Blessing #27- Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day! To be honest though, I love all holidays. Holidays serve as reminders for me. Thanksgiving reminds me to be thankful. Christmas and Easter what Christ has done for me. Mother's, Father's, and Grandparent's day reminds me to honour those people in my live. Pi Day reminds me of the wonder that is Pi. The 4th of July reminds me of our country's beginnings. Memorial and Veteran's Day reminds me of those that sacrifice so much for our country. Halloween reminds me to visit the dentist. St. Patrick's Day reminds...uh...moving on! I know that the party poopers say things like, "Valentine's Day was made up by greeting card companies." That may be tue, but I'm not going to complain about an opportunity to show love to those in my life. (ok...I'm stepping down off my soap box.)

Every November I think of one thing that I'm thankful for every day. I decided to do something similar for Valentine's day. I'm telling Shad one thing I love about him every day. Everyday, I hide a card for him to find at some point in his day. I pick something that I love about him, and write him a note about it on the inside of the card.

On this night, he watched the boys for me while I went to a baby shower. This note was waiting in the diaper bag. (You have to be a strong man to carry that diaper bag!)


Operation Bring Beard Back took longer than I expected, but the beard is back! This tells Shad I love him, and when placed on his razor, it serves as a reminder not to shave the beard!

On Saturday, we were busy, and I forgot to give him a note. When we were driving to church Sunday, Shad said, "Where was my card? I missed it. I was looking under my pillow for it." That's when I knew he was really enjoying it. Shad's has Valentine's surprises for me too!!! Shad's surprising me every day with a small act of kindness. On the first night, he surprise me with a trip to Sonic! Who knew Sonic was romantic? Did I mention I love Valentine's Day?

Post linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Depression Bread Pudding

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

This week I made Depression Bread Pudding. You can find the recipe here. I picked this recipe when I had 4 unused hamburger buns that were probably just going to be thrown away. I love how something that was going to be wasted was used to make a great dessert. It was an easy and quick dessert for our family. The only thing I did differently than the recipe was that I broke up the hamburger buns instead of leaving them whole. I know Shad, and if I left the hamburger buns whole he would probably be creeped out. (He's funny like that) However, I broke the buns up so he didn't know they were hamburger buns, and I never told him.

If you like egg custard (like I do) you will like this bread pudding because it tastes very similar to me.

Give Me Five Friday- {signs of a bad day}

The boys and I have had a few bad days this week. These haven't been "down in the dumps" kind of bad days, but rather "things aren't running smoothly" bad days. I thinks it's a combination of B being cooped up way too long, me having too little patience, and Collin refusing to take a bottle. (Don't worry. We switched bottles and fixed that last problem.) So today's five is in honor of our bad days.

{five signs the boys and I are having a bad day}

1. It's lunch and we are still wearing our pajamas.

2. Mt. Laundry is reaching record heights.

3. There is lots of crying and whining (and that's just from me).

4. When Shad walks in the door for lunch he hears, "Just fix yourself a sandwich."

5. I have to count "1...2...3" a bunch.

On these bad days I always think of the quote from Anne of Green Gables. "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it." What bothers me most about bad days is not the boys messes, but my own mistakes. Those times I let my temper show. However, I'm so glad we can say a prayer for strength and try all over again tomorrow. I'm glad God's mercies are new every morning. "After all...tomorrow is another day!" (I couldn't resist another movie quote!)

Curse #9 - Van Doors

I’ve blogged before about my superior mothering skills, but this time, I outdid myself. Friday after being snowed in for three days, we ventured out of the house to the library. I parked next to a curb where the snow was piled up about a foot high. Excited to be visiting one of his favorite places, Brandon jumped out of the van. Because I parked so close to the curb, and the snow was so high on the curb, we had little space to move. Before I closed the van door, I told Brandon, “Get out of the way of the door or it will hurt you. “ As I closed the door, he tripped and his arm went into the path of the door. I saw it coming and slowed the door down slightly, but the door still smushed his arm.

He looked up at me with eyes that said, “Did my mom just smush my arm?” I put Collin back in his car seat, and held Brandon’s other hand as he was screaming, and rightly so. I asked if I could see his arm, but he wouldn’t let me. I tried to get him to calm down by taking some deep breaths, but it was no use. Then I said one of the dumbest lines I have ever said as a mother. “Brandon, you have to let me see your arm. You could be really hurt.” Brandon’s eyes got even bigger, and then he screamed , “Noooo!!! You’re going to break my arm! I broke a booooone !!! No!!! You’re going to break my arm!” As Brandon repeated these phrases over and over, Collin began screaming to the top of his lungs. Collin was probably saying, “She’s gonna’ break his arm,” in baby talk. A woman walked by and looked suspiciously at the whole scene. I can only dream of what she thought was happening. I wanted to explain the situation to her, but “It’s okay. I just smushed his arm in the van door,” doesn’t seem like a good explanation.

Finally, I told Brandon we were going to have to go home since he was hurt. Because he wanted to go to the library so badly, he started to calm down. He showed me his arm, and I breathed a sigh of relieve to see his arm was bruised, but not broken.

One day, when he’s older, Brandon will probably ask me, “Mom, why do you think I wince every time a car door closes?” I will say, “I have no idea,” and quickly change the subject.

