We still came across some really great dishes, and would also still love to try any new ones you have to share, so I’ll post a few of our favorites here and there. :)

Loaded Potato Soup

This one was a favorite – everyone loved it. :) If you like twice baked potatoes, this is that in it’s most perfect soup form! And as a side note, I’m not a fan (at all) of regular potato soup, so if you don’t care for it either, don’t let that stop you from trying this variation!

Ingredients:

6 large baking potatoes (probably 10 or so if you have smaller ones) washed and chopped into 1 inch cubes

1 large onion, chopped

1 quart chicken broth

3 garlic cloves, minced (or pressed)

1/4 cup butter

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cream or 1 cup half-and-half cream (great substitution here)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 cup sour cream

8-12 slices bacon, fried & crumbled

cheese, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Combine first seven ingredients in a large crock pot; cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours…potatoes should be tender.

2. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened.

3. Stir in cream, cheese and chives.

4. Top with sour cream, sprinkle with bacon and more cheese.

YUM! :)

Recipe courtesy of Food.com :)

Nonetheless our little table has gotten lots of use. Besides using it for school, we have used it for little people when we had company for dinner, pulled it out to use as a craft table at parties, used it for snacks, games, and coloring throughout the Summer. I think it was a good buy. ‘Still seems just as sturdy as the day we bought it and I’m sure now, will be used for at least a few more years. :)

So what have we done with it? Well, we’ve made a certain little girl very, very happy! :) Addison has been wishing for a table for her bedroom for almost a year. This one was obviously VERY stained (despite my long, hard, futile scrubbing session) and just looked bad.

So we looked through the paint stash and found some white semi-gloss paint that we had used to paint trim earlier this year, and 45 minutes later Addison and I had a clean, fresh looking white table!

We let it dry while we slept, and the next morning we had fun making some little napkins and napkin rings with things from the scrap bin. It took ten minutes or so (I didn’t hem the edges) ;)

Then we made some little flowers for her vase (old spray painted bottle found in the woods) out of some leftover tissue paper and some florist tape that my mom gave me a couple of years ago. I have almost thrown that tape away every time I’ve cleaned out my stash, because I knew I would never use it…but alas… ;) I’m learning, Mom! ;)

Here’s her little table…all ready for a tea party! She has had several already!

Wanna know something funny about the flowers? I couldn’t find anything for the stems, so we made them by wrapping q-tips! :)

Isn’t it fun to make something pretty, or something that will be enjoyed out of something not-so-pretty? :) And it’s also fun to walk around your house looking for things that could be used for a different purpose – maybe in a different place and then make them work. I like getting “new” things without the price tag that usually accompanies them!

This morning all of Trey’s animals were invited to a dinner party hosted by Addison’s dolls. :) Excuse “Name’s” (the monkey) attire…or lack thereof. ;) He’s a wrestler, so he only wears shoes and underwear. That totally makes it okay - HA! ;) Little boys! The picture is from my phone so it’s a bit fuzzy, but I absolutely love the fact that they are enjoying the new-found purpose for our outgrown school table!

Who knows where this table will be, what color it will be painted, or what it will be doing a few years down the road, but for now it’s found it’s perfect little spot! :)

On Father’s day, we got up early and made a special breakfast for Daddy.

We surprised him by all waking him up and jumping on his bed.

And then he shared his breakfast with us. ;)

Here are Daddy’s surprises waiting for him to find them. We wrapped them with duct tape so they would look cool and not be too girly.

Brogan is big enough to help now. He drew lots of spots on Daddy’s banner. We told him he did a good job.

We had fun giving Daddy his presents.

This picture makes Mommy laugh. Brogan thought his present looked good on him. He looks silly! (*lots of giggles*)

Here are some presents from Addy…

This is the shirt I gave to Daddy. I think it’s the best thing I ever gave him. I love Daddy and he’s my best friend.

Here’s a picture of us eating lunch after church. Mommy says maybe we should call it dinner in case Papaw reads this. Brogan is in his pjs because he took a nap.

When it got dark, Daddy made a fire in the fire pit.

We sat around the fire and Daddy and Mommy and Uncle Daniel played music.

Brogan is hiding from the camera, but he’s really not shy.

