when life feels like a lemon, just add some sugar

I was really trying to be optimistic about going back to work

but inside, I was weeping

the anticipation of saying goodbye to these faces each day, made my heart sink

Wednesday came with a meltdown

some sweet new friends knew it was Jason's birthday week

and graciously offered to babysit so we could get a date

one that was desperately needed

thank you Happy Hour at Red Robin

and thank you to my incredibly sweet and encouraging husband

I felt like after that night, I had made a turn in my anxiety

and the Lord gave me some sweet scripture the next morning from Matthew 6

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. " Matt 6:33-34

And just overnight, instead of dreading leaving the family all day, I was able to just enjoy 

being with them until it was time for me to leave. 

so Thursday Aidan and I hung out upstairs for a while

Friday we went to the park, racing the rain to get there

And today, spent some time at the mall as a family

and I'm feeling much better about leaving to go on my shift in a couple hours

On a separate note

Our new neighbors know how much our family loves Christmas

so they decided to surprise us with some early decorating on our door

a good reminder that Christmas is just around the corner, 

so if you're looking for some super cute gifts

head on over to the Happy Days handmade Holiday Market

i know you'll find something you love

Have a great weekend!

Work Week

Fall has most definitely come to Oregon

the leaves on the ground, and the chill in the wind make me happy

and subtly begs for me to have some cuddle time with my coffee and Parenthood

but it also means that our family will be adjusting to me going back to work

I knew this was going to happen

I had been trying to prepare for it

and now that it is happening, i'm completely anxious

anxious about learning a new set of skills

anxious about leaving my girls for long portions of the day

anxious about losing quality time with my husband

but completely excited about what the Lord is going to teach me through this

and completely grateful to have a job

and completely overwhelmed by God's never ending grace to me

this is yet, another opportunity for me to rely on the Lord

instead of my own strength, which will undoubtedly fail

Happy Monday! Its going to be a great work week!

* And I have no idea why there are double pictures in my blog

PinterTest Kitchen: baked french toast, just do it

Its been an entire year since my friend Jessica started the PinterTest Kitchen link up

Genius, Jess. Absolutely Genius. 

Every month I look forward to it

not only does it push me to actually do some of those ideas I've just categorized on my phone

but i looooooove looking at what everyone else did!

So if you have a blog, jump on in and join the PinterTest Club

its what all the cool kids are doing, and you're a pretty cool kid

This month I did quite a bit

lets start with successes 

1. The Pioneer Woman's Baked French Toast

oh my gosh

oh my gosh

so. good.

first you'll need two helpers to break up a loaf of  bread

PW used Sourdough, I used a French loaf

not sure how big of a diff it makes

just don't use WonderBread, that's not the kind of loaf I'm talkin about

break it up into small chunks and throw it into your greased baking pan

the recipe calls for a 9x13, but I had two helpers and two 9" cake pans so I went for it

next you're going to mix

8 eggs

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

and 2 Tbsp. of vanilla extract

in a bowl

pour this mixture over your bread evenly coating them

set aside and turn on your oven to 350

in a separate bowl mix together

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of salt

and a stick of cold butter

then cut with a pastry cutter until little pebbles form

sprinkle this topping on your prepared french toast

then throw it in the oven for about 45 min. to 1 hr. 

top it with some warm syrup

and 

OH. MY. GOSH.

2. Lemon Chicken Pasta with Garlic Gravy

you can find the recipe here

but honestly my favorite part of this recipe is the chicken

you'll need some of these

and it comes out lookin like this

you can have it with the pasta and the garlic gravy

but these babies stand on their own

next time I'm doing just doing the chicken 

with a side of baked french toast

3. Pumpkin Brownies

two ingredients

done.

she said bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes

I think I'd make it an hour next time, mine were definitely undercooked

but either way, we ate them all

they're different, denser, grainy-er, kind of like a power bar

but they ain't bad

I had some leftover cream cheese frosting our oreo cupcakes

so we threw in some pumpkin pie spice

and BAM

4. DIY deoderant

lesson learned: don't do it yourself

just buckle up and buy the stuff

and then for goodness sake,

go make PW's Baked French Toast!

Linking up with Jessica

October is here

This is the day I've been waiting for

October 1

I could do without September altogether

the excitement of new school supplies wears off pretty quickly

but Oh October

October means orange and red and brown

and spices

and apples

and cool weather

which means soups

and chili

and pumpkin EVERYTHING

it always comes back to food

which I've been making a lot of

lots of recipes to share on PinterTest Thursday

But this last week has been filled with little adventures

like accidently going to Washington

we were trying to get to Costco

but missed our exit, and uh oh, there you go

George Washington's silhouette on the highway sign was a pretty clear indication we'd gone too far

eventually we back-tracked to Costco and got our ink cartridges filled 

so I could prep for another year of homeschooling

it's only just begun

and she was over it after the first five minutes

but perhaps the biggest thing to happen this week was to go from this

to this

yup, we said goodbye to the training wheels

self-taught in a day

gaining her birthday list a new item

On Thursday we said goodbye to Daddy for a few days

Aidan didn't take it so well

but she cheered right up with a little shopping-therapy

and a new Mickey Salad bowl from a sweet friend

helped ease my pain a little too

to kick off the weekend, I told Aidan we were going to have a Slumber Party

so she informed me of all official Slumber Party activities.

our first assignment was to make Cookies & Cream Oreo Cupcakes which i

had jotted down from Jessica a while ago

which incidentally came from here

Haley was on rolling pin duty

and she rolled like a pro

our next assignment was to play a game

I had printed this Alphabet game board off of Confessions of a Homeschooler

which worked out perfectly, because Haley was able to participate too.

finally, we of course had to watch a movie

I think Haley got to pick, which obviously meant something with Elmo

And then it was lights out

at 11



no more slumber parties.



the next couple days were filled with

playing

parties

and just plain waiting for Daddy to get back

which he did

and we couldn't be happier

because we're just crazy about that guy!