Love this...

One of the many reasons our kids won't believe in Santa. :)

Happy Birthday, Lily Grace!

Today our spunky niece turns 4! Lily Grace, you bring so much laughter to our lives. You are most definitely your own person and most of the time have your own agenda, but your sweet, silly personality makes life so fun. You are the only person I know who can be in 150 degree humidity, rain, etc. and have gorgeous hair.... which you don't even like. I assure you... people (like me!) would pay big money for it! I can't wait to see how God works in your life! You mean so much to us. You are after all our favorite 2nd born niece!

We love you little macaroni!

Holocaust/Abortion

Daniel found this amazing documentary. Normally if he told me I needed to watch a documentary I would tell him he's crazy and pretend to fall asleep. When he told me what it was about I was completely intrigued. If you have 33 minutes, it is worth watching! It is not kid friendly though. There are some intense interviews that include crude statements and some language. There is also graphic pictures from the holocaust. The point of this though is to open our eyes. For us to see abortion for what it is... murder. If we truly value life then we will see the cruelty of the holocaust and abortion are more similar than most would dare admit. Great comparison. This guy is good!

Happy Birthday, Momma!

Today my mom is celebrating her 50-ish..(cough) something birthday. My sister used these words to describe mom...

"My Sheila. I have her temperament, her competitive spirit, her smart mouth, her cheeks, her green eyes and her love for an athletic, blue eyed boy. There's no denying I'm her's and I wouldn't have it any other way. So glad you're mine! I love you!!!"

Sister... by the way you forgot to include "the hump" which you and mom share as well. (The bone at the base of your neck...that for most people isn't really recognizable... theirs is... and we affectionately call it "the hump."

back to my story...

Well... if you know anything about me, you know kc and I are night and day. Seriously complete opposites...so that means mom and I are different as well. Though I don't have mom's temperament like kc... I do have her competitive spirit. Though I'm not as smart mouthed, I do respect her boldness and willingness to fight for what she knows is right. I need a little more of that in my sugar coat it/don't want to break the peace ways. I don't have her cheeks or green eyes, but I take after the man she loves more than life... so I guess she'll still claim me. Though I don't have a love for blue-eyed boys, she taught me to not settle for anything less than the best... which I found in a green-eyed, though he claims their hazel, boy who happens to be very athletic... and most importantly loves me and Jesus.

Mom, although I'm more like daddy, I so appreciate our differences. I have learned so much from your life... the way you truly and so effortlessly love people, the sacrifices that you make and continue to make for the people you love, your strength/boldness... thank you for loving us unconditionally and being our number one fan... espcially at our millions of ballgames... b/c lets be honest... we weren't that good and you still cheered and encouraged... making us feel like we were the best.

So today we celebrate you... Shesha! Happy Birthday!!!
We love you!

Party Time

Candace Invitation Blog

Come hang out with us tonight! If you're interested fb me and I'll give you directions!

Slip N Slide

One youth adventure that D was dying to do was create a slip n slide into a lake.

He got his adventure.

We all met for lazer tag which our kids love more than anything... its so weird to me, but they love it so whatever. Then the guys went and spent the night at the LaGrone's (thank you Rhonda for taking care of our boys!) and the girls spent the night at the Cotners'. The next morning the guys met us over at the Cotner's. They have a great set up for youth events...lots of land, pool, lake.... perfect for a slip n slide. :)

I think D and I had just as much fun as they did! The combination of baby shampoo and baby oil made the slip n slide the perfect amount of slippery... plus we smelled amazing.

This is def. at the top of my favorite fun things we've ever done in youth ministry list!

Waiting on the boys...

Not only did we have a sprinkler hooked up but Mr. Cotner had a high powered hose!

Try It Tuesday: Candy Bar Cake

Also known as....Better Than Sex Cake, but since we have lots of little ears around football Saturdays (which is normally what I make all this stuff for) I'm calling it...

Candy Bar Cake

Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix (+ whatever it calls for on the back)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar hot fudge sauce
1-8 oz container of cool whip
1 bag of Heath bar pieces (you can use as little or as much as you want)
(any crushed up candy would do... reeces and butterfinger would be really good too!)


Directions
Make and bake cake according to box directions.
As soon as it comes out of the oven, poke holes with the handle of a wooden spoon all over the cake.
Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top.
Let cool completely.
Next spread fudge over the cake, and put in the fridge to set.
When it is cool, spread cool whip over the top and then top with heath pieces. Refrigerate leftovers.

I like this cake better the next day as the cake gets more moist!

Graduation 5K

Saturday was the day. All the hours spent training, the races for preparing.... all came down to Saturday. Graduation day. Daniel says I'm dramatic. I guess by the way I am setting this up... I must agree. A little.

