Oh, Banana Pudding…

There are very few recipes I know by heart…

This is one of them…

I really really really love Banana Pudding…and there are several ways to make it…

But this way…oh…this way…is my very most beloved favorite…

It is simple and super easy…I don’t cook much from boxes…You know this…I am a home made food snob…But, alas, this does involve using the boxed Jello Vanilla Pudding…

But it doesn’t really matter when it tastes this good, does it?

And the photo of it above is a DOUBLED recipe…I made it for a meeting…the recipe is half the size of the pic…

With Love!!………

Macy’s Banana Pudding

6 to 7 ripe (spotted) bananas

5 cups milk

3 (3.5 oz) boxes Jello vanilla pudding

8 oz sour cream

12 oz cool whip

1 box nilla wafers

-Beat the 5 cups of milk into the boxes of vanilla pudding until thick. Then beat in the sour cream. Fold in cool whip. Layer mixture with bananas and wafers.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Making Some Pretty Moments

I have been stressed lately…

Life here at the Ranch is extremely hard at times…extremely wearisome…I won’t pretend it is just awesome all the time having two children, pregnant with another, five boys to take care of, and all that goes in between…

A lot of days I am good…God’s grace is good and He gets me through…but a lot of days I am not…good…

So, I have been trying to make the most of the not-so-good days…

By making some pretty moments…

Thus the majestic and extremely girly tent Maris and I built in her room…Poor poor Davis…

It’s pretty…We built it on Monday…It’s still there…I might take it down after Christmas…I am envisioning ornaments and strung lights and garland hung on it somewhere… 🙂 Nevermind that behind the tent her room is an entire disaster!…

And I just have to say…for a little boy who is so sensitive to loud noises and voices…he is enthralled with Maris…he adores her…he watches her every move and chuckles at her constantly….Swoon………………..

Double swoon…

And when Maris and I go outside…those moments are always sweet and sugar filled…

When she gets outside she is a different girl…she is one free little bird…and it is so sweet to watch…

I am off…thanks for letting me vent a little and show you pictures of our pretty moments this week…

I hope you have a blessed weekend!! Much Love to You!

Read Full Post »

Hugging Grace

I’m having a problem typing the first sentence…so I am writing how I’m having a problem with it.  When you were in English class and had to write papers, it was that first sentence that was the hardest, wasn’t it?

Well, now I’m on to the third sentence, so I’m off, and I’m good now…

Jesus Christ is the single most wonderful person…the most amazing gift that could have ever been given or ever will be…

I have been through, the past few years, periods of doubts/questioning myself/wrestling with what I believe…

I think this has been tremendous for me…this season of working out my salvation with fear and trembling…and it has been healthy for me…

It started when someone questioned my salvation in college… simply because I was a child when it happened and I can’t remember a dern thing about that time…except for the fact that I cried behind my momma’s choir robe while these huge adults came to the front to shake my hand and congratulate me…

From there…it grew to, every now and then, having really dark moments of doubt…moments of morbid introspection, as Douglas Wilson termed it…

I am by no means saying that I am, from here on out, free from these moments…although I pray so…

But, the past few weeks God has been holding my hand…and walking me through the dark corridors of my mind and when I get trapped…He has gently and lovingly spoken His light and His truth to me…

It is fresh…It is magnificent…It is Jesus…

You see, in my analytical thinking brain…at times it has been hard to believe just how wonderful salvation is…how SIMPLE it is…but no matter what I think or what I feel…

The TRUTH is…what Christ did on the cross was the greatest act of love that could ever have been imagined…and he did it for me and for you and for the entire human race…His grace is so deep and so rich…His love is crazy wonderful…

And, at times, I’ve thought…”I just can’t understand His love…His grace…It is too wonderful…” And, yes, there are depths to which I wont understand…but God is surprising me by helping me understand just how magnificent and simple it really is…

I am hugging it…hugging grace…not letting it go for one second…

It makes me want to cry and laugh and dance all at the same time…

He is THAT good.

Can I say it again?

He is THAT good.

Much Love to You on this Friday!

Happy Weekend!

Painting, Prince of Peace, by Akiane at age 8.

