This Week's Favorites

This week has been filled with pleasurable moments. I just had to share! I hope your week had shining moments of its' own!

NATURE:

**God's creative color combinations.

**Cooler days that beckon for open windows.

**Big, fluffy clouds in deep, blue skies.

FOOD:

**Blueberry Lemon Squares- (recipe to be posted soon) I had forgotten about this childhood favorite until my mom happened to mention it as she was sorting through her recipes. I'm so glad she did. How could I forget this delicious scumptiousness?

**Fresh fruit plate with cottage cheese. This has not been visited since I left home,
but this has been baby's #1 request this summer. Love it!

**Slow Cooked BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches topped with Sweet Creamy Coleslaw (with some tweaking of my own) piled on top. I always thought this sounded gross, but I've seen several recipes for it this summer and, again, the baby insisted I try it. This is a definite keeper!

**Chocolate Banana Bread- this may be the "go-to" recipe from now on!

PLEASURABLE READS:

**Kaffe Fassett's Kaleidosciope of Quilts- I love the use of vibrant color in bold patterns!

**The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule

**Jesus: 90 Days with the One and Only by Beth Moore

FAMILY:

**Watching the kids "read" newly acquired library books to each other.

**Days at the park or in the back yard swinging.

**Brian getting a break in his 13 hour days for 3 whole days in a row.
His big project is almost done! We finally got a chance to eat dinner together again! Woohoo!

**Impromptu arts-n-crafts with the kids.

**Laughter and singing from the backseat; precious questions about God and Heaven.

All great gifts to be treasured!

Lost in Thought

I captured this preciousness this afternoon.
At first I was a bit saddened that he was just sitting all alone
and then it occurred to me,
it is a gift to quietly sit and ponder nature.
What a beautiful little boy!

The Lake

When the kids and I were visiting my parents last week the entire family was able to get together for a day at the Lake. It was a perfectly, beautiful day! The kids had never seen such a large body of water. We had such a great time! Here are a few photos to highlight our day.






Click here to see some more beautiful pictures my sister took to capture the day. Her pictures are fabulous!

Perfect.

Fostering Creativity

Recently I've been enjoying "The Creative Family" by Amanda Blake Soule and it has encouraged me to work towards fostering creativity in Lucas and Lydia. My own creative juices flow freely for projects for myself, but I tend to struggle with being creative with my kids. This book has been so helpful!

Recently, they found a beautiful, yellow, fuzzy caterpillar. They were so enthralled with him I couldn't take him away. Unfortunately a few hours later we found him lifeless.... so sad! They kept talking about this little guy, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to capture it in a story. I illustrated and they told me what I should write. I thought their thoughts were cute so I wanted to share their first-ever story.

Feeling Industrious

Yesterday, I realize I had a bunch of produce I wanted to use up before the kids
and I visit Grandma and Grandpa this week.
I'm proud to say I had a productive, exhausting day,
but it's so good to taste the result of hard work!

Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake that has since
received a drizzle of ganache-like frosting.

Mother-Knows-Best Carrot Cookies from carrots I cooked down and froze a few weeks ago. Sounds gross, but they are so good! I've been wanting to try this recipe for over a year and I finally did. They are supposed to be frosted with an orange buttercream, but they are so yummy without it I may just skip that step!

A half batch of Bread and Butter Pickles from the cucumbers from my garden.

And lastly, the kids and I worked on some freezer paper stencil T-shirts for Daddy and the Grandpas.... for Father's Day gifts. Hmmm, a bit behind, but luckily we have very understanding men in our lives. I'll post the final product another day.

Needless to say, I slept very well last night!

From the Heart

Sweet bouquets.....

from a sweet little boy.