We piled up lots of blankets and pillows and looked at the stars. Brogan looked at the stars too, he just didn’t stay long enough to be in the picture.

We all helped make a yummy surprise for Daddy. :) His favorite dessert is homemade cheesecake, so we made that. It looked a little funny, but it still tasted good.

Daddy says he had a fun day. We are glad. We love him a lot. I’m glad he’s my best friend. We decided a long, long time ago that we were gonna be friends and we never ever ever forgot about it…not even when I grew up to be five. We will never stop being friends. Not ever.

The End.

This was such a fun project! And the best part? It’s made from an old oatmeal container! I saw the idea online a while back, but kept forgetting to NOT throw away our old oatmeal boxes! :) So…I suggest that rather waiting a year to give this one ‘a go’ (as Trey would say in his kipper the dog voice) ;) the next time you have a little time to spare, go dump that oatmeal into a couple of big ziplock bags, gather some things from your scrap bin, and get busy!

What you’ll need to get started:

empty oatmeal container

batting (*optional)

fabric of your choice

embellishments (scrap ribbon or lace, old buttons, bits of fabric for flower making etc.)

hot glue gun and plenty of glue sticks (I probably used 4 or 5)

Okay, when you’ve gathered your supplies, find a nice flat, comfy workspace (for me this usually means the floor. ;)

First, remove the paper label from your oatmeal container so that it looks like this:

If you have decided to use batting, go ahead and lay it out, then turn your container on it’s side, on top of the batting so that you cut the correct size, rolling as you cut and leaving just enough extra to turn over the bottom edge (about 1/4″). Attach this using your glue gun and pulling the batting tightly as you glue to ensure that you don’t have any sagging. As a side note: I tucked the top edge over and glued too, which is fine, but as I later discovered, keeps the lid from closing. So mine eh, perches. ;) Something to keep in mind if you care about that. ;)

Now it’s time to wrap your container in some pretty fabric! Using the same method that you used for the batting, attach your fabric, remembering to pay special attention to the edges so that you end up with a nice clean look.

Don’t forget to fold the edges over and glue them down.

If you want to use your lid (some people like to leave it off for easier access to bows and such stored inside) go ahead and cover that with fabric using the same basic technique you used on the container. Sorry – forgot to take a picture!

Now for the fun part! Dig around in your scrap bin for some old treasures that you can use embellish your almost finished masterpiece! I glued some leftover ribbon (that I had saved from a stack of target washcloths I bought a while back – ha!) around the outside edge of my lid, and the very bottom of my container, then made a few flowers and put old pretty buttons in the centers to pile on the lid. Yours can look any way you want it to!

You can leave your box just like this (it’s fully functional) or you can add the stand to the bottom if you like the look. :)

For the stand you will need:

wooden plaque from craft store (I found mine at Joann for $0.79)

wooden candle holder looking thing found in most craft stores (just apparently not my Joann) ;) they come in different shapes and sizes, so just choose one that you like. :)

Since I couldn’t find these, I had to get creative! Right in the middle of the bins of wooden shapes, was a bin with these cute little glass bottles. Ha. They were $1 so I decided to give it a shot. I grabbed a little $0.29 wooden disc (pictured below) and firmly attached this to to top of my bottle for more leverage since the mouth of the bottle was rather small.

Basically, you can get as creative as you want, but if I could find the wooden candle holder type stand at a craft store or possibly a thrift store, I would go for that. ;) Paint your wooden (or not) ;) pieces with whatever paint you have chosen. Attach your stand to the wooden plaque using your hot glue gun. Be extra careful to make sure that you take your time here and do a good job so that nothing comes apart later. Now attach your stand to the finished container annnnd…you’re done! :)

Our finished project once more…

I would love to see what yours look like! :)

On April 27th, I had absolutely no idea that I might be pregnant. Around 6pm, I innocently walked by the fridge and had a very natural and innocent thought...a baby dill pickle would be really good…so I had one. Then I had another…and ahem, a few minutes later, another. By number 4 or 5 I was beginning to feel rather embarrassed…seriously hoping Wes wouldn’t realize what a pig I was being, but I had the strongest urge to have more!

