Cinnamon Roll Cake..In the oven now!!

Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla


While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

On top of things..

I love to feel like I am on top of things around my house. there is nothing more gratifying as a stay at home mom and wife to have our home and our life in order! I love the house picked up, the laundry done (doesn't always make the top of the priority list), and I LOVE to have my meals planned out! I was really feeling on top of the world a couple of weeks ago! I got on the ball and made a dinner menu for 3 weeks. Yes you read that right!! I planned 5 meals a week for 3 weeks and I bought all my groceries for those 3 weeks. All totaling a whopping $130. But that's another post!

I just feel like my life is a whole lot less stressful when I don't have to think about the dreaded question of, "What sounds good for dinner?" Quite frankly, Matt never cares. He thinks I am a fabulous cook and would eat anything I make (good man). So he is not much help when I ask that question. So instead of stressing about it, I plan ahead and man it makes things go so smooth!

I write down each day and I include all sides as well. If my menu calls for something that doesn't sound the greatest, I just flip flop my menu around! It really works great.

I thought I would share my menu for this week! I know I get in a rut with cooking and it's nice to have someone else's menu to give me ideas. I am always asking my friends what they are cooking for the week. It just helps having fresh ideas.

Monday: I am throwing in a pork butt in the morning. Check out the recipe HERE. I add about half a bottle of liquid smoke to give it a little more smoky flavor. This will be accompanied by small yeast rolls with coleslaw for Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Tuesday: We will use the pork (I do not add bbq sauce to the pork so I can reuse it) for pork tacos. They are sooo yummy! I throw the meat in a saucepan, add in some cumin, salt, pepper, some green chilies, and anything else you may want to make your pork a little more mexican. I throw some meat on a tortilla, add some cheese, lettuce, salsa and guacamole and it is a flavor of fun in your mouth! Oh yum!!

Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo. Recipe HERE.

Thursday: Kung Pao Chicken with peanuts and scallions. Served with homemade wontons and brown rice.

Friday: Steak night!! Then I will use the left over steak for steak fajitas!!

I hope this has helped you this week! I love new recipes so if you have anything you just love..send it my way!!

Check out this awesome blog for some great recipes! Chrissy is an awesome cook and we are equally on top of things (haha..jk) when it comes to meal planning! We brainstorm together most weeks on what we will cook!!:)

I'm loving....

Happy Friday!

Just a few things I am thankful for on this Friday morning.

The Love of my life and my best friend!

Sweet Alyssa and her tender heart for others!

Bella Grace and her contagious personality!

The PRECIOUS children of Haiti who have changed my life forever!

Swimming Pools! I am soooo thankful we can swim and enjoy being outside in the crazy heat!!

I love him more...

8 years ago today I married the absolute LOVE.of.my.life! I can not even believe 8 years has already passed us by. I am way more in love with you today than I was the day I married you and I did not know that was possible! We were talking this morning about what all has happened in our lives in the past 8 years and God has sure done a lot!

We have:

moved 3 times

had 2 kids

been all over the world together

laughed A LOT

cried together

rejoiced together

stressed together

waited on the Lord....together

grew up together. We met when we were 18 and married at 20. So YES we have grown up together:)

fallen in love over and over and over again

planned our future (but we know that is pointless because it's all God's plan not our own)

become completely debt free together...Praise God! Thank you Dave:)

grew in our relationship with the Lord.

I literally could go on and on at what all we have been through and done in the past 8 years but...God has been good, and so faithful to us. I can't imagine a greater man for me to be married to and to walk through life with. I don't want to just be married to him. I want us to have the best relationship possible. A marriage that our girls know is of the Lord. A marriage that is STRONG. That no matter what Alyssa and Bella know that we love each other and we are committed to the lord and to one another for a life time!

Matt you are the Rock of our family and I absolutely adore you. I am so thankful the Lord brought you in my life 10 years ago. I look forward to where the lord will lead us throughout our lifetime. I love you Matt!!!!

What a Dad...

I know it's a day late, but we have had the craziest weekend! It started on Friday and has not stopped since. It's been great...just busy!

So...I can not go without giving my amazing hubby a shout out! Matt basically ROCKS! He is the best dad to our girls. He is so involved in their lives and loves spending time with them. He has always taken over the minute he walks through the door and continues until they go to bed. They wrestle when he walks in, the laugh in the bath tub, and they drift off to sleep listening to him pray. He is so hands on and I can not imagine what I would do without him. The girls ADORE him and can't wait for him to be home. Not sure if that's because they are so totally over me by that point, or if they really do love him!! HAHA JK!! They think he hung the moon...I would agree with his greatness. He is the leader of our home and he shows our children Christ each and every day. For that I am so very thankful!

Matt we love you more than you could imagine. You are amazing and I am so thankful for you in my life and the girls.

Birthday Girl!!!

We have a 5 year old on our hands! WHAT?!?! How. DId. This. Happen? Yep that's pretty much what I have been asking myself for the past month? Kindergarten? Really? Oh. my. word.

This momma is not at all ready for her to start school. I feel like everything about these past 5 years of Alyssa's life have made a screeching halt to the front of my memory and it's making me:

Sad...at how fast it has flown by....Cliche I know, but true!!

Happy...because of all the sweet memories we have made with this amazing little girl!

Proud...of the girl she is becoming. I could go on and on about how great she is.

Thankful...As we prayed with Alyssa last night, Matt and I both thanked God for the time He has given us and prayed He would grant us many more years. After all, He is the Giver of Life.

So Happy 5th Birthday to our sweet little Alyssa! You are so full of life and such an amazing blessing to your daddy and I! We love you more than you could ever imagine and are so incredibly proud of you!

What gifts we have been given.

Man do I love our girls! God has been so good to us and we are so thankful for these little sweeties. I try to never take them for granted as I know there are so many out there that can not have children or are struggling to have their own. I don't want a day to go by that I don't thank the Lord for the blessing that they are to us!

They are growing entirely too fast for my liking. I am trying to soak every. single. bit of Alyssa Lauren in this summer. Kindergarten is coming on like a freight train and I can not believe it! It really has flown by so fast!

She is one special girl.

She loves to:

Sing

Swim

Dance

Get her nails done!:)

Go to breakfast on Saturday mornings. I do too!!:)

Has a WILD imagination and loves to play pretend.

Color and draw pictures.

Write and do math!

She is very funny.

She acts Just.Like.Me!! :)

She can be very outgoing...yet very shy.

She LOVES her sister and comes RUNNING when she is hurt or crying.

She loves her best friend Maddie. She and Maddie are TIGHT! It really is so sweet!:)

She would eat chick fil a or Geno's pizza everyday. literally!

She can cry at the drop of a hat!! Never. Seen. Anything. Like. It!!

She is loyal.

She is kind hearted.

She has mercy.

She is loving.

She is Smart.

She is a leader.

She loves to learn.

She loves Jesus.

She has a heart for Haiti and the orphans.

She cares for others.

She is learning what it means to "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” Philippians 2:3.

I could go on and on and on about this kid. She is great. She is a blessing. She is so precious and I love her more and more every day! We are so proud of her and we KNOW God has amazing plans for this little girl. We pray we will always show her what Jesus looks like and lead her in the direction of Him! What a privilege we have to raise her up in Christ...But what a task it is. May we be found faithful!

We love you sweet Alyssa!