Showing up Saturday was proof that my running club was over for this year. I pulled in thinking I was 45 minutes early... wrong. I met everyone at the starting line with only 2 minutes to spare! Over 600 ladies came out (in our ugly shirts...) to put our 10 week training to the test. The horn sounded and off we went.

27 minutes and 33 seconds later... I crossed the finish line.

Sweet success. I knew I wanted to do as well if not better than my last time. I was very excited to have set a new PR (personal record.) I learned what that meant Saturday. :) I looked like an idiot when someone asked me about my PR on Saturday and I just shook my head and smiled b/c I had no idea what they were talking about.

Me, Lori, and sweet Luke

She kicked butt and ran the 5k in 23 minutes finishing in 1st for our age group. I brought up the rear with 3rd.

Its hard to believe that this time 3 years ago. I H.A.T.E.D. running with a passion. Now I am so thankful that Stephanie kicked my butt into it. So thanks Steph for giving me the fever!

Although the 10 week training program is over until next year, the running will continue. Jason is trying to get me to do a half. Thoughts? I'm just not sure I'm ready to dedicate that much time to running.

Fat Friday

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Crescent Roll

• 1 tube of crescent rolls
• Peanut butter
• Semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the unrolled crescent rolls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Spread a layer of peanut butter on each triangle; top with chocolate chips.

Roll from the bottom of the triangle to the point. (I sprinkled a little sugar on top as well.) Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve while hot. Enjoy.

*If you love a crispy pastry with coffee... you've found your snack!

Officially Fall

Grace

I guess I needed a lesson on grace because everywhere I turn I am reading something about it. I'm talking scripture, books, twitter, facebook.. literally everywhere I turn I'm getting a lesson on grace.

I am going through David Nasser's A Call to Die. Man its good stuff. Its been a great reminder that there is no good thing in me apart from Christ. Realizing this makes His sacrifice even sweeter. Its a reminder that I in no way deserve His goodness. Though its a great book... its very revealing... and what I'm learning about myself isn't pretty. So... thank you Jesus for grace.

"Mercy can be defined as not getting what we deserve. We are sinners who deserve God's righteous wrath, but in his mercy he forgives us. We don't go to hell. Grace goes even further. It means we get what we don't deserve. Christ paid the debt owed for our sin. Not only did we not get what we deserved, Jesus got what we had coming to us. He then offers us what we don't deserve- forgiveness and salvation."

''God's incredible grace is rich and free. Yet we often take it for granted. When we take it for granted, we cheapen it.... grace is not the real thing unless it makes a real difference in our life. Paul wrote, 'For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives.' The grace of God doesn't make it ok to sin because the price has been paid. No, it transforms us. It exposes sin and produces in us a genuine sorrow for it. It creates in us a tremendous passion to do what is right in the sight of God."

In the good or the bad...."we need to focus on the costly grace bought for us by Jesus Christ. We cling to him and let him change our lives."

Try It Tuesday

Cabbage. Not normally a favorite veggie... at least for me until I finally tried my grandmothers. I can now claim it as a fav. I like it so much I spent an afternoon with my grandmother trying to learn how she cooks it along with her other delicious veggies... which mine have never tasted like.

I have been craving her cabbage so when I went to the grocery store Sunday I bought one and fixed it up like granny along with the rest of our country style dinner last night. It did not disappoint.

I also learned... and correct me if I'm wrong... cabbage is one of the veggies that you burn more calories trying to digest so you need to eat more of it. Score.

Granny's Cabbage:
-wash cabbage
-cut in bit size pieces
-fill pot with water
-add cabbage
-add salt/pepper
-1 tsp of butter
-1 tsp of olive oil
-sprinkle with bacon bits
-letter simmer for a couple of hours
-add water as needed
-enjoy

Cotton Pickin' 5k

I wanted to run in a couple of 5k's to make sure I was ready for my graduation 5k which is this Saturday. So this past Saturday my father-in-law and I ran in Somerville's Cotton Pickin' 5k. Prior to that, I ran a 5k for LeBoneur with a friend... we finished in 34 minutes.

I knew 34 minutes was slow so I expected Jason (the trainer) to have some words, but never did I expect.... "You should be running a 5k in 26-28 minutes."... with which I responded, "What?! Have you lost your mind?!"

So Saturday... my goal was to shave a couple of minutes off my normal 34 minutes. I was determined! The horn went off and I began pacing myself faster than before... then I realized this course was filled with hills. What a day to try and improve my time! It was hard, but I kept on pushing. I couldn't read my watch to tell how fast my pace was... I just knew I had to beat 34 minutes. The last mile I was feeling it. Normally the last mile I know is the home stretch so I can push it a little harder... even with the finish line in sight there was no pushing anything... I was worn out! I crossed the finish line and looked over at my time and saw....28... something... I have no idea what it was exactly... I just saw 28 and about fell over. Literally as I crossed the finish line a lady asked my age and I had no idea what she said so I think I responded with "I'm fine, just tired." Ha! Needless to say it was hard work, but apparently it paid off. So not only did I shave a couple of minutes off I shaved 6 minutes off! I couldn't believe it.

