Hello Monday!

Hello to the little bits of happy parts of my life!

Hello Unexpected Picture that I Didn't Take!

Sometimes I let Leah take pictures with my camera, and apparently she thinks Maggie is awfully cute, too!

Hello Fun Weekend with Friends!

I read this post and knew I needed to start a journal for the times we entertain friends.  I wish I had started this 8 years ago when we got married, but better late than never...right!?

I was keeping my eye out for the perfect journal to use for my "entertaining journal," but I couldn't find anything just perfect.  I finally realized that I could just use what I had and that would be just fine.  Perfect can be overrated!

In the interest of not being perfect, I forgot I had the journal for over a month, so I missed recording a lot of things.  But, I just picked up where I left off.  The point isn't recording every little thing; the point is recording our memories with our friends and having something to enjoy looking back on in the future.

Hello Getting Ready for a Talk!

I'm reading Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung in preparation for a talk I'm doing at InterVarsity on Thursday night.  It's an easy read with lots of good information.  

Hello Favorite Hipster!

I got Leah these hipster glasses at the dollar spot at Target.  She calls them her "hipsy" glasses.  I told her that the term was hipster, but she said she liked hipsy better.

That's my girl!

Hello Sentimental Card I Found Cleaning Out the Desk!

I'm only sorry you can't hear Michael Scott talking like I can when I open the card :)

The significance of this card is that this is the way we decided on Maggie's name!  We narrowed it down to Maggie and Laura and I left it up to Aaron to make the final decision.  I remember where we were on the road when I read the sentence about raising Leah and Maggie together.  So sweet!

Hello Lunch!

I could eat these Turkey Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Dressing for lunch for the rest of my life and never get tired of them. 

I don't think I'm exaggerating...they are ahhhhhhh-mazing!

Hello Spring?

Spring officially starts on the 20th, so we'll see if we still have snow on the ground!  As long as the snow doesn't melt into our basement, I'm fine with it :)

Hello Lap Full of Goodness!

Do you ever feel like Gracie...like God heaps your life so full of goodness and blessing?  Because, let me tell you, the Dora cash register is a hot commodity at our house, and Maggie put it in her lap.  That's sisterly love around these parts!

I hope your day is heaped full of the goodness and blessings that come from Jesus!




I only link to other blogs if it's something I'd write about anyway and today is one of those times!  I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard :)

I Had a Rough Morning, but a Good Afternoon

When I decided to name my blog, I thought it was clever to call it The Good, The Bad, and The Quirky.  But, I also wanted to be able to write about times that might be considered "bad."  I like to keep things cheerful and light, but I also want to keep things real, you know? Because as much as I want to be the most perfect mom in the world, I most certainly am not.

Yesterday was certainly evidence of that.

Maggie and Gracie were in the bathtub and were all clean, so they had some time to just play.  The water was pretty sudsy, so I wanted to clip Maggie's hair up so I wouldn't have to rinse it again.  She started to pull it out and I told her she needed to leave it in.

She said, super sassy, "WHY should I?"

Can you believe that such a sweet, cute girl would say such a thing?

Needless to say, that didn't go over very well.  I raised my voice and said suuuuuuper helpful things like, "How dare you speak to me that way.  I am the mom.  How dare you!"

I pulled her out of the bath, wrapped her in a towel, and had her wait in the warm bathroom while I got Gracie dressed.

Let me say that I don't mind explaining why my kids are doing what I asked them to while they are in the process of obeying.  I think it's good!  But, obedience needs to be first time and not negotiated for their own safety (and my own sanity).  I can't risk them running away from me in a busy parking lot because they are expecting me to explain the whys of obeying before they obey.

They also know that when I ask them to do something, a great reply is, "Yes, Mom."

The amount of times I've had to remind them to say, "Yes, Mom," is staggering.

Anyway, Maggie was wrong.

And I was wrong, too.  I was mean, and I was filled with pride.

