Is this my real life?

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This weekend was one of those good ones –when you have nothing on your calendar for once and the weather is beautiful and sunny and you go for picnics and spend the entire weekend outside just playing. We got our yard work done early saturday morning while the kids played in the sandbox and then we just enjoyed every last drop of sunshine God gave to us this weekend. We went kite flying, bike riding, ate 90% of our meals outdoors and Ralph and I even snuck in a run together, and you know what? It sure felt a lot like summer. We even had brats and nothing says summer better than a good juicy brat. (TWSS.) Had to. This weekend was a happy happy one and happy weekends deserve a lot of pictures to document such things.

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^ This is Liam: he is my independent, plump,daring little pumpkin. He is a huge mama’s boy and I am not sad about it at all. I feel like Liam is the one who will break bones and get stitches and that sort of thing, he has no fear and he gets that from his dad. He certainly doesn’t get that from his anxious, worry-wort of a mother who often is referred to as a “fuddy duddy”. We call Liam our pumpkin for obvious yummy reasons, his rolls and his chunker thighs are delicious. The highlight of every single day of mine is rocking this snuggly baby to sleep. Liam adores his nap time and bedtime, he gets that from me! Ralph and I often joke about Liam and how he thinks all our jokes and attempts to make him laugh are super lame. He gets this look on his face like “really guys, thats all you got”, he doesn’t impress easy but he has the coolest personality. He will be 2 this summer and of course it is so surreal to me that it has already been that long since we were blessed with our third son.

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^This is Jack:  Jack is my cool dude. He is a trendsetter and loves to dress himself sometimes to his mother’s dismay (pick your battles I say!) Jack is ultra sensitive and gets his feelings hurt easily. SPOILER ALERT: thats from me. He is my only child that looks remotely like me so naturally he is my favorite. JUST KIDDING. He complains every morning that he has to get his hair styled because it is so thick and every morning I say you will appreciate this hair when you are older! Jack loves to make new friends wherever we go and thinks school is the best place in the world. Jack got a little chilly at our picnic so he wore my jacket, even though he insisted he DID NOT need a sweater when we left the house :) .I really love those “I told ya so” moments with kids…..& husbands alike. Jack is very independant and has really embraced being the older brother. He enjoys helping out with anything you ask him to do and seriously enjoys doing chores. Jack just turned 5 and had quite the pirate adventure party at our house, which I will post about soon!
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^This is Remy:  he has the exact same personality of his mom but looks identical to his dad. He takes a while to adjust to change and needs some convincing when it comes to trusting someone new. Remy is the most caring, polite little love bug I have ever known. He never forgets to use his maners and deeply cares for everyone. Remy is the most serious out of all the boys and is the most attached to his mom. Score one for me! No but really, it is especially awesome the bond that Remy and I have, except for times when I need to leave the house without him, that gets tricky. Remy is super afraid of animals which I’m not quite sure where that comes from? I hope that goes away! When I take Remy in public without Ralph I wonder if people think he isn’t my child. His blond hair and blue eyes are going to be lady-killers in the future. Remy also loves to dress himself in mostly character clothes that before I was a parent, I vowed I would never let my kids wear. Like I said, pick your battles.

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This weekend just made me so thankful for the wonderful life on earth God is allowing me to live. Hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

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Our Easter was…

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Our Easter this year was: pretty fantastic. Most importantly filled with our two favorite things : Christ and family. I know I say it a lot but -boy are we blessed.

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Our Easter was: super heros, new socks, yo-yo’s, legos, endless games of Jenga (Jack is insanely good at this game), lots of ham, egg hunts, and egg coloring.

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EASTER (13) Our Easter was: mom laying out nice shirts, ties and vests the night before Easter and 3 boys waking up Easter morning and wanting to wear anything but said clothes. And dress shoes and socks? Nope. Jack wore his Pumas to church. I don’t think God minded though….you learn to pick your battles right? Like every week when Remy decides he needs his socks off when he jumps in the ball pit at Hardee’s and getting the socks back on involves public humiliation with lots of screaming. So I have learned to let it go and give him a really really good scrub down in the tub when we get home because guys, those balls at Hardee’s are the same ones from when I was little I can almost guarantee you that. I never even used to let my kids play in places like that until one day the germaphobe in me quit her job and was like “dude, take a chill pill and let your kids have fun and get all germy.”

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Our Easter was: celebratory! We celebrated Jack’s 5th birthday a few days early with some of our family. It was so sweet, he had no idea. My baby….

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Our Easter was: a million family picture tries with not one of them turning out. I still love them though because they are real and they are us.

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Our Easter was: prayer and change. Now that Lent is over my faith feels restored and refreshed, I feel like I can take on the world with God by my side. You too?

