Confession Wednesday

I confess I have lost all sense of creativity at the moment so I am posting a confession day.

I confess we are doing biggest loser at work and we did our first official weighing today and I wanted to cry. Excess baby weight is depressing when your baby is almost a year old!

I confess I'm going to struggle with the biggest loser contest now that I have found a new cookie idea-Oreos baked inside of chocolate chip cookies. I am serious. I am having a serious craving for them!

I confess I am giving up soda to help with my 'diet'...I am now a sweet tea addict and I am not sure if it's much healthier than soda but it's def yummy!

I confess Tyler is sleeping next to me right now and that I could go upstairs and post pictures too but, since I am in my nice warm bed next to my sleeping husband it just isn't going to happen,haha!

I confess I am addicted to playing scrabble on my iPad. Seriously. Angry birds doesn't have anything on scrabble in my book! It is my personal goal to beat the computer without using the 'best word' cheat button on the highest level.

I confess one of my students asked me to rap on his phone into a new app he got and i did then all could think is that I sounded like Kip from napoleon dynamite when he sang to lafawnduh at their wedding.

I confess I almost cried when a few of my students said they didn't know what napoleon dynamite was. When did I get to be the old one?!

I confess there is a cricket stuck in the wall of our bedroom and it's making me want to go insane. It just keeps making noise and I want it to go away. Desperately.

I confess I wish I had more time to blog.I love it but it's insanely busy these days.:(

I confess I have no free nights this week since Monday...tuesday I had our churches christain Ed meeting, wednesday night is youth group, Thursday we are going to the volleyball game and Tyler is working out of town that night, Friday is the football game and then 5th quarter, Saturday is a bonfire for my youth group, Sunday is impact. I can't believe I am saying this but, I am ready for Monday so I can have a night home with my family!

That's all for tonight!

3rd Time is a Charm? and a Recipie to say I'm sorry for being a terrible blogger!

Well, clearly I am the worst person at consistently blogging. I just don't have time to keep up with it so, instead, I'm going to shoot for more like once or twice a week. I'll be realistic and be honest when I say I have just not had time. Being a wife, mommy, youth pastor, house keeper, etc doesn't allow me much extra time. It's sad, I know. But, I miss blogging. I really enjoy it. So instead of feeling like I need to blog every day I'm going to try out be more realistic about it.
Last week I tried out a new recipie that I thought I would share with you- it was super easy and yummy!

Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

(It came in my Better Home's and Garden's Magazine that my mom got me for christmas!)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1.2 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa
2tsp chili powder
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
6 flour tortillas warmed
1 small tomato chopped (optional)
1 green onion sliced (optional)

Heat oven to 350. Stir soup, sour cream, salsa, and chili powder in medicum bowl.
Combine 1 cup of the soup mixture, chicken, and cheese and stir together.
Divide chicken mixture among tortillas, roll up the tortillas, and place seam side down in a baking dish.
Pour the remaining soup mixture over tortillas. Cover the baking dish.
Bake 40 mins or until enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Top with tomato and onion (optional)

Enjoy and hopefully I'll be much better about blogging randomly throughout the week instead of feeling like I should every day!

Posting from an iPad!!

So I officially have the coolest husband ever. And he isnt just cool because of this He is also loving, kind, a great father, and he can be pretty thoughtful...well sometimes;) I'm being incredibly serious about this too!! Tomorrow morning I leave for a trip with my youth group and I was crying and feeling rather upset since it's my first official time away from Lucy so when Tyler came home, what does he have with him?? A freakin iPad!! As an early birthday present! So anyway sorry I haven't been posting I promise I will be better about it I have just been super busy getting ready for my trip! Speaking of which I need to finish packing! Hope you have a great night!!

Random Hopeful Plans!

Hello there blog world! It's been a crazy monday. Tyler is working tonight and I hate it. It always keeps me from sleeping and I get anxious. I am a worrier, I can't help it. So here's a slightly A.D.D. post...it's monday and my mind is going a million miles an hour so you get random hopes for our home in this post today!

So anyway I've been working on the beginning stages of my new cushions and I have a confession to make...I got different fabric then the one I was looking at originally... I decided I wanted to go with a more subtle color and use bolder colors for pillows and such. Here's a preview of what the new fabric will look like:

So far I've got one of the cushion forms cut to size/shape and now I'm just needing to get some more foam and make the other one so when the fabric gets here it will be all ready to go!

