popcorn balls.....

we LOVE rice crispy treats at our house, so much so that I try to keep the ingredients on hand at all times.  I had wondered about doing something different and one day, we decided to try popcorn.  it was a GREAT hit!!!  This week, with Easter coming, my kids have asked if we can make them, color the marshmallow mixture with food coloring and make them look like colored eggs.  I'll let you know how it works, but for you to try it, here is the recipe we used.... 2 sticks butter, melted

1 bag of marshmallows (hint::Walmart brand does NOT melt well for this...use the good ones.  Save Walmart's for roasting:))

1 cup of unpopped popcorn

food coloring, if desired

Pam, or butter

Directions:

Pop popcorn--this may take 2-3 batches, depending on your popper; set aside.  Melt 2 sticks of butter.  Add marshmallows and food coloring, if desired.  Stir until marshmallows are melted.  Add popcorn and stir like a mad man, so it doesn't get too stiff to work with.  spray your hands with Pam and start making balls.

We tend to eat them quicker than we can make them, but you might have more luck.

He loves me....

IMG_4995

He loves me not.

My girls and I were watching this past season's Bachelor....its one of our 'girl' times....all the big girls come over and we enjoy being together, talking about who we like and don't and why...it has become one of my favorite times with them.  The little girls (age 6 and 7) are not the least bit interested in this, which makes it that much easier to enjoy these moments with my older ones.

Well, one week, Reagan was sick.  She was laying in my lap and we were watching the show.  She looked up at me and said, 'ya know mom, if I were on this show, I would want to be the one who gets picked'.   I immediately said, 'well, that's why they are on that show'.  Then God spoke to my heart and gave me a word for her (and me)....I told her, 'Reagan, every girl is born with a need to be chosen.  We ALL want to be chosen.  That's why so many girls like this show. God put that desire in us.  We all want our prince charming to come and tell us we are the most beautiful, most desirable, most wanted woman in the whole wide world.

He then showed me that this is where most, if not all our wounds originate....from our need to be chosen and then not be....God has put in us a need for him and that gets nurtured and fed by our daddies.  Our daddies are 'just a man' as I like to put it...and make mistakes....but it sends such a harmful message to us...when we are not chosen...over work, football, drugs, alcohol-even church...you name it, it comes between us and our daddies....and that message makes it hard for us to truly walk in the fact that we ARE chosen by Him and He loves us--no matter what--no matter what anyone else says, does or thinks....

HE LOVES ME!!!

AND YOU!!!!

blanket of white

these next 2 posts are from a trial run at posting when we got our record snow in Feb.  please bear with me as I get this all worked out..... Don't you just LOVE the quiet that snow brings?  I love the buffer to sound that comes with the snow.....I can take a walk and not hear a single sound or I can play in the front yard and hear only the sounds of my kids playing....I love the blanket that makes everything take on a fresh, clean look.....even the patches of dirt in my backyard, when it's all covered up look like a beautifully crafted picture.....I have driven by this place many times as I look for fun places to take pictures....it has never looked this serene, simple and beautiful.....it IS beautiful w/o the snow, but it takes on such a different beauty.....This picture brings a peace to my heart that I just LOVE!!!!!

snow ice cream!!!

Around our house, when there is snow, we have several traditions.  The first one :  When the snowflakes start, we head to Starbucks for hot chocolate.  This tradition started when I was HUGE pregnant with Autumn (#8); we were homeschooling; it snowed and I didn't have the energy to fight all the changing of clothes.  So, I loaded everyone up and we went to Starbucks and played MadGab.  What a memory!!  That started something big....so big, that after breakfast yesterday of hot chocolate and donuts the kids came running down stairs (on their sugar high) and informed me that we MUST get to Starbucks before its too icy to make it....I vetoed that for the second tradition:  SNOW ICE CREAM!!!!  No matter how little snow we get, if it takes scraping off the wind shield and pulling grass and leaves out of the snow, we have ice cream.  I know everyone knows how to make it, so to make this worth reading, I will share some of my tips for making it yummy, and fun....1st...use CREAM....instead of all milk.  I had some half and half that needed to be used, so it went in also....but that makes it so much creamier!  We also color it...this time it was pink....its always the fight...which color...and of course the boys want yellow....and everyone runs around yelling...don't eat YELLOW SNOW :)...

The next tip---and I use this one all the time---is powdered sugar!  If you don't want to taste the grainy-ness of sugar that won't dissolve, use this!  I use it with my home made whipped cream, in drinks that I need a quick dissolve and when I don't have regular sugar~I am always running out of the most important ingredients at the most in opportune times....so I have learned to make do with what I have...

Once its made, we all sit down and enjoy this yummyness that only comes every so often.....and the fun that goes along with it.....

Everyone enjoys snow days!!!!

hmmmm......