Fall Fun

I love fall - it has to be my favorite season of the year. It just brings so many great things along with it - crisp temperatures (but still nice enough to enjoy being outside), open windows, boots, scarves, and cute sweaters, yummy smelling candles, pumpkins, hay rides, s'mores, soup and chili, and so much more. I just love everything about it!

Today, I decided to surprise my girls with a special treat when they got home from school. I swiped the idea from Angela over at THIS blog - and it's by far one of my most favorite blogs that I read. She has so many cute ideas that she shares, a great sense of humor, wonderful story teller, and an awesome Christian! So just don't give me too much credit for being all creative - because this was totally NOT my idea. But, I loved it so much that I had to give it a try. Here's what I did:

1. Buy 2 boxes of white cake, food coloring gel and 3 tubs of white (or vanilla) icing. Oh and you might need to grab a few of the throw away round cake pans. They came in very handy!

2. Mix up your cake according to the directions on the box. Then divide it into 6 bowls equally. I took a 1 cup measuring cup and scooped it into all the bowls, then went back and spooned in the rest as evenly as possible. It was about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

3. Color 3 bowls orange, 2 bowls yellow and leave 1 white.

4. Spray pans liberally with non-stick spray and pour batter into pans. Heat oven to 350 and bake anywhere from 12-15 minutes. Cool completely.

5. Start stacking your layers, starting with orange. Add a thin layer of icing between each layer to help them "stick" together. Then ice the whole cake and decorate with candy corns or use the Candy Corn White Chocolate M&M's, like I did.

6. At this point, I put it in the fridge to get the icing nice and stiff. When the girls got home from school and I pulled this out - they both screamed! :) They got so excited when I cut into it - just the reaction I was hoping for!

After dinner, we did one of the girls favorite things - carving pumpkins! They love digging out all the yucky stuff and the seeds! Mabrie was right in the middle of it, too. They looked at a bunch of pictures online to determine what they wanted their pumpkin to look like this year and the winning choice was a cross. I love it! Looks so pretty with the candle glowing from it!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I just noticed that I haven't blogged in weeks! I'm sure you have all been on pins and needles waiting for an update - HAHA! It's been a busy month around here.

Mike left on September 30th for a 5 day trip back to Haiti. He went last February and was itching to get back and see the kids again. He had a great trip and said that they kids looked so much happier and healthier this time. When they pulled up to the orphanage and they got out of the car, several of the kids ran up to him yelling "MIKE" - he said that was one of the greatest experiences of his life. To think that they remembered him and remembered his name was just awesome. It was a fast a furious trip as there were just 2 guys (Mike and our Children's Pastor, Bro. Stuart) that went. They had a lot of business to take care of, but also tried to spend as much time as possible loving on those sweet kids. He's already looking forward to going again and if possible, I'm going on the next trip with him! I look forward to the day that these kids become more than kids that I know from pictures!

We've enjoyed the beginning of fall around here and while for the most part, it's been unseasonably warm, this week we have finally been blessed with that crisp, cool fall air that I just love!

Our Sunday School class had a get-together a couple weeks ago at a farm/pumpkin patch and the kids had a ball. They took us on a hay ride, let the kids go down a slide that was built on a mound of mulch, walk through a corn maze, feed and pet some farm animals and then picked their pumpkin from the patch. After they were done, we ate a picnic lunch together. I hated that Maddie had to miss out (she was sick and had to stay home with daddy). But, it was a nice day and a fun time with some great friends.

The girls are doing great in school. We had parent/teacher conferences this week and they are making us so proud. Straight A's across the board and nothing but great reports from their teachers. We are so blessed to have kids that have a desire to learn and that always strive to do their best. I pray that they continue to be good students that respect their teachers, work hard, show leadership and share Jesus with their friends.

The littlest Cash is doing well also. She's as feisty as they come. She's saying more and more words each day, it seems. She can now say: Daddy, momma, ball, nose, uh-oh, no, YAY, dog, baby and book. There may be one or two more, but that's all I can think of right now. She is running all over the place and doing what a 1 year old does best - MAKE MESSES!! All. day. long. But, she is also learning what "put that back" means and will go return things to where she found them. We are working hard on getting her whipped into shape as early as possible. I'll let you know how that works out for us. :)

I imagine that the next couple of months will be just as busy. Hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner and we'll be in full swing of shopping, decorating, traveling and spending time with friends and family. I'm looking forward to it. It's always a special time of year.

Happy Fall, Y'all! :)

Pinterest

So, I'm seriously LOVING Pinterest. When I first heard about it, I didn't give it much thought. Didn't think it was really worth all the fuss. Well, I was wrong. It's totally worth all the fuss - it's genius! I love that you can find something online and quickly "pin" it to a board and have the link right there, nice and handy for the next time you need it. I can't tell you how many great recipes I've found and tried - and a bunch that I'm adding to my menu next week.

