Activities Day!

I was recently called as an Activities Day Leader for our church. I had no idea what it consisted of, but my sister in law told me that I teach the 8-10 year old girls how to meet goals for the church while doing an activity, like cooking, baking, crafts, etc. My kind of calling!!

So I planned a mother daughter dinner to get to know each other and these are the decor! I was so excited for how they turned out and the kids and moms were in awe. I brought Kayleigh with me and as we walked in all she said was, "Mom! Is this my birthday party?!" Yeah... we're going to do it like this I think.

I used seed starters for the veggie and fruit cups. I tied straw like material around them.  You'll see them filled shortly. 

I used pint sized mason jars that I had for glasses and found some fun straws. 

 I left the table pretty simple but still fun.

And tied some bows around the chairs. All I used for this was the vinyl tableclothes from the Dollar Store. I was able to get 8 strips out of them. 

 I made poofy poms from a tutorial I found on pinterest. Just tissue paper and floral wire. I wanted to hang them up, but couldn't find a place so they became centerpieces.

This is what the planters looked like with the fruit and veggies.

Our drinks for the night were homemade peach lemonade and homemade strawberry lemonade. HUGE HIT! I also had water available. 

Dessert was cupcake sized cherry cheesecake and key lime pie. YUM! I made the cupcake tier. 

I thought I took a picture of the sandwiches and the whole thing, but I guess not. I'll do better at Kayleigh's party.

St. Patties Day

Celebrating holidays is so much fun, especially when you have little kids. So when St. Patties Day was coming up, I told Ryan I wanted to send the kids on a scavenger hunt from Lucky, our leprechan. He just rolled his eyes cause he thinks most holidays are pointless. But it was so much fun to see the kids run around looking for their clues, and watching their reactions. Here are some pics-

I bought a package of rainbow twizzlers and rolos. I used a ziploc bag and made a rainbow out of the twizzlers and their gold was the rolos.

 I bought streamers and some rainbow garland, and yellow bowls and green easter grass.

Our table looked like this when it was all decorated.

Damien's pot of gold has 2 ties. One was green and the other was white with green clovers on it. He wore them all day when he found them.

 Kayleigh got a bunch of hair clips that were green and clovers.

Finally, we called the kids in the back door and showed them a clue that was given to us from Lucky. Kayleigh was great at having Damien follow her to the next clue.

I didn't tell them exactly what room to go to. The picture above says clue #2 takes you to where Brody's room is and then they found another clover on the door frame. That one said, clue #3 takes you to where you shampoo. They were pretty good at figuring it out.

Finally, after a few more clues, they made it to the table and loved it!

 It was fun! The kids enjoyed it, Ryan and I loved watching the kids run around getting excited. We can't wait for Brody to get bigger to participate.

Update... it's been awhile.

My baby sister is visiting this weekend and mentioned that it's been awhile since I've written anything on here. I was a little surprised myself to see that it's been 10 days since my last post. Honestly, I haven't been able to think of something to write about. So here's an update.

I've been called as an Activity Day Leader. I'm excited! I am throwing a party for the mothers and daughters to get to know each other and will post pics of the decor.

Kayleigh reminds me everyday that her birthday is getting closer and she expects a party. I cannot disappoint this little girl. She even said she would share her party with her baby brother, who is going to be 1!

It sounds like Damien is going to be attending toddler lab at BYU. This is like a preschool. His therapist thinks he'll start talking more if he's around kids his age.

Not much else is going on. Just trying to get everything ready for this party and then we have Easter this weekend. I love being a mom and throwing little surprises for the kids for every holiday.

54!!

It's 54 degrees here!!! Can you believe it? As soon as Kayleigh was on the bus I told Ryan to get the stroller cause we were walking to the park.

We didn't stay longer than 20 minutes, Ryan took Brody down the slide and he hit his head. :( But then we decided to take the long way back to our house and the boys fell asleep in the stroller. Such a nice day to get outside and spend some time with my boys.

Simplifying Life

With Ryan in college, and raising three kids, life is hectic. We have some sort of therapy on Mondays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays and Kayleigh goes to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I don't have alot of time to think about other things, like, what to make for dinner or the mounds of laundry in the laundry room. Some days I will completely let my house go, just to enjoy some down time or play with the kids.