It just so happened that several times, Wes walked past the kitchen on one of my trips back to the fridge. After a couple of times, he got a funny look on his face and asked rather hesitantly, “Babe? Are you okay?” I stopped…okay this was embarrassing. And what was wrong with me? But I couldn’t seem to help myself. By bedtime, the jar that started out full was dwindling down to the halfway mark and I was starting to get worried. No, not about what was “wrong” with me, but seriously, what was I going to do when the jar was empty?? Haha…it’s been a little while so it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me now, but the feeling was very real at the time. Ha.

I put the jar back into the fridge, deciding I should save some for the morning. When I woke up I snuck to the kitchen again. My breakfast of pickles was most delicious! :) Wes came to eat one before they were all gone. He smiled, looked at me sweetly and said, “Babe, I think you’re pregnant.” I  know this sounds crazy, but I was completely shocked…I somehow seriously hadn’t thought of this. Then I laughed – “No, I’m sure I’m not” I said as I finished the pickle I was eating. :) And I was sure. I mean, I would know, right?

A few hours later we were getting ready for a date night we’d had planned all week. I was so excited – this is my favorite time of the week! Wes’s words kept coming back to my mind, but each time they did, I reminded myself of all the reasons I was sure he was wrong. We had a nice dinner, did some shopping, walking, talking (with no interruptions – ahhh) ;) and got back in the car. I’m not sure what it was…maybe just the fact that I hate not knowing things, but I found myself asking, “Would you mind making a quick target stop?”

I went straight to the pregnancy test aisle. I knew it was probably too early to tell even if he were actually right, but I would give it a shot anyway. When we got home, I hugged the kids, tried to act normal around our sitter, and then excused myself for a minute. When I came back, Wes was already in the boys’ room reading through “Journey to The Center of the Earth” before tucking our guys in. I knew it would be a few minutes and I couldn’t wait, so I sent him a text: “You were right.” ;)

Wes finished a little quicker than usual and when he came out he was all smiles! :)

We are so, so very happy and thankful! But in order to be completely honest, I have to tell the whole story, not pretend things are always perfect. Sometimes we tend to tell the good, and leave out the bad, ugly or embarrassing parts because well, they’re embarrassing. I want to be open enough to let people know that all of us struggle, all of us go through times of questioning, and that’s why I think it’s so important that we encourage and truly love each other, not be “perfect” (aka fake).

I had some major emotional struggles in the beginning. You see, some of my friends (one in particular) have gone through some incredibly painful situations recently. When we discovered our exciting news, a couple in our church had just received the news that their first baby won’t be able to survive outside the womb. Another very close friend had just lost her first and long awaited baby around the beginning of her second trimester. This friend, I had been closely involved with during her walk through her valley. And now I was supposed to tell her, “Guess what?!” It didn’t feel at all “fair” that this wonderful gift had been given to me when I wasn’t even planning for it, while their hopes had been dashed, and they were hurting. How could I not seem uncaring and completely thoughtless of their feelings?

I honestly struggled for weeks. I felt guilty to be happy and joyful – they were still hurting. It has been a long process…God had to help me to remember that HE is sovereign…He has plans that we don’t see and cannot humanly understand. The same amazing Heavenly Father that was showing His love to us in giving us this precious baby, was also showing His love and care for them. In different ways, but very equally pouring out His love on us, as my friend will readily and so beautifully testify.

Some of the hardest times in life, are I think the most precious, because it has been during those times in my life, that I have felt my Savior beside me…closer than ever. I have seen more of Him than I had before…things I didn’t know about Him, and things that make me love Him more. I’m crying while I type because I still hurt for them, but I feel such peace knowing that all things are in His control and He is lovingly orchestrating the events of our lives to work out His perfect plan for each of us. He is with them in their time of waiting, and He will also be with me as I face the much different challenge of going from mothering three, to mothering four!

And so we have come through this far, truly grateful and full of joy. Our Father has blessed us abundantly. Each of us.

Here’s the announcement that our sweet sister, Kristin (Over the Moon Photography) designed for us. Thanks Kris!

