The World’s Easiest Cookies March 21, 2012

When I am feeling a bit blue, I like to try and bless others…just makes me feel better.

I personally feel like baked goods could change the world 🙂  Maybe not the actual baked goods themselves, but maybe the kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity that comes with the giving of baked goods.  So to encourage you to give the gift of goodies, I present to you The World’s Easiest Cookies.  My SIL Kim gave me this recipe a while back.

Did you read that?  That’s it.  Too easy, in fact maybe even too too easy.

You can use any cake mix flavor you like…the possibilities are endless, but one of my favorites is Devil’s Food.

Mix that crazy short list of ingredients together.

Then add any extra yummy goodness…I love white chocolate chips with the Devil’s Food chocolate, but again, the possibilities are endless.  Think about it…chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, caramel chips, Heath bars…any crunched up candy for that matter…like I said, endless.

And bake.  Done, done and triple done.

For those sweet looking chocolate chip cookies, I just used a yellow cake mix and chocolate chips.  Easy as pie.

Now I think you should bake up a batch and share.  Remember baked goods could change the world 🙂

And here are 4 things that make me smile:

1)  Susan and Sol sporting their matching Batman tees.

2) Harper’s new $3 and $5 lunch boxes for her up and coming kindergarten year.

3)  My new fuzzy mustache key chain.

4)  And Harper’s new anchor tee.  My friend Jess has given me a new love for the color navy…she would be proud.

Happy Wednesday!

You’re Gonna Rattle The Stars March 20, 2012

Thanks so much to everyone who entered our 16 Months Waiting Art Giveaway…you are all too kind.

And the winner is…

#57 Jami Shull (@jamishull).  Super congrats Jami.  I sent you an email, but it kicked back to me, so shoot me an email and I’ll get your canvas in the mail asap.

And today it has been 4 months since Mom passed away.  I hate that I have these little death anniversaries all marked in my calendar…and not just her’s, but others too.  Harper and Huddy are in MDO today, so Sol and I ran some errands.  At Walmart I was looking through the cards and saw this one.  Mom would have loved this and I would have totally bought it for her.

While at Walmart, Sol and I found the most amazing shirt & it was only $4.

I have been looking high and low for him a Batman tee since before his birthday…I thought it would have been easy to find, but for some reason it wasn’t.  Sol was thrilled to say the least.  When we went out to the car to leave, I opened his door and let him in while I loaded our bags in the back.  When I came back around to his door to buckle him in his seat…there he was…taking his shirt off.

He apparently needed to wear his new Batman tee immediately…if not sooner.

I like him…like a lot.

We then headed to Joanns to pick up a few new fabrics.  I am in some major love with this one.  I love the navy with the bright colors.

I will be making something for Harper for sure with this.  She will love it.

The 20th is always just really sad for me.  And yesterday was a really hard day.  One thing no one prepared me for was the grief my kids would have.  Sol and Huddy not nearly as much as Harper, but even Huddy has moments where he just breaks down and absolutely sobs.  When we ask him what’s wrong he either says one of two things…1)  I don’t know or 2) I miss Grammy.  Sol says his “I miss Grammy” quote every now and then, but Harper is definitely just down right pitiful.  Even still she has days when she just cries her little eyes out.  Grammy and her were best friends and Mom knew her better than anyone, other than Josh and me.  Harper had this really special relationship with Mom and it’s very hard to watch her grieve.

I’m madly in love with that picture.

Last night Harper had her first soccer practice of the season.  Before we left, Harper asked if I would give her a quarter for every goal she scored this year.  Until that moment, I had completely forgotten that Mom had done that last season for her.  It took me by surprise.  And of course, I told her I would gladly carry on Grammy’s Quarter For Every Goal.

While they were practicing one of her teammates grandmothers was coming down to the field.  The mom yelled to get the grandmother’s attention, “Grammy.  Grammy.” and waved her hands wildly in the air.  Silly enough, it made my heart drop and my eyes immediately went to Harper and I watched as she whipped her head around fast to look for this “Grammy”.  She immediately looked back at me and I just waited to see what was going to happen.  She stopped playing and just looked at me…it looked like tears were coming.  I yelled to encourage her to keep playing and she did.  It took her a minute, but she held it together.  I was proud of her.

I saw this quote a while back on Pinterest, but I didn’t pin it, just wrote it down.  I thought about it first this morning.  It is beyond fitting for Mom.  She definitely rattled the stars…changed the world…left a legacy…and left this amazing stamp on our lives.  The one thing I will continue to strive for myself is to do the same.  I want to rattle the stars too.  And one better, I want my kids to do the same.  We talk about how madly amazing Grammy was every single day.  After Harper’s soccer practice was over and we were home…boys in bed…and I was putting Harper to bed and she asked if I would just lay with her and tell her things me and Grammy did together.  So I did just that.  It was a nice bedtime chat.

