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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Popovers: A Love Story

Okay, I may have a little problem.  I am completely addicted to popovers!  I have this great, simple recipe from my Cooking Light cookbook.  Combine that with delicious homemade honey butter and....total.addiction.  In any case, I thought I'd share my love for them with you-perhaps you and your family will enjoy them as well! 

Popovers:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup 1% milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
Cooking Spray

1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Combine milk and eggs in a medium bowl, whisk until blended, and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. In separate bowl, combine flour and salt, then slowly add into egg/milk mixture.  Stir well with the whisk.  Finally stir in butter. 

3. Coat 9 popover cups (or 12 cupcake cups) with cooking spray.  Place cups in the oven for approximately five minutes (no batter in!). 


4. Divide batter into each cup.  Bake at 375* for 40 minutes or until golden brown.  If using a cupcake pan, bake for 30-35 minutes.  Remember not to open the oven door until they are finished! 

YUMMY!  (and so pretty too!)



Honey Butter Spread:
Using butter at room temperature, mash butter in a bowl and add honey so that mixture is about 50/50 combination.  Mix thoroughly and serve on popovers that are hot out of the oven for best (melt in your mouth!) results!

I hope you enjoy!

Recipe from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2005 copyright 2004.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Bella Turns Three!

It's hard to believe, but our baby girl is three!  We had a fun time celebrating with her this past week.  On her actual birthday we took her out to Chuck E. Cheese for a fun night of games, and we celebrated with our family and friends on Saturday.  She was very excited about her birthday party and decided we must have a 'purple' party complete with chocolate cupcakes topped with purple frosting.  She also talked a lot about presents and singing 'Happy Birthday'....birthdays are so exciting when you're three!

Here are some of our favorite moments from the celebrations:

On the morning of her birthday, Bella decided she wanted to wear a purple outfit and also dress up in a green M&Ms costume:)



Grandma and Grandpa brought balloons and cupcakes for the birthday girl!


Bella's 'Purple' Party

This is as purple-y as I could get the frosting!


Elijah, Asher and Bella sporting party hats

While singing "happy birthday" Bella sang out "to me!"


mmm...cake!

Bella and Asher trying out Bella's new gymnastics mat:)

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful little girl!  We are blessed beyond words to be your mom and dad.  We love you sweet Bella girl! 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Children's Seasonal Book Basket

Around here, we love books!  Both Bella and Elijah love to read stories, and we have so many children's books that it's hard to keep track of them all.  I've decided to start a little system with some of the books to try to get better use out of them.  I call it the 'Seasonal Book Basket'.  Catchy, huh?!  Okay, well maybe I'm not known for my catchphrases, but I try!  Anyway, I bought a small woven basket that fits several books inside.  I went through all of our kids books and sorted out some that are specific to a season or holiday.  I will keep all of these books separate from the kids' every day reading books that are in their individual bookshelves. I will display the seasonal books during their corresponding season in our seasonal book basket.  For example, right now I have 'Winter' books in our basket.  I'm hoping this way we get more use out of books that we don't read a lot otherwise, and a fun lesson about whatever season/holiday we are in.  I also like that these books are out on an end table in the living room, promoting more reading during the day. 

So far I have books for Winter, Easter, Spring, Summer, Fall/Harvest time/Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  I don't think we have any books about Independence Day yet, but it could be something to add. 


The books in our 'winter' basket right now are:
The Berenstain Bears Winter Wonderland by Jan and Mike Berenstain
Little Snowflake's Big Adventure by Steve Metzger
The Mitten by Jan Brett

Do you have any Season/Holiday specific books your kids really enjoy?  I'd love to hear from you!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Reading Materials

One of my goals for 2013 is to learn and grow spiritually.  It's easy to say but harder to do.  So I've decided to use a Bible reading plan that I found online.  I actually saw it as a link on a blog I follow and really like (check it out here), but I will give you a direct link to the reading plans as well (here).  There are several options, but the one I chose is called the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan.  I like it because it gives you four different passages to read each day, but only 25 days of reading per month, and in a year you've read through the entire Bible.  It is a challenge, but I think it's still a reasonable goal.  I would love for you to join me if you'd like to! 

I also wanted to share some additional reading material Matt and I are planning to read soon.  We picked out a few books at a discount book store and they look quite promising to me!  I'm not endorsing them quite yet (since I haven't read them!), but I will try to follow up as we finish them. 

Now You're Speaking My Language by Gary Chapman
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
When Life is Hard by James MacDonald
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham by Myra Shelley



Do you have any book recommendations or books you are excited about reading soon?  Let me know, I'm always looking for suggestions!!  Happy Reading!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Freeze Frame

Do you ever have those moments where your kids do something so cute that you just want to freeze frame it so you can remember it perfectly forever?  I feel like that happens to me a lot.  So I thought I'd take a moment and write down some of the cutest, funniest, sweetest things my two little ones are doing right now, before they are just distant, fuzzy memories.



BELLA:

She has recently begun saying (at random times) "Mommy, I love you so much!  Daddy, I love you so much!".  Melts my heart!

She has a great imagination and pretends to be Dora or Diego (her favorite show) and goes on adventures.  These adventures come complete with her rescue pack (backpack), baby Jaguar (Elijah), and she is always on the look out for Swiper, Bobos and 'talkadiles' (crocodiles).  So fun to watch!

She loves telling me about the sun coming out, the moon coming up at night, snow, rain, etc.  She's our little weather girl!

She calls Elijah "Ly-jah" now, or sweetie pie, Buddy, or Bug (I call him Bug, so she does too!).  When people ask Bella what her name is, she says, "I'm Bella, this is my Ly-jah"!  So sweet.

She loves her friends, and always asks if we can go see them or if they can come to Bella's house.  When we get to see them, she always smiles, closes her eyes for a moment, tilts her head to the side and says, "Oh, thank you Momma!" 

She often asks, "snuggle me?"  Um, yes please!

ELIJAH:

He has learned to clap his hands, give high fives, and say 'more' in sign language.  He also sticks his hands straight up in the air for 'so big!' when we ask him how big he is. 

He loves to cuddle and give kisses.  His kisses are the open mouth, tongue out, sloppy right on your lips kind -so funny and so sweet.  He also loves to kiss cheeks (except for Daddy who's face is too scratchy!) and will attach himself and suck on your cheek!

He waves bye-bye and also says 'Ni-Ni' (night-night) before bed and naptime.

He loves to point at things or people, he is very curious and gets into EVERYTHING he can, and he is fascinated by toilets, sinks, running water, the dog's water dish, drawers, phones, remotes, most electronics, the stairs, and Bella's stuff.  He also loves pulling all the books out of our bookcases (a little trick Bella taught him!). 

He loves to go over to our dogs Cayman and Ana and give them hugs or lay with them in their new bed (their Christmas gift this year!).  It gets a bit crowded in there by the time he's in there along with both dogs and sometimes Bella too:)


That's all for now-We're off to make more memories:)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!

A new year. 2013.  What will this year bring?  It's exciting to start fresh and new.  I'm sure we all have new year's resolutions about many things, but there are a few I want to share with you.

Goals for 2013:

1.  Enjoy being with my children and play with them lots.
2. Be more organized so I can manage my time better:)
3. Read some great books (thanks book club ladies!).
4. Spend more time with friends.
5. Learn and improve on my photography skills.
6.  Be thankful and enjoy each day.
7. Pray more!
8. Go on more date nights with Matt:)
9. Learn and grow spiritually.
10. Blog more!

What are some of your goals for the new year?