Thankful Thursday

Today is one of those days that I just can't help but be thankful for all the little stuff.
I'm thankful for the rain, because it made my warm bed this morning seem sweeter.
I'm thankful for sweet little boys waking me up, otherwise I'd not get out of that warm bed.
I'm thankful for birthday gift cards for coffee, because I wanted to stay in my warm bed.
I'm thankful for the chilly gray day, because it makes warm coffee even better.
I'm thankful for a mall play area full of boys who WANT to wrestle, because it make naptime a possibility.
I'm thankful for a chance to see friends from out of town,because it is always good to catch up.
I'm thankful for the good in the gray, because the gray make the good better.

Happy Thursday!

Real life

 So, most of the time when I post pictures of my house I like to TRY to make it look presentable. I know it doesn't always look perfect, but most of the time I at least like to have a some order in the background. But I had to giggle at my view of my life right at this moment...

 We are working on school. Isaac is alphabetizing ducklings from "Make way for Ducklings". Asher is supposed to be cutting out family members, but apparently they are super heroes and Levi is coloring Isaac's math test. He believes in reusing and recycling.

 But as you continue to scan the room...

 You see that the dress up bin and the toy bin got dumped to find something that was forgotten about and moved on from...

So, I thought I'd show you a little bit of my real life at the moment. Good times!

Little happys

With all this rain we have been stuck inside. Which has been the perfect opportunity to finish some little projects. 

I have long enjoyed the yarn letters. So, I decided to make one of my own.

Sad to say I have had this wall word for almost a year, but haven't put it up yet. I finally just did it. I love it. Now we won 't forget our last name!

We did some kitchen organizing this weekend. It including bring this bookshelf into the dining room to give us a little more cupboard space. I think I like it there. 

Since we already at through most of the fruit that was in the big orange bowl I moved it and now the top shelf looks like this. I get bored easy so I move stuff all the time. It kind of drives my family nuts, but I have to try different things to figure out what looks best. :P

Pintrest addict

I'm beginning to wonder if I will need an intervention because of my pintrest addiction. I will say though that it is keeping me busy. :) Last night for house church I was on dessert. I took advantage of the opportunity to try a new recipe. I had been curious about this 2 ingredient pumpkin cake. I happened to have everything on hand so I went for it.  I also made the apple cider glaze to go over it. It definitely needed the glaze in my opinion, but it was yummy. I didn't have any leftovers so it was a hit with our house church.

My favorite part of this recipe though is that it is SO EASY. I mean, seriously, you dump two ingredients in a mixer and bake. The glaze was also super easy and yummy. So, there you have it, another pintrest pin accomplished. Only 593 left to go.  :)

Angry birds

I don't know about you, but my kids are obsessed very into angry birds. I am not above using this to my advantage. I have been known to use angry birds as a bribe motivation once or twice. That's why these printables will rock my kids' world.

Yep, free angry bird Kindergarten printables are available here. I printed them already and Isaac is super excited to do some angry bird school.

Italia

Today, Isaac had an eye doctor's appointment. Since his eyes were dilated he is having a hard time seeing. His doc's office is right across the street from a very fancy grocery store in our area called Dorothy Lane Market or DLM for the locals.

Our history lesson today is on Italy. So, I thought I'd use this as an excuse to buy myself some of the most amazing tiramisu EVER   get a few treats to expose the children to Italian cuisine. I set out a tray to show the kids that many of the foods we eat are inspired from Italy. (I am well aware that Tombstone pizza is far from authentic, but it gets a point across.) Can you say cheese and carbs. YUM. We talked about how pizza originated in Italy and they were hooked. Pizza, spaghetti, Alfredo, and bread are a few popular items around here. They got to smell some garlic, and you can tell that I use it a lot because they all said YUM at the straight smell of it.

We talked about how we eat lots of foods that are from Italy. The alfredo sauce is a special favorite. Bubba was giving it a little hug.

I bought a small package of handmade mozzerella at DLM as well. It was fun because the kids got to see a little of how it is made.  There was a display that gave some ideas of how to serve the yummy snack. We decided to try putting a bit of olive oil and ground pepper on it. It was yummy. Plus it was easy to let the kids "make".

We found Italy on the map. We saw how it is shaped like a boot. We learned about the Colosseum, the leaning tower of Pisa, gondolas, and talked about the Mona Lisa (with a brief TMNT reference as we talked about the artist.)

I am not a super adventurous person, but I want to visit Italy some day. I want to see Rome, I want eat the food, I want to take pictures at the Colosseum, I want to eat the food, I want to visit a vineyard, I want to eat more food, I would love to ride in a gondola in the canals of Venice, and did I mention the food. This is one of those places I hope I have the opportunity to visit in my lifetime. I think the kids had fun with this lesson. I know I enjoyed helping them eat the majority of the tiramisu.

Pretty project

Since I first laid eyes on it I have loved the coffee filter wreath. I have said I would make one for forever, and I finally did. I am in love with pintrest.  I find so many good ideas and I actually follow through with a few of them. :)

One thing I found and LOVE is the idea to go to the hardware store and buy pipe insulation. Cut it down to the size you desire and use duct tape to make a wreath. This is about 10% of the cost of a wreath in the craft store.

So this wreath cost under $3 after the foam, coffee filters, ribbon, and  a bit of duct tape. I just hot glued my scrunched brown coffee filters while watching some Grey's anatomy (don't judge me).  I kinda wish I could tie a cuter ribbon, but other than that I love it. Plus, it works well in my front window. So that's a plus. I think I may have a wreath obsession. But they are so fun to make. Plus, it's cool to have wreaths hanging ALL over your house....right?

Not nana's apple cake

(Excuse the picture. We were hungry and it was good.)

I had a bunch of apples on hand and I knew we were not getting through them quick enough. I decide an apple cake sounded delicious, but I didn't have a mix. My favorite apple cake is from Tastefully simple. So I looked for a copycat recipe. I found this one here. 

Tastefully Simple Nana's Apple Cake Recipe
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg or mace
1 tsp. ginger
6 cups peeled, diced tart apples

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture. Stir in apples. Spoon into greased 11 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Optional: Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts to recipe at same time as apples.

 It is super yummy. I know this will be a redo.