Sunday, April 20, 2014
Extended Self Family Egg Hunt
We participated in the annual egg hunt with all the Self Grankids. Always fun....
Blueberry Lemon-Zest Croissant Puff
We enjoyed an Easter Brunch...our first holiday in the new house! I decided to try a new recipe simply because it looked so good in the pictures I saw on Pinterest...I am a sucker for food that looks delectable in photos. I altered the recipe a bit and had to double it to feed my crew, but it was so good AND every child liked it. (Sometimes it is the little miracles in life that bring joy!)
Blueberry Lemon-Zest Baked Croissant Puff
2 8oz cream cheese packages, softened to room temp
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup sugar
lemon zest
2 cups milk
Blueberries...as many as you want
6 croissants
(These ingredients are the doubled sizes to accommodate a 9x13 pan)
Blueberry Lemon-Zest Baked Croissant Puff
2 8oz cream cheese packages, softened to room temp
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup sugar
lemon zest
2 cups milk
Blueberries...as many as you want
6 croissants
(These ingredients are the doubled sizes to accommodate a 9x13 pan)
Break, cut or tear your croissants into bit size pieces
Add cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, sugar and lemon zest to mixer.
This is how a mom with a cranky 4mth old cooks Easter Brunch...gotta do whatcha gotta do!
Cream together eggs, cream cheese, lemon zest, vanilla and sugar. Then slowly add milk. (I had some cream cheese chunks because it wasn't completely softened, but I didn't mind, and does not affect taste.)
Add blueberries (I used frozen because fresh were not on sale, but would have preferred fresh)
Pour mixture over croissants and blueberries
Bake at 350 for approximately 40min, or until firm. Enjoy warm with a sprinkling of powdered sugar!!
Happy Easter
We enjoyed a moving and beautiful service at our new church, Mission Community Church. It is a blessing to live in a country where we have the freedom to worship. It is a glorious day remembering the sacrifice and love of our Savior!
We hope your life has been touch in someway by our Lord...Happy Easter!
We hope your life has been touch in someway by our Lord...Happy Easter!
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
WE MOVED!!
After a fantastically up and down roller coaster ride for the past 6mths we finally moved into our dream home! It was a journey of faith for sure and after having been in the house for a couple weeks now, we can see God's hand prints all over this house, this move, our finances...EVERYTHING! It does leave us a bit humbled by the whole thing, well me especially, since my faith struggled in the complete trust department. To be completely honest there were a few times I thought it was all falling apart. I wake up thankful every day for this gift, and I guess the journey too.
I have pictures to share of course! I have begun to paint and am making good progress on making it feel like home. The space for all of us has been a thing to get used to. The big kids all have their own rooms and the trip to each room to say goodnight is significantly longer, and we chuckle about it. We absolutely LOVE having the master downstairs and it has given the grown ups a chance to talk at night and feel like we too have our own space. (which of course we do in the master, but the whole downstairs is ours after the kiddos go to bed...it is pretty sweet!)
We want to thank all our friends and family who helped us move in...we are blessed!!
I have pictures to share of course! I have begun to paint and am making good progress on making it feel like home. The space for all of us has been a thing to get used to. The big kids all have their own rooms and the trip to each room to say goodnight is significantly longer, and we chuckle about it. We absolutely LOVE having the master downstairs and it has given the grown ups a chance to talk at night and feel like we too have our own space. (which of course we do in the master, but the whole downstairs is ours after the kiddos go to bed...it is pretty sweet!)
Extra Early Release Treat
Our public schools have these random 'extra early release' days sprinkled in to the school year. Of course the kids love them, me not so much. They seem to sneak up on me and I feel unprepared most of the time to have them all here i the middle of my day. Alas, I was prepared for this one! I even baked them a special treat! It was way easier than making individual cookies in my short day at home.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Pre-heat oven 350, I used a 9x13 pan
2 cups + 2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups, or as much as you want, chocolate chips
Cream melted butter, sugar and vanilla pudding mix together.
Add egg and egg yolk
Add dry ingredients
Mix together in a stand up mixer or hand mixer
Fold in chocolate chips
Line 9x13 pan with foil, spray foil with nonstick cooking spray
Add cookie dough to pan, I used my hands to spread it out and make it even across pan
Bake until golden brown, approx 20min...I kept checking on them since this was the first time I have ever done it this way.
ENJOY!!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Pre-heat oven 350, I used a 9x13 pan
2 cups + 2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups, or as much as you want, chocolate chips
Cream melted butter, sugar and vanilla pudding mix together.
Add egg and egg yolk
Add dry ingredients
Mix together in a stand up mixer or hand mixer
Fold in chocolate chips
Line 9x13 pan with foil, spray foil with nonstick cooking spray
Add cookie dough to pan, I used my hands to spread it out and make it even across pan
Bake until golden brown, approx 20min...I kept checking on them since this was the first time I have ever done it this way.
ENJOY!!
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Spring Break 2014
Once again many, many weeks have gone by without me posting updates to the blog. I had really hoped to do one a week at the first of the year. Not sure if my life is just that boring, OR more likely I am just way too busy these days to sit and put pictures, feelings, etc up on the blog. I used to use this space as a place to really pour my heart out, and I would love to get back to that again, as well as show off my amazing family, (wink wink). Hopefully once we are settled in the Sanger Ave house I can get back to it...
