AdOrAtiOn

Madelynne was watching her daddy mow the lawn from the window. She turned to me and said, "Look at Daddy! He is so handsome!" "He is really BIG handsome!" So cute how much she adores her daddy.

M is for Madelynne and Mischief

It has been one of those days! Madelynne has managed to get into tons of mischief today. To name just a few things:

*trying to take prescription medications
*getting into Mommy's sewing supplies and cutting her finger with my rotary cutter
*taking crayons and coloring in her books
*getting into Mommy's makeup and smearing her face with mascara
*completely soaking her clothes and self by purposely dumping her sippy cup
*getting into the 'frig and cupboards multiple times to scrounge for food because one breakfast and one lunch are not enough (poor starving soul)

Now you may wonder where I was when all this was going on? Washing dishes, switching the laundry, making dinner, changing Jackson's diaper and assorted other daily chores. All while suffering from a major chest cold and wheezing. Let us hope we both make it to bedtime in one piece since Matt has a Mutual activity tonight. Wish me luck!

Raspberry Obsession on a Tasty Tuesday

I think it is safe to say my obsession started when I tasted the out of this world homemade raspberry ice cream with dark chocolate raspberry cups from Leo's (located in Pennsylvania). The obsession has only increased as I discovered the yummy recipe below for Raspberry Streusel Muffins. The latest in the obsession would be the Simply Raspberry Lemonade. Can you say addicting?




Raspberry Streusel Muffins
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup milk
½ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen

Streusel Topping:
½ cup flour
½ cup quick oats
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and beat until well blended. Stir dry ingredients together. Stir milk, sour cream, and vanilla into creamed mixture. Pour over dry ingredients and stir just until moist. Fold in raspberries. Pour batter into greased or paper-lined muffins cups. Combine topping ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Apple Streusel Muffins
Follow recipe for Raspberry Streusel Muffins, but add ½ teaspoon nutmeg and increase cinnamon to 1 teaspoon. Replace raspberries with 1 cup finely diced apples.

Amy Butler Groupie

Pictured left to right: Kristen, Amy Butler, Tanya (holding Lincoln)

That is right. You read correctly- Amy Butler! Last Friday I got to meet Amy Butler at a local quilt shop called Stitch Cleveland. She has the most incredible fabric line and patterns. Amy was so down to earth and friendly; talking to us all like we were old friends and showing us her new line of patterns and fabrics. I got her to sign my pattern for her Domestic Goddess apron. Now I am inspired to go sew something!

Easter

Easter was a fun day filled with tradition and sincere love of the Savior. Thankful hearts for His sacrifice for us and the knowledge that by Him and through Him we can live again with our families forever. We enjoyed our traditional ham dinner with carrot cake for dessert, the Easter bunny paid us a visit and we rounded out the Easter experience with a traditional egg hunt. That night after we put Madelynne in bed we heard her crying. When we went in her room to see what was wrong she said, "I miss the Easter bunny." We assured her there is always next Easter.

Eggs to Dye For!

We started with this...


added a little bit of this...


and ended up with these beauties!






Jackson played with his toys while we changed the eggies (in Madelynne's words) into works of art.



The two eggs I managed to color in the time it took Matt and Madelynne to color all the rest!




What a fun spring tradition of coloring Easter eggs! This is actually the first time Madelynne has ever done it, so it was especially exciting to try something new. Madelynne and Matt ending up coloring most of the eggs. I spent too much time "designing" my eggs and ending up only coloring two. We colored them as our FHE activity after having our Easter lesson. For great ideas for FHE lessons click here.

Gym and Swim

In preparation for the summer swimming season we enrolled Madelynne in a Gym and Swim class at the local YMCA. Madelynne is like a little fish-she loves to go swimming! After class is over each week she enjoys telling me all about how she got to swim like a mermaid. And the fact she gets to take the class with her best friend, Eve, makes it even more fun. The only thing that could make the experience better is if Ariel showed up to swim with her!