Events
Birthday Celebrations
Happy Birthday to Brina & Karlie! We are so thrilled to be celebrating another great year with our sweet girls. Even though their birthday was a few days ago it has been a whirlwind of activities, fun, and celebrations so I am just now getting around to posting all the super fun stuff! The Happy Birthday banner was hung up in our kitchen over the sink the night before so they were greeted with it first thing in the morning as they went into the kitchen to eat breakfast!
Jake made the girls a delicious birthday breakfast treat to celebrate their birthday!!! He made them a yogurt cup topped with fresh blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries! Jake also made the girls ham and homemade hash browns.
The girls watching their sparkler candles while we sing “Happy Birthday” to them! We stuck the candles in their yogurt and fruit cups.
Brina very excited about her cool new bike!
Karlie ready to go for a ride on her new bike!
Karlie and Brina in their new birthday shirts ready to have a super fun birthday. First activity after breakfast…..a day at school.
Karlie’s entire school lunch and snack wrapped up and ready to go. She was so excited to unwrap all her food gifts for her lunch!
Brina’s birthday lunch all wrapped up in festive birthday wrapping, complete with a sweet card!
Birthday lunch packed and ready to go!
Birthday balloons always add a little fun to the big celebration day! They are still up and floating around in their rooms even though I picked them up before their birthdays!
Happy Birthday Brina & Karlie!
Happy Birthday Brina and Karlie!
We love you so much sweet girls! It is amazing to think you are turning 9 years old today (the years have flown by very quickly)! We prayed for a long time for you and are so blessed to have you both as our daughters!
Wishing you an awesome birthday and many more wonderful years packed full of great memories! We are praying that God will use you in great ways this year! We are grateful for our kind, thoughtful, loving, smart, funny, and beautiful girls! You both bring so many smiles, sunshine, and laughter into our lives! We are blessed to be your Dad and Mom!
Lots of HUGS & LOVE,
Dad & Mom
XOXO
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day Girls! They were greeted by the little treats left on their bar stools when they walked into the kitchen for breakfast!
Valentine’s Day is a great day to celebrate with the ones you love! We don’t usually do anything huge on Valentine’s Day, but we do try to take time to make it special for the kids as well as have some time together as a couple too. Spending time with the ones you love, showing, and telling them how much you love them shouldn’t only be done on Valentine’s Day!
“Owl Be Your Valentine” goody bags for the kiddos!
They are awake and ready for breakfast!
A fun Valentine’s Day breakfast!
Date Night with My Sweet Girl
My sweet date tonight wanted to eat at McDonald’s.
Last weekend I was able to go on a date night with my sweet Brina Bee! She was very specific about what she wanted to do that night so I went along with her date night plan. First, she wanted to go to the Goodwill Clearance Center, walk through a craft store, browse through used book store, and eat at McDonald’s. We had a blast going through the bins at the Goodwill store looking for treasures. Her big find was a cute FurReal pet dog (new it retails for about $90) and we paid between $1 to $2 for it (the goodwill clearance store charges by the pound). All it needed was a good cleaning and some fresh batteries. She was so excited!
It was a lot of fun walking, talking, exploring, and eating dinner with my sweet Brina. Love my time with her, listening to her talk, and watching her get excited. She is a real sweetheart. I didn’t take any pictures of us shopping, walking, and exploring because the only time we stopped moving was when we finally sat down to eat at McDonald’s! She kept us going. We packed a lot of fun into one evening. Love you Brina!
Love listening to her tell stories, laugh, and have fun together!
Thankful for extra time with my sweet B!
STEM Event at Roper Mountain Science Center
Jake & Brina working on her model!
Karlie’s creation is done, now it’s ready to see if it will survive the test! She’s proud of her creation and confident it will pass the testing….
Brina adding the finishing touches on her creation!
All ready for testing! Proud of her cool design.
Karlie watching carefully as they get ready to drop the big board on her creation. The goal was to make a creation out of the bag of goodies that they give you that will not change its shape once the board has been dropped on it (including none of the balloons popping). She did it!!!Brina putting her creation on the testing platform, she was concerned about her balloons popping, but it passed with flying colors! Way to go Brina!
Jake was a pro in no time at riding the Segway!
Brina riding a Segway all by herself, she did well!
Karlie learning how to ride the Segway! She’s getting the hang of it!
Karlie watching the show at the Planetarium
A Treat for My Errand Buddies
I LOVED having my girls home for the Christmas Holiday. My only complaint is the time went by way too fast. We had several days when we had to run errands. On our last day of appointments and errands we ended with a special treat from QT. The girls each got to pick out what they wanted from QuikTrip. Karlie picked out a peppermint donut. Brina picked out a hot peppermint vanilla cupcake drink. They were very pleased with their special treats.
It has been so much fun running my errands with the girls. We had a blast giggling, exploring, playing, random silly games, and activities throughout our adventures. It won’t be nearly as exciting running around without my little buddies!
