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.

Him.

Whether you have much or little, the truth will just tell you plain:

the only wealth you’ll ever have is God. 

{ Ann Voskamp.  source }

that's how it goes around here insta-style

Go Brewers!
{on a school night.  extra inning.  walked in the door:  10:15PM }
look on the boys faces:  worth it.

checking out the elephants.
cool stuff when you're 2 and almost 32.
{ free day at the zoo! }

at the zoo.
all these exotic eanimals to be seen and he wants to hang by the unimpressive pond
{ he's lucky he's so stinkin cute. }



girls hang out night!
lots of cuddles, tickles, giggles,
and of course hot pink pedis.




these 2 are quite the buddies during the day
when the bigger brothers are at school
{ i'm seriously hoping i'm fun enough when matt starts preschool...}




lesson learned:  if when you eat the whole box of blueberry waffles in 2 days
don't make a status update on facebook about said waffles
or the hubs will find out there were waffles he missed out on he never even knew existed.



unnecessary obnoxious messes.
after 4 kiddos i'm getting better with these.....
{ mercy }



fresh flowers.
one of my love languages.
{ way to go, Justin }




beefy cheesy casserole.
one of Justin's love languages.
{ you're welcome, babe }



smiles from caleb, the appreciate plate recipient last night.
just a little somthing-something we do around here to make sure
everyone knows how much they're loved.


just signed up for this.
super giddy excited and toats nervous all rolled into one.
i suppose that's what keeps my dates with jillian in the AM going strong.

have a super weekend, all!
{ linking up HERE }