I'm Back!

~C~ 

Hey Y'all! So sorry it's been so long since I've done a post! My September was CRAZY!! We took a beach trip, but had to leave early and rush to a different state because of a family emergency! So it was defiantly a busy, busy time!

Anyway, HAPPY FALL!! I love fall! I like to see the leaves turn colors, I love pumpkin spiced things (which are everywhere in the fall!), and of course it's full on gingerbread season so that makes me excited too! Plus Thanksgiving!

I thought I would give you a recipe for pumpkin muffins:

Ingredients:

1 small sugar pumpkin, seeded
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 Tsp. baking soda
1/2 Tsp. baking powder
2 Tsp. ground cloves
2 Tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tsp. ground allspice
1 Tsp. salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Split pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and strings. Place on a baking sheet, cut side down. Cook in the oven for about 90 minutes (1 1/2 hours) Remove pumpkin pulp and puree in the blender. Measure out about 2 cups of the pumpkin puree and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. In a separate bowl beat the pumpkin, oil and eggs. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and scoop into muffin cups. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes.

You can also spray and loaf pan and make pumpkin bread.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and have a great fall!!




See y'all next time!
~C~

Friendship Day!

Hey Everyone! It's ~O~ here! I haven't been able to post in a LONG time! My summer has been VERY crazy! I'm sure many of ya'll have experienced busy summer's as well!  With school starting back....its also been busy with music, sports and many other things!  Im not sure about you guys....but we started school a few weeks ago!  It feels good getting back into the swing of things! 

~C~ recently posted about Friendship Day and talked about different types of "friend groups" and how special having a friend is along with some cute friendship quotes that she enjoys!

I would like to talk about the importance of who your friends are and some quotes about friendship that i like!!

Ok, well...I have SO many close and special friends including ~C~!  One of my favorite things to do after a busy or long day is to just chat with friends wether it be over texting, email, social media or face time/phone call!  I feel that its SO important who your friends are because Godly friends have the power to upbuild you, help you, pray for you, love you unconditionally whereas unbelievers (people that choose to go the way of the world) often can be a bad influence doing things such as using bad language, dressing immodestly, watching things that aren't wholesome, tear you down and many other things.  And....I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't hang out with "non-believers" because you can be a witness to them and share the love of Jesus with them!   The Bible says many things about friendship such as these verses (which are some of my personal favorite friendship verses):

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Provers 27:17 

"The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray." Proverbs 12:26 

Here are some of my favorite friendship quotes!

After School Snacks

~C~ 

Hey y'all! Hope you're having a great week! I know that a lot kids around the country are getting ready to start school back soon or have already started back. I thought it might be fun to share some fun after school snack ideas.

The first on is a banana tree. Now, I don't like banana's but I do/help with  VBS snacks at our church and one of the things that we did this year for the little kids was a banana tree. Peel the banana, cut up and apple for the leaves or branches and then sprinkle raisins on top. You could attach the apples to the banana with peanut butter but we didn't because so many kids have peanut allergies.

Another fun one is 2 slices of apple and mini marshmallows. Make sure the apple is red, spread peanut butter on one side of both apple slices and place mini marshmallows in between the apples. It makes them look like teeth!

Another one is trail mix, go to the grocery store one day a week and buy your favorite things to put in trail mix. For me, that would be pretzels, M&M's, craisins, peanuts, toasted chex cereal with seasoned salt (toasting bagel chips with this is yummy too) , and cashews. Mix up in a big bowl and put a serving in 5 little snack sized bags and they're already made up for the whole school week. (Monday-Friday) This is a sack that you might make on Saturday or Sunday.

Another make ahead snack is granola. At my house we don't really have a recipe for it. We use oats, chocolate chips, craisins,  flax seed (not much), slivered almonds and honey. Put in the oven at about 300 or 350 let it roast for a couple of minutes and then get it out stir it around and then put it back in for another couple minutes. Let it cool and place in snack sized zip lock bags for the week.

Laughing cow cheese... where do I start? This stuff is so good!! I love to put it in tomato soup, on my quesadillas, on grilled cheese, I have quite a long list that I could go on about. But for a snack... putting laughing cow cheese on fresh vegetables is so good! I use the creamy swiss garlic and herb. (It's in the purple package)  

Just plain fresh fruit is also a very good snack!!

