In His Grip

Three Word Thursday

Thimble of compassion

 

20 Something Egg Hunt

What do you do when you have no little people in your family anymore on Easter? Well I will tell you what you do, you have an Easter egg hunt for 20 somethings.  Some of my kids' fondest memories of Easter are the egg hunts that we had for them when they were little.  Lindsey wanted to bring back the "good ole days" and have a real egg hunt.  Jeff had a good time hiding the eggs around the yard.  Just to make it more interesting three of the eggs had gift cards in them, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Chili's.  We had eight 20 somethings at our home for dinner and they had a great time being a part of an egg hunt again.

 
Needless to say, some of us were a little more competitive than others.  Lindsey happened to find the most eggs, but failed to get a gift card. Ha, ha, ha.

 
Sunday dinner was a lot of fun and I enjoyed having the girls actually make their own dish to share.  I love this new season of life as it brings its own kind of fun.

Easter Carmel Popcorn

Easter is just a couple of days away and I love to find new ways to make the day special.  Browsing around on The Pioneer Woman earlier this week, she featured this Easter Carmel Popcorn from Heather Christo Cooks and I knew that we would be serving this at our Easter dinner on Sunday.  Being the adventurous cook that I am, I took a few liberties with the recipe just to make it my own.  First of all, I used my own Microwave Carmel Corn recipe, which is way easier and faster than the traditional Carmel Corn recipe that Heather has on her site.

 
Microwave Carmel Corn

16 cups popped corn (a little more then two microwave bags)

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter (use real butter, it totally makes a difference in the taste, why cut fat now?)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cashews (I added this instead of peanuts, thought I would class it up a bit :o)

1 cup white chocolate chips

Sprinkles

1 large paper grocery bag (next time you are at the store remember to ask for "paper")

Microwave the popcorn and place in the large paper grocery bag. Microwave brown sugar, butter, and syrup for 2 minutes on high (until bubbly), remove and stir.  Return to microwave for 3 minutes, stopping to stir every minute.  Remove and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir, allow the mixture to rise a little bit.  Pour carmel mixture over the popcorn in the paper sack, close and shake well.

Place bag in the microwave (really, put the whole thing in) for 30 seconds, remove and shake.  Repeat this 2 more times.  After the last 30 seconds shake well and pour on a cookie sheet spreading it out.  Sprinkle M&Ms on and gently push them in.  Melt the white chocolate chips and drizzle them over the mixture and then immediately shake the top with sprinkles. 

 
Before adding any of the yummy goodness, be careful it is really hot.

 
You could stop here, but why not go for the whole shebang!

 

Three Word Thursday

My faith lives . . .

 

Lindsey's 1/2 Marathon Victory

This past Saturday was a day jam packed with all kinds of activity.  We started out at 7:00 am to see the start of the Olathe Marathon and 1/2 Marathon.  We had several friends running this year as well as Lindsey our oldest daughter.  The weather was in the 30's and in Kansas you can always count on a high wind.  Boy, the wind on Saturday was brutal.   When you are a spectator at one of these kinds of events the fun part is chasing your peeps around town and then waiting for them to pass before moving down the route to see them pass by again.  Having been crazy enough to run a 1/2 marathon myself, I know how important this kind of along the route support is.  We saw Lindsey at mile 3, 5, 7 and we missed her at 10 but caught up with her again at the finish.  She met her goal of under 2 hours, with a time of 1:59:38, finishing 112th of 516 female finishers.  Fantastic! 

Twenty-three years ago we had fear that she might not ever be able to walk normally.  Lindsey was born at 5lb. 2 oz. full-term.  Her little life started out with a few complications because of her low birth weight and not being able to put on weight like the doctors wanted her to.  But at three weeks, I took her in with a red, swollen leg.  It turned out she had a broken femur.  There was, and still is no explanation as to how this happen to my baby girl. 

