dancing after the rain

on a hot summer Sunday, in their church clothes, Bugs and Miss Sassy Pants enjoyed a nice rain puddle... :)  i loved the look on Bugs's face as she watched Big Sassy Sister show her what to do in the puddle :) 
nothing but pure joy...  :)

silver linings

one of the ladies (i had to change this from "girls"...she's a baby!  she may be in her late 20s...) i used to teach with, along with her family, suffered a tragedy last week...her house burned and their belongings were destroyed, as well...  they're a young family...and they have 2 small children - a 6 year old and a 3 year old... 
i can't imagine having to rebuild a house...
and i can't imagine having to purchase all new belongings...
neccessitites...and toys...
i can't imagine helping my kids deal with this...
she's an incredibly talented cake decorator, too (and it probably helps that she's an art teacher :)), and she even lost her cake and decorating supplies...

they're believers...and i know that has to give them some comfort...
and, it's probably hard to see any silver lining in these events...
but, amazingly, she has found glaring examples...
she's shared 2 very powerful examples of "amazing" from the past several days...

her son, who is 3, was at school on Friday.  another child commented on the color of the leaves...that they were like the color of fire.  her son replies, "my house got fired and all my toys are gone." Then he got really quiet for a few moments and said, "but God is great and God is good."
he's 3....  wow....

and, today, Katie shared a beautiful "poem" that was written on a card she received....
"When my bed has been floating
On the flood of my tears
Seems as though my joy has disappeared
Still I will not put my hope
In what i feel or see
I will cling to You
and trust You're holding me
Lord I don't know where I'm walking
But I'll take it day by day
And I'll hold Your hand
And You will lead the Way."

silver linings... :)

weekly musings and meals for the week 9.17.12 to 9.23.12

it hit me that this is the last "week" of summer, at least as far as the calendar/earth's revolution says...  that's really hard for me to believe....  i can't say that i'm sad, though...i LOVE the fall...the crisp air, the colors, pumpkins, holidays....it's a wonderful time of year... :) 

Bugs helping with some mum planting :)

of course, fall means that our meals change a little, too...  i could live off of soup, i think :)  and fall means lots of soups for us... :) 
i'm a little sad, however, to say goodbye to our summer...  that little princess pool leaning against our maple tree in the front yard needs to be cleaned a bit and then put away for the cooler weather...and the princess swimmy rings....  the water table...  my kids have really enjoyed playing with water (well, Bugs has taken a little longer to appreciate the wet stuff)....  summer will be here before we know it again...so i will be thankful for the change of seasons :)

 Lil Sis listening to "The Shy Kitten" :) Big Sis is totally

ad-libbing the whole story, which was sprinkled with LOTS of

princess movie innuendo :)

 

our meals will be a bit simple this week... :)  and, as the "head cook," i'm fine with that :)  and i'm liking the "fallish" touch, too... :) 

Monday: lots of a little bit of leftovers - meatballs, salad, mac n cheese, etc. (basically, empty the fridge of leftovers!)
Tuesday: open face pork tenderloin sandwiches, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggie
Wednesday:  church supper :)  (pork BBQ and the fixins)
Thursday:  Outback potato soup (new recipe :))
Friday: raviolis
Saturday: grill out
Sunday: tacos

hope you a FABULOUS week! :)  enjoy yourselves and cherish moments...especially the little ones :) 

Love the sister love :) makes my heart smile...a lot

banana bread brownies

i'm an admitted pintereset surfer...  and i love it.  while it can be addicting, i find so many neat and creative ideas that i can use with my kids, decorating, crafts, and yes, cooking :) 

we tend to have a few overripe bananas left each week...  for some reason, the girls will not eat "squishy" and very ripe bananas...and well, they're not my absolute favorite either... 
i saw this recipe on pinterest a few weeks ago...and i dreamed of making it...  i don't even know why they're called "brownies" because there is nothing "brownie-ish" about them...except that they're in a brownie-like pan...  but, basically, this is a hearty banana bread with an AMAZING icing...
and honestly, it's not the most "healthy" recipe... 2 sticks of butter... :)  but it's worth it... :) 
they're "heavy," too (haha, no pun)...very filling in small amounts.  while i could have eaten a lot more than i did, it's a great little treat to share with a neighbor or a friend.... :)  it will brighten their day...just like it will brighten yours :) 
(recipe and photo are from Life's Simple Measures and i notice she calls them "bars" on her site, not brownies, but on Pinterest, they're brownies :))

Ingredients:

Banana Bread Bars:

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream (i used light)

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375F. Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan. For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts.

2. Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately. (watch this carefully...it happens quickly!)

4. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

 

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

meals for the week 9.10.12 through 9.16.12

here's what we're enjoying (or enjoyed :)) for meals this week :)

monday: leftover macaroni soup and grilled cheese
tuesday: dinner out with the Davis family - mexican :)
wednesday: hot dogs, mac n cheese, veggie
thursday: spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and italian bread
friday: homemade pizza
saturday: meatball sandwiches
sunday: crockpot something or other - maybe potato soup... :)



here are some shots from when we were still having warm, summer days...  we're still having summer, but the temperatures have cooled a bit, and we're not spending time playing in the pool or sprinkler right now :)  but, we haven't put the water stuff away....i have a feeling we're not finished with warmish weather yet :)

Hannah is not a water baby (yet), especially compared to Katherine...  she did come a long way from standing at the sprinkler with a leaf, just reaching in enough for the leaf to get wet.  that was early this summer...  :)  she is more mechanical and likes trying to take the sprinkler apart, spraying something with the hose or something like that.... :)  here, she probably sees a car coming...the town watch, without a doubt :)

