Easter {Wordless Wednesday}

 

Vintage Noles Tee. Florida Boy flip flops. New Lego watch. Egg hunt success smile.

 

 

He can swing himself as high as the sun.

Pineapple Casserole {recipe}

As Easter weekend approaches I know most of us enjoy a traditional ham lunch of some sort on Sunday and with that comes one of my favorite “holiday recipes”. It’s super easy and actually pretty southern (read: not health) which if you know me know I’m not at all the “southern type”. Anyways if you’re not from the south or never had the pleasure of enjoying this goodness spread over your ham then I suggest whipping it up.

Pineapple Casserole

20 oz canned pineapple chunks

½ cup sugar

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3 TBS flour

½ stick salted butter, melted

½ cup Ritz crackers, broken

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Reserve 3 TBS of pineapple liquid

3. Mix undrained pineapple chunks, sugar, cheese, and flour in a bowl; pour into greased 9x9 casserole dish

4. Mix melted butter, reserved pineapple liquid, and crackers in a small bowl and sprinkle on top of mixture

5. Bake 20-30 minutes and enjoy!

Like I mentioned this is a small side dish for the ham so either serve next to it or on top! Sweet, buttery, crispy goodness!

{xoxo}

Happy Valentines Day! 

Christmas {DIY}

Headed into the third week post Christmas I figure it’s a great time to start talking about how ours went! I knew I wanted to give gifts to Moses’ teachers but I didn’t want to be the 10^th child to hand them a coffee mug with a gift card in it. So I turned to Pinterest, crafty ladies I know, and inspiration I had picked up shopping to come up with three unique gifts. 

First up, the felt Christmas tree. Using a cuddlebug I cut out about 40 400 felt circles which I glued together in the center to resemble a tree. Then using a felter needle thingy softened up a few small felt circles to make the ornaments 3D and a nice and fluffy star. 

 

Second, a felt ball ornament. With a large glass ornament ball as the base I cut out different size felt flowers to mix and match. To finish them up I used an assortment of white buttons for the flower’s center. This present was for his college-aged class aid that is very bubbly and likes loud fun things; you could mix up the colors or design for someone more sophisticated. 

 

And lastly, for his main teacher, wooden snowman. These are a hybrid of two different similar snowmen floating around Pinterest. They are blocks of wood painted white, distressed, and dressed up. The faces are hand painted and their hats are small mittens. We ended up loving the fun simplicity of these guys and made a ton of the sets for friends and family. Each set was customized depending on the person’s favorite colors and style.

 

Santa vs Jesus

Enter the great Santa debate. Truth be told, I never believed in Santa. My Mom never put much emphasis on it and by the time I was old enough to ask questions my older sister made sure I knew it was a scam. There was no crushing conversation or devastation but on the same note there was never any element of excitement or curiosity about the big guy.  

Up until this year I haven’t thought much about it because Moses’ memory only went back a few hours but now he is much more curious and retains a LOT more information. Fun fact for my memory bank: Moses told us a detailed story about Uncle Danny setting off fireworks on July 4^th just a few weeks ago; as in he is holding onto memories 6 months back. I’m sure his memory will only get stronger that is why this year I feel so pressured to figure out how we are going to do this Santa thing.

 What I do know is as a Christian I want him to understand Jesus is the ENTIRE reason we celebrate Christmas; I want him to understand it’s like a big birthday party and we are celebrating the birth of our Savior. I want him to look forward to the Christmas eve church service and really understand. But more and more as an adult I’m hearing how much people loved believing in Santa as a child. The excitement of thinking he was coming to bring presents, leaving milk & cookies, and finding the gifts Santa brings; I don’t want to take that away from him. Ok so simple enough, we say Santa dropped off a few of the gifts and that be it? Not so fast.

What about when he asks me questions about Santa….I REFUSE to lie. There is no way I’m carrying on a lie and snowballing the thing until it turns into this scaring moment when he’s 8 and finds out it’s Daddy’s paycheck that really brings the gifts. I would be comfortable just smiling as he talks about Santa or expresses his excitement but there is no way I could make a remark like “Santa’s watching so you better be good”. So here I sit, unsure.