I am trying to decide how I could convince Tyler to let me paint the light fixture that goes over our bathroom mirror. It's gold- which I'm not a huge fan of and I would love to get it to match our more rustic bronzed ones.

this picture was taken when we bought our house in 2008

It's on my list of someday projects... a list which also includes either getting new mirrors above the sinks or framing them out with some trim...

I'd also love to paint our bedroom...we have one wall painted the same as the red in our living room and I'd love to paint it a basic color so I can have more options when it comes to bedding...someday maybe! Tyler is one of those guys who thinks if it isn't broke, why fix it? And well the blog world makes me dream of new things I'd love to do in our house!

If I weren't so addicted to "Better After" and other makeover blogs I wouldn't have so many ideas running through my mind! Hey, a girl can dream, right? And who knows, one of these weekends Tyler is out hunting maybe he'll come home to a newly painted bedroom!

I can't wait to get my fabric in the mail and show you finished cushions!!

Custom Picture Frame How To

So we recently went on vacation to beautiful Myrtle Beach, SC. It was awesome. I love having pictures of special memories and as our first family vacation it was definitely special! I was looking for a nice frame while we were there but they were all insanely priced and I didn't have the heart to pay that much for a picture frame so, I decided as we were hunting sea shells I would use some to make my own custom frame!

Here's what I started off with- I forgot to take a before picture but basically it's just a plain ol' frame.

 I had some white paint left from the growth chart I made for Lucy so I did a couple of coats.

I then used a basic kitchen knife and scraped some of the edges to give it a bit of a distressed look. 

 Then I gathered some of the shells from our trip (the star fish was from home but it was too cute not to use) I was originally intending to cover the frame in shells but I didn't want to over do it once I started I thought the simpler the better...

and wah-laaah! a finished frame! I like it, it's simple but it has special memories having used shells from our walks on the beach (my favorite memories from our vacation!)
Custom frame with special memories on the cheap!

Thanks Christine for sharing your opinion yesterday! I was nervous about the fabric but I'm falling in love with it! I'm going to order the fabric tomorrow and hopefully soon I'll have a beautiful new window bench cushion to show you! Well, I've got to get making some more baby food for Lucy. I'll have to share with you sometime how I do all of her baby food. It's super easy and helps save lots of money! Hope you have a wonderful day!

I need your opinion please!

Okay I'm really wanting to make a new cushion or my window bench. I've got a few fabrics that I'm loving but I can't decide....I'm wanting to use outdoor fabric since my dogs love to jump up there and look outside...So I'd looove to have your opinion! Here are my favorite options at this point....

solid cushion with patterned pillows? patterned cushion with solid pillows? oh the choices! Here are some of my favorite fabrics- we have greens, reds, tans, etc in our living room so I tried to stick with those colors...

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

 I am reaaaaally loving option 1 but I don't know if it's too much for a cushion....
here is a picture of our living room from a family get together- the red wall was there and we liked it so we kept it red. we have a tan/green couch and love seat and a red rug. I'll also be making a matching cushion that will go on my hope chest my dad made. the window bench is on the far back wall in the bay window...

This is our dog Ryah's favorite spot in the whole house...

Since she likes to lay up there I'm tempted to do a tan/solid color so it won't show as much wear as a darker fabric...the stripes I have now I'm just sick of haha, I made them rather poorly and I'm really wanting to do a better job and use actual cushion forms.

So, what do you think would look best?

Long Time No See!

Oh boy has life been insane around here. So last I was on here was pretty much March. Let me tell you about the past few months of craziness! April I had youth conferences/concerts/fundraisers/events with my youth group pretty much every other weekend. Not including Easter. Plus, Lucy got sick, Tyler got sick, and I got sick. It was a bad month all around. May was just as crazy with mother's day, graduations, weddings, family get togethers and lots of craziness with work! And then came June...my goal had been to be back on here much earlier but holy cow it was like a bad habit I couldn't break! Things just kept piling up! They still are but, I'm making it a goal to get back to blogging!
So, all six of my subscribers I hope you're happy I'm back!
Here's some pictures from the past few months!

March 31- Lucy's first time with food- cereal- it was so funny watching her eat!

she kept lunging forward after the spoon!