Ham and cheese roll ups (again laughing cow cheese is perfect for this!)

Fruit smoothies are really good too! When we make them in our house we use Greek yogurt, frozen berries, frozen cherries, frozen peaches, cranberry juice and Juice Plus vanilla compete powder. We don't really have measurements we just do it until it looks right. It so good and refreshing! Of course you could always add frozen bananas to it or what ever kind of fruit you want but that's just what we usually put in ours. We usually have them for breakfast but they would can also make a good snack or you could use it as a substitute for a milkshake too.

I hope you enjoyed these ideas for after school snacks (or snacks for anytime really)! See ya next time! ~C~

Let's talk about Friendship

~C~

Hey Y'all! Since tomorrow is Friendship Day I thought it would be appropriate to talk about friendship. We all have have friends right? Some closer than others... Yes, that would be true. Some live in other states, some live in different towns, some go to different schools or churches. But you're still friends. Most of us have a group of friends that if we need to talk about something or share something with them that's going on with you that is who you go to. I mean friendship is a very important thing! It's having someone to laugh with you, talk with you, even sometimes cry with you. Yes, family does this too but, this is someone outside the family. Now, some friends can be so close that you call them family even though their not blood related. I have several very dear and close friends that I see as adopted family. An adopted grandma, adopted sisters, adopted aunts and uncles, etc.  I have kinda of classified different "friend groups."

1. Acquaintances... people you might know and say hello to in the grocery store but that's about it... You really don't do very much with them and might not really know them that well.

2. Friends... People that you might do a little more with. Maybe go out to dinner together on occasion or something like that but you're not super super close.

3. Good Friends... A person who is loyal in the friendship and you do a little bit more with. Not to say that the friends aren't loyal but the good friends have had more of an opportunity to show it.

4. Best Friends!... They sometimes have you wondering "What would I do without them?"  You share a lot of memories with them. They can work with you, be goofy with you and you can be honest with them... If something is bothering you and you want to share it with somebody it might be one of your best friends. This is really probably the group  I was talking about earlier that we talk to the most often and share things with. They laugh with you, cry with you, ect.

5. The Bestest Friend!... There is usually only one very rarely is there more. They sum up all the friendships above and more.

What do all these people have in common or at least 4 out of 5 have in common? Your trust. Hopefully you trust your friends. I think it's very important that I be able to trust my friends and I do. I want to be able to tell them something and know it's not going to go all the way around the world. Sometimes trust can be broken... When it is it hurts and takes a long time to heal and be made right again. When your trust has been broken not only does it make you very very cautious around the person that broke your trust with them  but it can also make you cautious around the others that didn't break your trust. Being careful to not trust someone to quickly is actually a good thing. If you trust someone to quickly it can sometimes lead to your trust being broken more quickly. Not always... but sometimes.

I have a very dear friend that only lives a couple of hours away that I only get to see a couple times a year. A couple other really good friends that live out of state. Yes, not seeing them but once a year is challenging... But when you do get to see each other it makes you so happy and grateful! Thank goodness for emails, phone calls, texting, normal mail and face-time!

Anyway, I think that Friendship Day is a perfect time to celebrate your friends. The ones that live in your town, go to your church, go to your school, live in your neighborhood, the ones that live in different states, the ones that live a few hours away and the ones that you don't get to see very often. Let them know that you care about them. Give them a hug, send them a text, give them a call or even better send them a card! Thank them for being there for you! For the ones you don't get to see very often or live far away... tell them you miss them. Thank them for putting up with your crazy silly ideas. I mean we know everybody has them! :) Really just thank them for being them and being your friend.

 


I hope y'all have a great day!
~C~

DIY Picture Frame:

~C~

Hey y'all! We're SO sorry you haven't heard from us in awhile. ~O~ is on vacation this week and I've been crazy busy. But I'm back today! On to the picture frame!

A couple days ago I was in Belk and saw this pretty wall art frame thing that you could clip pictures to. I looked at the price tag.. it was about $40. I figured that I could make one... not exactly like it but pretty close. Where it used wood I used a canvas that I had at home. I also had the paint I needed. So all I had to buy was some mini clips and the pictures I wanted to use.