As we were driving home, a friend of mine that was also at the race facebooked me and said that I had one first place in my age division. What?! I was shocked. She got my trophy for me. So not only did I shave significant minutes off my time, but I won first place in my age group! That is a miraculous feat seeing how I had just given Jason a hard time about never being able to run a 5k that fast.

I by no means am sharing this to pat myself on the back... well, maybe a little because I didn't think I had it in me! No seriously since I use this blog partially to scrapbook our lives I thought this for sure had to be documented because it may never happen again!

Fat Friday

I found what I'm putting in my neighbors' fall goody bags.... Peanut Butter Pretzels. I would love to tell you that I have self control and only eat one, but that would be a big fat lie!

Peanut Butter Pretzels

Ingredients..

1 cup of creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 bag of pretzels
1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

How to...

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat peanut butter and butter until combined. Scrape down bowl, add sugars and beat until combined. You should be able to roll the mixture into balls without sticking to your hands. If needed, add more powdered sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll.

3. Roll the mixture into small balls, about 1 teaspoon of mixture for each ball, and place on prepared baking sheet. Sandwich the balls between two pretzels and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Melt your chocolate chips. Dip pretzels. Let sit. Enjoy!

The Binders...

I started telling you about my recipe dilemma yesterday. It all began around the time we got married. My grandmother had given me a pre-made recipe notebook that she bought. It was red and white checked with apples or something fun and country like that on it. It had matching dividers that had pockets labeled appetizer, soup/salad, side dishes, desserts, miscellaneous. She added some of her own recipes in there to get my collection started. It was one of my favorite wedding gifts seeing how I had no idea what to do in the kitchen prior to getting married.... poor D. As I waded deeper into the waters of cooking, I began researching recipes and getting them from others. My recipe notebook that my granny gave me was now literally ripping at the seams because I was trying to cram so many recipes into each section.

That led me to....

Two summers ago I was in project mode. One of my projects was to organize all those dang recipes. So... I drug Jules and sister in on my project. We went to target and picked out cute binders, sheet protectors, and dividers.

You can see the original one granny gave me at the top of the picture. Isn't it cute and country looking?

We collected all our recipes and basically threw everything in the middle of our office floor. We each went through our recipes to see if they were worth keeping and/or sharing, we made copies, cleaned out, and then organized them into our binders and WHOLA.... we now have neat, organized ways to easily find our recipes... and now they will no longer have smugdes all over them from my very tidy (cough) way of cooking. Seriously... I have a problem. I make a mess when I cook or bake. Now it doesn't matter... my recipes are protected by the sheet protectors.

Now some of you may be geniuses and thought of this a long time ago.... for which I'll try not to hate you for not sharing your knowledge with me. I can't take credit for this idea. My cousin Leah does this and I saw how well it worked for her. Thanks Leah!

So... there you have it. My recipe binder story. The end.

Saucy Mexican Chicken

So when people ask what I collect I normally make something up based on what I need. (candles, lotion, etc...) I don't really collect anything... or so I thought. Thanks to pinterest I have obtained a few new recipes. I went to put them in my recipe binders... yes they are in binders... (thats worth another post.) Well, I discovered that apparently I collect recipes. I have tons!!! I don't cook nearly as often as I should so I feel bad that I have aaaalllll of these recipes that haven't been touched. Now, I have no excuse. So I've decided that rather than continue to print off recipes and just store them away... I'll cook through my binders. That sounds so weird. If we like the recipe then I'll keep it. If not, I'll chunk it and make room for another one.

So... I opened my binder last night and this was the first recipe. It did not disappoint.

Saucy Mexican Chicken

What You Need

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

1 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, undrained

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Make It

COOK chicken in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 4 min. on each side or until browned on both sides.

ADD salsa and beans. Bring to boil; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 5 min. or until chicken is done.

TOP with cheese. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

So here's to cooking through the binders!

Labor Day Fun

For the 4th or 5th year in a row now we have traveled Labor Day weekend to Muscle Shoals, AL for some much needed r&r. This year did not disappoint. Though the storms from the coast gave us a couple of days of rain it didn't dampen our weekend. Kripsy Kreme donuts, shopping, sweet niece time, golf, spa time, late night swimming...or sliding down the slide rather with a convincing 6 year old (in the rain), hot tub soaking, baby snuggling... we had a ball.

Here's our little Lebron... or BronBron as I affectionately call him. Isn't he just the cutest?!

I'll post pictures as soon as our photographers post their pictures!

Mark Your Calendars

Candace Invitation Blog


The lovely Rachel Kendall is our Premier girl so you know we will have a good time!