Ever changing

Every day we change, we change our hair,our clothes,our weight and our names. We change our religion and our beliefs.
Our family has been changing as of late. We have moved, we have changed our children's schools, we have changed our marriage and our family balance. We have changed our beliefs and our look on life.
I have always been some what of a free spirit. I have always had my own ideas of what God and religion is. I can tell you that growing up a preachers kid, I have plenty experience in knowing what the others are led to belief and force fed. I started to realize the older I got the more I saw fault in that belief system. Now I'm not saying I don't believe in God or the Almighty, I'm simply saying I don't believe in the bible. Sure it's inspirational as any other book but, I just don't believe in it. The bible was written by man and well lets face it we mess up everything. We mess up God by making religion instead of just keeping it simple. God is for everyone,just not one religion or another. We mess up nature, we take something so perfect and great and destory it. We trash it,and never see it's beauty. We take our lives,something beautiful that the Almighty has given us and we tear it apart. We fill it full of saddness and harmful things. We find fault in all things bright and beautiful.
For our family we are changing that. We are teaching our children to simply just LOVE. Love the good,the bad,the earth,the simple dragonfly and even the most complex each other and everybody. To love without wanting something in return. To love freely and with a clear vision of pure happiness. To understand that not everyone will feel the same as you or even believe as you but, love them anyways. Love the person that brings you saddness. Not because they hurt you but because the Almighty loves them and created them for a purpose. Show them the love you want the world to see when they look at you. Love is not something physical it's one of the most spiritual connection there can be. The Almighty created love and he made it so simple and pure. So easy it to give and so easy to receive.
Our belief is so simple and pure. Our love is the perfect spiritual connection to the earth,to each other and most of all to the Almighty. It's our truth to share with others.
So embrace all things bright and beautiful and just LOVE.

Home made Granola

My oldest Jordan is in love with Granola. She could eat bags and bags of granola. After paying $5.00-$7.00 for a pound of Granola at the store,I decided that there has to be a cheaper and better way to give her something that she loves to eat.

After searching the web for hours, I was able to find about 1000+ recipes for granola. Each one had some different element to it. They were all basic with a twist. I took something from the ones I loved and developed my own just for her.

My son's teacher also love granola so we shared a bag with her and she was hooked. This lead to the granola being share with other teachers and now I have a list of people wanting granola.

Funny how something so simple to make causes a such a huge stir.

Home made Granola

6 cups of oats
2 bags of shredded coconut
2 bags of unsalted sunflower seeds
2 large bags of slivered almonds
6 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoon pure maple syrup
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups mixed dried fruit (raisins,cranberries,blueberries) I uses raisins,cranberries.
2 large bags of chocolate chunks
2 large bags of chocolate chips(semi-sweet or dark)
2 large containers of banana chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix first 4 ingredients together in large bowl;set aside.
Mix next 7 ingredients together in another bowl. Mix well.
Pour wet mixture over the first 4 ingredients. Combine until every things is covered in wet mixture. May have to use your hands for this.
On large baking sheets that have been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Spoon mixture on to cookies sheets until it is just covered. Bake in oven until Oats are lightly toasted. I always turn mine with spatula to make sure both sides are getting lightly brown. This process could take up to 10 different baking to light brown the whole batch of oat mixture.
Take the light browned oats out of oven and place on another cookie sheet to cool.
Once all the oats are cooled place in another large bowl and being adding your last 4 ingredients. MIX WELL!!
Store in air tight container for up to 4-6 weeks. (no worries it never last that long)
This makes 4 large Ice cream buckets full of Granola. You can reduce this recipe to your needs.

Lazy Summer afternoons

OK with 3 kids it's never truly a Lazy Summer afternoon. It is truly nice not to have to be on the go all the time with school being out. We have spent the first 3 weeks of summer rather busy and on the go.
We have spent most of the day time hiding from the heat. It's exhausting just to walk outside to get the mail. It's been in the 100's during the day and not out of the 80's at night. We get blessed with wonderful late afternoon thunder storms and the kids and I look forward to the cool down they bring. We are looking at heading to the library some this summer and maybe a few trips to the beach. The kids and I are going to pull out sometime towards the end of this month and go to my home town to stay with my mom for a week or two. They really enjoy being with their Nana and I love spending time pampering my mom. She works really hard and when I am their her and her husband never have to cook and they get a break from having to worry so much about that. I am hoping to get out to my Granny's farm as well. I haven't seen her in a while and I need that time with her. Then we will do some school shopping and get all the stuff that all 3 of the kids will need and we may even do some shopping for Rob and his back to school items he will need. That seems crazy to say but it looks like it will be a reality soon enough.