 I’d love to hear your thoughts; what you experienced as a child, what you tell your kids, how that effected them.

 And if you’re wondering, we are still sticking by our views last year about keeping things simple. There will not be 100 presents for 1 child under our tree and we did not go broke buying for each other. I even went as far as telling the grandparents PLEASE do not buy the boy more toys because if you peaked inside his playroom you would see we have been BLESSED with way.too.much as it is.

Spreading Christmas cheer {for all to hear}

A quick post to wrap up another wonderful week in Busyland. After yesterday’s post some may think how this week could be wonderful? Because despite my insecurities there is still so much to be thankful for in life. And speaking of thankful, thank you to everyone for the words of encouragement yesterday; you sure know how to reassure a friend!  

Sisters by blood, friends by choice.

Mixing in mid week Christmas cheer with a trip to see the lights. 

 

 

Motivation + Pinterest inspiration = Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeers

 

Those little guys are accompanying me to Moses’ Christmas party this afternoon. I am standing by what I said yesterday and taking an active role in school activities. It’s about time I join the other mom’s for a classroom mingle and too much sugar.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Christmas moments {cannot be forced}

There are certain Christmas traditions I feel the need, the urge, to uphold. One of them is that movie worthy moment when the family is all smiles hanging up the decorations while Christmas music plays in the background. The hot chocolate is steaming on the table and coordinating jammies and slippers are being worn. Cue real life. Like I mentioned I’ve really been struggling getting motivated so 90% of the decorating this year has been forced or frustrating and even one explosive fight were I angrily stood there yelling “YOU DO NOT get to decorate the tree” (yeah, I actually said that to someone living in my house). Davy did a great job putting out the outside display (dad territory) and I fixed up the side board and a few other places around the house. It was rocky but we got it done…well almost. 
 

That little 10% that needed to be done consisted of stringing the bottom tree lights (of course 1 stand had to go out in storage) and putting up the very last ornaments. After dinner and bath time we decided to let Moses help. The next thing I know our little living room had turned into a glorious movie scene; yes, the family was smiling, ornament hanging was occurring, and coordinating jammies were being wore. Davy slipped away for a moment only to return with his Pandora app playing glorious Christmas music. We all stood in a line holding of the section of lights while we walked around the tree stinging them and I watched my boys pick out the perfect place for a red and blue airplane. Those 20 minutes of pure joy cancelled out all the ho-humming it took to get the rest of the house ready. The best part about it; I didn’t force it. I wasn’t barking at the boys or putting us on a schedule…it just, happened. There we brief moments when I had to tell someone to move their arm because I was determined to capture a tiny piece of this memory! 

 Lastly, our special ornament for 2011 

 

From our wonderful mini family getaway to Downtown Disney! 

For the love of food {and family}.

Our Thanksgiving break was filled with family, food, family, shopping, and more family! It’s always a treat when my sister and her family are in town so we try to spend as much time as possible together. The kids played a lot of Wii sports and time outside jumping on Grammy’s trampoline. It’s adorable to see how grown up they all are now and how independent their playtimes are (well, until the fighting begins). The adults spent a lot of time playing wildly competitive games of volleyball now that my parents have a full size net in their backyard! 

 

 

Thanksgiving day itself was incredibly long for me; 24 hours of celebrating to be exact! I spent the night before prepping my 4 dishes to take to their respected homes for feasting which kept me on my feet for over four hours. The next morning was more cooking until our festivities began around 11:30am. We cooked, feasted, and played at my mom’s until close to 4:30pm when we packed up for round 2, Davy’s mom’s house. Is it terribly first world and glutinous of me to say we were still so full we couldn’t even eat a plate at dinner round 2? 

Love birds. Best picture I've ever taken of my parents...please note the knife positioning....purposefully.

The "twins" in our family.

 

By 8pm I was back at my mom’s gearing up for Black Friday. I wish they kept the 5am door busters like years past but since everything began at midnight so did we. We were at Wal-Mart by 9pm and didn’t stop until 6am Friday morning; you heard right, all night long. 

Our pre Black Friday faces! All smiles were gone at 6am!

My favorite moments were spending time with our families; we are so blessed to have a large happy family that enjoys each other enough to make the effort to be together. 

