Thankful on a Thursday: in spite of pain

We have had a really interesting week. Unfortunately there were a couple of tragic accidents affecting two different groups of family + friends. My brother lost a childhood friend, just 17 years old, in a BMX accident on Sunday. We've been praying fervently for his family and all the loved ones mourning his loss. Then yesterday we found out that a friend rom our church was severely injured in a motorbike accident in Laos where she just recently moved to teach. She has many injuries requiring many surgeries. Her parents have rushed to her side. Again, we are dedicated in prayer over her healing. We serve such a mighty God.

In spite of the bad, today is meant for focusing on the good. Thursday always arrives right on time.

This week I'm thankful for...

341. dinner out last weekend + watching these two together.

{Liam + Malakai}

342. getting Ben a treat, he loves trying new beers.

{seasonal brews are the best}

343. deep, meaningful, spirit-filled moments.

344. sunny fall afternoons, watching Kai explore our backyard.

345. Ben's sweet new blog. He surprised me with the first post and I eagerly anticipate each new story.

346. getting a love letter in the mail from my husband that made me blush.

347.  thoughtful housewarming gifts + the inspiration to try new things.

348. discovering the Dollar Tree down the street is still open.

349. reinventing playtime.

350. last night's dinner + casual conversation with some of our best friends.

What are you thankful for?

back to baking {2 new recipes}

After an eventful weekend and a restful start to my week, I'm back in the kitchen (literally, I'm typing this post from my teensy little cooking space). I'm baking something fun + slightly new that I'll post about at a later date.

But here's all the baking I did last week in preparation for our housewarming guests.

Banana-Carrot Bread.
I got this recipe from a friend of ours who brought this delightful treat over along with a pasta dinner just after Malakai was born. Bless her (and all the other kind people who cooked for us that first couple weeks). I used wheat flour + coconut oil instead of "salad oil". It was while making this that I discovered a deep loathing for "finely" grating carrots (this was soon replaced by my loathing for scrubbing tile floors).

Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Creme frosting.
I've made these before. I also served some with plain ol' store bought vanilla frosting. Also, yummy.

Pumpkin Roll
A friend from college made this yummy treat one fall. I can't remember the occasion (small group?) but I remembered loving it. I made two of them and had borrowed my mom's "jelly roll" pan. Since you use wax paper (or parchment) I think it could work with a regular flat cookie sheet as well. I also used 1 batch of frosting for 2 rolls as some advice online said a whole batch would ooze out the sides. So glad I made two of these, it was the most popular thing on the table.

{my first experience rolling cake in a towel}

I had ample amounts of canned pumpkin leftover, so I froze it until I figure out what to make with it next.

*edit: I forgot to mention that I left the nuts out of my recipe. We don't much like nuts in baked goods around here.

I was also going to prepare some parmesan biscuit bites ala The Pioneer Woman, but ran out of time. So to offset all the sweets I put out chips and salsa (which was largely ignored).

This is what my kitchen looked like after all the baking...although a little warped from the panorama mode, you get the gist.

{mess.}

Sadly I didn't get a good picture after the scrubbing + cleaning and now the plates fell off the wall (again) and it's a mess from my current baking project. Some day soon I'll do a tour of our home post, another motivator to get it cleaned up again.

Ben's new blog

Last night Ben was inspired to start a new blog.

Stories for Kiddos.

I'm in love.

Family Photographs

So I've dabbled in Senior portraits and I've gotta be a pro at taking baby photos by now (okay, maybe just with my baby) and just this past weekend I did my first family photo shoot for some friends of ours. We went to the park where they got engaged and the fall colors made very beautiful scenery.

Anna, Brent + Baby Liam were very photogenic, although Liam is usually much more smiley than he was for pictures. He seemed to really be taking in the scenery, too much to look at to pay attention to me and my camera and my crazy noises.

Here are some of my favorites.

social hangover

Just when I think I've been super busy, last weekend's events reminded me that my day to day isn't so full after all.

In preparation for our friends coming to stay and our housewarming we had been unpacking (still, I know), deep-cleaning and decorating the house (finally). I don't have a lot of pictures of our newly decorated walls or the lovely faces that came through our doors on Saturday, instead I'll show you this horrible photo...

This is a before + after of the grout in our dining room + kitchen. I already hated this tile before, but I had no idea that it was this dirty! I've cleaned these floors frequently since we moved in 6 months ago. I simply focused on the grout with an abrasive bristle brush, and look what I've been missing!

The only thing worse than having lived with this dirt for so long without knowing it is that this discovery came after I had already washed all 100+ tiles on my hands + knees with steaming hot water. As if I didn't have enough to do the day of our guest's arrival, I scrubbed all the grout clean and then wiped the floors down again. Yes, I cleaned the floor 4 times in one day. I wanted to die. (insert dramatic tone here).

I calmed down quite a bit once our guests arrived. I decided to just let the messes that were undone wait for the next day and just hang out and relax for a while. Meeting their little baby Liam was so overdue, and he's just a doll! (photos coming soon...). That night we watched Community + 30Rock before bed and it felt weird to sit and relax for an evening after not doing so for more than a week.

On Saturday it was go-time once again. I started baking fairly early to get the rest of the brownie cupcakes done. I had already made the other treats earlier in the week (recipes coming soon...). Ben did some finishing touches outside, we tidied up our room and I was still setting up the food when our first open house guests arrived at 1pm.

We showed the house, ate food,  and visited with friends + family until 4:30pm or so when it was just us and our house guests again. Then we went out to dinner and the babies made a mess of the place and passed out on the car ride home. Us parents weren't far behind.

Sunday after church I did some family photos for our friends, which I'll post about later. When we got home to our house, just the three of us again,  Malakai wanted to explore the neighborhood a bit before dinner. He chased his shadow, went up and down the curb a dozen times and felt the textures of concrete + dirt.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. We were surrounded by people for 48 hours straight. It was great, I'm thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to relax in the calm after the storm.

How was your weekend?