My husband's mother has been here for nearly two weeks, so I decided to attempt a few pictures of her and the boys. All the "pretty" ones were edited (at least, my version of edited), and this is one that clearly didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. Michael is laughing, Mimi's hand (now cropped) was blurry, Levi was getting cranky-- and you can see his fantastic Star Wars band aid on his pinky (he got his finger stuck in the garbage can pedal).

But I love it to pieces.

Practising Simplicity's 52 project

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

I have rediscovered my bread machine and everyone who comes over is thanking me for it.

That's not cocky, it's just a fact.

There is something about homemade bread. The smell alone can make a person drool, but to be able to eat it on a regular basis...needless to say, I need to step up my exercise game.


I made this bread to go with some yummy lasagna pasta. Because, if you're going to have pasta--you might as well have some bread. This quick bread was super easy to throw in my bread machine and let it do its thing. However, if you aren't in possession of a bread machine, you're in luck! You can bake this bad stuff, too. And I mean that in a good way. You know, like... bad is good.

Annnnnnnnnyway.

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Home With Boys
- 1.25 C warm water
- 1.5 C olive oil (or vegetable)
- 3.5 C all purpose unbleached flour (or bread flour)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp dry Parsley
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
- 2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions for Bread Machine:

- Add your liquid ingredients to the bread pan.
- Add your dry ingredients, except the yeast, to the bread pan.
- Use your finger or a spoon to form a little hole in the middle of the dry ingredients for your yeast.
- Select the "French" setting, choose crust color (I did "Light"), and BOOM! Your bread is in the making. See how easy that is?

OR

Directions for Baking:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray bread pan.
- Mix together your wet ingredients, followed by your dry ingredients. Knead the yeast into the dough until all are combined.
- Place in bread pan, using spatula to make it as even as possible in the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.


Simple, easy, and delicious. My husband described the bread as BANGIN' more than once... and it BARELY lasted 48 hours in the house (this is including the fact that my mother-in-law is visiting, too).

I'm finding it hard to believe that we are in the last week of January, let alone that it's 2016. I know we all fret over time and how fast it goes, but it makes more and more sense to me why our parents always warn us about it. Michael is four, and Levi is just about 8 months. I can't handle it.

I decided to try and do Practising Simplicity's 52 project this year (again...). The problem is, I decided it about a week ago. So although I'm sharing four pictures, I'm honestly not sure of their timeline. I intend to be more intentional with pulling out my "good" camera and not just my phone to snap some shots as time passes. After all, life is made up of small moments. And I definitely want to capture as many as I can.
#1

Goose Poses.

#2

Loving Chaos.

#3

Brotherly Fun.

#4

Levi's Curious.
These boys just make my heart burst. Michael has started just playing with Levi whenever I'm preoccupied. He'll crawl on the floor and hand Levi some cars or try to play patty-cake. And while Levi isn't always amused by his big brother, anyone can tell by the way he looks at Michael that he wants nothing more than to keep up and be like him.

Making a Valentine's Day banner wasn't the only craft we've done in preparation for this wonderful holiday. Some may say that it's crafted by Hallmark to make people buy cards and chocolates and flowers, but I say it's what we make of it. And I love this opportunity to teach Michael about the purist type of love-- God's love.

On good 'ole Pinterest I found this link for Bible verses centered around Love for a countdown to Valentine's Day. Michael has a hard time counting past twelve, so it was the perfect opportunity to start working on the next round of numbers with him. We spent time cutting out more hearts and learning numbers up to 14.


On the back of each heart, we taped a verse. Then we taped them on our fridge. Right now they are front and center, and every day Michael will point to the numbers and count. It's an easy way to help him with 13 & 14. Next week, once February begins ::gulp:: we will take the number down that matches the day, and tape the verse on this:


Not my finest work, but it serves the purpose. We've taped it up in Michael's lesson/art corner (a post to come about that soon!) and that way he'll be reminded each day about the true meaning of LOVE.

Have some Valentine's Day ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Valentine's Day is coming up and in my opinion there is never enough time to celebrate it. Naturally I decided that this year we should start extra earlier to prepare for the day of L O V E.

I don't see Valentine's Day as just a day to remind your significant other/spouse that you love him, it's a day to remind your children how much they are loved and how much we are ALL loved by our Heavenly Father.

Can I get an amen?

This year we're doing lots of crafts. Michael is so into doing things together (like our Thankful Thursday jar). He's also seriously into cutting.


I had been wanting a heart banner for the house. Although I would *honestly* prefer a perfectly crafted one that looks professional, like most that are displayed, it's much more fun to let Michael pour his heart out and share just who and what he LOVES.


We used a cookie cutter to make the identically shaped hearts, but I think different ones would be adorable, too. We cut them out and each day he filled out 3-4 with things he loved.


I helped him spell.

It ranged from family members and friends to Quesadillas and "The Red Store" (aka Target, the best place on Earth).


After we had more than enough, we used some adorable ribbon (which I think originated from Michael's) with XOs all over it and then hung it around his teepee he got for Christmas.


Now whenever he looks at them, he'll ask me what specific ones say. Each one makes him smile and brings about a conversation about that specific thing.


Example:

"Oh, that one says, 'Read Winnie-the-Pooh'. I love doing that. But we finished it, so what will we read next?"

(In case you were wondering, the answer is The Wizard of Oz.)

We are trying to do this new year right, and because of it I seem to be in a "January slump." I have all these goals I want to accomplish, which therefore leads me to feeling overwhelmed and grumpy.