One way that has helped me so much this month was making a menu. I bought a desk calendar from wal-mart and sat down one evening and went thru all my pins on pinterest of the food that looked good. I mean, why pin something if you aren't going to try it? I also copied each recipe and printed it out so I would have it when the night came.

I love it! I look at it each morning and get out what meat I need so it's defrosted by the time I need to start making a meal. If I decide that what I had planned for that night doesn't sound good, I just swap it out for a different night. Plus, it makes grocery shopping so much easier.

Since we don't have anything going on on Tuesdays, that is when we deep clean the whole house. I get the kids to help by offering them an item out of our chore store. My kids receives a quarter each time they helps out. Then they can "buy" from the house "store."

We went to the dollar store and got a bunch of things the kids were interested in. It's worked out great for us.

It's just a bad day, not a bad life.

We all have days where everything seems to be going wrong. Kids act up, you misintrepret something your spouse said, and the next thing you know, everything sets you off. That's how it was for me today. It's only 1 in the afternoon and I'm in a terrible mood. It's been like this for awhile and I finally made an appointment with our family doctor. Our conclusion: I need an anti-depressant and our kid needs help.

This is Damien. He will be 2 1/2 in a couple months. He loves Lightning McQueen and Thomas the train. He also loves to be outside. Just by looking at him, you would never guess that something is wrong. But what that something is, we don't know.

When Damien was 14 months, he got an ear infection. But this ear infection could not be killed with an antibiotic. We tried every antibiotic and even resorted to the steroid shots. Nothing worked and it was sad to see him not be himself. This went on for 6 months. Some have asked why we didn't do anything. Actually, when the antibiotic wasn't working, we scheduled an appointment to see the ENT. But they were so busy, they couldn't get us in for months. Finally, after 5 months of this, our pediatrition called the ENT ten times in one day and got us in that afternoon. The result- he needed emergency surgery for tubes and when the doctor came out to tell me about the surgery, he said they were the worst he has ever seen. His ear drums were almost ruptured.

 Our pediatrition said that we should notice a big change in Damien and that he should start talking like crazy, but he didn't. When we moved to Idaho, our doctor referred him to a speech therapist. Damien was evaluated and was 10 months behind in his speech. He was compared to a 14 month old in both speech and thinking. This broke my heart.

Since then, Damien has been going to speech twice a week and he loves his therapist. But it was very hard on me to take Damien twice a week to therapy, Kayleigh once a week, and Brody to physical therapy, while still doing my duties as a wife and mom. Idaho has a program for children 0-3 where therapists will come to the home and get the help they need. I was referred to that for Brody and inquired about Damien also receiving these services.

 Damien's test results came in a few days ago, and while he is 28 months, he has a 10 month delay in expressive communication (talking), a 7 month delay in attention and memory and a 6 month delay in self-care. He also failed his hearing test in one ear.

But these past few months, he's also been having numerous meltdowns a day, some over nothing. Going to church, going for a walk, going to a playground, those types of things send him over the edge. This is what's bothering me. He can't communicate to me to tell me what's wrong. I try to guess but that just ends up frustrating both of us. And he only wants me, not dad.

My sister in law has been a huge help and has let me vent to her countless times. Her boys have a sensory disorder and after seeing how they act, we've noticed that Damien kinda acts that way too. So I filled out paper work to get him looked at by an occupational therapist. And our doctor wants him to see a child psychiatrist to see if they can pinpoint a problem.

I'm just tired sad. I wish I could help my little guy more, but I don't know how.

I logged on to pinterest to look for some things on sensory disorders and saw this-

I need to remember that. I need to know that things will get better and that Christ won't give me more than what I can't handle.

Let's Eat!

Chocolate and peanut butter! What's a better combination? Actually, I could probably think of some things that are better than that, but when I found this beauty on pinterest, I was set on making it one day.

Okay, maybe not that extravagent, but something close to that. Doesn't it look amazing?!

So imagine how disappointed I was when I clicked on the picture and instead of it taking me to the recipe, it took me to google. GAH!

I decided to try and find a different recipe that I could use and found a recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. This cake was good! It was fun to make and see people reactions.