Read Full Post »

Thoughts on Homeschooling thus far…and why I think I am becoming a nerd

I used to think homeschooled kids were weird.  I thought their parents were weird too, for homeschooling them.  I know, I was so mean. But, I just didn’t understand it.  Those kids used to get made fun of. They seemed painfully shy and socially awkward…

Well, with a loving salute to Bob Dylan,… the times they are a changin…

And I am a changin…

I’m not sure what the future holds and I know Maris is only turning 3 next month, but time flies, and I need a plan…so homeschooling has come to the forefront of this crazy head lately….I’ve been reading about it…thinking about it…hearing other mommas talk about it…and my view of the whole home school thing is quite different these days…

It can be cool to home school!!!!!!!

Seriously, before, I’ve always thought…”I could never home school!! I am a procrastinator, unorganized, fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl and our kids would learn nothing! I would be awful!  They would be dumb!”….

But, I am realizing, I don’t have to be a type A mom to homeschool…I can be who I am! You see, the idea has grown from teaching my kids 2+2=4…to a vision of 2+2=4, plus the way God made the human body work, and the way he made the planets Earth to Jupiter, and going to museums and looking at art and teaching them the primary colors and how God invented every color we can see and those we can’t, and how George Washington loved God so much and how our country was founded on faith in Christ….

See, I feel that I am being called to teach my children so much more than what public schools can…they cant teach children through the lens of scripture…the lens of Gods word…

Like the picture above, His Word is the foundation…the bottom line…the lens with which we look at glorious music and art, science, history, and even yes, horrid horrid unspeakably horrid math…(God help me teach them more than 2+2=4)

Public schools can’t do all of that…But, I can! And I am getting more and more excited about doing so!

And, alas, this is the reason I feel that I am becoming a major nerd!  I have this drive to read so many books….and I think God is stirring this desire in me to learn, so that I can in turn teach our children those things…

Scary, and exciting!

And you know, looking back, there were those kids that were painfully shy and socially awkward…but there were also homeschooled kids that were some of the brightest, smartest, most intriguing, and well-rounded kids I have ever met in my life…

So, I have a long way to go…and the thought of it at times is overwhelming…but I really feel like it’s the right direction for us…

You can think I’m totally weird and crazy…but I am!! Its ok!

I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Much much Love!

Read Full Post »

A Bad Hair Day…or Year…

Sometimes I get really down.  It might be the surge of hormones…but no, I really don’t think so…because this happens even when I’m not pregnant…

This look in the mirror or the closet and have a meltdown moment type thing…They don’t occur as much as they used to…I remember being newly married and Daniel and I would be going out on a date somewhere and he would be ready to go and he would find me on the floor in my closet about in tears because nothing fit right or my hair wouldnt do right or something….Poor guy…

This post may sound pathetic, shallow, and un-spiritual…but I care about how I look…and I love my hair…and I’m mourning over it…

Has anyone ever asked you what your favorite physical feature is…that one thing that you are so glad God gave you?

Eyes, nose, great teeth…lol

Well, my answer was always…my hair. Tear.

I’ve always had lots of hair…its actually very fine…the follicle…but I have many many of them.  And I’ve always loved it because I have naturally curly hair but its not so curly to where I cant straighten it.  So…..any given day I can wake up and decide if I want curly or straight hair…or the days where I don’t want to do anything to it…I don’t have to! Great, huh!!!

Well, the problem is my hair is falling out…Yes, lots and lots and lots of it…and I am just wanting to vent about it…

I talked to Dr. Shoemaker about it at my last appointment, wanting…wishing for something…ANYTHING to cure my post-baby hair loss….”I’m going bald, Dr. Shoemaker!”… I emphatically told him. He reassured me that I wasn’t going bald and it was just a part of it and to keep on taking my vitamins…

So, the hair loss, coupled with flat, dull, lifeless hair is just so fun right now…And it doesn’t help that every hair product company known to man are just plain LIARS!!!

See…I really have nothing deep to say…just that I miss my full, curly, straight, pretty hair…and I hope it will come back one day very soon…Thanks for letting me vent…I feel better now!  🙂

I hope you are having a good hair day! Enjoy it for me!!

Love to you!!!!

Read Full Post »