So even though days are still hard, we have this great assurance that Mom indeed left us with wonderful memories and that she changed our lives.  She was a star rattler at its best.

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Likes March 19, 2012

Things I liked about the weekend…in no particular order…

That our wheat grass needs a trim.

New cookies in our cookie jar.

Macaroni for a snack & my Aunt Linda’s bowl that held it.

Topless boys eating their macaroni snack.

A memorial art piece for my friend Courtney’s mom Sandra.  I adore this family.

McDonald’s picnic at the park.

Skinny, stick arms on the monkey bars.

A new mustache cup.  Thanks Melody…I love it!

Huddy’s curly after bath hair.

My boy’s taking pictures & the fact that I can convert pictures to black and white so that you don’t see my no make-up, dark circles under my eyes face.

And the fact that our 16 Months Waiting Art Giveaway ends tonight.  Can’t wait to see where this months canvas will be headed.

Hope your weekend was grand!

Random Friday + Giveaway March 16, 2012

This week the boys had their first soccer practice.  I missed it, but got to come right at the end.  I heard from a few people that they were beyond awesome & I totally believe it.

I made a deal with myself to try two new recipes each week.  Last night I tried CrockPot Italian Chicken.  When I’m looking for a recipe the first thing I look to see is “How easy is this?”…that’s my main goal…easiness.  When you click on the actual pin it gives you a different recipe, so I went with the instructions that are under the picture HERE.

We all thought this was quite tasty, until Josh bit into a rather large piece of glass.  Yes, glass.  Turns out the under part of my glass crockpot top broke off into the dish.  Josh and I both chomped down on some cruchy glassness and we tossed it all in the trash.  From there we went straight to icecream 🙂

Picture from Pinterest

I went through one small stack of kid drawings and found all these.  I think I know Harper’s favorite subject matter.

I received a sweet package in the mail this week.  Check out these super cute headbands & hair ties.  Harper has been wearing a sparkly one all week.  They are super soft on my head…no headaches.  Check out SisterlyTies to get your own.  Thanks so much Nancy.

I saw Lucky Charms were on sale at Kroger this week and decided St. Patrick’s Day was the perfect time for the wee Kelley’s to try their first bowl.  They have been hounding me about eating some all week.  I’m glad tomorrow is Saturday…let the anticipation finally end.

Today I made the kids fabric covered composition books.  My kids go through a million of these notebooks.  Thanks to this tutorial I pinned they can easily tell whose book belongs to who now.

We have a few really important things we want to teach our kiddos…Love God and others…Treat others as you want to be treated…Be kind, loving, generous, compassionate & respectful…Be tenderhearted…just to name a few.  Sometimes I’m not so sure how well we’re doing instilling these things in them.  Then Harper, on her own, decided to write her first sympathy letter.  She asked me about the spelling.  And after reading it…I cried.  God is showing us some grace through this kid 🙂

Yesterday we went to Target and I let each kiddo pick out one thing from the $1 bin.  I feel their choices are very telling about their individual selves.

And our 16 Months Waiting Art Giveaway is still going on.  CLICK HERE or scroll to the post below to enter to win this 11×14 canvas.

Have a great weekend.

16 Months Waiting Art Giveaway March 15, 2012

Today marks 16 months on the wait list for our next little dude.  Every month I try my best to be glad and happy and rainbows and unicorns that yes, we are in fact another month closer, but I’m just not down with it today.  The truth is I am super tired of waiting…like is the end even in sight?  Surely it’s got to be.  So I don’t have any words of wisdom or gracious remarks…I just want my son home or throw me a bone & just let me see that sweet face 🙂

Do I know that my boy is right where God wants him?  Yep.  Is God’s timing perfect?  Uh-huh.  Is God preparing our son’s heart for us and our hearts for him?  Sure thing.  Does the waiting still completely suck sometimes?  Yes, yes and triple yes.

So without further ado and with zero rainbows or unicorns this month 🙂 …this months giveaway is a 11×14 canvas with, “He is making things new.”

I just really like those words…He. Is. Making. Things. New.  He’s got this under control & He is making some amazingly, beautiful things out of what I view as hopeless & grief filled & just overwhelmingly hard for my heart in general.

He. Is. Making. Things. New.

That is good stuff.  Stuff to be trusted.

So here’s how you enter to win:

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Entry #1 Leave a comment…any ole’ comment will do.