I shouldn’t have taken a picture of a red dessert on a red plate…but my white ones were in the dishwasher soo… ;)

What you need:

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping
2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix
2 cups boiling water
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries

Meet Trey – my super strong and handy pretzel-crushing helper. He’ll also be our chef today. :)

I started taking pictures after he had already done most of the “crunching”.

After your pretzels are all ready, mix the butter, pretzels, and 3 Tablespoons of sugar.

Spread evenly in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes. Let Cool.

I love Trey’s face here. :) He had just accidentally lifted the mixer and splattered filling all over himself…and the kitchen. ;) As you can see, it is now dark. ;) We ate supper in between steps. :) Okay, mix the cream cheese, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, and cool whip.

Spread this over completely cooled pretzel layer and refrigerate until well chilled. Meanwhile, mix jello according to package directions, adding frozen strawberries after dissolving the gelatin in the boiling water. If you use fresh, you might want to add them after the cold water? Some recipes I have seen for this dessert, recommend omitting the two cups cold water, but after tasting it with, we decided that leaving it out would make it just a little too sweet for us. Up to you! :) Refrigerate jello until partially set, then spread over chilled cream cheese layer until firm.

Enjoy! :)

Over the next few weeks, I am going to attempt to keep up with the new dishes we try, and thought it would be fun to post them…well just the ones we like, not the gross ones. ;) While we are on the hunt for tasty new recipes, I would love to hear about any new (or maybe not new to you – but possibly new to me) dishes that your family loves!

So here’s the first one we’ve tried, which I am happy to say was a big hit at our house! The best part is that it was VERY simple, non-messy, and didn’t take much time!

Here’s what you need:

6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 (12 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce

1/2 cup Italian salad dressing

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Put the chicken breasts straight from the freezer into the crock-pot, pour the barbecue sauce, W sauce, and italian dressing over the chicken, and sprinkle the brown sugar on top. Set your crock pot to the time and temp needed to suit your day’s schedule, and go enjoy your day! :) I set mine on high for 6 hours and it was perfect.

If you want to make your own buns, here’s a super easy recipe I found that we loved! We are trying to shift to wheat flour, but since I still had this in the cabinet, well…I cheated. ;) And it was so incredibly easy, that I must admit, I will probably do it again sometime when I’m pressed for time. Bisquick, could you please come out with a whole grain mix? ;) Pretty please?

What you need for the buns:

1 pkg. active dry yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp.)
3/4 c. warm water
2 1/2 c. Bisquick

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add bisqick, mixing well. Turn onto surface dusted with bisquick and knead until smooth. Shape into rolls (I made ours slightly larger than usual and oblong rather than round). Now, in all my years growing up making bread, I have never not let bread rise, but the recipe I found, said it was optional and not necessary, so guess what? I didn’t! Popped them right into a 350 oven for 12 minutes and voilà! Very quick and easy dinner rolls! Brush  some melted butter on the tops and slice in half to make buns. I didn’t want mine to get too soggy from the sauce, so I brushed a tiny bit more butter on the insides and put them back the oven to lightly toast them before piling the chicken on.

While I was waiting for the buns, I sauted some sweet peppers (recipe here) but I only used the ingredients listed that I had on hand, so I won’t actually post the recipe since I didn’t exactly follow it. ;) You can’t really go wrong with fresh veggies that are already yummy. :)

Here are the ratings this meal got from the fam:

Wes: “HOME. RUN.” :)

Trey: “Mmmm…the water in this sandwich is so yummy it’s like dessert!” ;)

Addy: “This is very yummy.”

Brogan: (ahem…) “I no want dat. I have see-ul.” (cereal)

…okay, so it was almost a success. ;) And for those of you who may be worrying about Brogan’s nutritional well-being, no, he did not have cereal for supper. ;)

Don’t forget to share some deliciousness with us!

So Brogan is two! His birthday actually fell on Mother’s Day this year, making the day extra special for me. <3 I remember going into labor on Mother’s day two years ago! We thought he would make his grand entrance that very day, but due to his not exactly favorable position, he decided to hang out with Mommy until that Thursday. :) What a long four days that was! But soo very worth it.

Brogan is our incredibly funny, busy, (okay that doesn’t even come close to describing what I’m trying to say) daring, sometimes ornery, quite independent, but very, very sweet little guy…who loves to share kisses with Mommy and Daddy and be sung to and snuggled. <3 Such a unique and sometimes extremely comical little package!