The canvas I used was 20x16. I wouldn't suggest going any smaller. You can only fit 5 pictures on  the 20x16. So, anyway I painted the canvas a brown-gray color. I would also recommend doing a couple coats. The paint I used dries really quickly so after about 10 minutes I was able to do the second coat. But you can deter-main that based on your paint. After you have put on your second or third coat of paint and let it dry really good  take a pencil and draw a tree or or half a tree coming onto the canvas. When you are satisfied with the tree paint it white. You'll defiantly need to do at least 3 coats of the white. Let that dry overnight. In the morning glue the mini clips to the canvas. You can use any kind on mini clips you want... just not paper clips. I used mini close pens. I used quick- dry glue so that I could put my pictures on later the same day.

Also pick out your favorite quote (preferably a short one so you can fit it on the canvas). The quote I used was "We didn't know we were making memories,We just knew we were having fun!" Pencil it in first  and then go over it with a black sharpie. You can use any quote you want, but for what I was doing that worked one worked really well! I just about put one on there that said " The secret to having it all is knowing you already do".

 I ordered more pictures than I can fit on the canvas so I can switch them out every now and then. Size 4x6 works really well. I hope you've enjoyed this!

Here's the one I made.

Until next time!
~C~

My Gingerbread Story Part 2:

~C~

Hey y'all! Sorry it's taken me so long to do part 2!! We had a family emergency that has caused me to be out of town for a week. Thankfully everyone is okay!

On to part 2!

So I told you in part one (Click here to read it) that we didn't get anywhere in the competition. Which was okay because... well we didn't have a clue what we were doing. We were just learning. A year past and it was July/August of 2013 and my friend and I decided we wanted to enter again this year. So we decided that we would do "Christmas at Grandma's Cabin". We were going to make a cabin with a front porch, chimney, outhouse, dogs, a pond and snow covered ground. We began working on the project... just the two of us. Two girls, a whole lot of sugar and a whole lot of work can call for a lot of giggling and laughing! That is for sure! I mean you just "have" to test the icing to make sure it's good whether anybody's gonna eat it or not. We worked and worked and WORKED on that thing 3 days a week if not more until the finial week it was everyday of the week! The thought "What it the roof falls in like it did last year?!" crossed our mind more than once! By the last day it was 7:00 and there was still a little work that needed to be done! So we put it in fuller than full gear and got it done! We were so proud of ourselves! "Good job Ole' Pal of mine!" She said patting me on the back. "Yep! Good job Ole' Pal of mine!" I agreed patting her on the back too.  Now... If we can just get this up the mountain without anything going wrong it will be a great day! We got it up there with no trouble at all... other than I was nervous that something would go wrong. Well... everything was going great until it started raining. The gingerbread soaks in moister and can cause harm to the piece. Thankfully we got it inside without anything going wrong! I set it on the judging table and took one last look before I left the room. Because when you set you piece on the table that's it! You don't see it again until the next night around 5:30 and when you enter the room you aren't aloud to go see you piece you have to sit in your seat until you are either called to the top 10 or until around 8:30 when the ceremony is finally over. It's tough because you want to go see your piece and check on but... You can't. Anyway, I left the room and went to eat dinner and finish the rest of the night. The next day (the day of the judging) I do get nervous. I mean there's gonna be at least 450 people at the ceremony, plus local news and people from the New York Times. So that's kinda nerve racking for me. That night we sat through the kids division and they were all so cute! A lot of them dressed in little chefs hats (adorable!) and the little girls with their gingerbread men dresses. Then came time for the youth division... and my nerves start again. Oh dear! My friend was so excited! She was squeezing my arm pretty good too. Haha! :) Then the lady called "Top ten winner Y-608. The Happy Homeschooling Girls!" We got up, went to stand with our piece. The people came to where we were picked up out piece and took it up front to where the "Youth Top Ten Table" was. The rest of the ceremony proceeded... we didn't get in the top 3 that year but we were very happy with the outcome!

