merry Christmas

picture from the past

Mexico. 2007. Family vacay.
I don't know about everybody else, but I loved it!

 I'm getting kissed by a dolphin - who the heck cares if I look like a drowned rat!?

thank you Lord

Amber: for Ernie.
Ernie's not here anymore...
I know, cause he died.
But you're still thankful for him?
Yep. Cause I loved him too.
(Ernie is a dog)

Drew: for my pillow pet.

AJ: for a great family, and God's protection over them.

Me: that my brother got his Christmas leave after they decided he wouldn't and gets to go see my dad.
... because nobody should be alone on Christmas.

Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
 - Psalm 106:1

seven

You love to sit with your nose in a book.
You look like a young lady with your hair up.
You have your own sense of style.
You can help me put on the kids shoes and coats, and make sure Amber buckles up right.
You color inside the lines, and when you draw a picture I always know what it is.
You stick up for the little girl on the bus, and you get good grades.

You're the big sister.
Always looking out for Charlotte.
Humoring Amber in her wild imagination.
Telling Drew to take off the necklace and to be a prince or a superhero.

We love you Kaylen.

Have a happy, happy birthday.

ten on tuesday

1. Charlotte is walking!

2. When we backed up the computer to redo it we somehow quadrupled our files. Yaaaaaaay!

3. You know how Amber really bad wanted a a princess toothpaste dispenser with Dora toothpaste in it?
She got a Dora one with princess toothpaste. Close enough.

4. It plays elevator music every time you use it. Thanks Auntie.

5. Christmas is Saturday.
Thank. goodness. I'm about run all out of steam.
I think I can, I think I can.

6. AJ is done working for the winter this week. Thursday is his last day. While the downside to this is obvious, the upside is that I get to hang out with him when he's not working. I like that that.

7. "... just because she has on a funny dress doesn't mean she's a real princess." - Enchanted 
Ain't it the truth? I smile every time I hear it.

8. In the last four days I have made molasses cookies, fudge that didn't turn out, butterscotch fudge that did turn out, almond roca, no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, and chocolate crinkles.
Whew! I think that's everything. Baking is fun!

9. Now we're all fat.
... Not really. We gave most of it away.

10. Despicable Me is quite possibly the cutest movie ever. I would know.
I've only seen it like a hundred million times.

early present

I got one of my Christmas presents a week early.
... You want to guess?

It's shiny black outside, dark brown inside.
Sleek.
Very useful.
Portable.

Mainly it's so I can do this

and this

and this

whenever and wherever I want.
And someday when I have one of these

it will be good to have.

Also, it will be awesome for watching shows, netflix, and dvds when we're not at home.

Surely you have it figured out by now...

My own laptop!

I now have perma-grin

Thank you AJ!
I. heart. my laptop.
It will get a lot of use.

... In fact, I'm using it right this very second.

pass it along

Silicone baking mats.

I've been drooling over these mats for a while, but the practical in me wouldn't buy one because I have cookie sheets that make cookies just fine. Did I really need it? No.
I was showing AJ one that a friend had, and he mmhm'ed and went his merry way.
Then went and bought me one.
Very sneaky... making me think that he wasn't paying attention.

Girls, I love my baking mat. Love.
If you like to bake anything that might have the teensiest mind to stick to the cookie sheet, this is a beautiful thing to own. I'm telling ya.
Biscuits was my thing. If you ate a biscuit at my house, you'd better not be expecting to get a whole one. Because the bottoms weren't leaving the cookie sheet without the aid of an S.O.S. pad.

Maybe that's an exaggeration.

Nevertheless.
Silicone baking mats are stinkin' sweet.

And they'd make a great gift for the baker in your life.

Your turn!

thank you Lord

Amber: for our Christmas tree.
... But we don't have a Christmas tree.
Yes we do. It's in the garage.
Oh. Me of little faith.


Drew: for Daddy.


AJ: for God's leading through tough times.


Me: for amazing grace.
I was trying to wrap my head around all that is grace yesterday, and I just couldn't.
As Christians we hear grace mentioned a lot, and like many other aspects of God, we get used to it and don't think about what it is. It just is.
We're jaded in a way.
So I imagined my life without grace. Without the grace that He tells us to have with each other, and without the grace that He has with us.

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. - II Corinthians 8:9

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.  - Ephesian 4:7


Praise the bridge that carried you over.  - George Colman

fun

I know I've been absent for a while... but I should be back now.
AJ redid the computer over the last week, and we're still working on getting it updated and all that good stuff. Now it's clean and empty. That's code for way faster.
... And that's beautiful to me.

I was feeling lazy yesterday so I camped out in the kids room with them and we built an empire.
Out of Lego's, that is.

Sometimes you just gotta be a kid.

Divertido.