Here is a little update on everyone:

Rob is doing great. He is still working hard at Pizza Hut. He has decided to go to school in the fall. We are waiting to here back from the Pell Grant office to find out if he is able to get some assistance in going back. He wants to do story boards for commercials and for TV shows. He is super excited and I am hoping it all works out for him and for us. We need a change.

Jordan is doing wonderful, she is getting ready to enter high school in the fall.She will turn 14 this July and is super excited about the possibility of getting a job soon after her birthday. She is truly an independent soul. She loves to spread those wings of her's and fly. I am really proud of who she is becoming and who she wants to be. We are truly blessed to have such a bright and smart and beautiful daughter.

Logan is doing really well. He will remain in Kindergarten for one more year. He has a few things he has to work on to get him ready for 1st grade. He is happy that he gets to have the same teacher again and is really excited that he will know most of the stuff already. He has been informed by Mrs Dean that he has to be a leader and a big help to her. He loves the idea of being the big helper. So I am sure he will do fine.

Serenity is just a ball of energy. Now that her crohn's is being managed better she is non-stop. She loves to learn and loves to have all eye's on her. She loves to show everyone how smart she is. We can be with people she doesn't know and she will randomly start counting in Spanish or she will start naming shapes and counting to 20 with no help. She loves to have people tell her she is smart. She starts Pre-school for 3 yr old's as a model student at Logan's school in the fall. We are working really hard at losing the pacifier so far it's going well. She really loves that thing.

I am doing great,trying to keep up with everyone and make time for myself. Really enjoying not having to cook so much now that school is out. The kids don't like to eat as much during the summer so I am going with the flow. If they want sandwiches for lunch and dinner then that is what we are doing. If they just want yogurt and home made granola then we are doing that too. I am not getting as worked up as I normally do over what they are eating. I tend to stay pretty worked up over little things and I am trying hard to let all of the worrying I do be only over the things that matter. I have 3 cakes to make at the end of July. One is the wedding cake for my nephew and his beautiful bride. I am really excited about getting the chance to make a wedding cake. It's something I have never attempted before so I am praying with everything I have in me that it all works out well. The heat has me concerned but I am going to work around it the best I can.

Well time to go enjoy that afternoon thunder storm. HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!! Hope that you all stay safe and that you do something fun with your love ones.

Happy 3rd Birthday Serenity

It's so hard to believe that she is just three years old with the year we have had. Seems has if a whole life time of stuff has happen to her in the three short years she has been with us.

We had real reason to celebrate this year and real reason to be grateful for all that has happen and all that we can slowly put behind us. Just two short days before her birthday we were told by her GI doctors that she looked great. That her labs had come back all in healthy range and that she was finally right at the correct weight for her age and height. She was no longer showing signs of flair ups and she seems for once to have her colitis and crohn's disease under control. That was like music to my ears, it had to be right up there with the day she was born and we heard her first cry.

I made a huge cake for a big BBQ and we had tons of family over for her big day. She loved every minute of the all the attention she got. She loves to be the center of the attention. She got tons of barbie's and dress up stuff, a tea party set and clothes. Everything a little girl could ever want.

The BOSTON CREAM PIE is Rob's Birthday cake. He turned 39 this past week as well.

Throwing Stones

Today while outside I was watching my two younger kids throwing pebbles at different things. I heard my son tell my baby throw one at this leaf because it was ugly. And in that moment I could see a life lesson already being taught to her. It's a life lesson we all need to learn.
To often we are so ready to judge this person or put down a person or complain about someone for whatever reason. It's almost as if we are throwing stones at them. While we aren't perfect ourselves.

