Zander

Is so excited about his new "arm pit hole shirts". When asked why he called it that, he said "cause when I lift up my arm you can see my arm pit!"

I wish I had this blog when Annalyse was little, she said the darndest things to!

Like when we were walking into a store and she was walking all funny, I asked her "don't you know how to walk right?" and then she responded "of course I do, with one foot in front of the other!" I love all the cute things kids say. I try to write them down but most of the time I forget, so thank goodness for blogging.

Over the

Highway and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go!

We went over to Justins parents house after church yesterday. The weather was beautiful and the kids always have fun playing over there.
Looking so serious!

They always have to swing on the swing.

This is for you Tierra, Annalyse and her yellow dress, let me know if it will work for the wedding!

Have you ever?

Had a smell or song that just floods your mind with memories? I do and it happens to be this song, I am not a P. Diddy, Diddy or what ever he is going by these days, fan but this one song he sings about his friend who died hits me every time with memories of my sister. It chokes me up cause the message is true(which is kind of weird for a pop song!) But if you listen to the words he says" when this life is over I know we'll meet again" is so true. And I am missing you Roshelle every day! I am finally over wanting to call you everyday to see how your doing, but I still wish I could have done more, been there, helped you with whatever you needed. I know there was a reason I was not able to live close to you and be there for you. I don't quite know what the reason is but God has the master plan for our lives and we just have to trust him. I know you put your trust in him and that's why you are in heaven smiling down on us waiting for us to meet again, then maybe we can live close to each other!
Its funny how time does heal all, maybe cause our memories fade to, that's what I don't like. I was 13 when my older brother passed and I can barely remember all the things we used to do together. I don't want to forget all the sweet times I had with my sister. It's only been 7 months but it seams like its been forever that I talked to her. Oh how life does go on, and life is good.
I guess I am having all of these thoughts because tomorrow is Roshelle's birthday, she would be 29.

Pic's of the week

Please don't ask me what shes doing, she is our most creative thinking child.

Can you say 3 year old attitude!?
Feeding dad blocks, he loves to play with these! Mainly pulling them apart.

The dogs, just chillin on the deck.

La La Lemon bars

I made these for our little craft night on Thursday. We made those cute little snack bags.

Lemon Bars
Copyright, 1999 The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Ingredients
For the crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup flour
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.
For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.
Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners' sugar.

The Bathroom

Is done!

Do you like how every other light is working? :)

Well at least one of them is done. Next up is my bathroom. After 4 years and two baby's I am FINALLY getting stuff done around here! The sad thing is when it is all done and just the way I want it, it will be time to build our next house and start all over!

The Kitchen

Before, Love how cleaned off the counters are waiting for the granite to be put in.

After, all the stuff back on the counters!

Last night

I made some beautiful biscuits for dinner and fell asleep listening to rain storm after rain storm, simply Divine!

Today I made a vat of BBQ sauce.
And a rustic French apple tart.

Tomorrow I hope to post the recipe for the BBQ sauce and biscuits, paint my bathroom and clean my room.

This last week

Was good, I had to have a laparoscopy surgery on Friday, all went well and feeling good. They had to do three little incisions, one of which is in my belly button. So for the first few days it was hard to hold Madden, so this is what he did, stand at my feet and cry for me to pick him up. This is how I do a lot of things actually!

Justin started work on the garden, yeah! I get to put in a garden this year! The boys were helping while I watched.
Zander and Madden ridding in the Jeep, we had such beautiful weather this past week, 80's!
So we were outside quite a bit. Would you just look at that red hair!

Made some brownies with whole wheat flour, they came out really good. The texture was just a little different, but the taste was still the same fudgy chocolateness that I love. I used this recipe and just used whole wheat flour instead of the white and I also used raw cane sugar instead of the white.

So Just had to play catch up for my journaling and for the grandmas to see pictures :)

I'm Sew Happy!

About these little reusable snack bags! I am sew doing my part to be green. Now
I can cut down on all the ziplocks!

Madden ate his.
these guys are sew cute! I'm sew making a ton of these for all the kids.


I am also going to make some a little bigger for Annalyse to put her sandwiches in for school.
These are about 8in by 5in, I added the little loop to it. Perfect for Cheerios at church!
I got the idea from this talented gal.
Now who wants to come make these? Another craft night! They are really easy.

The Girls

Annalyse little friend had a tea party birthday on Saturday, so it gave me a chance to use my sweet new camera!

*Cousins*

I was also messing around with some of the pictures.

I love this girl!

Scarlett

Madden played some piano.

I made some petti fours for the party.

Sweet Wheat Rolls

My oh my did these rolls come out good! So soft, sweet, buttery Mmmm...... This is the best recipe for whole wheat rolls I have ever come across, the first time I made them I did half into cinnamon rolls and then made the rest into crescent rolls. It makes a big batch so you can either half it or make the whole thing, shape into whatever you want and then freeze.

Sweet Whole Wheat Rolls
Recipe came from my moms old wheat grinder manual
3 cups warm milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup honey
6 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, I actually use a whole tablespoon, Justin likes it with more salt
3 tablespoons yeast
8-10 cups whole wheat flour
Mix half the flour and the rest of the ingredients and let stand for 10 minutes. Mix rest of the flour in until you have a nice soft ball, some days it may take more flour. If you run out of wheat flour use white. Let rise for at least an hour or until doubled. Shape into rolls let rise another hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12? Depends on what you make. When you smell them and there golden, there done!
When I do crescent rolls I roll a chunk of dough(if you do the whole recipe after the first rise divide into 4) into a circle about 12inches. Then I spread some soft butter over it and cut into 12 triangles, roll up from the wide end, make sure the tip is on the bottom when you put it on the pan.