Yup.

Happy Friday!! I know, I'm a bad blogger, but I'm spending time (hopefully) being as good of a momma to these sweet things as I can. Looking at these faces, enjoying this warmer weather, baking tons and tons of cookies... Life is good. My word this year is Thrive, and we're working on doing just that. I pray for you all and think of you bunches!!

Six.

6. Six. What sweet graces could fill volumes of pages at the thought of years marked by this little man?! Six years we've been snuggling this little lover. From the moment he came into this world, he's been our love. Our hugger. Amazing sensitive, heart-filled boy, leaping over tall buildings, fighting villains at every turn, only to come in often and close for a squeeze of his momma. This one never gets too far off. Such easy joy. So thankful for God's gracious gift of my Remy.

Because Community is Hard to Find

I have found that in the last few years I have been extremely encouraged and challenged alike by many people, blogs, and things found through online communities. And it sounds weird to 'real life' friends. And sometimes people think I'm crazy when I say an 'online friend' or 'blogger'... but there have been some amazing things in my life that have come from these connections.

One source that I go to daily for encouragement and community is (in)courage. Have you heard of them? I'm pretty sure I've mentioned them before, but in case you missed it, you should check out the link. And I'm super excited because they are hosting a first-of-its-kind sort of un-conference in April called (in)RL, bringing the beach house to communities all over the country for community and connection~ (in)courage in Real Life.  You can see more about the why behind the conference in the video below. I've already signed up to participate locally here in IL, but if you're not local to me, there are dozens of places around that you can find to connect. Hope you'll join me at the beach house!!

Miscellany Monday Love

Things that make me happy today...

~Hearing my sweet things reciting Bible verses. We have wanted to start memorizing verses as a family, so I recently had the world's simplest DIY moment: A friend had a poster frame that she wasn't using, so I put some fabric behind the plastic, sponge painted the frame, and VOILA! Easy breezy dry erase board. I put it on the wall above our buffet so that it is in a prime viewing spot at dinner. I wrote our verse on the top (we started with Deuteronomy 6:5 and this week added Colossians 3:20) and I also made a spot for writing prayer requests. I am in awe of how these little ones have the capacity to remember things, so why not fill their minds with goodness? Yesterday when I commented that they were being very good listeners, Remy was quick to say that they are 'rememberizing' the things that we are teaching them. Love that!

~ Valentine's Day preparations! Class parties for both littles tomorrow, so we've been busy planning and making. I am dying at how Remy's class Valentine's turned out. I found the guitar printable on Pinterest but cannot for the life of me find it now that I saved it...

~Bittersweet birthday planning... Remy turns 6 next week. 6! I can't believe it, it sounds so old. But I do love planning a good cake, so I'm excited to see how his turns out this week. You know I'll keep you posted on that- I'm trying something I haven't done before, as we've been watching tons of Cake Boss on netflix, so I've been inspired!

Sweet Treats

Happy Friday, sweet things! I wanted to pop in and share with you a quick and easy Valentine treat that Halle and I whipped up yesterday. We had to run into the grocery store and she saw the prepackaged Fruity Pebble Treat squares. I couldn't believe how much 8 in a box cost, so of course I just grabbed a bag of the generic cereal and knew that we could make them at home. Once we got home I decided they need a little dressing up, so here is what we did:



We made the cereal treats just like you typically would (10 oz. marshmallows, 3 Tbsp butter and about 6 cups of cereal. We go a little less on the cereal because we are fans of gooey...). We left them in the pan to cool for a bit. Once cool, I turned them out onto the counter and rolled them just a bit thinner with my rolling pin and used heart shaped cutters. The nice thing about the treats is that you can take the scraps and reroll them. The cereal gets a little beat up, but it doesn't effect the taste at all.

Once they were all cut up, I dipped half in some melted white chocolate bark left over from my holiday peppermint bark binge. We laid them out on parchment and sprinkled the chocolate with sugar, nonpareils, and cereal.

To package for our friends, we stacked three hearts to a pop stick and dropped them into a sweet little Valentine goody bag. We had a great time delivering them out and about to our friends today! Easy and so cute!

Hope y'all have a great weekend full of people and things you love!!

the one in which I freak out about cookies...

Well, lovelies, I have never claimed to be anything less than crazy about cookies. And I love the idea of making decorated cookies that are gorgeous. But until today I have never found the right frosting/icing. Until today. This is a big day for me. Believe me, I've tried them all, and hard as I tried, I never found the right combination of consistency, sheen, drying, plus the all important taste. Sweet things, I am seriously flipping out.

Look at these beauties!! Somehow from Pinterest (of course) I stumbled upon The Decorated Cookie. I pinned some of her work, but then I began digging around on her site and saw that she had recipes for Chocolate Sugar Cookies, which appeared interesting. And then I saw her recipe for what she calls 'Royal Icing (sort of)' and I was intrigued. Let me just say that this recipe is INCREDIBLE. The combination of ingredients is perfection. You can find the recipes here!

Lined up and waiting to be given to my Bible Study Girls!

Like this is so much perfection that I selfishly had the thought for a moment of not sharing it with you and making beautiful cookies that I could sell for a million dollars a piece. (Yeah, had to ask forgiveness for that right away, sorry!) Okay, so I'm totally gushing. But that's it... try it, I think you'll love it! And I'm also betting that you'll be seeing tons of cookies coming out of this kitchen... Happy Thursday!

To begin the week...

"Ordinary work, which is what most of us do most of the time, is ordained by God every bit as much as is the extraordinary. All work done for God is spiritual work and therefore not merely a duty but a holy privilege."~ Elisabeth Elliot

Happy Monday, sweet things! I'm reading "The Shaping of a Christian Family" and came across the above quote in a chapter. It struck me deeply this morning, as I have a pukey baby girl... this interupts my normal Monday catching up, but I found myself feeling deeply grateful for this life I have. Yes, I have more beds to strip and wash (she seems to want to travel and snuggle all over the house today!), and yes, there isn't the same pattern of doing that I normally have, but I get the high and holy calling of being her mom. Of keeping this home. Of being a part of loving and shaping this family. Even the grand task of laundry becomes service. And I am called to be Jesus.

Colossians 3:17 says "And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!