Needless to say, it doesn't help my New Year's Resolutions. But I'm taking it one day at a time.

Part of the focus for this year was to remind us to be THANKFUL. It's so easy to slip away and see everything everyone else has, or wish on a star, or be grumpy because we are unable to do something. That's not how I want to raise our boys. I want them to grow up knowing how blessed they are, not just because of all they own/have or all they can do, but because God blesses them with GRACE and LOVE.

So we made a thankful jar.


I soaked an old pasta sauce jar in soapy water to get rid of the label/ wash it out. I read Michael some Bible verses and let him pick out which one he wanted to put on the jar.


Then I found this printable which is positively adorable to use for our thankful cards that we fill out every Thursday. Michael loved cutting them out and gluing everything on the jar.

(He also decorated the lid with who knows how many Minions stickers....)

At some point in the day every Thursday, we sit at the table and Michael thinks of something he's thankful for and I help him spell it out. While we've only done this twice now, Michael gets very excited when he realizes it's Thursday.

And he's not the only one that does it. We all do.

Clark and I think of something we're thankful for and fill out a card. My plan is to encourage friends and family that are over on Thursdays to do it, too.

Last year I wanted to do this but didn't think about it until about June and by then we had plenty else going on. So this year I got a kick start. I hope this habit sticks!

It's been strangely "cold" in Arizona this winter season and I think I'm one of the few not complaining. At first I was a little concerned being home for the holidays, since home would usually mean shorts and maybe a sweatshirt. However, this year we got to flip the heat on and actually pull our jeans and light coats out of storage.

Since it's been abnormal weather, I've also pulled out some old recipes. This favorite is a Christmas Eve tradition, coming from my side of the family. It's perfect for sweater weather, and to me it tastes like the holidays. So if you're a little hung over from the bliss now that you've gone back to work, this is a home-cooked cure for those blues!


Ingredients:

- 1 medium white onion

- 4 stalks of celery

- 1 green pepper

- 3 TBLSP olive oil

- 1/3 C flour

- 8 C of chicken or vegetable stock/broth

- 1 bag of Uncle Ben's (or any other brand) Wild Rice Soup (the bag is easy because you can stick it in the microwave to cook it right before you need it. If you get the box or what have you, make sure to have sufficient time to cook it!)

- 1 TBLSP parsley

- 1 tsp black pepper


Directions:

- Chop up the green pepper, onion, and celery. You can either puree these in a food processor with the olive oil to make the soup thicker, or you can chop up the veggies extraordinarily finely. I have always (except once) opted to puree them, but it does work either way.

- Sautee your veggies, whichever way you prepared them, in a deep pot. Cook them for about two to three minutes, then add the flour. Mix this thoroughly until there are no separate clumps.

- Add the water or chicken broth. Cook on Medium to Medium-High heat and mix constantly until it thickens. You have to keep at it, which can be time consuming, but it will be like lumpy porridge if you don't.

- Once the mix has come to a slow boil, add the cooked rice. Mix this until the rice is distributed nicely, then add the pepper and parsley.

- Turn the soup on low, cover it, and let it simmer for around twenty minutes. Make sure to check on it and stir it as many times as possible.


This goes wonderfully with baguettes or crackers of your choosing! Also, for an extra treat: add some bacon bits. I promise you'll thank me later.

'Tis the season for baking, and nothing says Christmas-time more than these cookies. I made them for the first time last year, and as soon as December November the holidays rolled around this year my family started requesting me to send them some. It seemed only natural, after making three batches already, that I should share this recipe once again.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 C salted butter
- 1 C sugar
- 2/3 C brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 tsp vanilla
- 3 1/4 C all purpose, unbleached flour
- 4 packs of hot chocolate mix (I used swiss miss, which are just under 1oz, but up to 1oz packets works!)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 - 2 C semi sweet chocolate chips
*optional: for half of the batch I added the mint chocolate chips, because, well, I love mint chocolate!*
- 1/2 C - 1 C mini marshmallows
*optional: if you have the time, freeze the marshmallows so they are easier to mix in to the mix. However, your cookies won't be quite as gooey if you freeze them.*

They also taste ah-MAZING if you add 1/2 C caramel chips or crushed up candy cane!

Directions:
(These can be made the night before or a couple hours before your get together! If you're in a big rush, I suggest making a half batch. A full recipe makes around four dozen cookies.)

- Preheat your oven to 350 and line your baking sheet with parchment paper (if you don't have it, just spray it well with cooking spray!)
- In a large bowl, cream together your butter and sugars. Next add in your eggs and vanilla.
- Mix together your flour, hot chocolate, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add it gradually to your butter mix until well combined. It will get thick, so if you don't have a standing mixer you will eventually have to switch to mixing by hand (I know, because I had to do it!)
- Fold in your chocolate chips. Save your marshmallows for the end.
- When scooping the cookies, be gentle. I only mixed the marshmallows in slightly to the mix and then placed them in my cookie scoop by hand. That way they didn't get all stretched out or broken into gooey pieces. But, no matter what, it will still be delicious!

TIP: If you want to avoid caramelized marshmallow oozing out of the cookies, make sure to patch the sides with extra dough and cover those marshmallows!



- Bake for 10-12 minutes. They will appear slightly soft/not cooked when you take them out. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
These are best served/devoured warm, but if you're planning on taking them to a party you can heat them up for a few seconds before transporting them!