if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life...

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life...try these recipes! I know, I know, every recipe anyone posts is THE BEST RECIPE EVER!!! So I am not going to say that! What I am going to say is here are two incredibly scrumptious desserts that are very simple to put together.

 

First up we have mini cheesecakes. If you like cheesecake and you like easy, this is a your recipe. I made these for Aaron's grandparents 50th anniversary party this weekend, and they were a hit. They even looked mostly pretty! I topped them with cherry pie filling per special request, but they could have any number of toppings on them including chocolate, caramel, any fruit pie filling, crumbled oreos...and the list could go on. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

 

Mini Cheesecakes

 

2-8oz cream cheese, (softened, very important)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 C. sugar

1 T. lemon juice

18 nilla wafers

topping of choice

 

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add cream cheese and mix until creamy. Add vanilla, lemon juice and sugar and mix until smooth. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 18 cupcake liners in muffin pan, then place 1 nilla wafer in the bottom of each liner. Pour batter in cupcake liners. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely on counter. Refrigerate for a couple of hours then add desired topping.

 

and voila...

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is a new favorite in our home. Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip!!!!!!! I am not kidding when I say this one is addictive! I innocently whipped some up one evening when we were having family over, and boy howdy!! It was delish!

 

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip

 

1/2 C. unsalted butter

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/4 C. peanut butter

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 C. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 C. mini chocolate chips

1 C. crushed reese's pieces peanut butter cups, or 1 C. reese's chips

nilla wafers, pretzels, graham crackers...

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in brown sugar and heat until dissolved. Remove from heat, add vanilla and cool to room temp. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter until creamy (approx. 3 minutes). Add crown sugar mixture and stir in. Gently fold in chocolate and reese's. Serve immediately, or chill and set out 10 minutes prior to serving so it can soften some. Serve with graham crackers, nilla wafers, pretzels, or just eat with a spoon!!

 

This won't disappoint!



 

(sorry for a bad picture)

 

 

Happy Fall!

The word that comes to mind when I think of fall is crisp. Crisp air (these last few mornings have been glorious!! Crisp and cool). Crisp leaves. Crisp apples (or apple crisp...that works too!). I spent all of my growing up years into my twenties in Michigan, where fall is gorgeous! The leaves turn such beautiful colors, nearly every fall day is crisp (or freezing), and apples and apple cider are plentiful. Almost ten years ago I moved to Texas, and fall felt a lot more like summer. Even my years spent in Oklahoma the fall weather wasn't so fall'ish. Nevertheless, fall is still my favorite season of all! So far this year fall has come in with the perfect weather, I am not however holding my breath that it will stay. I decorated our home and our porch with lovely fall decorations, and even if the weather is 95 degrees, I will still enjoy the memories of falls in Michigan surrounded by my decorations. 

 

 Here is my Pinterest inspired creation.

You may have seen this idea floating around on Pinterest.

 

 

 I love crafting!

 

 A little fall in our kitchen

My new favorite candles! They smell amazing,

burn well, oh, and they smell AMAZING!!

http://www.circleecandles.com/

Twinkling Along

We have been busy. A new busy for us. A good busy! Here's a glimpse into our lives. 

 

 Going to the lake for the first time

 

and eating fast so he can get back in the water and sand.

 

Relaxing like a pro.

 Watching the sunset

   and holding two babies at once, even though they are getting big!

It's what parents of twins do!

 

Making happy squeals and laughing 

 because big brother is always making them laugh!

 

Taking walks around the neighborhood,

smiling at all the neighbors we meet.

Watching golfers

and playing with leaves, while wishing it were cooler fall temps.

Exploring the yard, deciding if grass is okay or not.

Playing with cousins,

teaching little sister how to stand up and climb,

and just being sweet brothers.

Crawling to the bedroom for nighttime prayers,

and always watching big brother, and following him around.

My 3 sweets!

Jason & Gideon are teething, while Bethany is content

with a toothless mouth.

Bethany crawls, and Gideon army crawls. 

Whatever their method of getting around, all 3

are very mobile!

Gideon is content to lay around and scoot around,

while Bethany explores pulling up on furniture and

sitting up all the time.

Jason plays Handy Manny and also enjoys all things

playdoh, coloring, cars, books, and blocks. He is saying so

many big phrases/sentences now, some that crack us up!, others

we'd be okay never hearing again.

I am so happy and blessed to be their mama!

 

We have been spending lots of time with family. Rekindling old friendships and making new friends. Finding new parks. Attending cousins birthday parties. Looking for a church. Swimming. Trying new recipes. Crafting. Meeting our new nephew. Taking lots of walks. Going to the store. Going on dates. We are enjoying life! God is good!

The Many Faces of Gideon

This is what Gideon thinks of Hawaiian Delight Gerber baby food! Never mind the pink bib he is wearing, (it was the closest one handy at the time).

 

 

He ate all of it, and didn't reject it, yet made these hilarious expressions! He would take a bite, and  a few seconds would go by, then the faces! We enjoyed a good laugh! :)

Baby Dedication

We dedicated these miracles to the Lord on Sunday, June 9th, 2013  in front of our church family at FBC Mustang. God's faithfulness to us is shown in the lives of our precious children. We are so thankful God has gifted them to us, and it is our desire to raise them up for Him. May we be found faithful!

 

 

We chose Jason's verse a long time ago. We prayed a long time for him, and the Lord granted us the desire of our hearts. 1 Samuel 1:27- "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him."

