• They Really DO Love Me!

    One of the many "I Love You" notes from Jake and girls!

    Recently I went on a quick road trip to Orlando, Florida with some friends.  They were moving their items down from North Carolina to Orlando and I was able to spend time traveling with their sweet family.  It was great having a few hours to catch up with friends.  They have three adorable children who traveled very well in the van.  We stopped for lunch at McDonald’s and let them run around then they crashed in the van for a couple hours.  It was wonderful having some time to relax and talk with another Mom friend while traveling.  For dinner we ate outside at a great place called, Crispers, they have a delicious chicken salad wrap if you ever get a chance to go there!  Thankfully everyone made it safely to Orlando and in good spirits.  The kids had school the next day so they quickly took their baths and were tucked into bed.  The next morning I flew out of Orlando back to Greenville, SC.

    It was nice having a relaxing time with friends.  Although it was a quick trip it was enjoyable and reminded me of the many amazing blessing I have in my life from my spouse to my children, family and friends.  When I arrived home I was greeted by a VERY excited Skipper!  She was bouncing all around me and eventually gave me a lick on the hand before I was able to give her a treat.  Glad to have such a warm welcome home.  Since Jake was at work and the girls were at school I was just planning on having a quiet day of catching up in the office.  When I got to the top of the stairs I found my first “I Love You” note, I quickly found out that I had “I Love You” notes scattered across the house to welcome me home.  Jake even made the bed before heading into work.  My keyboard had a note on it and underneath the note was one of my favorite candies – Milk Duds.  So thankful for a husband who takes the time to show me his love and to know that my family really does miss me when I am away even for a short trip.  I am also grateful for a husband who is willing and knows how to get the girls up, ready, and off to school (which can be an adventure some mornings)!

    Here pictures from my short trip and love notes from my family, simple yet beautiful and perfect!  Jake really knows how to melt my heart!

    Napkin from my snack at the airport!
    Strawberry Blast Smoothie, it was delicious!!!
    Yummy chocolate chip muffin!
    My "I Love You" note on the keyboard!
    The "I Love You" note on my keyboard had an extra special surprise underneath, MILK DUDS! Delicious!

    I had a series of “I Love You” notes all over the house!

    • On the Kitchen Counter
    • The Kitchen Floor
    • Dining Room Table
    • Office Chair
    • Keyboard
    • Hallway
    • Bathroom
    • Bed with a treat underneath
    • Bedroom floor
    • Entryway
    • In the Printer…..as soon as I printed something a hidden “I love you” note popped out of the printer…super sweet!  The girls thought this one was so funny!

    Thankful for my sweet family and that they took the time to show their love to me.  It was a lot of fun coming home to the special surprise.  I had a wonderful time with our friends as well as coming home to my great family (yes I know I am bias).

  • Celebrating Valentine’s Day!

    We love Holidays at our house!  It is a wonderful time to celebrate with those you love and making more wonderful memories together!  We started our weekend of fun on Friday.  Jake and I had the opportunity, through swapping babysitting with friends, to go out for our Valentine’s celebration on Friday, February 11th.  I will be sharing a little more about our adventure throughout the week.   It was amazing time with my man and many great new memories were made.  On Sunday we made blueberry heart pancakes with strawberry sauce and had the left overs this morning for breakfast!

    Making pancakes with the family!

    Batter’s ready on for the pancakes, love turning everyday food into a fun celebration for special occasions!  If you are excited the whole family will have a blast too!

    Brina got a cup full of frozen blueberries all by herself to add to the pancake batter, so exciting!

    Brina helped get the blueberries out for the batter.  She got them out of the freezer, measured the blueberries, and mixed them into the batter before cooking the pancakes.  Even better is we talked about the memories behind the blueberries we were using.  We picked the blueberries fresh from a friends yard during a fun evening together.  Thankful for friends, fellowship, memories, and the opportunity to enjoy such amazing fruit during the winter season.

    Frozen blueberries now in the pancake batter!