Entry #2 Leave a comment about how you see or anticipate God making some things new in your life or lives around you.

Entry #3 Share the giveaway on your Facebook status.

Entry #4 Share the giveaway on your Twitter status.

Again, please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Giveaway will end Monday, March 19th at midnight and I will announce the winner on Tuesday.

And of course, if you are the winner, we will mail your canvas directly to you.

Now I’m off to eat some probably not-so-healthy snacks and watch some hopefully funny NBC.  Check ya’ later 16 months and bring on my boy!

Beautiful Things March 13, 2012

Harper asked if we could take new flowers to Grammy’s grave today, so that is just what we did.  We’ve been taking fresh flowers, but my friend Courtney had mentioned a while back that Old Time Pottery had great fake flowers.  So we loaded up and headed out.  I got a kick out of Huddy taking Oscar with him.  Harper insisted that is Oscar was riding, he too needed to be buckled up.

Old Time Pottery was like the jack-pot for fake flowers.  And the kids did a really good job picking them out.  I was afraid we were going to end up with some terrible looking fake flowers, but the boys liked a grouping of multi colored flowers and Harper chose hot pink because she knows Grammy dug hot pink.

I know she’s not there, but in the words of Harper “that’s where we left her”, so I do like to visit and make sure her grave site has pretty flowers.

Today I sat looking at her family headstone and wondered if I could

A) paint it…wonder if I could get an okay from my aunts.  I’m imagining big, painted red and pink flowers all over it

OR

B) make weather proof bunting for it.

Is that a bit strange?  I thought maybe a bit, but their headstone is just so, ummm, plain & sad looking.  Turns out all the headstones are.  I looked around a bit 🙂

This week has been full of lots of ups and downs emotionally.  A reader recently sent me a song by Gungor called Beautiful Things.  It is absolutely an addictive song.

This song has been heavy on my heart and today during nap time I finished this 11×14 canvas.

I’m pretty much banking on this…counting on it for sure…that God is making beautiful things out of us & that He is making things new…He is really making us new.

PS:  They finally closed Mom’s memorial account and I got all the information of those who donated…THANK YOU!  I am working on ‘thank you’ notes this week.  She was truly honored.

I Made It! March 12, 2012

Well I ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon on Saturday and made it!  I was super excited to beat my time from my last 1/2 even if it wasn’t by much.

  Training was hard this time around, specifically mentally.  Mom was at our first 1/2 last year cheering us on and I really thought I would have seen our boy’s face by now.  Recently on my long runs, I had a tendency to cry a bit…I’m a dork, I know.  My sweet friend Jonathan, who could have easily left me in the dust, ran the entire thing with me just so he could be there to encourage me when I got sad.

Last year at the 1/2 Mom had this huge thing of balloons so my brother Chris and I could see her while running.  I did great mentally until Jonathan and I got to around mile 8 and I saw a lady with a thing of balloons.  It made me sad…then I cried a bit…did that 2 more times 🙂  I miss her.  Jonathan was a great encourager…really blessed to have good, good friends and friends who loved Mom.

Susan and Melody ran the 5k before the 1/2 and stayed around to cheer us on.  They rocked the 5k…super proud of them.  And Courtney came down to cheer us on also.  I think I like all the congratulatory hugs you get afterwards.

It was a really good day.  Super nice to hang with such wonderful friends.  Oh and I tatted myself up with a Sharpie before the run.  A sweet reader, Alice, sent me an awesome set of verses for each mile.  It was such a crazy, great encouragement right when I needed it.  Josh and I wrote them out on my arms…almost all of the verses made it the 13.1 miles, but sweat got some of them 🙂  Thanks so much Alice for the idea and encouragement.

The weekend contained amazing weather and great times with the wee Kelleys and friends.

A few other highlights…pretty packages heading to the post office tomorrow.

One of the many reasons I love my boys…baseball cards and lined up cars on the window seal.

Josh’s determination to find Sol his size 9 soccer cleat.

And giving away a $50 Noonday Collection gift certificate.  The winner of the giveaway is…

#202 Wendy.  Super congrats Wendy and check your email for a message from me 🙂

Thanks to everyone who entered and showed Renee some love.  Don’t forget about our Matilda Jane and Noonday Collection trunk show April 5th for our carepoint Ngungwane in Swaziland, Africa.  You locals come out and show some love.  More INFO HERE.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Easy Shamrocks March 9, 2012

The Noonday Collection Giveaway is still going.  CLICK HERE or scroll to the post below to enter to win the $50 Noonday gift certificate.  Giveaway will end Sunday night.