This is what mine ended up looking like. The recipe called for using three 8 inch pans, but I used two. And it's really rich, so have a glass of milk handy ;)




Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Cake:
1 Cup Boiling water
2 Cups sugar
1 3/4 Cup all purpose flour
3/4 Cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 Cup buttermilk OR 1 Cup milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1/2 Cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake pans with wax paper. (I used alot of crisco instead) and grease the sides. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and keep it simmering while other ingrediants are mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer until combined. Add 1 Cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour into pans and bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted is clean.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 Cup butter, softened
2 cups creamy peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar
approx 1/3 cup milk

In bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar. When it gets thick, add a little milk at a time until it's spreadable. Beat for 3 minutes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place chocolate chips and peanut butter in metal bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. Watch closely and remove when it starts to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Let sit for 2 minutes. Slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted and it is thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla and corn syrup. Let cool if you prefer  a thicker consistency.



Assembling
You will need a 12 ounce bag of Reese's Minatures. Go ahead...eat a couple :) Save a couple whole ones and chop the rest. I had big chunks and smaller chunks. You will need to level the cakes and place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Spread some of the frosting on top. Sprinkle with some of the reese's cups. Add the second layer of cake and cover the whole cake with frosting. Pour ganache on top and smooth allowing some to run down the sides. Garnish with the rest of the peanut butter cups.


Enjoy!

Wake Up Call

As a young mom of three, I find myself so caught up in life that I forget the things that I enjoy to do. So I decided to start blogging about things that are close to me for a couple of reasons-

1. To help others.
2. Give other moms insight.
3. And just to be able to write how I feel.

So here is a little about me and what you will see on this blog-

I'm Jeri. I'm a wife, mother, and a Latter-Day Saint. I love to bake and cook and usually have guests over once a week. I'm a pinterest junkie, a lover of books, and a facebook fool.

You can bet you'll see recipes of my favorite foods and desserts, my crafty creations, my feelings of being a mother to child that is labeled "special needs" and some good book recommendations.

(My 2 year old son may not look like he has special needs, but according to therapist, schools, etc. he has that label. So if you see me or talk to me and I sound stressed, I am.)

But before I go, I want to share this post I found on facebook that made me open my eyes.

Dear Mom On the iPhone,

I see you over there on the bench, messing on your iPhone. It feels good to relax a little while your kids have fun in the sunshine, doesn’t it? You are doing a great job with your kids, you work hard, you teach them manners, have them do their chores.

But Momma, let me tell you what you don’t see right now…..

Your little girl is spinning round and round, making her dress twirl. She is such a little beauty queen already, the sun shining behind her long hair. She keeps glancing your way to see if you are watching her.

You aren’t.

Your little boy keeps shouting, “Mom, MOM watch this!” I see you acknowledge him, barely glancing his way.

He sees that too. His shoulders slump, but only for a moment, as he finds the next cool thing to do.

Now you are pushing your baby in the swing. She loves it! Cooing and smiling with every push. You don’t see her though, do you? Your head is bent, your eyes on your phone as you absently push her swing.

Talk to her. Tell her about the clouds, Mommy. The Creator who made them. Tickle her tummy when she comes near you and enjoy that baby belly laugh that leaves far too quickly.

Put your eyes back on your prize…Your kids.

Show them that they are the priority. Wherever you are, be ALL there. I am not saying it’s not ok to check in on your phone, but it’s a time-sucker: User Beware!

Play time at the park will be over before you know it.

The childhood of your children will be gone before you know it.

They won’t always want to come to the park with you, Mommy. They won’t always spin and twirl to make their new dress swish, they won’t always call out, “WATCH ME!”

There will come a point when they stop trying, stop calling your name, stop bothering to interrupt your phone time.

Because they know…

You’ve shown them, all these moments, that the phone is more important than they are. They see you looking at it at while waiting to pick up brother from school, during playtime, at the dinner table, at bedtime…..

I know that’s not true, Mommy.

I know your heart says differently.

But your kids can’t hear your words, Mommy. Your actions are screaming way too loudly.

May our eyes rest upon those we love, first and foremost, and may everything else fall away in the wonderful, noisy, sticky-fingered glory of it all.


We live in a world where the technology is amazing.... I love it, but I HATE it! But today we had a kid's day and for  the whole time I made sure it was a priority not to have my phone out, but to have my camera out capturing those moments that will be gone all too soon.

Until next time,
Jeri