So on came June/July/August of 2014 and yet again we were trying to figure out what the plan was for the 2014 gingerbread entry. We deiced on doing a gingerbread tree that soon became known as "Nutmouse Tree House"! We couldn't wait to get started! My friend had gotten a horse since the last time we had entered so she was very busy with him but helped as much as she could! I worked on it everyday from morning until evening! Now some of you might be wondering "How in the world did she make a tree out of gingerbread?" The answer is rather simple.. Very slowly and steadily. Don't rush with anything when you're doing gingerbread. You'll regret it later! Soon I had a tree with two stories on the inside. A bedroom upstairs with a bed, nightstand with a candle on top and a picture of the most famous mouse of all hanging on the wall (Mickey of course!) Downstairs was a kitchen table with a bowl of apple-seeds on it, two chairs, a rug and a side table with a candle. Everything you put in the gingerbread creations has to be 100% edible. The outside of the tree had a tire swing, a pond, a garden, fall leaves, a garden, Grandma Nutmouse, Grandpa Nutmouse and Junior Nutmouse, Grandpa was busy gardening, Grandma had spent her day seed gathering and baking, and Junior was on his was to the pond to do some fishing. Can you imagine the sigh of relief that I heaved when we finally got it to the Grove Park Inn?! I left the room as usual when I set it on the table. I thought about that tree all night, and the whole next day until I got into that room and saw that everything was okay! I was just as nervous that night has I had been the past two years. My friend was right there beside me in her seat. "What's our number again?" She asked "Y-617" I replied a little shakily. They went through the child's division first (as always). Then came time for the youth division. They called out a few numbers including the number right before ours "Y-616". So I thought "Well, we did our best and that's all we could ask for." Then came "Top ten winner number Y-617. Team Happy Homeschooling Girls" Oh my word!! I couldn't believe it!!  We went to the youth top ten table and waited for the top three winners to be announced in our category. They started with third place... I was for sure we wouldn't get in the top three! Just as that thought crossed my mind they called "Fist Place winner Y-617. Team Happy Homeschooling Girls." I couldn't believe it! We just won first place in a national commotion!! We went out to celebrate later with dinner.

This year 2016 will be my second year competing in the teen category. I competed last year too. I entered "Glamping VW style." It was my first year competing in the teen category and it's a whole new ball game! I didn't get in the top ten or place anything but it was fun anyway!! I can't wait to see how this years project turns out!! I can't tell you what I'm doing just yet but I will when I can!


I hope you have enjoyed my gingerbread story! Have a great week!

~C~

                                                                                 2013

2014

A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler!

Hey Guys! It's ~O~ today! I wanted to share with you what it is like being a homeschooler! Many people think homeschoolers are socially awkward, over protected and missing out on important things in life. It's actually the complete opposite!

This is my 8th year doing homeschool, I enjoy every minute of it! Because I have extra time during the day, I am able to take harp, piano and violin lessons which I am VERY thankful for! Now please don't hear me wrong, I respect Public and Private schools very much! As a matte of fact, I have many, many close friends who choose not to do homeschool....but I love and respect each of the dearly!

My family does a homeschool program called "Classical Conversations." It is very beneficial! Foundations (Pre-K- 6 grade) does 12 weeks in the fall and 12 weeks in the spring. Challenge (7-12 grade) does 15 weeks during the fall and 15 weeks during the spring. Foundations covers Math, Latin, Science, History, Geography and Timeline. They also offer a writing class (4-6 grade) that is very helpful!  I am so thankful that we are a part of Classical Conversations! I have made so many tight friendships and learned so many things and for that I am so grateful!

During a normal homeschooling day, I will get up, start school by 9, cover all my new grammar from CC, do my math workbook, practice music and do writing assignments from Essentials.  I normally finish around 1:30/2:00!

Hope you all learned something about homeschool! ~O~

My Favorite Vacation Spots

Hey! It's ~O~! I wanted to share with ya'll 3 of my favorite vacation spots!

1. Disney Cruise~ Disney Cruise's are AMAZING! It's relaxing, fun, entertaining, family friendly, the food is delicious and well prepared, the shows are appropriate for all ages and you make stops along the way....such as the Bahamas', Disney's private island, Castaway Kay and many more places! Disney has 4 ships: Disney Wonder, Disney Magic, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy! They are in the process of building 2 more ships as well!

(Disney Dream at Castaway Kay)

 

 

2. Destin, Florida~ Destin, FL is truly breathtaking!  Clear water, white sand and much more! That is one of my favorite places to vacation!