Look at the way her child behaves- throw a stone
Look at that house,it so run down- throw a stone
Look at the way she is dress or her hair is colored- Throw a stone
If you were not so fat you would fit- throw a stone
You should eat more your as skin as a toothpick- throw a stone
He cheated on his wife- Throw a stone
He was accused of behaving badly with children- Throw a stone

At ex-NFL player Steve McNair's memorial service the minster there touched on this same topic. He asked that if people there and in the media were so perfect then they could cast all of their stones. But if they weren't with out blame that they should put those same stones down. Seems like the more and more that came out about Steve McNair the more and more people forgot about his football career and the good things he had done in his community. The only thing that was focused on was his affair and his relationship with that young girl. How quickly we were throwing stones his way and kick him when he was unable to defend himself. I'm not saying that his affair was right. But we don't know what his home life was like, we don't know if that girl was chasing after him and he was giving her things to keep her away from his family. There are so many things you just don't know. The one thing that seem to be over looked during all of the findings were his wife and her hurt and her shame that she was carrying for not knowing about the secret life he was leading. We forgot all about his grieving kids while we were raking him over the coals. One day his kids are going to read all of those stones that were thrown and find out that people were saying just ugly and mean and hurtful things about him.

I know I do it all the time. I don't mean to and I never thing about it at the time. But I say things that hurt, I think things about people that are unkind. Many times before I know it have thrown that stone at them and never take the time to stop and think about my own life and what I have going on that isn't so perfect. Those stones we throw are the words that destroy people, that tear them down emotionally and mentally. Those same stones are the stones we teach our children to throw as they bully the kid on the playground, or the tease the kid because they are not dress a certain way. Those stones are the stones that cause people to do harm to others, those stones are the stones that make a person feel less then, those same stones are the stones that lead to people killing themselves. If we all just lay our stones down. Take a step back. Realize that we all need each other and we all to build each other up instead of tearing each other down. Our world would be a better place. We can't ask our future generations to be better then the one before them when they example they have to lead them are to busy teaching them to throw stones.

After listening to my son tell my daughter to throw that pebble at that leaf because it was ugly. I went over to both of them and ask my son can't you find one good thing about that leaf. Isn't there some beauty in it somewhere. The leaf was brown with yellow and green spots all over it. It was not the best leaf but it was not an ugly leaf that need to be stoned by two small kids. So after a minute or two my son said come on baby lets go put the leaf in the water and see if it floats. He looked back at me while picking up the leaf and said I think this ugly leaf will make a good boat. At his age it was hard to make him understand that everything had beauty in it.

Look at the way her child behaves- Lay that stone down
Look at that house,it so run down- Lay that stone down
Look at the way she is dress or her hair is colored- Lay that stone down
If you were not so fat you would fit- Lay that stone down
You should eat more your as skin as a toothpick- Lay that stone down
He cheated on his wife- Lay that stone down
He was accused of behaving badly with children- Lay that stone down

Princess Crown Cake

Made simple..

After a day of looking around on how to make a princess crown cake, I couldn't find one that I loved or even would think about making. They were either to complicated or just plain boring. (nothing against the great bakers out there) I need something that a average baker could do and one that would be perfect for a little girl. So I am making it up as I go.

Here is what I have so far.

I took 2 cake recipes for chocolate cake. Just your basic cake recipe nothing over the top or fancy.
I poured one into a 9x9 square pan.
Next I poured one a bunt pan.

I am going to make the square pan the pillow and the bunt pan will be transformed into a crown. I will place the bunt pan on top of the square pan and decorate it.

My new desert creation

I don't have a name of it as it has many things in it.
I'll list all the ingredients and maybe some of you can come up with a good name for it.
2- 8 inch chocolate round cakes
1 crust less cheese cake
4 sliced strawberries
butter cream frosting
chocolate dipped strawberries
and hard chocolate shell

So I started out with on of the chocolate rounds on the bottom. I place a little butter cream down on top of that layer. I then took the cheesecake and placed it on top of that. I then sliced the strawberries and placed them on top of the cheesecake and the place a little butter cream on the top of that.I then placed the second round on top of that,gave it a crumb coat of frosting.Placed it in the freezer for a bit and then covered with a clean coat of butter cream. I used a bakers dipping chocolate to dip the strawberries. I used the same chocolate to top the cake with. After pouring the chocolate on the cake I placed the dipped strawberries on a pillow of butter cream to hold them in place. I then placed the cake in the freezer to firm up the chocolate and to keep it all together. After about 10 minutes in the freeze I kept in the refrigerator until time to serve.


