Happy Easter

 Happy Easter from our home to yours. 

Good Friday 2021

Sorry I have been out of the loop lately. I got so busy some days I would just forget to blog. 🙄 That can happen to the best of us. We have been doing school, playing games, having sleepovers, baking, you name it. 

We had a sleep over one night and watched movies 🎥 and ate popcorn 🍿.  

We woke up the next morning and they scrunched Doritos in my ear. Well, they were left over from the 

day before and Caroline found hers. 

One day I had to run some errands and we stopped and grabbed some supper. Daddy was on call and mommy was at work. These little caddys from the Dollar Tree for a $1 makes traveling and eating with toddlers a whole lot easier. 

I know I say alot that Caroline loves to pick on me and make scowly faces, but this is proof that she really does love me and she said I was her best friend. Of course the one in the back was getting a little jealous. 

We have been dodging storms left and right. We have had two separate storms come through our area.  One night it was really bad last week and we are just now getting back to normal.  I got an alert on my phone around 11:30 pm and I was sound asleep. It said persons in our area seek shelter immediately.  I got up and threw some clothes on.  At the same time, Dakota called and said he and the girls were headed to our house. They got here and the local tower sirens 🚨 were going off and I opened the back door for them.  Dakota was running with Atleigh who was scared to death since they had to jerk them out of bed, and Jossie was running in with Caroline.  Jossies anxiety was through the roof and she was shaking like a leaf. They get inside and we all get settled. Then we heard that there was rotation in a city and it was headed our way. Dakota grabbed blankets, pillows and one of the girls air mattresses and threw them into the closet and shoved us in there and told us to stay there. He was watching everything. We were all scared but praying. Talk about a prayer closet. Whatever it was we got the tail end of it and we heard a swoosh sound for about 5 minutes then it was gone. By this time it was around 1am and Dakota got a call to come into work.  Power lines were down and trees were down everywhere.  Dakota  took Jossie to get her car and she came right back because she was not going back home all by herself. She was too scared. So I got the girls in bed and settled down as best as I could. It was still pouring down rain 🌧 and thundering ⛈and lightning ⛈.  Atleigh was so scared. I had to close all the blinds and drown out the noise or she wasn't going to sleep. Finally around 2am we were all settled and dozing off. Jossie had to get up and go to work. Dakota was out all  night 🌙 all the next day until 5 or 6 pm. They rotated out and he went home and went to sleep. The girls stayed with me all day. He was exhausted. Roads were closed for days and people had so much damage. We were very blessed. We missed church that Sunday morning because we were so exhausted and didn't get in bed. 

Today I had Easter with the girls because they will be doing some other things over the weekend and I didn't want to miss my opportunity.  As soon as they got here I let them have their baskets. 

I let them play with their things for a while and then we ate lunch and watched Peter Cottontail. 

Then we had an Easter egg hunt. Note to self, don't eat candy while filling 100 eggs.  You will get a belly ache and gain about 5lbs. 😜

Uncle Dallas was a great help. 

 Then it was naptime. I read them the Easter story from the Bible. 

After nap we had snacks and I had my second cup of coffee ☕.  

You know we can never have a holiday without making some kind of treats. 😁

We made some Easter Rice Krispie  treats. 

It was sunny 🌞 outside so I got them outside to play and blow bubbles. 

I would say we had a very awesome and fun day. 

Let's not forget what this weekend is all about.  We have a man who came to earth to love among us and was tempted just as we are today but overcame and even showed us the way. He was bruised for our transgressions and made a way for us to receive forgiveness and a home in glory with him to have everlasting life. It did not end with the cross.  He arose the Victor. 

St. Patrick's Week Day Five

 I'm sorry. I'm a day late posting. Time just flew yesterday and I was just exhausted last night. 

I think I have rainbowed the girls out. They don't want to do anything rainbow today 😒. 🦄🦄. Oh well, it was fun all week. We still have rainbow 🌈 cupcakes and bread to eat.

Ah ha!!!!! We still did something rainbow to finish our week. It didn't require baking so I want gain 20 lbs. 🤪🤪

Rainbow necklaces. Caroline had to bling daddy out too. 📿📿

St. Patrick's Week Day Four

 St. Patrick's Week Day Four:

Phew, this one wore us out. It takes muscle working the coloring through the dough.  💪 Rainbow 🌈 bread.  Just look at those colors. Now, we're dipping it in ranch dressing. Hey, you pick your battles. This Gmaw needs a nap. 😁😁😁😇😇😇😇😇🤪🤪🤪🤪

St. Patrick's Week Day Three

 St Patrick's Week Day Three:

It's been rainy and stormy, but we've had unicorns 🦄 and rainbows 🌈 in my house. ( had to drown out the noise of the thunder ⛈😳).

