Cake in a mug?!

Recently the kiddo and I attended an impromptu birthday party. It pretty much sprung up the day before but we were excited to go just the same!  It was in one of those indoor jumping house places and was pretty amazing. She had 2 hours to run, jump, scream, slide, and climb until her heart was content. 

We reached the point in the party where we sang happy birthday and ate pizza. Shortly after the pizza...Claire asks me, "time for cake??"  ...ummm...I didn't see a cake in sight. LOL! I quickly told her lets just see what we can figure out at home. She's an extremely easy going child - so she agreed. 

I had 1 yellow cake mix at home and 1 can of white frosting. Bleh!  I did NOT want to waste my energy throwing this ridiculous cheap cake together only to eat 1 slice. So I took to the interweb and Pinterest!

There I found this wonderful "brownie-in-a-mug" recipe!  We were excited to embark on an experiment!

We used the recipe found here http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/brownie_in_a_mug/

I sat her on the counter and we went to work!

Sugar - check

Flour - check

Oil - check

Cocoa - check

Vanilla, Salt, cinnamon, and water...stir...

Pop in the microwave and BAM!  Happy audience!   We had some heavy cream on hand so I showed her how to make whip cream!   Overall great activity, yummy, and it was super fast and easy. Mama and kiddo give this little experiment a thumbs up!

Check back later for more reviews or crafty ideas!!

Delayed Happy Birthday post

This day has been a long time coming!  Eve is ONE today!  The little monster didn't want to share her birthday with St. Patty's or her great grandma...she wanted her own day.  (ha well jokes on her because she shares a birthday with American Express)  She also shares a birthday with Dane Cook, Queen Latifah, and Mike Rowe!

The above picture is one of my favorites...this is pretty much Eve's outlook on life.  Whatever you have in mind for her...she sticks out her tongue and does what she wants to do.  This little bundle of tenaciousness will (and already has) push me to limits beyond myself.  I don't pray for her as much as I should...and want to change that this year.  I must admit, the prayers regarding Eve have been more selfish in nature in the past year. "please help her stop crying, go to sleep, stay calm..." and on and on..."give me the strength to deal, to function w/out sleep, to feel better..."

That said, Eve is FULL of life.  Her whole body smiles when she's happy.  She loves to mimic sounds like 'Uh-ohhh' and 'Dadda' She LOVES her Dadda!  Whenever she's happy she's usually saying, "Dadda, dadda, dadadada,"  Brian loves this!  She loves eating bananas and string cheese and is still VERY in to babyfood and her bottle.  Transitioning this one is going to be a super challenge!  Eve loves dancing and hitting things.  We sometimes have to take toys away from her because she likes to hit her head with them. LOL

She loves her sister, Claire get the biggest laughs and the biggest smiles from Eve.  It's nearly unfair! I love watching the both of them grow older together and interact more every day.  I'm excited for the day when Eve says, "Claire," or "sis/sissy"  That will MAKE Claire's little day...maybe even week.

With that - I will leave you with some of my favorite pictures over the past year.

Brand new...so tiny!

Claire loved Eve from the start.

Love this one <3 <3

First dress Eve ever wore!  LOL Christmas time!

She was SO proud of herself when she learned to stand

Eve loves being outside!

There is hope - share this journey with me!

This is an old picture of my sweet Claire - I just love it SO much.  Look at that face - not a care in the world, so happy and expectant - worry free.  Don't you wish you could have that expression?  A worry-free and hopeful outlook...what a joy.

From the beginning we are wired for hope.  As we grow and mature things come into our lives and attempt to rob us of this precious God given gift...yet many remain resilient!  What is it that causes us to keep fighting, stay strong, and move forward?  What is it that causes us to look the other way, our strength to fail us, and just plain give up?  It's hard to make a blanket statement when answering these questions, but I do know what has made the difference in my life.

Regardless of what is going on right now - you NEED hope...and I know where to get it.  This is real folks.  It's this hope that has changed my life.  Forever.  There's no substitute, no quick fix, no other way to get it.

My church is doing a 12 week study on HOPE - the thing that EVERYone needs.  Everyone - no exceptions.  Our pastor challenged us to invite 1 person to church in the coming weeks and since I work from home and my closest friends are attending this series - I'm putting it out there on facebook and my blog.  Don't let fear or cynicism get in the way. COME get hope and your life will be changed for the good.

Click HERE to find out where to go and what time.  We go at 9am on Sunday morning at Rolling Meadows campus.  If you come - we will take you to brunch!  Have kids?  We have an AWESOME kids ministry (where I'm sometimes the storyteller...more on that in the future).

God has taught me SO much through this place...I can't even begin to articulate in this post how my life has been changed.  I'm not asking for you to give me anything, buy anything, or sign up for anything.  I'm asking you to come so your life can be impacted for the better...forever.  You will NOT regret the decision to come.