Sweet tooth

I love sweets! Always have.

We had some friends over on Friday night, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out my recipe for Snickerdoodle cake. It did not disappoint! :)

I usually go for all things chocolate, but this cake was delicious!!! (I plan on making it again on Thursday for a special birthday treat!)

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

1 package plain white cake mix

1 cup milk

8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients with an electric mixer until well blended. Divide batter equally into two (greased and floured) 9" round cake pans. Bake at 350 for 27 to 29 minutes.

Frosting:

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

3 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

3 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend butter with electric mixer until fluffy. Stop the machine and add the sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until light and fluffy (adding more milk if the frosting seems too stiff).

I lightly sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on the top of my cake for a "finishing touch".

Enjoy! :)

Thankful for asthma

I know it may sound odd, but I am very thankful that my son, Benjamin, had an asthama attack and I had to take him to the ER in the wee hours on Monday morning.

Benjamin woke up around 11:30 Sunday night coughing and wheezing. We gave him a breathing treatment, as we usually do when this happens, but it didn't really seem to help. My poor baby was very obviously struggling to breathe (very scary for a mom), so I decided to take him to the ER right away. (While we were gone, Ray was awake worrying and praying) They were able to get the wheezing under control with a steroid and we came home around 3:00 Monday morning. Ray and I were both very exhausted when we were finally able to crawl into bed! Our other children, however, slept very well the entire night (unaware of the situiation) and were wide awake at 7:30. UGH!!

Rather than sit around the house all morning... thinking about how tired we were, we decided to take the kids to the park. Hopefully they could burn some energy and take a nice, loooooong nap. :) I decided to put Anna's hair in a ponytail before we left the house. (This is where the praise comes in!) You see, Anna normally wears her hair down and puts a in a headband (she is trying to grow her bangs out). But because she was going to be running around outside, I decided to pull her hair back... that's when I saw it. I thought she had a scab on the back of her head and was wondering how she got it, but then I saw moving legs! A tick! Based on the last time she was outside, it had to have been there for at least 36 hours. (who knows when we would have noticed it!) We were able to get it out in one piece (along with some flesh) and Anna was a real trooper!

This afternoon she developed a low fever, so I called the pediatritian. They said her fever was borderline and they want us to keep a close eye on her. All day she has been acting pretty lethargic, has been complaining of nausea and her fever has gone up. (sigh) Right now she is sleeping soundly, but I cannot keep from worring. If she wakes with a fever in the morning, we are off to see the doctor. I am praying for you now, sweet Anna!

(I think I worry too much about my kids sometimes!)

Pickles!

Levi and Benjamin are relatively close in age and are similar in a lot of ways (I get asked very frequently if they are twins)... yet in some respects they couldn't be more different. I was reminded of this in a small way just the other day.

Several months ago, I took Benjamin with me to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Ben always loves to go with me because they have toddler sized carts that he can push around the store! I was walking down the aisles and would occasionally ask him to pick up an item and place it in his cart. When we got to the checkout, he was helping me unload the groceries onto the counter. I noticed the cashier was scanning a box of cake mix (an item that was not on my list), so I asked Ben if he put that in the cart. "Yeah, I like cake!!" was his reply (with the biggest smile on his face!)

Yesterday I made another trip to the store to pick up a few items and on this occasion I took Anna and Levi with me. Again, at the checkout I found an item in my cart that was not on my list.... Pickles! I held the jar in my hand and looked at Levi (who was grinning from ear to ear) "You didn't have any in the fridge!" was his reply.

Benjamin is my sweet tooth. He loves cakes, cookies and candy. Levi's favorite?.... Pickles! Just one small way my two boys are oh so very different... but I love them both so very much!

our life

Life has been really busy for our family this past week. It was especially busy for me as I was preparing for our yard sale. (I never knew how much work a yard sale can be!) I am the type of person who likes organization! I do not function well under chaos, so when the pile of items to sell in our yard sale started to take over the guest bedroom, it drove me crazy! I wanted to spend all my free time organizing that room and getting things perfectly organized for the sale, but I knew that I also needed to be spending time with my boys.

On a rainy Thursday, I decided to ignore all things pertaining to the yard sale and just enjoy my boys for the day. We built a tent in the living room and had a lot of fun. We sat under the blanket and sang songs and I told them stories... about Noah, Joseph and David. What a fun way to spend a rainy day!

Our yard sale was on Friday and Saturday. My main motivation for the sale was to sell all of my little girl clothes that were starting to take over my house! My mom also came to help out with a bunch of things from her house that she wanted to sell. I joked that our yard looked more like a small flea market than a yard sale! :) (should have taken a picture!)

On Friday afternoon, we ended the yard sale a little early because we were headed to a Lake county Captains Game. Last time we went, the game went into extra innings and it started to rain, so we didn't stay for the post game fireworks. Levi was disappointed, so we promised him that next time we went to a game, we would stay for the fireworks. The game lasted 11 innings... despite the rain, but we stuck it out. Noah was getting a little fussy, so my mom took him for a walk while the 5 of us watched the fireworks all huddled under one large umbrella! I would have preferred to watch the fireworks without the rain, but it was a great family bonding moment!

Our yard sale continued on Saturday and it was a very enjoyable day. We got to meet many neighbors, hear about things that are going on in their lives, pray for them and invite some of them to church. Overall it was a very enjoyable... but long.... weekend.

Because of the yard sale, I hardly did any housework over the weekend, and now I am trying to get caught up! (not an easy task!) Today is also Anna's last day of school and I am looking forward to having her home all summer. She told me this morning that she was going to leave the house as a first grader and come home as a second grader. Wow, they grow fast!

First Time for Everything

I have never had a garage sale before, but we are getting ready for one this weekend. My main motivation was all the girl clothes that are taking over my house!! I saved everything from Anna in case we had another girl... three boys later, I am ready to get rid of it all!! I tried giving clothes away (and I did get rid of a lot), but we still have TONS!! (All the storage bins in this picture are full of girl clothes and shoes!)

Once we decided to have the sale, I started to look for other things to sell. I never knew we had so much junk!! Plus, my mom is adding her stuff to this yard sale as well!

I have been keeping very busy this week trying to price and organize everything, but hopefully it will be a success and we will sell enough to clear up some space in our storage room! If you are in our area on Friday or Saturday you should stop by! :)

First Tuesday

On the first Tuesday of every month, the Pastors and wives from our area get together for fellowship and Bible Study.I have come to really appreciate and treasure these times with our fellow laborers for Christ. They have all been such an encouragement to me throughout the years. The group is very diverse and there are couples from all phases of life, yet all are very dear friends. It is a place to share trials and joys; both in ministry and life. (And especially as a mom of pre-schoolers, I greatly look forward to the adult conversation!) :)

Today, being the first Tuesday of the month, we got together in typical fasion... but this month was a little different. We always have a picnic in June as we wrap-up the year and break for the summer. I really enjoyed the fellowship and time spent with dear friends this afternoon and will greatly miss them over the summer. I am looking forward to September with great anticipation! I can't wait till we meet and again and have the opportunity to share all the amazing things that God has done!