I took my youth group to Winter Jam in St. Charles April 1st the above pic is Francesca Battistelli it was an awesome concert!

my mom opening her birthday gift- floral arrangement and wine

Lucy on her 5 month birthday!

playing outside with daddy!

she now loves baths so much she cries when you get her out of the tub!

having a breathing treatment from when she was sick in April- she was on the brink of pneumonia :(

green beans! yum!

Lucy's 6 month birthday!

The beautiful flowers Tyler got me for our Anniversary, May 12

our drooling baby!

Lucy's first time as a flower girl!

Lucy's first 4-wheeler ride with daddy!

playing in the pool for the first time!

happy girl playing at Grammy's on memorial day!

So there's some pictures from April and May! I hope you enjoyed them! I've got lots of recipes and fun stuff to share with you all so I hope you enjoy the fact that I'm back! I promise I'll do better about not taking such long breaks again!

Pardon the interruption...

Okay so I'm just writing very briefly to let you know that I haven't forgotten about or given up on my blog. I have however decided that the month of april is insane. And I promise once things slow up a bit around here I'll be back to blogging away! :)

Hey there!

So Lucy has found a new way to sit in her swing...it makes me laugh...

I'm pretty sure the look on her face is something a long the lines of "But Mom, alllll the cool kids are doing it!"
Saturday Night I took my youth group black-light bowling, it was fun, we laughed tons and I got some supper silly pictures that make me smile!
Sunday I had a mission trip meeting. In April we are hosting a "Thank You luncheon" followed by a dessert Auction- We are going to be auctioning off various desserts. One of the parents had a great idea to get the sports fans into it by seeing which team Cardinals vs. Cubs could raise the most money- we'll be auctioning off sugar cookies that are cubs/cardinals related. We're hoping this will "capitalize" on our churches sporty-competitive side :)
And I'm feeling rather ambitious. I'm going to make Easter Cupcakes. Seriously, they will have bunny shaped peeps sitting atop grassy green coconut icing, nests with robin eggs nestled in them and I'm hoping to find some candy sheep to have grazing on some yummy grass icing too :) Ambitious? Yes! Doable? I sure hope so! I'm also going to make chocolate chip cookies with oreos inside them. Two cookies in one? Yes! Amazingly delicious?! YES, YES!

This friday I'm taking my youth group to St. Charles, MO for Winter Jam! I'm super excited! Good music + good people = Amazing time!
Well, I better get going, I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend! I'm hoping to be able to have something fun to share with you all tomorrow! I guess it really depends on how ambitious I feel!

I'm a slacker!

Oh it's been a busy couple of days, sorry I haven't posted much lately! So what have we been up to?
Well tuesday Lucy started pushing her butt in the air while laying on her tummy :) once she figures out her arms that girl is going to be unstoppable!

sorry it's blurry it was the best I could get!

Tyler was giving Lucy a bath last night and he sat her up in the tub, she loooooved it!

She was going splash crazy! and loved snuggling with daddy! It was a heart melting moment for this momma!
Anyway, we've just been busy with work and all that crazy stuff. I've got a new bedroom makeover dream! I don't know if I'd ever be able to talk Tyler into it but...

 I found this on this wonderful Blog and it made me want to do that to the wall in my bedroom that my bed is against. I love the rustic look and the fact that she did it for free using old pallets boards! Hey a girl can dream right? Who knows maybe I can convince him that it would look awesome?!

Random fact: last night I made pancakes and my entire house smells like them still. I love pancakes but I don't love them so much that I want to smell them for days afterward.

Hope you have a happy weekend! I'll see you Monday and I've got some fun new recipes I'm excited to try so hopefully I'll have some to share with you!

Spring/Easter Wreath

So I've been itching to make something to hang on our door for easter/spring! Yesterday I got some cute "faux" daisey's. I had an old christmas wreath that was in desperate need of a new life so I took the garland off of it and attached my daisey's! It's super simple and there isn't much too it but I'm loving the bright colors!

There you can see the old wreath it was just covered in garland and had a bow, it's been the same for sevvvveral years so it was time for a make over!

What do you think? I'm loving it because it works for more than just easter, it's very springy and bright! Now I just have to wait to plant flowers outside!