 Katherine, of course, would probably try to become one with the water if she could...  she would play in a pool for hours... :)  while this picture looks a little pixelated, the joy on her face here says it all... :)  and, her sweet ears... :)  i love them :)

it's time...

father's day??? 
seriously... 
it's time for me to get back into the blogging saddle...
i don't really have a good excuse...
life is just busy...and it was too easy to put this off
my girls keep me busy from waking till their eyes close at bedtime...
and summer happened...
and summer translates to lots of traveling for this family...so much traveling that we long for school to start again so we can go home and not leave again for awhile... :)
and my "to do" list of the summer never seemed to come to an end...and it's still full!
and i haven't even downloaded pictures off of the camera in months.......
and i don't know how to get the pictures of my silly cell phone without emailing every single one (argh)...

but i still need to keep this up...  i enjoy it too much, and well, it helps me put down the things that i will forget if i don't write them down and document...

so, it's time....  it's time to get back into the swing of blogging... :)  and for the few of you who read and care (?), thanks for being patient... :) 

a rare moment of sister love these days :)

they are actually sitting on a rocking chair that belonged to my

grandma when she was a little girl :) 

A truly rich man

is one whose children

run into his arms

when his hands are

empty.

~unknown

Happy Father's Day to Ry... :)

a fabulous and loving father...

who loves to watch some football with his girls... :)

Happy Father's Day to my dad, another great man

who we love!  And, he's a great Bebot Daisy!! :)

And, a Happy Father's Day to Bebot Boot, another wonderful example of a dad! 

We beyond blessed with wonderful men in our lives... :) 

breath of fresh air :)

i'm finding that this song is one of my favorites.... 
incredibly uplifting and fabulous.......

:)
i hope you will be blessed by it, as well :)

meals for the week 5.6.12 through 5.13.12

time to get back into posting the meal plan...  it helps keep me more organized... :) 
here's what we'll be eating this week... :)

• Sunday:  beef and potato boats, green beans, broccoli corn bread
• Monday: baked ziti
• Tuesday: pigs in a blanket, mac n cheese, veggie
• Wednesday: leftovers
• Thursday:  pancakes
• Friday: leftovers
• Saturday:  out to eat or scrounge at home :)
• Sunday:  chicken parmiginana and spaghetti

hope you all have a great week... :)  don't forget that Mother's Day is on Sunday :)

it's been awhile...

nothing like a long, long break from blogging.... :)  life has been a little busy...  :)

we enjoyed some time over spring break NOT traveling... :)  instead, we had my parents here for Easter...  the visits with our grandmas and bebots are always too, too short....  we had lots of fun, though....we did some shopping, went to church, had yummy meals and enjoyed each other's company...  :) 

katherine snapping beans with grandma daisy

(katherine calls both grandmas "grandma," but she specifies each one by one thing that she realized while she was very young...my parents have a dog, Daisy, so my mom became "grandma daisy."  Ry's mom is "grandma boot" because K calls her Aunt Brittany "Boot"... :))

the girls were so cute in their Easter dresses....yep, i did what i never thought i'd do and dressed my girls in the same dresses :)  they were really cute :)

(i won't even tell you how long it took us to get this picture of the two of them together...  katherine was being especially cheesy and was bouncing like tigger, hannah was crying and falling down because her sister insisted on holding her hand while bouncing like tigger...and they needed naps :))

then, Ry's mom, dad, and sister came into town and we all hung out and enjoyed each other some more. :)  we had yummy food and cooked at home, too... :)  of course, we did a little shopping, and we made chocolate covered strawberries and cupcakes...yummy! :) 

one of our strawberries :)

we've been busy playing outside (when it wasn't raining)...katherine loves being outside, but i think that hannah may love it even more...  she cries to go outside and cries even harder when we come inside...  :)

we have done a little gardening...we planted some bulbs and also planted a little garden! :)  all we have in our garden are strawberries right now, but i'm going to add a few more things...  katherine LOVES to go out and check out our plants...it's been really fun to see how well our things are growing :)

our first strawberry, picked as soon as it was red, and eaten on the spot by this little green thumb :)

since october, i've been working as a teacher for an after school program in the county where i used to teach... it's been a great experience, and i've really enjoyed helping kids...  i'm not ready to get back in the classroom, but i hope that i can do their after school program again next year...  the hours are perfect (i drop the girls off after ry finishes his day and head up the road a few minutes to school) and it's good to help! :)  unfortunately, it ends this coming week, but i'm sure i will find SOMETHING to do with my extra time :)

now, because my teaching license has to be renewed every 5 years, i'm in the first week of taking a 3 credit course for recertification...  i had taken another course in the fall of 2010 for half of my points, and i thought i had enough professional development from 2008 and 2009, while teaching, but i kept shoddy records and can't even find them in my files of packed school items :(  so, i'm taking a literacy class on teaching phonemic awareness and phonics....it's really interesting...  :)  i'm especially excited to start using my new-found knowledge on a little guinea pig i know... :)  (i really wanted to take this class so i could learn what i should be doing for K... :))

in the midst of all of this, we've had vet appointments, trips to the store, time with our friends, dentist appointments, and just plain attempts to stay afloat in this trip called life :) 

but........summer is knocking...Ry only has 21 days left with students...  i always love summer because we can do so many fun things together as a family and life is a little more relaxed.... :) 

 don't you just love the strangle hold of love here? :)

totally staged, but it looks real, doesn't it? :)

i promise i will be back sooner than i was this time... :)  there's always a ton to report, but time is fleeting and i never get to share all the happenings.... :) 

hope this catches you up on a bit.... :)