We recently chose a verse for Gideon and Bethany. We were so amazed and humbled that God chose us to be the parents to twins. They are both precious miracles, and we thank God for them. Psalm 52:9- "For what You have done I will always praise You in the presence of Your faithful people. And I will hope in Your name, for Your name is good."
 



 The slideshow/program

These children, Lord, in faith and prayer,

We now present to Thee;

May they redemption's mercies share,

And true salvations see.

Such helpless ones didst Thou embrace,

While dwelling here below;

To us and ours, O God of grace,

The same compassion show.

In early days their hearts secure

From worldly snares, we pray;

O give them grace to persevere

In every righteous way.

Before them may their parents live

In godly faith and fear.

 

-Thomas Haweis

 

 

The dedication was supposed to take place several weeks prior, but the Lord had other plans. All of or children came down with the flu. We were able to try again on June 9th. Despite a blow out (on the one week I didn't bring an extra outfit for Bethany), a quick trip home, and somewhat cranky children, we were able to participate in the dedication service.

 

 

Date Night

We had a date night!! Last night! One of the many benefits of moving back to Texas will be all the family willing to watch our kids while we enjoy some dates. I bet you can't guess what we did...

 

Okay, so maybe you can guess! We are back in Texas, we have babysitters, AND we scored free tickets to a Rangers game. We were thinking our first date back would be dinner and a movie (we almost never go to a movie, like less than 10 in our over 6 years together...for realz!!).

Aaron's boss offered him his tickets for the game since he couldn't go, and of course we said yes. We ate Chick-fil-A on the way...YUMMY!! The traffic on the way there, not so awesome! It took nearly 2 hours to get there. But hey, we made it, and we had lots of time to talk in the car. So that's a plus! The first responders from the Moore, Oklahoma tornado were there to be honored, so that was really neat. It was free hat night at the ballpark (check out my camo Texas hat). I was all about getting the free hat! Aaron brought the other one back for his boss. Our seats were amazing!! So close! The Rangers won! After the game we hit the road home. Much better traffic! We grabbed some chocolate shakes...also yum! Then we arrived safely home, albeit late. And get this...no kids! Yep, they spent the night at the grandparents. I was able to sleep in a bit, and leisurely get ready this morning to go pick them up. I am so used to waking up and hitting the ground running. It was such a blessing to have a morning off. This morning would have been a great time to be a coffee drinker. I could have sat in my pj's and sipped my coffee while reading the news...HA! That wasn't happening! No coffee for me. I gulped my water down as usual! But still!!

So here's to more awesome dates with the one I love more than anyone else on earth!

TEXAS At Last!

Well, we are here, we are settled in, and we are glad it is DONE! Moving wasn't as fun for me this time around...I wonder why! ;) And we moved on the hottest days of the year (that isn't a fact, but it sure felt like it!, it was HOT!!). We are so thankful to have it all behind us! Huge shout out to Brandon McSwain who helped us load and Adam Palmer who helped us unload our truck. You guys were a huge blessing to us! And a shout out to Aaron who worked so hard to help prepare for the move and put up with me when I was tired and grumpy and stressed. He is the bomb-diggity for real!! :)

We are so happy to be back! 2 weeks today! We unpacked quickly for several reasons. We just wanted to be done for one! We wanted to get our lives back to our new normal for the kids sake. The move was hard on a certain little guy. He had so many questions and didn't seem to understand. He was a trooper though!! And finally, we are working with a smaller space and wanted to see if it was going to work. We are here to report that it will work just great! We don't even feel squished. It's amazing really! We are thankful for the Lord's provision of this apartment, He knew just what we needed. Prepping to move meant working hard when the kids were sleeping. It meant getting rid of and/or selling ALOT. It meant saying goodbye to a place we had come to love.

And now we are here and ready to see what the Lord has in store for us. Aaron is settled in at his new Discount Tire store, and get this...it is about 10 minutes away from home!! WONDERFUL!!! We are thankful for his job, and the close to home part is an added bonus. The kids are adjusting well. The twins seem to be mostly unaffected. The biggest change for them has been sharing a room with Jason. Oh, and adding more "real" baby food to their diet. :) And Jason is doing so much better now that we are back in a routine. The room sharing is going well. They all go down to bed at the same time, and they all fall asleep, so that is great. We play a cd of hymns for them at bedtime, and Jason has been singing them, and sometimes we hear the babies laughing or cooing along. Cute!! After seeing lots of family last week, I think Jason is understanding we live closer to them now. He is always talking about his house in Texas, Walmart in Texas, Grandparents in Texas...everything in Texas...EXCEPT church. We visited a church Sunday and kept Jason with us for the service. Half-way through he started (loudly might I add) saying, "our church now Papa, go to our church now." I was embarrassed in the moment, and then I was sad that he missed "his church". :(

I am back to cooking nutritious food for our family, grocery shopping (because when you move, that doesn't happen), and I am freed up again to spend quality time with the kids. The twins are busy little babies these days. Bethany is sitting herself up and doing her version of crawling. She is in to everything! She also FINALLY started holding her own bottle (after we moved ofcourse). Gideon is rolling and scooting and still very chill. He only gives attitude when he wants to eat. And Jason is enjoying all things Handy Manny, duplos, coloring and seeing his family and friends in Texas. I will be attending BSF intro class in a month or so, and hopefully we will get plugged in to that very quickly. I am so excited to bring all the kids!

I hope to blog a little more frequently now that life is calmer. I will leave you with a video tour of our apartment. Apartment Tour