Oatmeal Cookie Dough + M&M's = Yummy!!

 I can't believe it is the first week of April...

the year is definitely flying by faster than I would like it to!  I'm excited to finally have my entry shelf decorated with Easter/Spring decor.

'Tis the week of coloring eggs, 

 enjoying the sunshine and walks around the block, 

and LONGER days with more sun at the end of the day.  

It's noticing 

 the trees starting to leaf/bud, 

tulips/perennials starting to sprout, 

enjoying the music of the birds chirping 

and the excitement of planning what you're going to plant in your garden.

I LOVE spring time SO much!

 While I don't make fancy Easter Treats,  

or amazing things like you see in the world of Pinterest,  

I do usually buy a holiday bag of M&M's and add them to my Oatmeal Cookie Dough to add some festiveness to spring time!

They always are a hit every time we make them up!

M&M's are a treat that doesn't grace our home too often, so to get to enjoy them in cookies is a welcome sight to my hubby and kids! 

(that is, if we can keep Ethan from devouring the bag 

before it gets made into cookies!)

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cube REAL butter (1/2 cup)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups unbleached flour

½ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup Old Fashioned Oats (enough to make a nice dough)

(add in your choice of chocolate chips, chocolate/butterscotch chips mixed, M&M’s, raisins, or Gumdrops cut into little pieces)

Cream together sugar and butter.
Add egg, vanilla, salt and soda.
Then add flour and oatmeal.
Then add in your choice of chocolate chips, M&M’s, raisins or gumdrops.  (about 1 cup of whatever you choose)

Mix well
Roll into balls and put on greased cookie sheet. (if dough is a little sticky, roll into balls and then put in the fridge to chill for 3-4 minutes before baking)
Bake in 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

HELPFUL HINT:  
The way to get a truly dense and rich cookie, is when you remove the cookies from the cookie sheet, and put them to cool is to "Smash" them down.

(see original post about this here) 

Happy Easter Week!
I hope it's full of everything that brings 

JOY to you and your family 

at this wonderful time of the year! 

Groundhog day was PERFECT!!

I can't believe it was Groundhog day again!  

It seems like we were just celebrating this FUN day! (here)

I have to say that from start to finish, 

Groundhog day 2012 was PERFECT 

and full of many LITTLE moments  

that are the ones that make life so BIG!!  

...It started out with getting exercise as I got to enjoy the "Earth Gym" as I shoveled the snow off our driveway!

...we had a wonderful visit with Ethan's teacher at Parent Teacher Conference. 

 He is excelling SO much and she even told us that he is a leader in his class and kids look up to him. It was such a great feeling knowing your kids  are on the right track and doing well in life!

...The sun filled our home with such cool shadows,

...we had another amazing sunset AND I got to enjoy a walk with my sweetie around our block, holding hands, laughing and talking while we enjoyed the sunset until it was no longer there

...We enjoyed the yummiest BUTTERNUT SQUASH casserole for dinner (here)

and had more Chocolate Marshmallow cookies for dessert! (here)

AND, our favorite...

we got all cozy on our sectional and watched "Groundhog Day" 

and had SO many great laughs together as a family!

Happy February!!
Looking forward to one of my favorite months of the year 

because of all of the LOVE,  

Romance, hearts, Valentines, 

and PINK and RED colors that are SO abundant..

The Joy of Creativity!

Creativity… 

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.  

No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

Everyone can create. 

You don't need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. .

What you create doesn't have to be perfect. . .   

Don't let the voices of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it."  
(Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

I was not raised in a creative home…
 my mom took her sewing to the sewing lady and if she needed an idea for a handout, she paid someone to help her do it. She didn’t have a lot of confidence to branch out and TRY anything new!
(sad to say she still doesn't) 

It makes me sad to think about how she was
and I wish she would have had this quote from President Uchtdorf, to inspire her to have a YES, I can attitude!    
I still remember being a teenager and hating to see her spending her hard earned money to have someone make something for her and then telling her “Let me try and help you with making a cute handout for the girls in your Young Women’s class”.
I remember feeling so much JOY as I created something awesome.   