My other favorite moments were cooking. My grandmother is southern to her core and my entire childhood was spent sharing the Thanksgiving table with my dad’s family. Now that we no longer visit them my Grandma’s passed down handwritten recipe cards have become somewhat treasured. We’ve had her famous Potato Yeast Rolls recipe for 6 years and none of us have been brave enough to attempt, until now. I took all four pages and studied them before prepping. I loved reading her side note commentary such as instead of a baking time it says (underlined) “DON’T overcook, DON’T undercook” or “ALWAYS use real butter”.  It was tedious and exciting and slightly emotional but oh my goodness, it paid off. They cooked to perfection and I have never been more proud of something I baked.

 

All the leftovers are gone and we are going out tonight to purchase our Christmas tree…everything about the Holidays make me happy. It’s the most wonderful time of the year after all, right?

My very silly boys.

Growing up.

I'm choking back the tears. 

Growing up is a hard reality to face; epically when I know he won't want to squeeze my lips between his fingers and give me a big kiss forever.

Mr. Potato Head does Halloween.

I {almost} let the day slip by without posting about last night! I was determined to get these up as soon as possible otherwise knowing me they would be lost on the camera and posted next year.

The costume: I knew I didn’t want to pay $30 for a one time thing (I am a trained Heb after all) but at the same time I didn’t have anything in our closet I could throw together. I was browsing through Pinterest with Moses and he liked the Mr. Potato Head outfit so I figured that’s what I would make. Fast forward to last Thursday when I find out his class party is Friday (the next day) and they were supposed to wear costumes. Crap. For whatever reason I turn into Super Mom and think I can whip something up on the sewing machine in half an hour. Side note: I’ve never made a costume; I’ve never really sewn anything besides a Barbie pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags which were well over 15 years ago. At 7:30pm I left the house for Hobby Lobby, by 8:30pm I was in the craft room sketching on the back of the fabric, and by 11:30pm I was headed home with Mr. Potato Head. Call it cookie dough fuel and a little sister to help retread the machine when I messed up a miracle but I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome!

The best part was the feeling I got when he put it on; I made that, yep, his Mommy made that! The second best part was the entire thing cost me $5 and a fun night with my sister!

The night: we pregamed on Pizza and Chicken&Rice while everyone arrived, scrambled the kids together to take a few pictures, and the Walking Wagon Brigade was off. The kids ran fast to the doorbells and just as fast back to the road; about 4 houses down they were tired. About 6 houses down they were asking to be pushed from house to house. About 12 houses down someone turned into Mr. Grumpy pants and did a lot of riding on Dad’s shoulders. One thing Moses had down was his manners. He would say please &  thank you to every candy giver however he didn’t quiet master the Trick or Treat. That was fine with me because I have very mixed feels about the holiday in general but that’s an entirely different post.

Sour face in action

Happy to finally eat his candy! Please note the hot mess face action.

Overall: Awesome night. We laughed, took pictures, had fun, ate candy, ate more candy, and woke up with a stomach ache from eating candy. 

{please ignore the awful camera situation; I don't know if it was the lighting, the bright white shirt, or the photographers but they all turned out wonky!}

Capturing [the cleaned up] Us.

The fall weather is here which means it’s getting closer to…family picture time! Last year I had such a great time prepping and loved the way they turned out! Simple, casual, happy, and easy!

 Going the same route as last year I want to avoid the white shirt/ jean cliché photo wardrobe and go with something that is more, us. 

I had so much fun going into the Old Navy pulling an entire look together then going home and making us all try on the different pieces until I saw what I liked. It’s going to be hard to find a different color scheme this year because all my favorites were wrapped into last year’s look; the boys look great in blue, the grey complimented the photo, and I love purple! Thanks to Pinterest it’s been great gathering looks and colors I like together; now I just need to make sure Old Navy is selling those colors in their fall line!

My other hurdle is going to be getting the [almost] 3 year old to sit still. Last year he was more easily entertained and gave a natural smile when he thought something was funny but nowadays he throws his hands in his face or squints his eyes to be funny…

…not something I need to be happening when the camera is clicking!