How many times have you gone online, done a search, found what you wanted, walked away and then had no clue how to get back to that particular site? This solves all of those problems. Have you joined Pinterest yet? If so, go to the top of my blog (under my header) and click the link to follow me! Then, when you do, I can follow you back! It's super fun - believe me, you'll be glad you did!

Happy Pinning!

New Workout and Update

First, the update. I bought skinny jeans. I wore them (with flats) and although at first I felt very weird, they quickly grew on me and I started to like the look. I got them at Old Navy and hope to get to Charlotte Russe soon for another pair. Thank you to everyone that gave such good suggestions!

Now, for the workout. I've been hooked on Pinterest lately. Have you heard of it?? If not, it's basically an online cork board. A place where you can "pin" things that are of interest to you - hence the name, Pinterest. You create different boards and pin things to the board that fall into that particular category. I have a recipe board, a clothing/accessory board, home decor, organization ideas, etc., etc. Click my link above to check out my stuff. :) Ok, back to the subject. I found a pin the other day for this thing called the 100 Workout. I read it and thought, "that looks pretty easy, I think I'll give it a try!" - and off I went. The first thing you do is 100 jumping jacks. Easy, right? Well, about 60 jumping jacks in, I was already breathing heavily, by the time I hit 100, I was sweating. Then you drop to the floor and do a "simple" 90 crunches, followed by 80 squats, and so on - check it out:

Now, the first day I did it, I didn't do the 10 minute run. Mabrie was napping and that night was church, so I didn't get home until late and I don't run alone at night. Safety first, people. The next night, I did the run first, because Macie wanted to run with me and we had to get it in before her bedtime. So I ran a mile and then did the rest. My body is FEELING IT! I thought that since there's no real arm work in this workout that I'd have to add in some weights, but oh no, apparently jumping jacks also work your arms, because mine are killing.

This might be my new workout plan. Most nights, I'll do more than a 10 minute run - I need to get back up to my 3 miles, so it might be closer to a 30 minute run, but the rest of this stuff is great and targets all the important areas that need toning. Give it a try if you are looking for something new. You can do it all in about 20 minutes or so and it really does work. I've got the sore muscles to prove it. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Skinny Jeans

HAHA! That title just makes me laugh. I've decided that I want to try out some skinny jeans this fall - I'm slightly scared of them, though.

I know a couple of things:

1. By no means do I want these jeans to be skin tight - that doesn't look good on anyone. Well, maybe Giselle, but since I'm neither 5'10" nor 100 lbs., mine will not be painted on.

2. I'm not going to spend a ton on these. I can't. I won't.

So, that being said, I need some recommendations. Where can I find a cute pair, that fit well, that don't cost a small fortune and that don't make me look like I should be on a Ludacris video?

Any tips, girls?? Have you seen cute styles out there that you've bought or tried on that you like?

And if there's no such thing - no problem. I'll stick with my boot cut and call it a day. :)

Fun Giveaway

Hey - Head on over to my recipe blog to get entered in a great giveaway!

Click HERE to check it out!!

1 Year Old!!

This time on September 3, 2010, I was sitting in a hospital bed at St. Edward's Mercy holding this little 6 lb. 15 oz., 19" long baby girl.

And just like that, here we are 1 year later and that tiny little bundle has turned into this sweet, busy, talking, walking energy ball of fire that we like to call Mabrie Clarie.

The first year of her life has literally FLOWN by. I don't even believe it actually. I woke up today and thought, "Whoa, she's 1 - what just happened here?!" It's been a great year. She's the final piece to our family's puzzle and she fits perfectly. I knew the moment she was born that our family was complete. And it hit me once she was born that I would have made a terrible mistake had I thought otherwise before that. She's a precious gift. She makes all of us smile every single day. She's a daddy's girl. He said he had to have 3 to finally get one that liked him! :) She's as loud as anything you've ever heard. She's impatient as all get-out. She's funny, silly and sweet. She throws things like she's practicing to be a shot-putter in the Olympics. She walks as fast as her legs will go if she spots her sister's bedroom door open and goes in there like she's on a treasure hunt. She sucks her first 2 fingers all day long. She will go to anyone and smiles at everyone. She has a temper - and I'm sure she'll see her fair share of spankings. (Yes, I said it. Yes, you'll get over it. :))

We love her more than I could put into words on this little blog post. I pray that God would bless us with many, many, many more years with her.

Happy Birthday, Mabrie! We are so thankful for you and are blessed that God chose us to be your mommy and daddy!

Psalm 127:3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him.