Project Life: January 24 - 30

We were snowed in much of this week, but we still got some cute pictures! If you want to see more Project Lifes, just click on the badge at the top of this post.

Wednesday, January 26 - I am going to take this opportunity to go ahead and apologize to 16 year old Collin. I know I will pull this picture out at some point in front of your friends and embarass you by saying, "Isn't he the cutest wittle teddy bear!" I know I will do this so I'm apologizing now...I'm sorry (my cute wittle teddy bear!)


Thursday, January 27 - It's torture when snow is on the outside and you are on the inside. (Don't worry he went out right after this picture was taken.)



Thursday, January 27 - Listen, this was day three of being snowed in. In boredom, I made this fort for B. It was such a good idea! He stayed in this thing for a couple of hours.



Friday, January 28 - Collin: "Seriously Mom?" (I can't stop making up captions for Collin)



Friday, January 28 - I had to drop off a paper at the farm where Shad works. He was working on the trees at the entrance as we came in. I love how this picture looks similar to American Gothic.

Friday, January 28- I snapped some snow pictures while I was at the farm.



Friday, January 28 - Another picture from the farm.


Sunday, January 30 - I was inspired by my friend Amanda's car picture. We were waiting in the car, so we stayed amuzed by taking pictures. Thanks Amanda!

Curse #8 - The Hypnotist Baby

I promise, I was smart before I had kids. I had a sharp mind. I could go to Walmart without a list, and not forget a single item. However, soon after I had Brandon I noticed I was not remembering as well as I used to. Mommy brain, I’ve heard it called. Since Collin’s birth, my mind is even worse. I’m convinced both boys had a piece of my brain in their hands when they were born. Next time, (if there is a next time) after the doctor hands me the baby, I’m checking its hands…if I remember.

Where was I…oh yes, my brain. Since Collin’s birth, I cannot remember anything. I forgot for a solid week to get a prescription filled. I only got it filled after repeated reminders from Shad and my mom. I’ve been blaming this forgetfulness on hormones. (Poor hormones they get blamed for everything with me.) Hormones was my first theory, but now I have a new theory, the hypnotist baby.

Let me explain. I will walk into a room, place Collin in his bouncy seat, and start working on a task. Soon though I look down to see my sweet little baby doing something incredibly cute like…I don’t know…breathing (everything he does is cute). I then start looking at him and saying things like, “You’re the best baby ever.” “You’re my little Cassanova, my little Romeo.” Suddenly, I stop and think to myself, “What was I doing. Why did I come into this room.” Curses…Hypnotized by the baby again. I decided to take pictures of this phenomenom so I wouldn’t seem so crazy. Collin’s words will be italicized. When you read it, think of his voice sounding like Antonio Banderas, that’s who I think he sounds like right now.

Ahem...Excuse me Mommy. Lots of cuteness going on down here.

That's odd. She's not looking. I'll go for the killer combination, full smile and chubby legs!

That didn't work? *gasp!* uh oh! I lost my sock, Mommy!

Are you kidding me? The sock didn't work. I guess when you don't have pants on, she's not worried about a missing sock.

I've got to change plans. I didn't want to do this, but desparate times call for desparate measures.

You don't love me anymore!!!

Ha ha ha! Wait for it...

Mission accomplished!


Isn't he the cutest baby ever! He's just my little chubbsters. I just love him...What was I talking about? Come on Collin! Enough with the Jedi mind tricks!

Post linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are that Family.

Saturdate with Southern Plate. {Mama Reed's tea cakes}

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.


This week I made Tea Cakes. I loOoOve tea cakes. They are absolutely my favorite cookie...cake...whatever you want to call them (just don't call them sugar cookies). However, these cookies did not turn out like I thought they would. They weren't bad, but they just didn't taste like I thought they should. Here's some reasons why.

1. The directions said to roll the dough out thin. I thought I had done that, but it was not thin enough.

2. The directions included an icing recipe. I decided not to make the icing. I thought tea cakes didn't need it. Icing would have really complimented these tea cakes.

3. The biggest reason is, these tea cakes weren't Mrs. Hooper tea cakes. Mrs. Hooper is a lady in my church in Georgia. For the past several years, she has made me tea cakes on my birthday and every major holiday (I love being a preacher's kid!). Now, when I visit, she always has tea cakes ready for me. I looooove her tea cakes. Unfortunately, so does my husband. When we first got married, he didn't know how good they were, and he's not a big sweet eater anyway. When I got my Mrs. Hooper tea cakes, they were all mine. All mine! However, that lasted only for a little bit, and now he's as big of a fan as I am, and I am forced to share.

Christy Jordan talks in the cookbook about how no one will ever cook as good as your momma. Well, I think that's how I feel about tea cakes. I have picked my favorite, and all others just taste...different.

When I moved to Maryland, Mrs. Hooper gave me her tea cake recipe. (She's just that nice!) Today I will share it with you.

{Mrs. Hooper's tea cakes}

3 1/2 cups of self rising flour
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of Crisco
1 stick of margarine
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Normally you would roll the dough out, cut cookies, and bake, but Mrs. Hooper's does it slightly differently. In her recipe, she says to make a small ball. She even drew how big the ball should be for me. She must know me. It's about the size of a quarter. She then places the ball on the cookie sheet and flattens them with a measuring cup. She didn't say how long to cook them, but I would say 10 minutes, or until brown. Enjoy!!!