Mother's Day

This year I decided Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. It’s a day that not everyone is awarded like a birthday but a day earned by becoming a Mother. It’s a day Moms get to feel extra appreciated for something they’re extremely proud of and work really hard for.

I’m pleased to say this year did not disappoint. Something I may not share a lot about Davy is he knows how to make me feel good. Yes, he’s had some gift flaws in past but that’s gotten 10 times better. He knows me better than anyone and pulled out all the stops this weekend.

Friday night I came home to a spotless kitchen and picked up house which I must say is better than A LOT of things money can buy. He also had beautiful potted blue orchids on the kitchen table for us to admire all weekend.

Saturday after bunch with my family he happily let my sister wisk me away on a 4 hour long shopping trip and didn’t ask once when I was coming home. We are not possessive people however sometimes in our marriage we can fall into the trap of micromanaging each other’s time and this weekend he let me relax and do whatever I wanted. After dinner Saturday night the boys insisted I open my card which was a voice recordable card with Moses and Davy saying “Happy Mother’s Day” and “I lub you” (lub= love in two year old dialect). It was precious and I may have listened to it 10 more times that night.

Sunday morning the boys woke me up with my present and Davy took over Moses duty while I took my time getting ready for church. The rest of the day was spent eating and hanging out with our moms. Davy made sure he took control any time Moses acted out so I could just enjoy the day. Overall it was wonderful, simple, relaxing, and much appreciated. I could not have asked for a better son and husband!

My Little Ham

How do you get a two year old to take incredible adorable Easter pictures? Just place him in front of giant wooden Easter eggs that he’s been gawking over the past two weeks. Thank you Tallahassee Nursery for creating the perfect backdrop for our impromptu-pull-over-on-the-side-of-the-road photo session!

Add caption

You color my world.

I want to preface this post in my defense that I already planned to bring Valentines to Moses’ school TODAY before I realized I’m a failure mother. Davy and I take turns taking Moses to school and with my new work hours Davy always picks him up. Normally this works out great except when there are special events going on that need signing up for. I learned my lesson by getting stuck with the only thing left on the sign up, goody bags, for his Halloween party. I scolded Davy like any psycho first time mom would that I never want to be stuck with a crappy sign up again. For the Christmas party I made sure to be the first mom to sign up and then Davy caught on and made sure to sign up for cookies this time around.

Friday rolls around and I make sure to bring in those yummy super sugary iced cookies from the bakery and think nothing of it. Well after school Davy informs me that we were also supposed to bring in their Valentines because I guess any experienced on top of it school  mom would know you pass those out during the PARTY not the actual day. FAIL. I turned into to psycho mom couldn’t believe that all the kids knew this information but US and now Moses seemed like the only kid who didn’t bring his friends anything. If you’re not a mom and you’re reading this you probably think I’m crazy. Actually sometimes I even think I’m crazy but there is something about proving myself to all the other moms that I’m not a failure and I can be on top of the classroom etiquette that made my blood boil when I heard this.

At first I thought I failed but then I realized better late than never, right? I might as well carry on with my original plan and give the kids one more extra treat on the actual….real….supposed to be the day to celebrate Valentine’s day February 14th not the 11th….duh!!!!!!

So with all my psycho babble behind us here is what Mo brought to school this morning:

This is the only picture I managed to take which shows the "girly" hearts cooling on a nasty baking sheet! #momoftheyear

They are homemade heart shaped crayons! I found silicone heart shaped ice cube trays in the dollar bin at Target and picked up a 64 count pack of crayons. I used a knife to cut off all the wrappers then broke them up into color categories. I used a muffin tin to separate the blues, pinks, oranges, ect. which made filling the ice cube trays extremely easy. I used girly colors for the girls and boy colors for the boys. I had to do something with all the boo boo browns so I mixed them with bright blues to make them gift worthy. After filling the trays I put them in the oven for 10 minutes until all the wax had melted and let them cool before removing them. I was so happy how they turned out! I loaded cute striped bags with a pack of gummies and three heart crayons tied with a Valentine that said “You color my world”!

 

Because today is all about telling the ones we love just how much we love them….and acting like a crazy mom of a 2 year old who really has no idea what today is, right?