I have personally been eyeing their Happy Day Necklace, Tague Seed Bracelet and their Large Cow Horn Hoops.  So fun!

For this weeks planned craft we went with something super easy.  I mean beyond easy.  Q-tip Shamrocks and the wee Kelleys loved it.

Here’s what you need:  Traced shamrock, green paint, scissors and q-tips.  That’s it 🙂

I let each kid have their own set of small cups with different shades of green paint.

Then they started their q-tip dotting on their shamrocks.

Once the shamrocks dried (which I again used my hair dryers to speed the process up) they cut out their shamrocks.

And voila…beautifully painted shamrocks to rock for St. Patrick’s Day.

Sol went for more of the “all over” affect for his shamrock.  I think they’re all pretty great.

I like our crafts easy and this is definitely an easy one.

And a quote from Harper today completely made my day…actually my week,

“With my markers, I can change the world.”

Hope she never forgets it!

Have a great weekend.

Noonday Collection Giveaway March 8, 2012

**GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED**

Way back in October I asked, maybe pleaded, with all you locals to come to my home and shop Noonday Collection and Matilda Jane to help support our carepoint Ngungwane in Swaziland, Africa.  I was super excited about this little party and then Mom got sick and I had to cancel.

Brea of Matilda Jane and Renee of Noonday Collection are letting me give this another try.  You’re invited to a joint trunk show at our house on Thursday, April 5th from 7-9pm. If you would like to come early or later, you are more than welcome…I will be there 🙂  I am super, super excited about trying this out again.

 

A percentage of the sales from this evening will go directly to our Ngungwane carepoint.

There will be awesome adult and kids clothes from Matilda Jane and incredible jewelry, home & gift items, bags, hats, scarves & even more accessories from Noonday Collection.

I personally love both of these companies and think their items are crazy awesome.  I would never host something that I didn’t personally think was pretty rockin’.

So will you please come?  I would love to have you in our home and for it to be filled to the brim with old and new friends.  I will make some yummy snacks, there will be lots of great conversation and fun ladies.  Josh is taking all the wee Kelley’s off, so it will be a great ladies night.  And I’ll even clean my house 🙂

If you would like more information please just shoot me an email at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com and I will pass along any additional information you will need.

And to celebrate this amazing opportunity Noonday Collection has offered one of you a $50 gift certificate to do some shopping with.  You DO NOT have to come to the party to use the gift certificate…you can live anywhere & use this for their online store 🙂  So it’s a gift for anyone.  I like gifts like that.

So here’s how you enter to win:

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Entry #1 Check out Renee’s Noonday Store and tell me some things you would purchase with your $50.

Entry #2 Head over to Renee’s Noonday Facebook page and “like” her page.

Entry #3 Share this giveaway information on your Facebook status

Entry #4 Share this giveaway information on your Twitter status

Let’s show Renee some LOVE!

Again, please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Giveaway will end this Sunday, March 11th at midnight and I will announce the winner on Monday.

Too excited about this opportunity and feel really blessed.  Can’t wait to see/meet you.

Happy Thursday!

Giveaway & Such… March 7, 2012

Tomorrow I will be having a Noonday giveaway to celebrate my up & coming Noonday & Matilda Jane party to help raise funds for our carepoint Ngungwane in Swaziland.  I will let you in on all the details tomorrow, but it’s a great giveaway…in my personal Noonday Love opinion 🙂

And how about a few recipes?  I am still loving on my Pinterest…pretty hard too.  My kids LOVE when we do a little cooking.

I tried this Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole.  Super delicious…like really, really delicious.  Definitely a “Let’s do this again” kind of recipe.

Picture from Pinterest

Tonight I’m doing dinner for my small group Bible study ladies.  I made the above casserole and then rocked out some desserts too.  I tried this new pin recipe from Pinterest…No Bake Cake Batter Truffles.  I think they’re pretty tasty, but I’ll let you know what the girls think.

And I made some Easy Whoopie Pies again.  LAST TIME I made these, they broke my little hand mixer.  We’re talking, “poor burnt up, smoked, smelled terrible and never worked again” hand mixer.  It was sad.

Well lucky for me, a sweet lady names Carol in Texas blessed my socks off last November right when Mom got sick.  I came home to discover a brand spankin’ new Kitchen Aid mixer had been delivered to my house.  It’s pretty beautiful.  And my whoopie pies were way easier to make this time.  Thanks again Carol…a million thank yous.

And this recipe did not disappoint again.  They are OH.SO.YUMMY!

That’s my 2 cents for the day…maybe bake something tonight & then come back tomorrow for the Noonday giveaway…it’s going to be pretty sweet.

Happy Wednesday!