... Meaning fun.
I like to use the Spanish translator.
Using the Spanish translator is also divertido. For me it is anyway.
I know, I'm a nerd.

M' kay. So we only had enough Lego's for one building.
And maybe one building doesn't constitute an empire.

What?
Let's see you do better.

love

I'm having one of those days where my mind can't seem to process a consistent line of thought. Instead I've got about twenty fragments trying unsuccessfully to complete themselves.
Story of my life.

Me: Ugh. Amber, you're creative. What would you write about?
Amber: *soft, dreamy whisper* Love.

She didn't even skip a beat.
That sweet child of mine.


So per request.
... Love.

AJ.
Because after five years I still miss his presence when he's at work.
Silly? Clingy? Absolutely. Does that bother him? Not a bit.
Did I mention that he bought me roses for his birthday?
I love that too.

Sitting at the counter helping Amber do school, and writing on the laptop.
The dishwasher humming and DrewDrew singing his ABC's in the background.
It feels like home.
I love that too.

My minivan.
We all fit with a seat to spare. Imagine that.
I don't have to skin my knuckles trying to reach between the carseats to buckle the kids in.
I don't have to slam the doors three times... because the car seats don't hang over the edge of the seat and threaten keep the doors from closing.
We made due with our old car as long as we could, and there's a satisfaction in making due.
I love that too.

Zion Baptist.
The people are refreshing. Friendly. Happy. Encouraging.
Their attitude is contagious.
I haven't left a service yet that didn't make me feel blessed and excited about God's plan.
I love that too.

Also.
I love love.
I love being in love.
I don't care what it does to meeeeee!


Sorry, I couldn't help it.
It's off a movie...



 
 
... Wedding Daze.

recipe: enchiladas

I am on a mission. A mission to discover recipes that I really love.

It started with a little Hallmark recipe book that I got for Christmas one year. I was somewhere around the age of sixteen. It was the size of the 4x6 recipe cards that fit nicely inside.
Clean, empty, and begging to be filled.

My mom left several cookbooks behind. My favorite of hers was the Young Homemakers of Canada cookbook. She used to write in the books - changes that she'd made to a recipe, or Ron really likes, or Very Good with a little star next to it. I tried those recipes first because I thought that maybe those would be the ones that we would have made together if she would have been there to teach me. It made me feel good to be making something that my mother would approve of.
Because mom's cookbooks were older and the pages started falling out, I began writing my favorite recipes in my Hallmark book.

There is one blank page left in that book. It is chock full of recipes, and I love every single one of them.
Mom's recipes.
Dad's favorite cookies.
AJ's pumpkin log.
Mozzarella meatloaf from the Taste of Home magazine.
Recipes I can share with my girls.
Recipes that never disappoint.
I didn't write them but they are nevertheless my recipes.

I have visions of sharing with my daughters the joy of creating something that the people around them will love.
You probably think I'm taking this recipe thing too seriously.
I probably am. I'm a silly girl, and I'm very sentimental about my Hallmark cookbook.



... So this is where I share one of my recipes with you.

Note: When I refer to my recipes please understand that I don't mean to imply that I wrote them. I simply mean that I scoured a cookbook, or more often, the web for a recipe worthy of a place in the Hallmark book.
Credit will be given where credit is due if at all possible.

I made these enchiladas from Pioneer Woman last night.
They were very good, but I won't use so much cilantro next time. I tried, but I'm not a big fan of cilantro.
Smells bad, and tastes about the same.
Gail says I'm crazy. She loves the smell and taste so... I guess you will have to form your own cilantro opinion. Don't let me sway you.
I'm a picky pants.

Forgive me for this picture. It was either a bad picture or none at all, so I went with the first option.
I can't bring myself to post a recipe without a picture.







Click on the link and it will guide you to the recipe on Pioneer Woman's site - as well as beautiful, enticing pictures of these wonderful enchiladas that will make you actually want to eat them.

Link.

Enjoy.

happy birthday

To my best friend.

A great husband.
An awesome daddy.

We love you!

The birthday boy with this year's elk. 

thank you Lord

Amber: for my new purse with my lipchap in it. (otherwise known as chapstick)

Drew: for vitamins.

Me: for sending my little brother to visit me. He was a breath of fresh air.
Protective in that brother kind of way. Understanding.
He's like my dad in the way that he makes it easy for me to keep my chin up.


"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
- G.K. Chesterton

pass it along

Emerald cocoa roast almonds.

I don't care too much for nuts, but I was sucked in when I saw that one of the ingredients in this was cocoa .
And it said dark chocolate on the label.
Dark. chocolate.
Dark.
Just had to make sure you got that part... chocolate just isn't the same if it isn't dark.

These babies are good. Reeeal good.

Now it's your turn!

.