    The blueberries are so delicious!  The girls always love it when we add them to their pancakes and I like that they are getting extra fruit!

    Baking the blueberry pancakes on the griddle!

    We purchased the heart shaped pancake form at Dollar Tree several years ago and still use them regularly (it came with a star and bear shape as well).  The girls enjoy getting super special shaped blueberry pancakes.

    The heart shaped blueberry pancakes are ready!

    The pancakes were delicious with the big juicy blueberries in the shape of a heart!

    Flash frozen whole strawberries!

    We pulled our flash frozen whole strawberries out.  The girls and I had a great time picking them at a local farm and froze the ones we didn’t eat right away.  One of our favorite ways to eat pancakes is with frozen pureed strawberries instead of syrup, healthier and delicious!

    Pureed strawberry sauce for the pancakes!

    Once the strawberries had thawed for awhile I pureed the strawberries to use as sauce to dip the pancakes into.  The family loves it and tastes amazing. We typically just puree the strawberries, if you want it a little sweeter you can add a little bit of sugar or honey.

    Fresh strawberry sauce for dipping the pancakes into!

    Everyone got their own strawberry dipping sauce dish for their blueberry pancakes.  Yummy!

    Ready to eat our pancakes with sprinkles and strawberry sauce!

    The fresh blueberry pancakes are ready to eat.  For an extra bonus we have hugs and kisses sprinkles as well as strawberry sauce for dipping!  Delicious!  What a fun way to start off the Valentine’s Day celebrations as a family!

  • Recipe: Sour Spiral Cookies

    Here was a fun recipe we made during our Christmas Baking Day on Saturday.  It was a good one to do in between recipes because several steps required some time in the refrigerator.  Although it does not take up a huge amount of room you’ll need space in your fridge and freezer to complete this recipe.  I doubled the batch so the cookies came out pretty big but they were a huge hit with everyone.  This was my favorite recipe that we made from Favorite Brand Name: Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food on our Saturday baking day because it was unique and tasty.  I made my cookies with red and green spirals for the Christmas Holidays but you can do any two flavors of gelatin.  These are colorful, fun, and have a mix of sweet and sour all mixed into one delicious cookie.

    Sour Spiral Cookies

    • 1 package (18 ounces) refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough (Here is our recipe for Sugar Cookie Dough if you need one)
    • 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Lime flavored Gelatin (original recipe called for Blue Raspberry, I did Lime for the Christmas Holiday, however you can do any flavor)
    • 1/4 teaspoon Gel Green Food Coloring (match the color your gelatin mixture)
    • 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Strawberry flavored Gelatin
    • 1/4 teaspoon Gel Red Food Coloring
    • All Purpose Flour

    1. Remove dough from wrapper; divide in half.  Reserve 1 dough half.  Place remaining dough half in large bowl.  Let dough stand about 10 minutes.  Add lime flavored gelatin and green food coloring to dough in bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended and evenly colored.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

    2.  Combine reserved dough half, strawberry flavored gelatin and red food coloring in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until well blended and evenly colored.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour.

    3.  Roll green dough to a 10×6 rectangle on lightly floured waxed paper using lightly floured rolling pin.  Repeat with red dough.  Refrigerate both dough rectangles 1o minutes.

    4.  Place green dough rectangle over red dough.  Remove waxed paper from green dough.  Starting at 10 inch side, roll up jelly-roll fashion into tight log. Wrap in plastic; freeze 30 minutes.

    5.  Preheat oven to 350° F.  Grease cookie sheets.  Cut log into 1/4 inch slices.  Place on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are firm.  (Do not let cookies brown.) Cool on cookie sheets 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

    Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.  I doubled my batch of cookies since we were sharing them with family, friends, and neighbors.  It is a great cookie to make while you are doing other baking since it has time in the fridge and freezer.  The girls helped me make this one a little bit but with all the steps they will need to be older before doing this one on their own.  These cookies were a hit with my kids.