Reality Check

 

 

Where to begin?

This week has been really sobering for me.

After Monday, I will no longer be the Mom

with a kid in preschool and a baby...

I'll be the Mom with a kindergartner and a

preschooler.

It seems like only yesterday I was swaddling each of them to take their naps or watching them sleep while we sat in the rocking chair.

Those are precious fleeting moments, I will store up in

my heart for the rest of my life.

My kids have grown up so quickly in the grand scheme of things!

Too quickly...

Every moment I have spent at home with them over the past 5 years has been such a blessing.  One that I don't take for granted now that I am about to return to the work place.  Everyday I stayed home was a chance for me to love, nurture, care for, play with, teach, and listen to with the ears, eyes, and hands of a mother.  Molding and making memories, that's what we did together.  Molded each other into the person we needed them to be. 

Cade is my first born. 

He MADE me a mother and taught me how to be one. 

Gracyn came along and molded me into the mother of a precious girl.  My heart will never be the same because it sees the world differently.  And the world is different because of them

and so am I.

In all of the best ways imaginable

So I will cherish each and every day

because

I know the memories will be with me always,

but my little boy and little girl won't. 

 

 

 

{when life gives you lemons....}

As most of you know,

we were involved in a car accident last month.

The responsible party's closest insurance adjustor

was about a 40 mile drive away!

We made the drive down several weeks ago and the kids were

Mr & Mrs Manners Plus

the whole way down and were very well behaved at the State Farm Office while the adjustor wrote up our estimate and everything.

Afterward we were hungry and decided to stop by a newly opened,

to pick up one of these

and 2 of these

There was a park near by so instead of eating inside, we had

an impromptu picnic.

It was a BrIgHt afternoon, SuNNy & cOOl...

my favorite kind of day!

Cade, Gracie and I all had such a pleasant afternoon.

So if life gives you lemons, squeeze the fire out of them

and

make yourself a

lemon drop martini

{i am loved}

On Mother's Day,

Cade came to me saying he wanted to make me a special treat.

I love this kid, he knows the way to my heart

What did you have in mind, I quizzed him.

Well, he said, I think you would really like

some M&M Brownies for Mothers Day.

Oh, you think that would be Mommy's favorite?

Yep.

So what did we do?

Jumped in the car, drove to Wal-Mart, whizzed through picking up our supplies, and got busy baking.

The M&M brownies turned out
DELICOSO

{said in my best DORA voice}

but it was what we made WITH the brownies that really shined.

Thanks to a gift subscription from my Mom and Dad, I am a proud recipient of

Cook's Country Magazine.

In this month's edition there is a recipe for what they call

Magic Vanilla Ice Cream.

This recipe does not require an ice cream machine and I've been itching to try it since I received this month's copy!

We gathered up our ingredients:

and set to work.

You'll need:

1/2 C. Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 ounce white chocolate chips -OR-

1 ounce of a white chocolate bar, chopped fine

1 T. Vanilla Extract

1/4 C. Sour Cream

1 & 1/4 C. Cold Heavy Cream

Start out by placing your metal bowl and metal beater in the freezer. Allow them to get nice and frosty before you begin.

This helps your cream "whip" faster.

BASE:

To make the base, microwave your sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl until chocolate melts, stirring halfway, about 30 seconds. Allow it to cool. Stir in vanilla, salt and sour cream.

WHIP CREAM:

Next, take your frosty bowl and beater out of the freezer, attach it to your mixer and on medium-high speed, whip heavy cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream into white chocolate mixture until incorporated.

FREEZE:

Place in airtight FREEZER SAFE container and freeze at least 6 hours before eating. You can store it for up to 2 weeks.

But trust me, it won't last that long once you taste the silky, creamy texture!

Heaven on a spoon, I tell you...HEAVEN :)

Notes:

- Choose your white chocolate wisely.

The magazine warns that not all white chocolate bars are created equal.

They recommend using a premium brand chocolate like Guittard or Ghirardelli. Since we could not find these brands in the white chocolate variety, we used a Lindt White Chocolate bar that I chopped finely before microwaving.

It worked out fabulously!

- If you plan on storing your ice cream for more than a few days, place plastic wrap directly on it's surface before you freeze it.

Variations:

I made 2 batches, one vanilla and one coffee mocha.

For the mocha variation, you need to follow the recipe as directed, and then I just:

- dissolved 1 {heaping} teaspoon instant coffee into 1 T. boiling water

- poured this into the microwaved sweetened condensed milk mixture.

- Stirred well

- Then I took a bottle of Hershey's syrup and made a few rounds in the whipped cream. Okay, well maybe a couple more than a FEW rounds, but who's counting...

- Incorporate the 2 mixtures as the original recipe suggests and then freeze.

All I will say is...

that the coffee mocha variation is my favorite,

and sinfully delicious.

My thighs quiver every time

I open up the freezer.

OH.MY.STARS

Why do I torture myself?

Oh right, it's Mother's Day and all calories consumed are

automatically cancelled out!!!

Thank goodness for

Mother's Day,

my sweet cooking assistants,

and tread mills.

This scrapbooking design created with Smilebox

Way Back Wednesday...2, Two Year Olds

Cade Matthew at 2

Gracyn Avery at 2

Sunshine on a Soggy Day

My kids enjoyed a FULL batch of chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes on Saturday morning! They devoured them...LITERALLY. Gracyn ate 4 and Cade scarfed down FIVE and I had to cut him off there because he was still asking for more! As I glanced up from my own mound of buttermilk bliss, I tried my best to to sear those sweet faces into my heart.

Luckily I also had a camera near by

to record it for all of you :)

Mommy, I know you're taking incriminating photos of me to use at my sweet sixteen!

Wipe the drool off your keypad and go here for the recipe!

I posted it back in 2008!

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!

Our new nightly routine is fix dinner, eat dinner, clean-up, and run outside as fast as we can to play baseball with Cade. Thanks in part to the fact that the back of our house faces east, so our lawn is shaded around 7 p.m. Everyday he reminds me, in his most serious tone, that he has a baseball game to play tonight! He even begs me to invite his friends over to "watch" him play!
No self-esteem issues here folks.

He has a tee, but he really likes it when Steve pitches to him! He keeps telling us he doesn't want to play t-ball because that's really NOT baseball.

He'd rather play, and I quote, "just plain baseball" instead :)



We even have our own field groomer...cutest one on the block!


{I'll give you a hint...she's got the cutest

KANKLES

this side of the Mason Dixon}

{And the longest lashes}

{And the biggest most beautiful brown eyes you ever did see}

Wordless Wednesday...one year ago today!

Fun, Fun, Fun in the Summertime Sun

About 2 weeks ago we pulled out the trusty inflatable pool for the first time this season. Last year, Gracyn was so little that she just sat on the sidelines watching brother have all the fun, but this year she was more than ready to rumble in our "pool." Honestly, they could care less that it's only about 4 feet wide and holds about 3 inches of water. Watching them that afternoon you'd think they had the best pool in the whole state!!!

Cade and Gracyn, you were both were both so happy this afternoon that we all stopped what we were doing just to come out and watch you laugh. I wish I could stop time and keep you this small for just a couple of more years, but the one constant in life is change. And I know you will outgrow me long before I outgrow you, so just for today I savored the simple pleasures of life through your eyes.

Good times folks. Good times.