Relationships: Through the Eyes of Children
If you look at the world with the eyes of a child,
There is joy in the simplest thing,
From the green of a leaf on the earliest tree
To the curve of a bird on the wing.
If you look at the world with the eyes of a child,
There are miracles filling each day,
From the grass which mysteriously sways in the wind
To the gold in the sun’s friendly ray.
If you look at the world with the eyes of a child,
There is wonder beyond any measure,
From the stars and the moon in the evening sky
To the sparkle of a dewdrop treasure.
– Maryjane Tonn
I love how children take such joy and delight in the everyday things of life. From a babies giggle to sprinkles on top of the ice cream cone to a handful of cheerful yellow dandelions picked to be displayed in glory on the counter. The little moments of happiness and sheer gladness over the simple yet everyday tasks or items in life. Learning how to use or do something for the first time brings a great happiness to a child.
As an adult there is so much my children and other children can remind me. There is so many blessings all around us. Too often I take those good things that God gives me for granted. I know I don’t take enough time to focus on the blessings and goodness that I see around me.
Being around kids especially small ones for extended periods of time is exhausting yet rewarding. Their energy and excitement is contagious. I am thankful for my kids and the little ones that I have had the opportunity to spend time with because they remind me of the true treasures in life that I have been given. Thank you little ones!
Recipe: Snow Ice Cream
We have lived in South Carolina for over 14 years and have never had it snow on Christmas Day so it was an extra special gift yesterday! Today we have been busy building a snowman, making snow angels, throwing snow balls outside before the snow melts. The girls and Skipper (our dog) have been enjoying it. One of the things we always like to make when it snows is Snow Ice Cream. Some years it doesn’t snow in SC so when it happens once or twice a year we love it!Snow Ice Cream
- 8 to 10 cups of clean Snow
- 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- (optional) 1/2 cup Chocolate Syrup
- (optional) Sprinkles
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. When completely mixed serve immediately. It melts pretty quickly. In our family we have some that enjoy vanilla and others enjoy chocolate so we do a mix of both depending on the individuals preference. Today some people chose vanilla with chocolate syrup and hugs & kisses sprinkles while others chose chocolate. Enjoy!
Recipe: Cheerios Christmas Trees
We made these little Christmas Trees on our Christmas Baking Day. These were super fun but a little more difficult than I first anticipated. The trees were a little hard to make into the correct shapes and it took a little extra time to decorate. I had to keep reforming the trees but they did end up pretty neat once we figured out what we were suppose to do. I don’t think they looked as amazing as the ones from Betty Crocker but they looked cute and the kids thought they tasted great.Cheerios Christmas Trees
- 6 cups Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal
- 6 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
- 4 1/2 cups Miniature Marshmallows
- Green Food coloring
- Red Cinnamon Candies, Decorative Pearls, Sprinkles, Icing, and String Licorice
1. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. (May want to lightly grease because our stuck a little when pulling them off)
2. Pour the cereal into a 4 quart bowl. Set the bowl aside,
3. Place the butter and marshmallows in a 3 quart saucepan (I used the microwave instead). Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Stir in the food coloring until mixture is evenly colored. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is evenly coated.
5. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray. For each tree, shape about 1/4 cup of the cereal mixture into a Christmas tree shape on the cookie sheet.
6. Press the candies into the trees to decorate. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store the trees in a a loosely covered container.
Makes about 18 trees. I did the whole box of cereal which was about 1 1/2 of the recipe. Our recipe made about 25 trees. Thankfully I had someone around to keep spraying my hands with spray because it was really sticky and I had to keep reforming the trees. They ended up looking pretty cute and seemed to be holding up okay but would probably be better if you ate it the same day. The Honey Nut Cheerios flavor really comes out in this recipe so if you like the cereal you’ll probably enjoy this too. You could do with any flavor of Cheerios, I think next time we’ll try the Multi-Grain Cheerios for different flavor and color. It was fun to do something a little more unique!
The Exploding Spice Cabinet
It had become apparent over the last few weeks that our spice cabinet was overflowing with goods. We try to keep a stocked spice cabinet (buy ones we use when they go on sale) and haven’t had any problems until recently. When my husband went to get the garlic salt out of the cabinet and a whole mess of stuff came tumbling down I decided it was time for organizing.
Our regular spices have always been in alphabetical order on the first shelf. (It really does help when you are trying to find a spice for a special recipe, my husband loves it that way too). That shelf was in pretty good shape. The second shelf holds baking items, sprinkles and bigger containers. This shelf was a little crazy and appeared to where most of the items were falling from lately. The third or top shelf was where we stored the spices we buy in bulk or extra spices when they go on sale. I pulled everything out and found what was causing all the commotion.
The problem was that since having kids we have purchased more “sprinkles”! When I pulled all the sprinkles out of the cupboard it was amazing how much extra room we had for everything else. We had Princess Sprinkles, Cars Sprinkles, some for Halloween, Fall, Colored Sprinkles, Holiday Sprinkles, Balls, Shapes, and more sprinkles. We had different 19 containers of just SPRINKLES (and none of them the same so we couldn’t just consolidate)! The girls love to help me cook and a lot of their cookies or goodies they make have sprinkles on top so while they are necessary it had gotten out of control.
The Solution was to go through the sprinkles, find out which ones were almost gone and put them in smaller container or set them aside to use soon. After re-organizing the sprinkles I even had a little empty shelf space left in the cupboard.
Sprinkles make everything taste better! Have you ever tried them on pancakes and waffles? We love our girls and sprinkles!
