weekend in review

weekend in review:

friday evening justin takes on

"solo dad" role

just look at that confident, 'i can handle this' look

{sigh}  i love that man.

when the nissan quest is a rockin'.......

this mama is on her way to chicago.

all. by. myself.

and i really, really, really rock out to the radio

and sing at the top of my lungs when i'm alone.......

and (ahem) break out my mixed cd justin and i made

back in 2003

does mr. big's 'to be with you' ever get old?!

{yeah.  whatevs.} 

takes me back to the boombox days....

                                                                         first stop:

this hilarious place called mars cheese castle

of all things wisconsin

to bring some goodies for my illinois friend.

okay, so then i get to chicago

{why hello there, NATO...}

and i find my friend, Sandi, in the trump tower....

(the TRUMP!)

where we stay for 2 nights.

we are welcomed by incredible chocolate covered strawberries

and a delish fruit tray.

{ mercy. such goodness }

sandi and i had a perfect weekend:

of gorgeous spring weather for lots of city walking

of waitless restaurant eating (thanks to NATO)

of incredible sandwiches here

and fondue here

of vera (love!)

of relaxing and sleeping in til we woke up on our own

(wha?  i know....a.mazing)

of long, wonderful, uninterrupted talks

and just plain fun.

oh, and sprinkles cupcakes, of course!

sunday morning

i drove my 2 hours home in less than 2 hours

(oops.  blame it on my mixed cd excitement and this song)

i do actually incorporate praise songs in the midst rockin out

and i can think of about 10000 reasons i love this song.

it was fun to see my kiddos

who were excited to see me, and i them

and of course justin....

who rocked it this weekend.

i cannot thank him enough for being so wonderful.

{love you, babe!}

in the evening we tried out this place for justin's bday dinner

(yeah....6 days late.  we've been busy, k?)

justin ordered a burger for burger lovers

and enjoyed it.

they have endless fries which is great for our fam

and our waiter handled table of kiddos who are 

not used to any hamburger restaurant fancier than mcdonald's

extremely well.  earned a good tip for that for sure

{right, babe?}

L to the dubs O to the L

this is getting to be a long blogpost.

have a good day, all!

we are filled with joy

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for another week of life

and everything that went with it.

The beautiful skies we saw

{even a rainbow after a crazy storm!}

and the laughs we all shared at youth group as the lights went out...

and never came back on.

The amazing gift of Matthias' sweet prayer

securing his eternity in heaven

(and the blessing of being a part in that)

A precious celebration of mommyhood complete with dandelions

and homemade cards and Tazino's Pizza Buffet!

My husband's 32nd birthday and the reminder

of how overly blessed I am to call him 'mine'

Sunshiny days at the park and a picnic lunch 

complete with my children's giggles 

that make me wonder

how awesome heaven is going to be

if this is what You already give us here on earth.

-------------------------------

As I prayed on the treadmill this morning,

Cover our house in grace and mercy.

Smother us in Your love and faithfulness

as You have done all our years

and never, ever let us forget....

You have done great things for us

and we are FILLED with joy!

~Psalm 126:3

linking up HERE

happy birthday, my love

dearest j,
happy 32nd birthday to YOU!

i'm so very thankful the Lord has blessed me with the gift of you
to walk through life with.

i love you so much
i admire you for all you are
i smile everytime i think of you

i hope you enjoyed celebrating today
as much as i enjoyed celebrating you!

{ to everyone else:  happy may 14th
a great day for a great man to be born. }

gooey goodness and stealing kisses

this week i switched my bible study from monday night to sunday night...

one night earlier, and it threw my entire life off.

multiple times throughout Sunday i made plans of what i was going to do in the evening.

multiple times i had to remind myself:  bible study.

i finally resorted to sticking one of my lime green post-its on the microwave

to remind myself:  tonight was bible study.  not tomorrow, tonight.

what i failed to remind myself of was the dessert i usually provide my peeps.

so what does a girl do?

PIN.TEREST.

52 minutes before bible study, i decide to pinterest it up

and i found these gems.

i tweeked them a bit

and, of course, in my humble opinion,

made them better.

mercy, they were so good i had to blog them up.

so here you go....

mix 2 yellow cake mixes with

1 1/2 sticks softened butter

2 eggs

smoosh half the mixture into the bottom of a greased
9x13 pan
{smoosh is a technical term referring to finger usage
to push mixture down evenly in pan}



layer graham crackers on top
(you'll need about 7-8)




have a handsome lil assistant spread
an entire bag of chocolate chips on top of the grahams



top that with mini marshmallows
(3-4 handfuls?  sorry....i'm not an exactist in my baking)

the last layer in these bars of gooey goodness
involves the other half of the cake mixture
drop it by the spoonful evenly on top and spread it as best as you can
(does not need to be perfect)

last step: drizzle 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
bake @ 350. 28ish minutes

try to avoid the layer of drool your offspring would like to add to the top
when they're told the bars are for bible study
and they'll have to wait til tomorrow.
after lunch. to consume the bars of goo.

accept all the rave reviews from bible study attendees
and children
and husband {even though he is a hater of mallows.}
i love him anyways, despite the hate for fluffy white goodness.....
marital love is compromising and forgiving like that.
{and he loves me despite my hatred for all things beef and Burger King}

on a different note, i'm embracing the camera today with
this little girl here who is so incredibly kissable
and so incredibly anti-kissing.

you have to sneak them in, those kisses...
{here she was pretty fond of getting her picture taken so i played stealth mama}

also if you start singing to her,
'always got to steal my kisses from yoooooou....
i-i always got to steal my kisses from you'
she puckers right up.
{know that song?  i hesitate to create a link to it on youtube.
is the whole song 'clean'?  idk. moving on....}

silly, adorable, precious little girl i love so much.


hope you all are having one of those super days!
now go.  makes those great bars and come back to this here post 
and thank me if you want.
or don't.....
{ but at least make the gooey goodness. }



this was one of those weeks
where we took one day at a time.
one calendar square by one calendar square.
and survived.
{mostly}



{ and that's about it. }

thank You, God, for Your amazing love
to see us through each new day.
grace and mercy lavished on each of us.
Your incredible healing power.

and for Fridays.
thank You, Lord, for Fridays.