There is nothing that brings more satisfaction than to look back and at something and say to yourself 
“WOW, I made that, 
I created that with my own two hands”! 

What a blessing the blogging world has been in my life 
because it has been such a FUN creative outlet for me.

I married into a family FULL of creativity and I myself, have always felt a little inadequate…
I can’t draw or doodle and I definitely have the world's worst handwriting, I can’t look at a photo and paint a wall in zebra stripes, I can’t sew, I don’t throw amazing out of this world parties that have every detail PERFECT, I can’t play the piano by ear and the list goes on.

However, 
I have always had a yearning and desire 
to be as creative as I can…
 I love to make homemade cards, I love to wrap a gift in a fun, creative way,  
I love to make my home “festive” for the holidays,  
I can bake and cook and be creative in the kitchen, 
I can be creative with the way I take photos and present them,  
I can be creative in the way I plant and grow things in my yard and garden AND, 
I can always bring a SMILE to a friend or strangers each time I meet them.

It’s funny how the desire to create is in us and how when life gets hectic and crazy and you don’t have time to create, how there is a truly a VOID in your life. 
That has been the case this past few months…non-stop dealing with all of the curve balls that life throws at you.  I have missed being creative and I can’t tell you how much JOY it brought to my life to finally have a few moments to pull up my boxes and decorate my entry shelf for fall. I had yet another moment of FUN, when we pulled out all of the Halloween decorations.
Ethan was SO excited as he pulled each little thing out of the box and talked about the memories he had of the decorations.
He was thrilled when he saw it all creatively put together!

Creativity really is just seeing a pile of various objects 
and bringing them together.
Such was the case with my latest creative endeavor.

Tracy has been obsessed with Pinterest
and all of the wonderful “eye candy” there is to enjoy there.
I have seen so many cool centerpieces
that have used various treats of the season to fill their jars with.

 I got looking at the branches from the Memory Lane Tree
from our anniversary celebration and thought it would be fun
to fill a glass jar with candy corn,
fill the vase with the branches that I had painted black
and then to hang photos from Halloween Past all over it.

Sure enough, it all came together great…
even BETTER than I had thought it would and this 
FUN thing is what is now gracing our dinner table for the next month.

SO, fun, 
SO easy 
and something that ANYONE  
could put together!!

Feel the JOY that comes from taking a pile of random things and  
C-R-E-A-T-I-N-G 
 something wonderful and beautiful to display and enjoy in your home,
office or wherever else you would like.

 Happy Weekend...
Whatever it is you are doing, have fun creating something wonderful today!

Some Happy Things in my Life!

3:45 in the morning 
on August 31st,
 we heard cracking thunder outside our windows and the sky kept lighting up with some of the brightest lightning I have ever seen.
It awoke Tracy and I from our nightly slumber and we knew that any moment we would have kids bursting through our doors to join us!  Sure enough, Ethan and Jade came running in shortly after we made that comment and Ethan hopped right in our bed in the middle of us and snuggled in.
It felt like a moment from “The Sound of Music”. 

He was quite nervous. 

We sat there all cuddled together and watched and listened for the next hour as we experienced the craziest storm ever...which included hail and rain and we even  got up and went to our front porch and enjoyed watching the hail pummel down.

I had the words to this song going through my mind all day long …

”When the dog bites, when the bees sting, when I’m feeling bad. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel…So bad!!

Here are some of my FAVORITE moments from the month of August that brought many SMILES, JOY and HAPPINESS to my life!
   
FAMILY moments and simple pleasures 
are truly the things that bring my life the most happiness!

BEAUTY...
I am surrounded by such an abundance of beauty where we live.  Right across the road from our driveway is a field of horses.  The sunset was perfect this night I snapped this photo.  I truly never tire of the changing colors of the morning/night sky. I treasure and enjoy each sunset that I am able to experience!

My kids arrived home safe and sound from my parents house.
It is always a bitter/sweet time sending my kids to my parents.  I love that they get lots of ONE on ONE with my parents, but I am always a little nervous and hope that they don’t get in an accident while driving.    
It’s truly one of my most joyous moments of the year,
when I see my kids drive up after their visit and to hug and kiss them and to know that they are home with me once again safe and sound! 

