Good morning, friends! We had a busy and fun Easter week, so I just want to quickly journal some blessings today. I haven't had have much time this spring to get too involved with my yard, but one morning last week I ran to Lowe's to pick up some flowers to get started on pots and beds. I'd just been gifted a Dunkin' Donuts gift card by Whitney from Come Home for Comfort for answering a Bible-related question on her Instagram story (@homeforcomfort), and since our DD is conveniently located next to Lowe's, it only made sense to swing through the drive-thru and grab a latte to accompany me on my plant shopping trip. This was such a little treasure in my busy week! I mean, flowers and ... Read more
Fun Treats for Your Easter Peeps
Good morning, peeps! I'm popping in here quickly to share some very simple ideas for cute Easter treats! I don't think there's anyone who doesn't get excited at the first sighting of Easter Peeps each spring. I'll tell you a secret though: I don't really love eating the peeps, but I do have a lot of fun using them in what I call "food crafts". First up, fruit skewers with peeps gets some healthy fruit in the kids' diets but with a small sugary treat that says "Easter"! My girls and I made these precious bunny peep cars one year with Twinkies for the car body, pretzels for the steering wheel, and jumbo marshmallows for the tires. These were a hit with all our little cousins. Aren't ... Read more
Italian Cream Cake
One evening last week, the mothers and daughters from our small group got together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of the baby of our friend Rivers. This family has been such a blessing to our group so we ladies wanted to celebrate with Rivers and her two sweet girls. We planned a meal of salads, followed by a few desserts: Italian cream cake, raspberry white chocolate almond bars, brownies, and coffee. This Italian cream cake is my most requested cake by my family or when I'm asked to bring a dessert to a special occasion. It suits any holiday or celebration any time of the year! It's unique from most other Italian cream cakes in that it doesn't call for pecans or coconut, so ... Read more
Spring 2020: Counting Every Blessing
Spring 2020 was a doozy. These days just the mention of 2020 comes with sighs and eye-rolls. Covid-19 has brought hardships, stress, and loss to many. Our family has dealt with the heaviness as well in a number of ways, but the Lord has also showered blessing upon blessing on us. I love the song "Counting Every Blessing" by Rend Collective and have had that song in my head since The Rona hit. So today I'm counting every blessing of Spring 2020! And because there were so many, this is an incredibly long post, but mostly photos. Blessing 1: The Great Outdoors Not a single day passed during all of isolation where the sun did not rise! And with each sunrise came new mercies and ... Read more
Easter Eats 2020
Hello again! I'm back today with the Easter menu I prepared this year. So, from breakfast to dessert, here goes! I'd been saving this recipe for Strawberry Bread since last spring and decided to make it for breakfast. Definitely making this again! It was so good and moist, and more like a poundcake than a bread. I put out a bowl of chocolate eggs to go with it. After breakfast we had a meaningful time of worship and then finished up lunch preparations.***** Easter Menu Brown Sugar Glazed Ham (recipe below) Cheesiest Mac and Cheese Bacon and Pea Summer Salad (With one change: I cooked and crumbled the bacon because I didn’t have packaged bacon ... Read more
Birds and Bunnies Easter Table
Easter this year was definitely different from our norm, wasn't it? Considering there would be no new Easter outfits, no neighborhood egg hunts, no gatherings with extended family, and no full pews at the church building for Easter service, I delighted in all the encouraging posts and messages about the TRUE meaning of Easter NOT changing. JESUS IS RISEN! In that regard, our Easter was very much the same and just as meaningful as always! Everything else is just fluff. Speaking of fluff, I did still try to fluff up our table for Easter lunch! It wasn't at all what I'd planned earlier on with ideas of fresh flowers and pretty pastels. As for the fresh flowers, this past year we ... Read more
Easter Story Cookies
Good morning, friends! It’s been quite a while since I last posted here on the blog; so much has happened the last couple of months. I’ll catch you up on everything soon, but for now, I’d just like to share something fun and positive towards Resurrection Sunday. It’s a wonderful hands-on story recipe called Easter Story Cookies that I used to make with my girls when they were little. Baking and stories were always a couple of our favorite things to enjoy together, so this cookie recipe that illustrates the story of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection was the perfect opener for our Easter weekends! I forgot about this activity as the girls got older, but I recently ran across ... Read more