Thankful Thursday

On Thursdays I'd like to start telling you some things that I am thankful for.  These are in no particular order, nor will they be.  Here's my first 10.

1)  A God who loves me.
2)  A husband who cares about me.
3)  Rain for my gardens and flowers.
4)  Kids that want to be home all day with me.
5)  Freedom to read my Bible.
6)  My cats that love me unconditionally, if not temperamentally.
7)  An amazing church family.
8)  The gift of song that God has given me.
9)  My husband's job that pays enough for me to stay home with our kids.
10) A husband who takes out the trash.  I really dislike doing that.

What are YOU thankful for today?

2 Tulips

Wordless Wednesday

*The story on these tulips will come in the next week.  :)

2000

Wow!  I hit 2000 visitors!  Thank you all for coming and reading my site.  I hope you can be encouraged and laugh with me as I go through life in the way that God has laid out for me.  Thank you for visiting!

Cake Pops

Last week we had a luncheon after church.  I always try to bring something fun and I've been wanting to try to make cake pops for a while.  I ended up making close to 6 dozen cake pops, all of which were gone by the time Sunday was over.  And I was VERY good and only ate one of them!

I made two types of cake pops.  At first glance, they are purple and brown.  Well, the purple ones were Golden Butter Yellow cake with white frosting and a purple-vanilla candy shell.  The brown ones were chocolate fudge cake with chocolate frosting and a chocolate candy shell.  Both types were garnished with white candy sprinkles.

This weekend is Easter weekend.  I have 2 different family dinners to attend and I hope to try my hand at something a little more difficult.  I'm going to steal borrow Bakerella's design and try these cute Easter Bunny Pops.  They look so cute don't they?  I'll be sure to post the update on how my pops turn out. 

Here's how I made my cake pops:

1 box cake mix
1 cup of frosting
36 paper lollipop sticks
2 bags candy pieces ( I used these)
sprinkles to garnish
Piece of styrofoam

Bake 1 box cake mix as directed in 9x13 pan.  Cool completely.  In large bowl, crumble entire cake into small pieces.  Add in 1 cup of frosting.  (Not the entire tub of frosting.)  Using the back of a large spoon, mash the cake and frosting together till it's combined.  It will be a gooey but sticky consistency.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a pan lined with wax paper.  Place in refrigerator for 2 hours or until firm.

When the cake balls are firm, melt 1 bag of candy pieces.  Take one lollipop stick and dip it in the melted candy.  Stick the stick in the cake ball, no more than halfway in.  Dip the entire cake ball into the candy and let it drip off back into the bowl.  Once it is done dripping off, immediately decorate with sprinkles while the candy shell is still wet.  Place the cake pop into the piece of styrofoam. 

Pretty simple isn't it?  With the chocolate ones that is exactly how I did it.  With the vanilla ones I ended up putting all the sticks in first and letting them harden before putting the entire cake pop into the candy shell.  Either one worked fine, so you can find which way works best for you.

A Different Weekend

This morning I got up at 5:10 (yikes!) to make my husband breakfast before he went to work.  I've been doing that for the last two weeks, but usually it's at 5:30.  What a difference 20 minutes make!  I am tired and ended up napping from 7 to 8 before the kids woke up.  Even worse, I still want to go back to bed.  No wonder I'm not pushing for kid #2 to wake up right now.

Seth had to leave early this morning, hence the early breakfast.  He's got his National Guard weekend starting immediately after work.  And when I say immediately, I mean it.  He works full time at the base now so there's no coming home before starting his weekend.  He'll be gone until sometime tomorrow night or Sunday, we're not sure which.  Looks like I'll have the night to myself.

Tomorrow kid #2 will be attending a conference for gifted children up in Harrisburg.  Unfortunately, it's 1 hour away and starts at 7:30 am and goes until 3:00.  Tomorrow #3 has ballet from 11 - 12 and I just can't be in two places at once.  So tonight #2 will be going to a friend's house after school and spending the night there.  His friend is part of the same gifted program and will be attending the conference with #2.  That leaves me and #3 together for the evening tonight and the day tomorrow.  Woo hoo! Girl Time!

Mother's Day 2008. I love this little lady!

I told them yesterday that #2 would be going, but somehow Daddy not being home didn't get mentioned.  (At least the not coming home at night part, they knew about his NG weekend.)  I don't think it's clicked yet for #3 that she's going to have undivided Mommy time for the next 24 hours.  I wonder what fun things we can get into tonight and tomorrow?

One of Those Days

Wordless Wednesday

DVD Review: Read and Share DVD Bible Volume 1

I had the pleasure of reviewing the Read and Share DVD Bible, Volume 1.  This DVD was a compilation of 13 stories from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  They were done in easy to follow 3 minute segments, perfect for little children to follow along to. 

From the start the stories were fun and captured the attention of the viewer, in this case, me and my daughter.  The stories were very basic, covering the needed information, but also not going too deep.  All the information given in the stories were accurate, but with omissions that still allow the story to continue.  I enjoyed watching all of the stories and think they would be a welcome addition to any Sunday School lesson or even as home Bible study time to younger children.

There were a couple of parts that I was not thrilled with.  In the story of Adam and Eve, the tree they were not to eat from was just the "tree in the middle of the garden", which is ok because actually listing the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" may be a bit much for a 3 year old.  However, the snake was just a snake, and not referenced as Satan and there was no mention of sin at all in that story.  In the end, God was just "sad" and had Adam and Eve leave the garden.  That story is the first story of sin in the Bible and sets up the entire premise of Jesus's salvation because "...all have sinned...". Romans 3:23. 