Rainbow 🌈 cupcakes 🧁😋

First time using my piping kit my sweetheart got me. Just look at those colors. If you thought I wasn't gonna eat one, you're crazy. 😁😁😁

There is always that one.....🦄🦄🦄

My little unicorns 🦄 rocking our 🌈 rainbows

It wasn't long afterwards that mommy and daddy came to pick them up. 

I don't know if I told yall or not, but God has been answering prayers 🙏 for us. God is restoring a marriage. Our son and daughter in law are slowly working things out and I can sleep a little better.  😴 This makes this momma very happy 😊 and I am just going to continue to keep praying. I ask that yall would keep doing the same. God is still in the miracle working business. 

St. Patrick's Week Day Two

 St. Patrick's Week Day Two:

Rainbow 🌈 grill cheese. Look at that mozzarella pull............

We took baths and showers and by then it was nap time. We conked out.  

After nap we had to run to town and run errands so we just went to the park to play and I treated them to McDonald's.  

Got back home and daddy came to pick them up. We had a good day. 

St. Patrick's Week Day One

 St. Patrick's Week Day 1 and it's rainbow 🌈 everything this week. Today is rainbow waffles 🧇.  It's a rainy 🌧,  cloudy ⛅,  messy buns 😋, pajamas 👖 kind of day but we got rainbows in our tummies. Caroline really is happy, don't let her scowl fool ya that's just her. ❤❤❤🦄🦄🦄🦄

We are going to have so much fun this week. 

There are videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to make rainbow waffles. I haven't figured out yet how to link videos here. 

After breakfast we took a baths 🛁 and shower 🚿.  

Ok. I have just fell out laughing and I just have to tell yall because you never know what a child is liable to say. 

Atleigh: sees spider on wall, eyes get big

Me: Atleigh, are you worried about it?

Atleigh: No, I'm sure of it. 

Atleigh looks back and forth from spider to me. I'm inexposed  at the moment.  

Atleigh: Gmaw, are you gonna wipe or get the spider. 

Me: almost falls off toilet laughing. 🙄🤦‍♀️😳😅😅😅😅

We made today pj and movie day too. We had to watch Frozen II for the 1,000,000 time. 

Then they had another rainbow 🌈 waffle before nap. 

Wheen you've told them 100 plus times to quit marking on themselves. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🙄🙄

Yep that's not washable marker. 🤦‍♀️🙄

Rainbow 🌈 snack

Coloring rainbows 

While we were coloring, daddy came to pick them up. We got our rainbows done though. 

Tomorrow is another rainbow adventure.  🌈

Our Other Son

 Today I got to spend with our other son. Well, he kind of is. This is our nephew and he grew up with our boys and he would have lived with us if he could have and still would today. His name is Hunter and He, Dallas and another friend took a trip to Six Flags over the weekend,  which made my heart skip beats, but thankfully made it back home safe early this morning. Dallas has to work and Hunter spent the day with me. He went to church with me and I took him to lunch afterwards. This is a very kind, loving, sensitive soul.  He is precious.  He has big dreams for his future and wants to make big changes and hopes we are a part of it.  We will help him as much as we can and will let yall know. 

Good Days

 The past few days have been good. We have had decent weather and got outside more to play. I am so excited that today is the day we spring ahead. Well, at 2am anyway. I love longer hrs in the day. I hope we don't have any more freeing or inclement weather because I'm beginning to see new buds and green growth on trees and bushes in my area.  My rose 🌹 bushes are getting some new green growth to them. Me and my girls love our flowers 💐. 

We have been doing some more school. 

They love the last set of manipulatives I bought them. And then they love the learning electronics I have. I actually bought the little play tablet at a thrift store for $3. It was the best investment I ever made. 

That morning it was time to make another batch of chaffles to go in the freezer. For those of you who have asked how to make them, it is the easiest thing ever. The recipe is suppose to be one cup of cheese to one egg ratio but for some that may be too much cheese. So I just dump a bunch of eggs into a bowl and pour cheese in it until it looks about even.  If that makes sense. You can tell by the picture that it is still a little more egg because it is wet. If you go by the original recipe it will be thicker and not as wet. The way I do it is OK for us because I want them to get use to the eggs for more protein.  They still fluff up good. You can add anything else you would like. Then you put them into your waffles iron and cook. That's it. I make a whole batch at a time and put the rest in the freezer.  Take out as needed. 

