescription drugs and the allergies have definitely won. This happened two years ago-I kept thinking it would get better soon and I would put off going to the doctor. Last year it wasn't so bad. And then this year has been one of the worst I can remember. Ellie's poor eyes have been swollen for weeks and my nose feels raw. I feel badly about her, because I know she is miserable, but she can get to whining about it and it makes me a little crazy. Please be over soon, allergy season!!

Well, as I had predicted, I was caught red-handed on the couch with the computer in my lap. So I had to take a break and we got them ready for bed. But first, a bedtime snack--microwave s'mores.
They were finger lickin' good. Then we had to go get another bath. Just kidding! Just a really good wipe down.

Just so you know-it's birthday week at our house, Ellie's birthday that is. The official day will be Saturday, but the party will not be until a week later. Hoping she is old enough now to get that part. There is a pretty long story behind that, I will save it for another post. Ellie absolutely lives for her birthday. I think most children do, but her expectations of the day seem larger than normal. I will be taking cupcakes to her class on Thursday (last day of school before her birthday). I spent a good while today trying to come up with super cute cupcakes to make. And finally after thinking and re-thinking things while on different aisles at Wal-Mart, I asked the lady at the bakery counter if they had any cupcake toppers. She said all we have are Hello Kitty rings (to stick in the cupcakes). I said "I will take it!!". Who was I kidding? I have coffee at my house on Wednesday for ladies at my church and Wednesday night we have church. I will get in at about 8:30 and have 3 very tired children to put to bed and then I will want to knock myself over the head and say "what were you thinking?". So, I am going to do myself a favor and let Wal-Mart make Ellie's b-day cupcakes.

Our little mischievous cowboy says good-night.


This is what most of our bathrooms look like these days, thanks to the little guy in red.

Have a good week! We'll be back soon with some birthday posting.

Portraits

I recently had Andrew's one year portrait made, just like I had for Ellie and Luke. They were done by Tammy Miller and you can check out her website here. This is the best picture of all three. She just sent it to me via facebook. We/she called it the money shot because they are all looking directly into the camera and smiling. It is very small, but I still wanted to share. Does anyone know if I can make it any bigger?

There is a very late Easter post below.

One Week Late

Last week we celebrated Easter and I meant to do this post a few days after. Here it is a week later. I've just had a hard time finding blogging motivation this week. We finally, finally got our camera sent off and sent back so I think that will help. A lot of it is this unbelievable weather. But with this beautiful spring weather comes dreadful spring allergies. Ellie and I are the ones suffering in this family. There have been a few nights this week that my eyes were so itchy and watery I could hardly see to blog. But it will soon be behind us. So, back to Easter...

On Saturday we participated in a fabulous Easter egg hunt with our church family.

There were yummy refreshments.

Fun games and activities.

And of course eggs, prize eggs, and more eggs.

And on Easter day, in Sunday School we heard about how Thomas didn't believe Jesus was alive until he saw the scars... For lunch we had a meal that I think ranks right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Ham, hashbrown casserole, green beans, deviled eggs, potato salad, rolls, grape salad, and cream cheese poundcake with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

And then enjoyed the beautiful weather with cousins...

Andrew and John are becoming fast friends.

It was a fun weekend, but exhausting. Sunday afternoon every one of us crashed for several hours. It was so wonderful. And tonight, one week later, we are taking it easy again.

We are watching an updated Little House on the Prairie movie on the Hallmark channel, Andrew is already in bed because he was miserably tired, Ellie are Luke are half watching the movie, half playing school and I of course, am blogging. (Steven is having a missions and then elders meeting at the church). All three have already had baths!!!
Funny bathtime quote from Luke: "Look, mom, my hands are sprinkled!"

I better go. I'm being asked a lot of questions by the teacher. Ellie just asked, "Who knows about God? Please raise your hand and tell me what you know." (No pressure)

Good Friday

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted."

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:3-6

HALLELUJAH, What a Savior!

Steven's Back and Peanut Butter Fudge

Hello blogworld! It's a beautiful, but a bit windy Saturday afternoon and I am sipping the last of my Sonic Diet Cherry coke. Andrew is sound asleep and Ellie and Luke are in their beds. I can hear Ellie "reading". Although we are working on her reading, like for real, without quotation marks around the word. We're not that close, but I do think she is ready, so we've been really working on making sure she knows every sound for every letter. Anyway, didn't really mean to get into that, just thought I would check in.

Steven is home and I meant to blog several days ago, but then one day would pass and then the next and I wouldn't/couldn't get around to it. I'm sure you know how that goes. Ellie and Luke were thrilled to see him, of course, as was I. Luke immediately asked for his "guprise". It was a red t-shirt with some camels across the front. He gave a half-hearted thanks. I don't know that camels is really his thing right now. Ellie was more excited than Luke since she got a lot of jewelry. Real stuff that is all hers.

To welcome Steven home, I made him some peanut butter fudge. It is from my good friend, Esther. She first made it for us after Andrew was born and we were hooked. Even more so, when I found out how easy it was to make. So Esther shared this peanut butter love with me and now I am sharing it with you.

Makes about 64 pieces

You will need:
-1 1/4 c. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
-1 1/4 c. smooth PB (natural works best for flavor)
-1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
-4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
-pinch of salt *last time I only had salted butter, so I just omited this*

Cook butter and peanut butter over medium heat until mix comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla.

Then stir in all that powdered sugar and mix it well. (It is a thick consistency) Pour into buttered pan and cover directly with a piece of plastic wrap. Chill until firm.

I can hear Ellie singing at the top of her lungs and that does not count for resting quietly in your bed. So I better run. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!