The last segment on the DVD was the parables of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14 & Luke 15:3-7) and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).  The parables were told quite well, but unfortunately, there was no explanation given.  They were just stories at the end and unless you already know what they mean and can explain them, a child really won't understand them.

My favorite part of the DVD was the segment titled Jesus Loves the Children.  This segment was very well done showing good stories of Jesus's love for children, his healing of them and how he used them (feeding the 5000 with the loaves and fish.)  This segment truly hit home for the kids and shows Christ's love for them.

Overall, I would recommend this DVD to anyone who would like to share basic Bible stories with younger children.  The short, quick stories were informative and kept the attention span of a younger child. 

Disclosure: I received this DVD free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

SIck of Sickness!

Ok, small vent post here.  I am so sick of the sickness going through my house this fall/winter/spring.  Kid #3 has been sick for the last month with cough, chest congestion and leaky nose.  She finally has kicked that earlier this week.  Kid #2 has had the leaky nose on and off all season.  I've had it on and off, had a UTI/kidney infection two weeks ago and now I've got viral lymphadenitis.  I feel like one of us has been on some type of medication non stop since October.  I just want us all to be healthy and happy again!  Please pray for us.

Father, you see our household and our struggle with sickness.  Please place Your healing hand on us.  Help us to continue to see Your blessings despite illness.

April Goals

So March came and went and I once again completed only part of my goals.  Here's what was up for March:

• Exercise 3 days a week. FAIL Just didn't happen.
• Plan 2 field trips in May. MIXED I got April and May trips planned, one in each month. No more since I won't be continuing as Community Coordinator.  That is one of the items I cut in my prayer request post.
• Continue reading my Bible.  WIN
• Plan another cooking day. WIN That one came and went.  The next is already planned and shopping will commence tomorrow.
• Organize the school room.  MIXED Hubby decided this month to drywall the basement.  Desks were moved to their new location, but nothing else happened.  Some things were organized, the rest have to wait.  This one goes on hold until hubby is finished.

April is now upon us and some new goals are here.  Some are repeating and some I've already started working on.

• Exercise daily.  With my Bible reading time shortened (not gone) and with getting up at 5:30 am to cook my hubby breakfast, I now can exercise and shower before the kids even get up.  Like I did this morning!
• Clean out kitchen cabinets. This one is ambitious.  I know hubby & I want to paint the kitchen cabinets and to prepare for that I'm going to empty each one and weed out the stuff that I don't use.  While I am at it I'd like to...
• Reorganize kitchen cabinets.  I've never liked the placement of my kitchen items.  From the dishes to the food, I'm unhappy.  I wish I had someone who was more organized to do this for me. (hint hint to anyone out there, I'd even pay you with baked treats!)
• Continue reading my Bible daily.  Just because I finished reading the Bible in 90 Days doesn't mean I am finished reading the Bible.  It's a continual relationship with Jesus, not just on Sundays or when I'm doing an in-depth reading program.  

I think that's a good list for now.  I don't want to give myself too much, it's going to be a busy month with Easter, choir practices, Awana continuing and various meetings and appointments I have this month.

April Fool's Day!

This morning I woke up and went downstairs to the kitchen to make my husband breakfast.  I took one look outside and walked right back upstairs.  I told my husband to look outside and asked him if he was still going to work.  What a lovely April Fool's laugh God gave us this morning. One more morning of beautiful snow.  

Happy April Fool's Day!

I've never been one to celebrate April Fool's Day.  Mainly it's because I'm not quick enough to actually come up with pranks that will fool anyone with a brain.  Thankfully, God made me smarter than my kids!  Well, at least for now He did.  

I decided this was the year that I'd have some fun.  I didn't really plan anything in advance, I just saw some facebook posts from friends and some ideas from blogs and started having fun.  The first thing I did was break out the glue and the pop tarts.

 

Yes, that  plate is upside down.  The kids came down for breakfast to find their pop tarts glued to their plates.  They found it funny till they realized they couldn't eat them because they were stuck.  Lucky for me them, I had some more pop tarts waiting for them to enjoy.

The rest of the day continued like normal, school, lunch, finished school. Grandma & Grandpa stopped by for a visit and they stayed to watch the Phillies win their opening game.  (I'm now very happy.)  Now, on to dinner...

The kids came to the table to find a special treat.  Ice cream sundae's with caramel sauce!  Too bad for them it was mashed potatoes and gravy.  They were both so very excited, and they dug in first to their special dinner treat!  Before the spoons even got to their mouths they could tell the consistency was off.  tee hee!  After dinner it was time for grilled cheese sandwiches for dessert.  Wait, what?

That's right, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dessert!  Actually, it was pound cake slices that I toasted with my mini blow torch.  I dyed vanilla frosting with some yellow and a drop of red food coloring to make that cheesy color.  My son, even after learning that it was cake, still thought I put cheese into it because it was just the right color.  Score one for mom!

This was one grilled cheese sandwich that they could enjoy!  Before bedtime they asked for a drink.  Well, being the extra special mom that I am, I made them some lemonade to enjoy. 

What a shame that they couldn't actually drink this lemonade!  In fact, it was lemon Jell-O in cups.  Muahahahaha!  My little girl tried so hard, she finally was able to start drinking it and managed to drink half of her Jell-O through her straw.  

Overall, it has been a most fun day!  The kids enjoyed the jokes and no one played one on me!  That is a sign of a successful April Fool's day for me.  I like it when I'm not the one getting pranked!

Sanctification through the Cross

I'm blogging today over at Today's Housewife.  Come on over and find out what the cross means to me.


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