Lucy and I've been spending the day together and I made this while she was napping. She's waking up so I better get going! Happy Tuesday!

"Hello Stefanie, This is God."

Oh it's been one of those days...the kind where God decides to teach you a valuable lesson. What lesson is that? Irony is cruel.

My pastor asked me to give the children's message today in church, I happily agreed. He then told me, I'll be discussing God and the Tsunami. First thought that ran through my mind: are you friggin serious? How do I even come close to explaining the Tsunami and why bad things happen to preschool aged children? Through the object lesson of pearls of course. Do you know how pearls are made? 
Well oysters get grains of sand stuck in them sometimes. It's very painful and the oysters can't do much to make it go away so, they ooze this gooey stuff that coats the sand over and over until it turns into a beautiful pearl. bingo. Do bad things happen in our live's because God wants them to? No! They happen because satan is in the world warring against God. We can't just get the bad out of our lives right? Nope, God gives us some stuff to ooze into our hearts just like the pearl- His love. He takes the bad and over time keeps coating it and turns it into something beautiful that is used for His glory.
Now, how is this irony? Because I just spent the past 15 minutes whining in a blog update about what I am unhappy about. (Don't worry, I deleted it.) When God's irony blasted me full in the face.

"Hey, what did you talk about this morning? I promise to be with you and give you strength. You are the one not coming to me."

Now, I've always imagined God's voice as a "James Earl Jones" kinda voice but this one wasn't. It was God's heart mixing with my inner voice yelling at me to wake up and smell the roses.
How many times have I felt like giving up? How many times have I been frustrated and broken only to come back to God and have Him take care of me and provide for me. How many times have I backed away from Him and blamed Him? Too many that's how many.

So, tonight as I'm angry, frustrated, lonely and hurting, I want to encourage you to find your strength in God and not in friends, family, your self, etc. His strength over powers anything we could ever imagine. I know God will get me through all the worries I have, I just have to let Him.

Leprechauns and Spring Cleaning!

Here's a few pictures of my adorable daughter she's really started getting into laughing so enjoy the following pictures of Tyler making her laugh:

pre laughter face

laughter!

oh it's so funny daddy!

I can't take it!

 Annnd our leprechaun!

our little Leprechaun

right before our first walk!

napping with daddy after dinner

 Oh we've had a couple of really good days. Lucy and I got to go for a walk yesterday. Wednesday Tyler had her laughing up a storm and it was just wonderful! Today I got off work early since I'm working some tomorrow and I'm attempting to deep clean the house. So far I've been tackling the dog area- steam moping the floor, washing off all the kennels, vacuuming up dog hair, and wiping down the walls with vinegar water. Seriously- vinegar water is the best- I even put it in my steam mop. If you're worried about your paint on the walls or anything just use a little vinegar water and it cleans it right up- doesn't always have the greatest smell but it's safe and chemical free and we always have vinegar, we don't always have the right cleaning products!

hope you all have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to ours, hopefully we'll get some good relaxing time in and some cleaning done!

Lucy's 1st Marriage Proposal!

Okay so I completely forgot about this story when I was writing my update earlier but it has been making me giggle all morning so I've got to share it with you!

Last night, at youth group, one of my 6th grade students- Richie- who is the quintessential 12 year old boy who doesn't know what an inside voice is, has temporary boy/age induced A.D.D. and has a need to be at the center of attention decided to ask me a question...here's how it went:

Me: Okay, Prayer requests, Richie, do you have any?
Richie: No, but I do have a question.
Me: (internal sigh because you never know what kind of question you're going to get, I was expecting a smart alec comment similar to "Where do babies come from?") Okay, Make it quick.
Richie: May I have your daughters hand in marriage? (keep in mind he said this with complete seriousness)
Connor (another one of my students): What?! She's a baby, you're a creep!
Richie: But she's cute! (cue awkwardly innocent smile (it's awkward because he's rarely innocent!)
Me: Well, you'll have to talk to Tyler about that one (I say this while trying to hold in my laughter)
Richie: Really? Ok!
Richie turns around a looks at Tyler: Hey! Tyler?
Tyler: Yeah?
Richie: May I have your daughters hand in marriage?
Tyler: (looking rather dumbfounded for a second quickly recovers from shock) No. (He is very clearly trying to stifle his laughter at this point too.)
Richie: Aww, dang.
Kabe (Another one of my students): Don't worry Tyler, when she's old enough to date, I'll come over and we can scar the poo out of any boys who try to date her, heck, any boys who even look at her!