I also made Dallas some scrambles eggs and some bacon so he could make him some breakfast burritos for every morning. I usually go ahead and make up the burritos and wrap them and store them in the fridge so he can grab and go but I had two toddlers demanding my attention so there is that. 

Of course the girls wanted to spend the night with us. 😁 so we had another sleep over. 

Last night, we made pizzas 🍕 and I let them make their own. They are getting really good at it. I am having to convert alot of recipes especially anything with flour because dear hubby is pre-diabetic and we are having to be very careful.  If you catch it in the pre stages it can be held under control with diet. I substituted the ap flour for half wheat half ap.  I will keep playing with flours until we get use to the conversion. I'm going to check into whole wheat pastas too. Carbs turn to sugar so maybe this will help. Whole wheat doesn't have as much carbs. I still want him to enjoy alot of things we enjoy. We will see. 

Then we got ready for bed and had popcorn and movie. Daddy came and picked them up this morning.  Of course they didn't want to leave either 🙄 bless them. 

I have to update you. We have prayed so hard for our oldest sons situation and things are starting to look brighter. I know the Lord is working but I don't want to get too fast and get my hopes up. I know that sounds contradictory to having faith, but if you knew how many times I have gotten my hopes up and thought prayer was being answered, to then only going backwards, you would understand my hesitantance. I am just going to sit back and wait on the Lord. Time will only tell if I can come out and tell everything.  

Another prayer is still being prayed for our youngest.  He is still struggling with his decision about his future.  All his life since about 3 hrs old all he has talked about was going into the military like his dad. It is his passion, however, he has also wanted to do something in criminal investigation 🔎.  Either FBI, NCIS, law enforcement etc. He is really struggling trying to make up his mind. He is stressing over it. He has talked to his recruiting officer and us and we have told him no one can make this decision for him.  This us one he has to decide for himself. We would never be disappointed in him if he didn't join the military.  His recruiting officer told him the same thing. 

On a funny note, well, it wasn't funny to me, he missed cap and gown pics at school last week. If anyone knows anything about me you will know I LOVE my pics of my kids. Especially important ones of first and last things of their lives. CAP AND GOWN PICS Y'ALL  😒🙄 I was so upset. He did go to the school and was dressed but one of his buddies came out and saw him and said he just heard them announce that Sr pics were going to be rescheduled, so they left. Well, come to find out,  it was the SR class pic of the graduating class not cap and gown. I have told him 100 times to never ever ever take some bodies word for something and to check it out for himself. If he would have just gone on into the room and looked he would have seen. I can't make this stuff up. 😫 However, he is one lucky guy that we have a family photographer that is going to retake his tux pics and try to take some cap and gown pics for me and submit them to the yearbook staff. When he had his tux pics made we didn't order any because he didn't like that his hair was smooshed because of his cowboy hat. 😤 She can get access to a mock tux cape and a cap and gown and she is going to do all of his sr pics for me at one time. He is so lucky.  I could just, well, I'll stop ✋ there.  

I have been going through some recipe books and trying to find some crock pot and instant pot meals. 

There are so many recipes you can make and turn into dump and go freezer meals. If you haven't heard of them, you should check them out. YouTube has so many ladies with videos on their channels that do this.  Kimmy, from She's In Her Apron, Kelly from Kelly's Corner,  Jamerill Stewart, and more that I follow. Basically what you do is take a crock pot recipe (preferably one that just says to place all ingredients into pot and cook for so many hrs,  this might not work for one that has alot of prep work like sautéing anything) and place all the ingredients into a ziploc bag or airtight freezer container and freeze. When it is time to cook it, you can remove it from freezer and let it thaw and dump in crock pot and let it cook, or you can dump it in frozen and let it cook longer.  These can also be converted and cooked in the instant pot. Thawed or frozen. You can prep and freeze several meals at one time. 😋 This helps for a busy couple who work and wants to have a home cook meal but doesn't want to be in the kitchen cooking all night. Since I'm home I can just throw everything in the crockpot in the morning myself or in the afternoon in the instant pot. I love spaghetti in my cooker. I have a pressure cooker and it works just like an instant pot. You put it all in at one time by directions and wholah. One pan. 

Put some ingredients in my bread machine and wholah..... homemade bread 🍞 to go with it.  Check out this process to make meal times more easy. I'm also looking at sheet pan dinners.