Anyway, this week is Spring Break for my kiddos. Instead of going some where fun this is what we have been doing...
I can say with near certainty that we are 90% packed. I have to be because the U-haul will be here tonight and we are going to be out of this house by Sunday at the latest. CRAZY!! I wish I could have gotten my way and moved from one house to the other, but that would be all too simple for the way we do things. Unfortunately the way closing dates worked out and Brokers being "cautious" we get the privilege of vacationing with my in laws for a week. (God bless them for letting the 9 of us crash their space!)
Soooo, I guess this leads to my main point....WE ARE MOVING!! Ok, that is not new information but I will say this journey has been one I wish to not travel again for a very, very long time. Nothing about this move has been easy, well except signing the papers to build the house I guess. We thought we were wise in waiting until after the holidays to list our Diego house but we missed a huge window where the number of house on the market were significantly less. By the time we listed the first week of January, the homes for sale in Maricopa County nearly doubled. Thanks to an improved housing market, the number of homes saturated the market and forced us to make some hard decisions about the list price. We ended up taking it off the market after 45 days to evaluate our options. We thought about keeping it as a rental, but ugh, that sounds like so much work and was really a heavy burden for my spouse who was then responsible for two mortgages, even though the rental market is so good, we just didn't feel good about that option. A week later we re-listed the house at a significantly lower price than we had hoped for back in Oct when we began this journey. Sadly, we didn't have a choice because the comps, saturated market and our desire to get it sold quickly. God was in it the whole time even though I had some seriously low points and faithless nights. (Those who I spoke with directly about my struggles...I appreciate you so much! It is a blessing to shed a few tears in the safety of friendship). Long long story short we had an offer after 6 days! Praise Jesus!
We moved in this house 10.5 years ago. I was 8mths pregnant with Samantha. Leaving has been bittersweet. We loved this house!! We loved living down the street from our beloved church. We started our foster care/adoption journey in this house. We have swimming memories with the kids, family, friends...ok, time for a tissue. It has been an amazing gift to live in these walls. Fortunately Shane and I are not huge on being attached to the "things" but rather the experience and we get to take those with us in our hearts. We are indescribably excited about the new house and all the new memories we will create. We dream about holidays, slumber parties, cousins over all the time....the list goes on and on. We are blessed and humbled with this new adventure even though the journey to get there has been very bumpy.
Today I took a break from packing and met up with a friend and he crew at the park...how could i not! The weather is AMAZING right now. Took my camera to what will end up being our last chance to play in our neighborhood park.
Anyway, this week is Spring Break for my kiddos. Instead of going some where fun this is what we have been doing...
I can say with near certainty that we are 90% packed. I have to be because the U-haul will be here tonight and we are going to be out of this house by Sunday at the latest. CRAZY!! I wish I could have gotten my way and moved from one house to the other, but that would be all too simple for the way we do things. Unfortunately the way closing dates worked out and Brokers being "cautious" we get the privilege of vacationing with my in laws for a week. (God bless them for letting the 9 of us crash their space!)
Soooo, I guess this leads to my main point....WE ARE MOVING!! Ok, that is not new information but I will say this journey has been one I wish to not travel again for a very, very long time. Nothing about this move has been easy, well except signing the papers to build the house I guess. We thought we were wise in waiting until after the holidays to list our Diego house but we missed a huge window where the number of house on the market were significantly less. By the time we listed the first week of January, the homes for sale in Maricopa County nearly doubled. Thanks to an improved housing market, the number of homes saturated the market and forced us to make some hard decisions about the list price. We ended up taking it off the market after 45 days to evaluate our options. We thought about keeping it as a rental, but ugh, that sounds like so much work and was really a heavy burden for my spouse who was then responsible for two mortgages, even though the rental market is so good, we just didn't feel good about that option. A week later we re-listed the house at a significantly lower price than we had hoped for back in Oct when we began this journey. Sadly, we didn't have a choice because the comps, saturated market and our desire to get it sold quickly. God was in it the whole time even though I had some seriously low points and faithless nights. (Those who I spoke with directly about my struggles...I appreciate you so much! It is a blessing to shed a few tears in the safety of friendship). Long long story short we had an offer after 6 days! Praise Jesus!
We moved in this house 10.5 years ago. I was 8mths pregnant with Samantha. Leaving has been bittersweet. We loved this house!! We loved living down the street from our beloved church. We started our foster care/adoption journey in this house. We have swimming memories with the kids, family, friends...ok, time for a tissue. It has been an amazing gift to live in these walls. Fortunately Shane and I are not huge on being attached to the "things" but rather the experience and we get to take those with us in our hearts. We are indescribably excited about the new house and all the new memories we will create. We dream about holidays, slumber parties, cousins over all the time....the list goes on and on. We are blessed and humbled with this new adventure even though the journey to get there has been very bumpy.
Today I took a break from packing and met up with a friend and he crew at the park...how could i not! The weather is AMAZING right now. Took my camera to what will end up being our last chance to play in our neighborhood park.
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