“I am the one and only”…
LOVE this song! 
(here to listen to it)
Tracy is always surprising me by purchasing songs on iTunes
and then coming home and hooking his iPhone up to our speakers and playing the newly purchased songs and surprising me with them while I’m getting dinner ready.  
This song always makes me smile  
and I haven’t heard it for years.  
While the kids were at my parents house for a few days, Tracy loaded 
“Doc Hollywood” on our NETFLIX and we watched this together.  
Can I just say how much I LOVE that show…
such a good show with a wonderful message!
It makes me both laugh AND cry!  Michael J. Fox is "The One and Only" and is definitely one of my all time favorite actors and plays the perfect character in this film!   
I could watch this film weekly and never tire of it.

LOVE NOTES…
 after a long hectic summer, I came home to an
open notebook on my counter with such a heartfelt note from Tracy… 
these notes mean more to me than any store bought gift!
These words touched my heart greatly to think how much I am loved and adored by my hubby.

(Click here for our FUN happy adventure of making tie-dye shirts and picking Huckleberries…these two moments definitely are at the top of the list of HAPPY moments for me in August)

Cross Country…

 Tis the time of year to head out and enjoy the weather and watch Jade run at his Cross Country meets…
  
I enjoy this time of year SO much and I love cheering Jade on from the sidelines while he runs.   
 He is awesome and ran such a great race this past week.

(I’m always amazed when I glance over at the team before a race and they are all kneeling down in a circle with arms folded and saying a prayer).   I’m also amazed at how NICE and kind all of his team members are to him.  He may be one of the slowest runners on the team, but he has one of the biggest fan clubs of anyone!

I spent a few days in August scanning in photos
from Tracy’s photo albums and his family’s photo albums  and every time I see a photo of Tracy when he was younger it just makes me melt looking at what an adorable little kid my handsome hubby used to be.   

Feeling so extremely blessed that our lives crossed paths 
during our college days and that I get to be the 
lucky one that got to marry him!

Eating lunch with Ethan at school…
 it’s amazing how such a little thing like going and eating lunch with kids is, but it is SO big to them!!  I'm savoring that he still takes my hand and walks with me down the hall when I come to the school to visit him and that he is excited to show me off to his friends. I'm sure once he gets in middle school next year things will be totally different.  What a priceless treasure these sweet moments in time are!     

Ethan devouring the Harry Potter series books… 

in the past month he has read the first four books and just started the 5th one.
He is an “action mode” kid and I love 
 that he has to have a wand in his hand
(that he cut and carved with his new knife he bought)
while he reads his books.
(anytime he comes across a spell in the book he has to 
hold his wand and say the spell…
truly priceless!)

 He has definitely caught the reading bug!!  
I am just sad he is growing up too fast. 
He reads every spare second he gets (there is many a lunch/dinner time, when he can't put down his books long enough to eat) AND anytime we go anywhere in the car, he takes his books with.
He is SO adorable and makes me SMILE lots with his enthusiasm and zest for life!

 It cracks me up when I see him squatting when he reads and sometimes when he eats. 
He could seriously sit like this for hours and it is comfy to him!!!

It was a joyous day when I finally got Easter taken down from my entry shelf and YAY, I actually have Fall/Autumn decorations up for us to enjoy this next season.
I love FALL...
love the crispness in the air, the color ORANGE, the gorgeous colors of the changing leaves, pumpkin patches, straw and corn mazes, hay rides, caramel apples and all of the many other things that come with Autumn Time...
love the yummy baking of apple pie, pumpkin muffins and cookies, spiced cider, meal in a pumpkin and bowls of hot chili...


SO grateful for the abundance of little things
in my life that make it so BIG!!
Happiness is NOT a new beautiful house with all of the latest trends,
or a new shiny car, or new clothes, or home decor...

HAPPINESS is... taking time to appreciate all
of life's "Simple Treasures & Pleasures"
Happiness is... enjoying wonderful experiences
& relationships with family and friends  
and
Happiness is... "Loving the Life You Have"!