 



 

 

 

 

3. By the lake~ I live on the lake! It's so peaceful yet exciting and fun! My family enjoys jet skiing, water skiing, tubing, eating at our local marina and just relaxing together!

 

 



My Gingerbread Story... Part 1

~C~

Hey Y'all! I hope you are doing well this week! Today I thought I would post my "gingerbread story". Now some of you might be thinking "What in the world is she talking about?!". Let me explain. A few weeks ago I did the blog post about Easter Cookies. (See it Here) I told you that I LOVE to bake!! Whether it's cookies, brownies, cream puffs, eclairs, cake, etc. I love it! But, I also love entering a gingerbread project in the National Gingerbread House competition every year in November. Ok, On to the story:

So about 4 years ago I was in a home-school history group. There was about 7 kids so it wasn't too big but, we were getting ready to study Germany and of course gingerbread is partly from Germany. One of the suggested projects was to build a gingerbread house. (From the box) I remembered my parents and grandparents taking me to a place called the Grove Park Inn when I was about 4 years old. (I have a very good memory) Anyway, I was absolutely fascinated with all the pieces of art! So when it came time to do the gingerbread house project I told my Mom "Mom, why don't we take it to the competition??"  she said "You mean take the box kit to the competition?" "No, like make it from scratch to the competition!". Now, I am not a competitive person unless it's gingerbread season. (Or I'm playing UNO with my Dad.) I think I shocked my Mom because of the fact that I am not competitive. But, she agreed to talk with the other Moms about it and if they said it was ok then it was ok with her! Now, you have to understand we had NO clue what we were doing! We didn't have a recipe for the gingerbread (unless we used the actual bread kind but that wouldn't work.) So were searched and searched for one until we came across one that we thought would work. Our theme was going to be "The Gift of Christmas" It was supposed to look like a box that had been punched open on Christmas morning with the Manger scene inside. We made multiple, multiple trips to Walmart for fondant, flour, sugar, twizzlers, food coloring, edible spray paint, etc.

We worked so hard on that thing! About two days a week to start with, three days when it got closer and then four days a week and finally on the last week before we had to take it we work from Monday-Friday. When we got that thing done we were SO proud of it!! Well... the MORNING we supposed to take it we got a phone call from the Mom's house it was staying at. She said that her daughter went downstairs to check on it as soon as she woke up and the roof had collapsed. OH NO! What were going to do?! We didn't have an extra roof laying around anywhere! So while the other daughter and myself were trying to keep from loosing our mind we went over to their house at 7:45 in the morning. We got over their and we were going crazy! We don't have gingerbread dough made, we don't have an extra roof, we have to leave between 12:00 - 1:00 in the afternoon and it was already 8:00! That means we have to make more dough, cut out the new roof, bake it, let it cool, put it on the project and cover it to make it look like the rest of the piece! Oh, and did I mention that my Mom and I hadn't packed? Needless to say we probably looked like chickens running around with our heads cut off! Haha!! But it all worked out and we were able to take it that afternoon. Whew! Of course, we didn't get anywhere in the competition but we had a BLAST doing it!


PART 2 COMING SOON......

Things on my Bucket List + My Favorite Holidays!

Hello Everyone! It's ~O~ here! It's been forever since I've posted anything...LOL! Hope you all have been doing well! It seems like the "fast forward" button has been hit on 2016! Is it really almost May?!?? Where oh where does the time go? I thought today I might share a few things on my bucket list and my favorite holidays and why! (I know it's a bit random...HAHA!)

My bucket list:

1. Go on a missions trip~ I'm thinking and praying about going on one to China!
2. Travel to all 7 continents
3. Travel to all 50 states
4. Have lots of kids~ Maybe around 12
5. Go visit the Northern Lights
6. Donate my hair to Locks of Love or Pantene
7. Read the entire Bible
8. Lead someone to Christ
9. Own a grand piano
10. Learn sign language
11. Be a harp teacher
12. Ride in a hot air balloon

My favorite holidays are:

Christmas~ Because we celebrate Jesus' birthday!
My Birthday~ Because I get to celebrate the day I was born!
Valentine's Day~ Because we can show our love and appreciation to people we love.
Easter~ Because Jesus rose from the grave and HE IS ALIVE!