 
My little girl who weighed less than 6 lbs at the time was in a full body cast for four weeks.  What a mess.  Trying to keep an infant clean and happy when you cannot even snuggle her like you want to was hard, not to mention the emotioal stuff that came along with this whole event.  We made it through that difficult time only to have her walk with a limp two years later.  After a couple of adjustments at a chiropractor, you would never know that she had ever had a broken leg.  The worries of yesterday, turned into the victory of today to see her achieve such a goal. We are so proud of you, Lindsey!

Three Word Thursday

Hail, damage, insurance . . .

 

 

 

 

J. Crew Ad, Seriouly?

I don't normally get caught up in contraversy like this, but seriously?  J. Crew's current ad that shows a little boy and his mom painting his toenails hot pink has become quite the talk of how kids "might" become confused with their identity.  Just stating upfront here, I would consider myself a conservative, christian, mid-western mom but I don't really think that painting a little boys toenails pink will in anyway determine his lifestyle choices for the future.  If you read my blog at all, you know that I am huge fan of pink, and I am not one to limit the color to my clothing, front door, or for females only.  Would there have been any discussion if the ad showed a dad and a little girl greasy from working on a car? Really, these folks cannot be serious when they take offense to J. Crew in this ad.  This layout for me simply shows a mom and her son spending time together and being a little creative.  I had no idea that nail polish was strong enough to change the identity of a small child.  Seriously?

"The Sweet By and By"

Over vacation I read a great book, The Sweet By and By, by Sara Evans.  I don't even remember where I heard of this book.  As I am a big library fan, when I see books or hear of them through friends, blogs, or TV, I just put them on my hold list through our public library.  I often have three or four books waiting for me on the pick up shelves at my library branch.  Sometimes, I am not sure of exactly what the books will be about because I have been waiting so long for them.  This book was a wonderful surprise, because not only was it a modern day story but one of grace, mercy and redemption.  Sara Evans is a singer/song writer and I really wasn't sure what to expect from a book.  But the story was one that any woman young and old can relate too. "All my songs tell a story. But this one's special.  My first novel. A story about Jade.  Her search for real love, her one-eyed mutt, hippie mother, and quirky vintage shop.  It's about looking backward while moving forward.  About chasing dreams, endless country roads, and tender faith.  A breath of fresh air that'll take you away and leave your heart humming a song of joy. -- Sara"

Hello, Hello, is Anyone Still Out There?

I am finally back home and back to blogging.  Let me just give you a quick run down of the last couple of weeks.  I started out my vacation by staying the night with my sister, Janet, who lives near the airport as our flight was out a 6:00am.  The video of me falling into the recycle bin was taken that evening as I was trying to get my suitcase in her house without scratching hercar.  Laughter ensued paralyzing me where I darn near wet my pants. The next morning my sister and I met our Mom in the Dallas airport as she was flying in from San Diego because she had been at her winter place in southern California.  The three of us then boarded a plane to Mexico City.  Once we landed in Mexico City we met up with my niece Amanda, who had been in Mexico for a couple of weeks and my sister Lori who was flying in from Seattle.  Wow, we were finally together and then made our way to Amanda's husband's hometown.  What a beautiful place.  Why were we there you ask?  Well, that Saturday we had the privilege to be a part of the Mexico portion of the Pablo and Amanda's wedding. 

 
 
We got to meet Pablo's family and friends and had a wonderful time not only at the party but also sightseeing in the area.  The Casanova family took great care of us and now we know why Amanda is in love with this man and his family.

 
On Tuesday, Mom, Janet and I left Mexico for home, however, rather than going back to Kansas City, Mom and I flew into San Diego and met Jeff, Anna and two of her sorority sisters who had driven out to Mom's place for Spring break.  We spent a day in San Diego and then headed to Niland, California were Mom spends her winter. 

 
Out at the "spa" we spend most of our time at the pool catching the sun that is not quite up to its warm self in Kansas.  Finally, Saturday morning we packed our car and Mom's car and headed for home.  What a Spring Break?  But now its back to reality and the crazy weather of Kansas City.