Ready or Not 2014 Has Arrived!
It is always exciting bringing in a New Year! A new year means a fresh start. Thoughts of many goals, projects, and activities run through my mind. Last year, 2013, went by so quickly that I barely blinked and it was gone. There were many things that I wanted to accomplish yet somehow a ton of other items took my time and attention. A lot of the activities that took up my time were good and essential, however, like everyone else we only have 365 (or in case of a leap year 366 days that year to accomplish all those goals). I don’t ever want to look back over a year and feel like it was a waste. I want to continue making positive progress. Not every day will be perfect (far from it), but small steps and progress in the right direction over time really do make an impact not only on my life, but on the lives I touch.
Here’s a few of my goals for 2014 (365 days to make progress in the right direction):
- Daily time in God’s word
- Regular quiet time set aside to pray
- Create happy memories with family and friends
- Scheduled quality time with my handsome man and kids
- Smile more
- Count my blessings
- Laugh often
- Focus on the good things that come my way and let go of the negative stuff that drags me down
- Say yes to those activities that bring me closer to where I want to be & “no” (this is a hard one) to those activities that don’t
- Eat healthier
- Exercise more
- Post regularly here on Blessings Multiplied
- Stick to our family budget
- Connect more frequently with family and friends
- Take time to encourage and be a blessing to others (family, friends, and strangers)
That at least gives you an idea of some of the goals I will be working on this year. There are several more specific goals I have for myself and my family. What are some of your goals for 2014? Will we get to the end of this year 365 days from now and be smiling because we at least made process in a positive direction? I pray that we’ll be able will learn a lot, continue to grow, and create lasting happy memories this year. Life is short, let’s make the most of the days ahead.
Welcome New Year 2014!
We had a fun time bringing in the New Year! It started a little later than we expected because Jake was on call with work, but we were able to pack in a lot of games, snacks, a play, and more exciting activities into the evening. The girls stayed up until midnight again this year to watch the ball drop and bring in the 2014 New Year! They were super excited to start the New Year with confetti!
We talked about all the amazing memories we had in 2013. All of us agreed that 2013 was an awesome year and we packed in a lot of great memories together as a family. Several fun trips – a cruise, Vermont, Charleston, Kansas, Atlanta, North Carolina, and more! We are truly blessed and have so much to be grateful for in our lives.
We discussed goals and what we are looking forward to in 2014. The girls decided they wanted to think of at least one goal for 2014. They took a whole 2 seconds to come up with at least one of their goals.
Brina’s first goal – “Spend more time outside! I love playing and being outside!”
Karlie’s first goal – “Read more books with 400 or more pages!”
The girls make me smile because in many ways they couldn’t be more different! One of the themes for 2014 Brina suggested was “Anything Can Happen!” Thankful for our girls and the opportunity to bring in the New Year with them. I am looking forward to seeing what God has for our family this upcoming year.
The confetti was a lot of fun and I am sure it will spread itself through the house even though we tried to sweep it up.
Creative Kids: New Hot Pads!
Karlie’s colorful hot pad she made!
The other day I was working on several items that needed to be done so the girls took some time to do some crafts. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but they were staying busy and being good. The next morning I was presented with two brand new colorful hot pads! One that Karlie had made and one from Brina! What a special treat it is to get such a sweet gift first thing in the morning. Thankful for my thoughtful girls. I am very blessed and will think of them every time I use their beautiful hot pads.
Brina’s new hot pad she made for me!
My beautiful new hot pads! Love them and especially love the two sweet girls that made them for me.
Gingerbread Boy Meatloaf (Diary & Egg Free Recipe)
The girls have been asking me to bake something in the gingerbread man pan this week. Since we have already made several different cookies (sugar, gingerbread, and shortbread) I decided that we didn’t need any more sweets so we decided to bake a gingerbread boy meatloaf for our meal. If you don’t have to worry about dairy or eggs you can use the same amount of regular milk and eggs in this recipe instead of the non-dairy and egg substitutes.
Gingerbread Boy Meatloaf Recipe
Topping:
- 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
Meatloaf:
- 1 pound Lean Ground Beef
- 1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 cup Onion, chopped
- 1 Garlic Clove, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/2 cup Almond or Soy Milk
- 2 Egg Substitutes (Ener-G Egg Replacer works awesome!)
- 1 cup Bread Crumbs
Preheat over to 350 F. Spray oil into the bottom of a “Gingerbread Boy”, 8″ x 8″ dish, or 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
Press the brown sugar evenly into the bottom of your oiled dish. Mix together the ketchup and 1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce. Spread the mixture over the brown sugar.
Combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix in the 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, non-dairy milk (almond or soy), Ener-G Egg Replacer, and bread crumbs. Press the meat mixture into the pan shape. If you like your meatloaf a little sweeter you can another layer of of the topping layer.
Bake for 1 hour or until cooked through. Once done flip the meatloaf out of the pan onto a plate or pan and serve hot.