So, there you have it, my poor daughter is going to grow up having many many many older brothers who will be uber over protective against the ones who ask for her hand in marriage!

Top Chef Inspirations!

Oh I've been trying to figure out what to make for dinner all morning. I feel like my brain is fried and I'm just tired. And honestly, I really truly wish I could just ask Tyler to order a pizza tonight...I might. Our lives have been way too hectic lately and it will be nice to finally have sometime to relax.

I watched Top Chef yesterday! It seriously makes me wish I had more cooking skills and liked to eat weird foods. It also makes me envy the fact that they get to make so much stuff from fresh produce, meat, etc. How much more delicious would our meals be if I could make everything from scratch? I'm serious, Richard Blais made homemade mayonnaise and then froze it in nitrogen and then fried it along with other stuff all in a matter of 40mins. Who does that? I realize they are running around like nuts making it all but seriously that show makes me wish I could cook like that. Oh yes, I realize I probably could but I'm not ambitious enough. Although it has helped me realize I should pre-plan my menus so I can actually make the stuff I'd like to instead of saying: oh shoot, we don't have anything other then two required ingredients for that.

Okay, I realize my food will NEVER end up looking like that...and honestly when I see their plates of food it makes me wonder if people actually get remotely close to full after eating it or if it's actually a decent serving size on the worlds largest plate.
I won't lie, part of me wishes I could do the whole cook through a cookbook thing like the movie Julie and Julia however, I'm not that ambitious and I probably wouldn't want to eat half the stuff I find. But, my goal is going to be to try a new recipe once a week. Something from out of a cookbook, suggestion from family or friends, etc. that will hopefully become a new family favorite. I feel like I cook so much of the same stuff that I need to really try and stretch myself.
So my new goals: cook something new once a week and plan my menu in advance so I can get the necessary groceries for all the things I'd like to make!
Do you have any recipes you haven't been brave enough to try? Want me to give them a shot and see if they are worth the effort? let me know what they are and I'll let you know how "do-able" it is!

Fajitas, Cookies and Smoothies!

Oh dinner last night was yummy but I wasn't completely happy I used McCormick's Fajitas Seasoning Mix but it felt like it was missing something. I'd really like to find a recipe that is better. So if you have a good one, let me know! I used some left over roast meat and it worked great.

Here's what McCormick suggests to make Fajitas:

1pkg seasoning mix
2 tbsp oil, divided
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless beef sirloin cut into 1/2 strips- I used shredded pork roast
1 medium onion- I skipped this, we aren't onion people haha!
1 medium bell pepper
1/4 cup water
8 flour tortillas
Heat 1 tbsp oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat, cook and stir 3mins or until no longer pink. Remove from skillet, heat remaining tbsp oil. Add onion and pepper, cook and stir 3-5mins return meat to skillet.
stir in water and seasoning mix. Cook and stir 3 mins or until heated through.
Spoon into warm tortillas and serve with toppings desired. (We use sour cream, cheese and salsa.)

So of course, Tyler begged for some good ol' classic chocolate chip cookies so here's my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe:
2 1/4 cups all purpouse flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts- optional
Preheat oven to 375
Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy, add eggs, beat well. Graduaally add flour mixture, beating well, stir in chocolate chips and drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet
bake 8-10 mins or until lightly browned.

mmmmm dough!

he is a dork but, I love him!

And this morning I decided to try out making a smoothie- it's super easy and really good!
Blend 2/3 cup fresh or frozen berries- I used frozen strawberries
1/2 cup yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup orange juice or 1 orange
2-3 ice cubes

It turned out much better then I expected! A great summer snack or breakfast food!

And in other news, Lucy laughed for the first time yesterday! Not just her normal giggle but a real all out hearty laugh! It was the best sound I've ever heard!
Which means that Tyler and I spent the remainder of the evening trying to get her to laugh again when all she would do is look at us like were were nuts! One of these days we will figure out how to get her to laugh heartily again!

Well, I now have spit up running down my arm so I better go get cleaned up, Lucy says hi! (she's sitting on my lap while I type)