Are you hungry yet?

Here are some pictures of the finished cake


The top of the cake


The inside of the cake after being sliced


A slice of the cake

Logan and his new school

We finally got to move forward with getting the help that Logan needs for his education. We have been working really closely with this program called Child find and the school board here in our area. He was going to a day care where he was in a class of 18-20 kids. He was lost and just not able to keep his mind focused on what he was doing. He was getting the hang of things but not as fast as the other kids and unfortunately the teachers could not keep waiting for him to catch up with the rest of the class. They helped get the process started for the testing and then his wonderful neurologist sent a note and her report to Child find and it help keep the ball rolling.
He is now in a Pre-K program at a elementary school with only 5 kids in his class and 3 teachers. He is thriving and is making great progress. He is still waiting to get his speech testing to see where he is at in that area. They may wait until after Thanksgiving break to do that.
He has started singing songs that he has learned at school, he is recognizing letters and is really starting to count more. He is writing his name better each day. He still has issues with focusing and staying on task. They are working with him on that using a reward system that is really working. His teacher told me that if a leaf was to blow by he would pay more attention to that leaf then he would her. And she is right and that is always been a problem with him. They are working on eye contact because he has never really looked anyone in the eyes since he was 1. His teacher has let me know that he is talking more in class and that the kids love him. He is picked first by everyone in the class if they play a game or if they need a buddy to go do something, they all want him to go with him. We leave and everyone has to say goodbye to him. He told me that he was popular and that it meant everyone liked him. So that was a big deal for him.
He is such an amazing little boy and it so sad sometimes to watch him struggle to grasp things. I just hope that we have done what's best for him and that he keeps on loving school.

I want a real wedding..

When Rob and I got married it was kind of just thrown together in a weeks time. Not much planning and not much thought of how we wanted it to be. We were planning a real wedding but I was pregnant with Jordan and we had a lot of outside influences on us and we just decided to do it and get it over with. ROMANTIC RIGHT!! NOT!!
And now after 12 years of marriage I think I want a real wedding. I want the dress, the great looking man in jeans and a white button down shirt and the cute little kids in cute kid clothes all out on the beach at sun set with not shoes on.
I have the song picked out from me to him and he has always had the song for me. I have my dress picked out and what I would wear in my hair and his outfit we own. The girls I would make them dresses and Logan we would get some cute shorts and a white shirt. Easy as can be. I would make my own cake and do the food myself. Nothing over the top just sweet moment with him and I and our kids and our parents. Not other people.
Now really isn't the time to think of all of this as money is tight. But darn it I have made it through some tough times with him and I have stayed and he has stayed. We deserve to have what we wanted a long time ago.
Now to go about planning something and to get him on board with the whole idea. He says once you do it one time you don't need to do it again.. Just like a man to think that way. I'll just plan it and he will just have to show up.

Bloger I am not...