I think TV was the hardest thing I have given up for Lent and is going to be the most rewarding thing to sit down and catch up on my shows now that Lent is over. God is so good don’t you think!? Ralph has got the popcorn poppin on the stove as I type this and I can’t wait to crawl into bed and turn on Downton. (I hear I am going to be really really sad, again.)

I hope you all had a blessed Easter.

 

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Marshmallow bark

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So can you tell I am really into bark lately? First the jelly bean bark and now this tasty marshmallow bark both in time for Easter! Bark is just so easy to make and you can do so many fun things with it. The kids made this marshmallow bark almost all on their own so I shouldn’t really be taking any credit for this post. They loved using the cookie cutter shapes to cut out pieces. Anytime the kids get to eat marshmallows its a treat, but these are really special with the chocolate and M&M’s. Boy did I win mom-of-the-year when I suggested this recipe to my kids. Cha Ching. And do you think my kids are finishing their dinners with no fuss this week with a piece of marshmallow bark to look forward to for dessert? ABSOLUTELY. Even though I only let them have the most meager piece when they finish supper, they think its the coolest. And don’t you just love all the pastels that come along with Easter? Love these cute little treats. Also if you don’t already know, marshmallows covered in white chocolate is pure heaven.

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Ingredients
  • 1 bag mini colored marshmallows
  • 1 bag white chocolate chips, melted
  • sprinkles & M&M’s for topping

Instructions
  1. Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil.
  2. Pour chocolate into a glass bowl and place over boiling water, but make sure it isn’t touching the water.
  3. Stir until all the chocolate is melted.
  4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  5. Dump the marshmallows in a large mixing bowl.
  6. Pour chocolate over marshmallows and stir quickly until all marshmallows are coated with chocolate.* you have to do this fast because you don’t want the marshmallows to melt.
  7. Next pour the marshmallow mixture onto the parchment paper and press as flat as you can.
  8. Sprinkle with M&M’s and sprinkles.
  9. Drizzle with extra chocolate (optional.)
  10. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
  11. Remove from freezer and use cookie cutters to make Easter shapes or slice into squares.

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Happy Easter to you and your family! I hope this Easter is filled with everyone you love and the love of our Lord! Jesus is risen, he is risen indeed!

God’s blessings,

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Jelly bean bark

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I have a super festive and simple treat for you all today. How adorable is this jelly bean Easter bark? SO adorable right?! It only gets better friends, because this is the easiest bark I have ever made. Of course I didn’t want a whole pan of this sitting around my house because well you know….self control problems. So I kept a bag for the kids and the rest we shared with friends. At first I was like “hmm white chocolate with jelly beans, sounds like a weird combo”(said in my nasally-est dorkiest voice) but then after eating way too many pieces I was like “HOLY COW this stuff rocks.” Only 2 ingredients come on! Are you ready?

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Ingredients:

  • 2 bags white chocolate chips (be a chocolate snob and get the Ghiradelli ones they are so worth the extra $)
  • jelly beans

Directions:

Get a medium sized pot and fill it halfway with water. Heat on medium/high until boiling. Place a glass bowl above the boiling water, but not touching the water, and melt the chocolate in the bowl, stirring frequently. When all the chocolate is melted and smooth, pour over cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a spatula to smooth out the chocolate until even. Wait about 10-15 minutes for the chocolate to harden slightly and then toss some jelly beans all over it. Let it harden for at least 2 hours at room temp or in the fridge. Break apart and enjoy!

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How-to- grow your own Easter grass

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Last year we stared the super fun tradition of growing our own Easter basket grass. So thankful I don’t have to deal with all that fake, plastic, non-sense Easter grass anymore and the kids really enjoy planting their seeds and watching the grass grow. It always amazes me how fast we can get the grass to grow for our Easter baskets but can’t for the life of us get grass to grow outside in our yard all summer.

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All you need is:

  • plastic, round, planters. You need to make sure they will fit in your Easter baskets before planting the grass.
  • quick lawn grass seed (you have to get the kind with “quick” labeled on the bag) ((here is a good one
    ))
  • potting soil with miracle grow
  • water
  • a spot that gets lot of sunlight

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Directions:

Sprinkle a layer of grass seed on the bottom of the planter. Cover with dirt. Sprinkle another later on the top. * be generous with your seeds. Keep planter in a spot right in front of a window and water daily. In about 2-3 days you should see a couple blades of grass sprouting up. By day 5 you should have a mound of grass. It will get really long and will kind of grow sporadically at first, but just give it a little trim with scissors every couple days and it will even out. Place the planter in your Easter basket and enjoy!

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