Since Brogan wasn’t quite big enough to make the cake decision this year, (though he is very much able to express his opinions in most areas ;) ) we chose his cake for him. We decided that given his personality, a birthday party along the “stunt master” theme  would be most fitting. ;) Also, as he’s not so much into entertaining, like big sister Addy, we decided to just make the day something that Brogan would enjoy. We invited all of the family members who were close-by and headed down to the park – one of Brogan’s favorite places to be. :)

He was SO proud that it was his birthday…everyone sang to him, he got to open presents, and he got to blow out the candles…all by himself! ;) Here are some pictures of his special day.

Trying to blow out his candles with as soft and gentle little puffs as possible. ;)

Got them! :)

Brogan’s skateboard cake.

Mommy’s sweetheart :)

Sweet (and very cute!) little Ava enjoying her cup. :)

Uncle Daniel, big brother Trey and Uncle Timothy :)

Uncle Michael, Aunt Bekah and cousin Ava

Handsome Daddy ;)

Caught him all the way at the top! Little Rascal!

…and then climbing up the slide…among other things that were too dangerous to worry about photographing. :) We will be gray very soon.

Daddy and his little sidekick Trey, taking care of the “little people” ;)

If Addy can, I can too! ;)

Brogan’s balloon got away…

“Wook! Wowww…” :)

Feeling tired now…time to find Mr. Puppy.

Let’s go home. :)

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

Anyway, we have a tradition here around our house that…whoever is having the birthday, gets to choose the cake. :) This is something that we started just to try to make birthdays a little extra special and sort of personalized to each child. The kids really look forward to choosing and put quite a bit of time and thought into their decision. This year Addison requested a cake that looked like a castle. We had fun. Lots of fun. :)

The cake kind of set the theme, so I spent a few days walking around the house on the hunt for all things princess-y, castle-ish, or in any way fairytale-like…I found a pair of curtains that weren’t currently in use, some tulle from Bekah’s wedding (thanks, sis!), some paper shreds that we used at Easter, and some white Christmas lights. We then made good use of Wal-mart’s dollar party aisle for the plates, cups, and a couple of table cloths. We also pulled out our old favorite – Martha Stewart’s tissue paper pom-poms. Instructions here.

And now, some pictures of Addison’s Princess-y, Castle-ish, Four-year-old, birthday celebration. :)

Addy’s castle cake…very imperfect, but thankfully still very loved. ;)

Even Mr. Darcy came dressed for the occasion…perhaps not willingly, but he was dressed nonetheless. ;) Addy found this to be most humorous and did lots of giggling over the boy cat wearing a bow.

The festivities begin…Miss Jordyn working on her princess crown

Miss Jaidyn modeling her finished project

Little friends. :) We were so sorry that some of our friends were away, or sick and weren’t able to attend. We missed you!

The boys wrapped shields cut from cardboard in silver paper, attached handles with “man tape” as they called it (duct tape ;) ) and then Wes painted whatever design they asked for on the fronts. :) He did an awesome job and made some little boys very happy!

Trying to think of the boys’ safety, I decided against providing swords…no worries, the boys went and found sticks right away HA! Should’ve gone ahead and given them the cardboard swords! ;)

As always, the tire swing was one of the main attractions! I loved hearing the giggles that came from that direction of the yard throughout the day!

Time for singing and candles!

Stopping to chat with Miss Gabbie

Jaidyn and Jordyn enjoying some cake

Addy and Mrs. Rachel

Gabbie catching some zzz’s :)

Awake and ready to go!

Time for games. :)

The boys first said that they wouldn’t play any of the games, as they felt they were rather princess-y, but not far into them they made the group decision to overrule their previous agreement. ;) Here Addy is watching the boys take a turn (Yes, she ran to her room partway through the party to try on her new dress up tutu!) ;)

Jackson

Thomas

A gift from the Wellers :)

One more shot of the birthday girl. I have thanked God over and over in the past few days, for blessing our lives with our precious little Addy Lee. She is a  s w e e t h e a r t and we are treasuring every moment we get to share with her. <3