Ready, Set, GO!!!

Taking a break from the planned blog post today because big girl decided to do this!!!

And off into the sunset she goes...

Happy 5th To My Little Snow Princess

Last month, we were able to celebrate our "baby" girl turning 5. She requested a "ice princess" party. With her birthday one week before Christmas, I gave myself a break this year and did the whole "book it" thing instead of trying to handle it all myself. We booked the Ice Skating Rink, they gave the kiddos lessons, pizza, drinks, and cake was all provided...along with a helper who even wrote down the "who gave what" list for us. It was awesome. I have to admit I've always been reluctant to book a party like this. I've always felt it's not as personal and have preferred to do all the little details myself. Ehhh, I'm over it. She had a blast and I hardly lifted a finger. Enjoy the pics!

The kids had a 30 minute lesson from the rink staff...which was great since most have never skated before. I kept the party small at 8 kiddos. Big bro was happy to have 30 minutes to himself to practice his speed laps. Both of my kids are wild on ice skates!

At this age, it's all about barbies, squinkies, babies and jewelry for this girly girl!

Happy Birthday big girl....now STOP GROWING UP!!!

Birthday Brunch

Disclosure: The above photos contain images that some viewers may find offensive. I apologize in advance for the morning hair, wrinkles and blemishes not covered by make-up.

I told you, we partied all weekend! Labor Day morning (aka, my birthday) we kicked off the day with a brunch. The kids were so cute hiding out that morning making me cards. My daughter helped mix the waffles, my husband made the sausage, Grammy made the eggs, and I tried out a new muffin recipe. After breakfast, I opened my gifts. I was so blessed this year to receive clothes, a new purse, new books, gift cards, money to put towards some new crafty stuff...fun fun fun!

The next time you have an easy, carefree morning with nowhere to go and no place to be...try out these recipes - No birthday necessary.

Banana - Chocolate Chip Waffles

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim, but buttermilk is the best)
3/4 cups vegetable oil
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

Combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) in a bowl, "sift" with a wire whisk.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the milk and oil, whisk again. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour the egg mixture into the well. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the mashed bananas and stir again. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cook in a preheated waffle iron until golden. Makes about 20 waffles.

My waffle iron only makes 2 at a time (a total pain in the butt, so if anyone needs a Christmas idea...hint hint), and nobody wants to eat a cold waffle. So, to keep everything warm while I make 20 something waffles, we kept them in an oven, heated at 200, until we were ready to serve.

French Breakfast Puffs
*a Pioneer Woman recipe

Puffs:
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Coating:
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the muffin pans. In a large bowl (I used my mixer), stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. Add the eggs and mix again. Alternately adding 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. (I messed up here and dumped in all the milk, then added the flour). Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full (I use an ice cream scoop). Bake for the 20-25 minutes, until golden. Remove the muffins from a pan and set aside.

To make the coating, melt the butter in a bowl or glass pan. In a separate container, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the warm muffins in the butter, coating thoroughly (I did tops only). Then roll the muffin in the sugar mixture.

*My review: these are good, no doubt...but not what I was expecting. From the pictures and ingredients, I guess I was expecting something very "doughnut-like". These are much drier and just very very sugary.

You can find her recipe on Pioneerwoman.com, a website I highly recommend anyone take a look at...love love love it! And it's in her book, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl", which I received for my birthday from my sis-in-law, Amy. Thanks Amy!!!

Spoiler alert: I will be giving these gorgeous books as Christmas gifts this year, so if you're female and in my family...don't go buying these for yourselves!!

Also: Quick question for you bloggers out there. I do not know why my text size keeps doing funky things. For example, I have "banana chocolate chip" waffles on the same font as everything else, but set to "smallest". I have "french puffs" set to normal size...but obviously "banana" is still HUGE! What is up!?!? And how I fix it....help, please???

The Gift of A Child

Just when I think I'm over the hump and feeling better, excited even, about this upcoming school year, I see this...

Dear God, I thank You for the gift of this child to raise, this life to share, this mind to help mold, this body to nurture, and this spirit to enrich. Let me never betray this child's trust, dampen this child's hope, or discourage this child's dreams. Help me, dear God, to help this precious child become all you mean him to be. Let your grace and love fall on him like gentle breezes and give him inner strength and peace and patience for the journey ahead.
Amen.

This was handed out to parents last night at our back to school meeting. All faculty, staff and parents in attendance read this prayer together before meeting the teachers and visiting the classrooms. I barely made it through it without choking up. Thank goodness my 4 year was misbehaving just enough to keep me a little distracted.

For the second year, we have the honor and privilege of sending our children to a private Catholic school where the staff believes in not only nurturing the mind, but also the soul. I am not saying that we will always be able to do so, or that we necessarily think our children are getting a "better" education. I am not saying Catholic and/or private schools are the only schools that have teachers that wholeheartedly believe the soul is as important as the mind. We've also been a part of wonderful public schools and know better.

But, I am saying that there is something to be said about an entire community believing and stating in unison that their children are important, should feel hope more than discouragement, trust more than despair, and through grace and love should be allowed to flourish into exactly what they are meant to be.

True to my baptist roots, and again I say, AMEN!

Nostalgia

Feeling a little nostalgic today and decided to post a few pics from a favorite time in my life - when we lived in Little Rock, AR. Maybe it was being so close to the mountains, maybe it was the great community we lived in...probably a combination of a lot of things. My favorite time there was fall, and in October of 2006, we took off on a Saturday to a pumpkin patch. We look perfectly dressed for Fall, but truth was, it was HOT! We had a great time anyway and snapped lots of pictures. I don't think we've had the time on a weekend since to go to a pumpkin patch again, and it's been 3 years! Maybe this year, we'll make it back out. I'll just have to enjoy the memories until then.