I am not blogging much. I try to get here and read every night and write something if I can. But most days things just get out of hand and by the time I have a moment for me I am so wore out that I can't even being to think about the computer.
I have taken on making dresses for a teacher at Logan's school. I have made 2 so far and well I have another one just waiting on me to find a spare moment. (that is where I should be right now but I am sick of looking at fabric and my sewing machine.) My eyes are bothering me again. I wear glasses but I don't think they are strong enough anymore. (gosh getting old stinks) Made an appointment already to get my eyes tested again. Hope this time I can get contacts as well as glasses.. (PLEASE GOD let that happen)
So here is a small glimpse of what has been going on..
Logan started school and then we got told he needed testing for speech. Fine we will run with that. Then at the pre-testing for child find they found a few other things they thought need to be checked into. So sure whatever lets do it. So now after he has already made friends at one school, he may have to change to another school to get all the things he needs to help him be ready for Kindergarten next fall. So that means he has to adjust again to a new school and longer days.. UGHHH adjusting and transition is something he is not good at but I am sure we will survive..
Logan 5 week of school they talked about the letter C and I made a nice Chocolate chip cookie cake for him, complete with blue "cookie Monster" frosting that said "C is for COOKIE!!" The kids loved it and the teacher has now asked for a few other cakes from me for other letters. (I think I took pictures of the Cookie cake but I don't remember.)
Jordan, JR HIGH Is going great. Straight A's the first nine weeks. Tried out for Soccer and didn't make it but loved every minute of being there. Has had a number of boyfriends and is loving all the new faces at school. Her attitude and mouth are still getting the best of her. She has learned from the best, her dad.. UGHH. She is working on her science fair project, and a Geography project and a English project all due before Christmas break. I am hoping that she gets them all done and makes A's on all of them..
Serenity, is a MONSTER 18 month old. She is growing up way to fast. She weighs 23lbs and is 32 inches tall at her check up. She talks some but would rather throw fits to get her way. Time out is our new best friend right now. If she has a fit we just tell her to go to her chair and off she goes scream at us NO NO NO. Very cute but she comes out of time out a whole new girl. She is still our little blonde beauty. Both of the older ones already had brown hair by now. But not her she is blonde hair, blue eyes and tan skin.. I am being to wonder how long that will last. She has everyone in the house wrapped around her little finger. Logan and her are two peas in a pod. They love each other so much. Whatever he does she is right behind him doing the same thing. And if she needs help he runs to save her.
Rob and I are doing well. He works to much and is always so tried. But that is what happens when you have to take care a family. He is looking for another job. He is hoping to have 2 of them by the new year. So that maybe one will pay better and he just work once in a while at the one he has now.
As for me I am just trying to keep up with it all. Working hard on keeping everyone on schedule and going in all the right directions. I have had to put a lot of things on the back burner to keep up with my day to day life for now. I am hoping that after Jan 1 things will slow down again and I can get back to blogging and being on line more.
Well that is our little update...

We are reaching the end of babyhood

For the first time ever Rob go to put one of our babies to sleep. Sweet Serenity decided last night she didn't need to nurse to sleep. She gathered her blanket up and her paci and crawled up into her daddy's lap and he rocked her a little and she was out within 3 minutes. He held for about 10 minutes just savoring a very first time for him. He tried to be sweet and tell me it was just a fluke and that it will probably never happen again. But I know down deep inside he was dancing on the inside. You could see it in his eyes that he was loving every minute of it.
For me it was bittersweet. It was the first time in 17 months that I hadn't put her to sleep. That her and I didn't share a special snuggle before bed. At the same time it was nice to see that she would fall asleep with out me. That I could give that little bit of time to someone else and it would be ok with her and with me.
Now the not so great thing, I didn't get a picture of it because the batteries in the camera were dead. UGHH darn thing.

Mom's new best friend

A Must have for any mom with a toddler or animals or a grown man who drops things..


We were in target about 2 weeks ago and my Husband said we should look to see if they have something to make cleaning the floors in our kitchen easier. Logan being a kid who lives for infomercials said we need a Swivel sweeper, it picks up everything.
Rob said we would look and if they had one he would buy it. I not believing anything that is said on television about these things laughed it off and said whatever. Needless to say we left the store with one..
IT IS AMAZING!! The battery last for at least a week of 3-4 times a day of using.It picks up everything from paper to rice and best of all TOP RAMEEN NOODLES. It's very light and super easy to put together and it's a great way to get the little kids to clean as well. It's very quiet so if you have a small child napping you can use it and they won't know. It does work on carpet but it runs the battery out pretty quickly.

So my tip for the week, spend the $35.00 bucks and buy one.. THEY ARE SO WORTH THE MONEY!!

I love you

Putting Logan to bed last night Serenity came into say nite to him like she always does. And out of the blue she grab his neck and say "love you,nite." What a great moment for him to have his baby say good night to him and love you as well. But what a sad moment for me.. She is my baby and has never said that to me.. (WHINE WHINE WHINE)
It was the cutest thing. The bond those to have is just amazing. Before she was born, he was in love with her. And now that she has been with us for a year that bond has gotten so strong.

Some brotherly and sisterly love

My youngest two are just in love with each other. They are like two peas in a pod. They love each other so much that they almost seem like twins at times. (if you take away that age difference.)
So here are new pics of the two of them.


Just because it showing off her chompers.