Week in Review - Episode 8

Best Cookies IN THE WORLD.

Today has been an extremely long, and extremely good day! But that is a story for another day, because I'm too tired to write! BUT I couldn't go to sleep without sharing these absolutely beautiful cookies!!

So, these Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies have been popping up all over the web lately. I thought they sounded amazing, so I sent the recipe to a friend of mine to make for an activity we had tonight. (Not the activity I THOUGHT we were having!! But more on that later!)

And this is what we ended up with!! Are they not the most fantastic cookies ever! So they may not look EXACTLY like the recipe photos, but they make me happy ♥ So thanks Lexi for the wonderful cookies. I'm off to bed, got another long day ahead of me tomorrow!

34 Weeks

It's so hard to believe that in 6 short weeks this little man is going to be here ♥

I apologize in advance if this post gets a little long winded, I've just been reflecting a lot lately and have some thoughts I'd like to share.

It's not much of a secret that I've been having a really hard time with this pregnancy. I've been in a lot of physical pain, but it's the emotional instability that has bothered me the most. 2010 was a very hard year for me. Finding out that you are losing your job and that you are pregnant, in the same month isn't easy for anyone! After a lot of consideration and prayer we decided that it would be best for me to stay home with our little girl and for Shaun to return to work as a high school math teacher. I had so many things I wanted to do! Our house was going to be clean and beautiful all the time and we were going to eat healthy home cooked meals AND I would get to spend every day with my sweet Juniper! I would make money on the side with my sewing and freelance design work, and life was going to be great.

Little did I know that being a stay at home parent is WAY harder than "working full time". And the pregnancy didn't make it any easier.. My high hopes and dreams were slowly chipped away at, and I felt more and more depressed. I had absolutely no control over my emotions and I felt like I was slowly losing my mind. Every time I felt like I was moving towards where I wanted to be, the self doubt and depression would sneak back up on me and knock me right back down to ground zero.

A couple of months ago, after a particularly hard day, I was saying a prayer and I came to the realization that Satan was working really hard on me to make me feel useless. He doesn't want me to be the person that I want to be. He doesn't want me to work hard and develop the good habits that I'll need to raise my children to be strong, confident, loving, faithful members of society. Who knows what great and wondrous things these children of mine could grow up to do with their lives! Satan would rather my kids accept mediocrity and not have the confidence to do great things. But it's too bad for him, because no matter how hard he tries to drag me down, I'm going to keep pushing forward. I am going to do my best to teach my children that with the Lord on your side, you can overcome anything.

This precious little bit of revelation has given me so much hope. And even though I still have my bad days, the past couple months have been a lot easier because of it. And for that, I am extremely grateful.

It is SATAN who tells you you're not good enough.

It is SATAN tells you there is no hope.

It is SATAN who tells you you are a failure.

No one is perfect, so get over yourself and don't beat yourself up over your problems.

Be a happy and joyous people, enjoy this life.

- Bishop Mark Craven

Week in Review Episodes 5-7

I haven't been so great about taking more photos lately. The whole being pregnant thing has really been taking it's toll on me. Amazingly our house is relatively clean thanks to some great people helping out. I'm going to try and be better about taking pictures every day because I really want to remember life as it is right now, the good and the bad.

So here are some random photos from the past few weeks that I love. In no particular order :)

Best Valentine's Ever

Ok, I know Valentine's Day is past and gone. But I'm not really into celebrating Valentine's Day. I'm more into celebrating the Valentine's Day clearance sales! I love cute, romantic, mushy things every other day of the year. And I especially love them for 50% off.

I think this is the BEST Valentine's Day clearance purchase I have ever made. In fact, I might even say it's one of the best edible purchases I have ever made. So much fun!

The kit comes with 35 heart candies and an edible marker so you can create your own 'conversation hearts'. The kit was $2.50 at Walmart, and that's before the 50% off mark down! I bought two boxes, but I think I need to go back tonight and pick up some more because I can't find them anywhere online. Of course, the Mr. and I had SO much fun coming up with some super dorky things to draw on our candies!

 

Have I mentioned that I absolutely LOVE Spock? ♥

Anyone else have some hilarious and dorky Valentine's Day ideas for these sweet guys? I still have a whole box left!

Mini Cake Challenge - February

Well, so far the one birthday resolution I've been able to keep is my challenge to decorate one mini cake a month! Of course, it's only February soooo... 2 down 10 to go! Here is my 'much-cuter-than-last-month's-attempt' Valentine's Day cake!

I definitely need to work on my leaves, but I'm so happy with the end product this month! The cake is red velvet, and I just baked a circle cake and cut the heart shape out myself. This cake was one giant pain to frost though... Red velvet crumbs everywhere!

 PS. I really love this fella ♥