Every now and then I am just faced with my own brokenness and weakness.  It is so very sobering to me.

So, why do I tell you this?

Because we need Jesus.  I need Jesus.every.single.second.  

And any time you look at me and think that I'm such a great mom or such a wonderful person, I want you to know that what you are seeing isn't me...it's Jesus.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

This is the beauty of the Gospel...that Jesus forgives me again and again.  He redeems broken moments again and again.

That's what happened with me and Maggie.

We talked about what happened and what she did wrong.  And we talked about what I did wrong, too.  We both apologized and prayed together.

Then, she said, super sassy, "Why should I?" about 20 minutes later.

Are you kidding me?!?!?

But, Jesus redeems, and I handled that way better, calmly sending her to the corner and talking about it reasonably.

That's not me.  That's Him.

The morning was hard, and I told Aaron all about it when he came home for lunch.  I had considered texting him about it but realized that's just not something a person wants to hear via text!

As he was leaving, he reminded me that God's mercies are new every morning AND every afternoon.

And they are!  The afternoon started off with me bringing Maggie and Gracie into Leah's class so I could be the Dr. Seuss reader!

I help in Leah's class once a week, so I know all of the kids and it's super fun to be there!  Leah's teacher is a great friend of mine, so I love to see her, too!

I'm glad that Jesus can take something that started out poorly and make it end really well.

Things that Float (brought to you by Maggie)

Aaron's parents get Maggie a subscription to High Five magazine.  It's like Highlights for littler kids.

It's actually WAY cooler than Highlights.

I mean no disrespect to you, Highlights.

Anyway, the other month they had a "science" experiment where you fill up a sink with water and see what floats, what doesn't float, and what starts out floating, but ends up sinking. 

Riveting stuff, I tell you!

Maggie loves it!  

I think part of the love is that she can splash in water, but I'll take it!

Without further ado...

And, while we were being professional scientists in the kitchen, Leah was winning her first SOLO game of Mario Cart!  Usually she sits in Aaron's lap, and he does most of the driving, but this time it was all her.

It's a proud moment for a dad ;)

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily...

Gracie came up to me the other day and said, "Mama, you get me sweeper please?"

I got her the little broom from the pegboard in the basement stairwell, and as I was bringing it back to her, she was singing, "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily..."

I love that an upside down stool becomes a boat and that a broom becomes an oar.

I delight in Gracie!

I delight in her spunk.

I delight in her silliness.

I delight in her carrying her pack pack while wearing hilarious dress up clothes.

I delight in her making her dollies talk and seeing how she nurtures them.

I delight in the fact that she actually eats soup!

I'm SO not a perfect mommy, yet I delight in her.

That makes me think about how much our perfect, all knowing Heavenly Father delights in us.  

To know that God, who sees inside my heart and knows all of my failures and shortcomings, delights in me is humbling.  

I find it hard to delight in someone who, in a certain moment, is selfish and sinning.

God doesn't find it hard.

Not one bit.

And, I don't know about you, but that makes me want to walk through my day very, very merrily!

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

I'm linking up with Shauna!

Buttermilk Quick (I mean really quick) Bread

I read a bunch of blogs, but one of my very favorites is Hello from the Natos.

She is hilarious and totally Gospel centered and encouraging in her transparency.  

Plus, every now and then she posts amazing recipes like the one I'm sharing with you now!

This delicious bread takes just minutes to whip up and uses really normal ingredients.

Buttermilk Quick Bread 
from The Kitchn via Jami Nato

2 cups of flour (I used 1 cup of all purpose and 1 cup of white whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt

On a random side note, when I make a recipe that has baking soda, baking powder, and salt in it, I think to myself, "The Big Three."

There IS a reason why "quirky" is in the name of this blog :)

Anyway, whisk your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, stir together...
1 cup buttermilk (you can make an easy substitute by putting 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a one cup measuring cup and fill the rest with regular milk.  Stir and wait 5 minutes)
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or oil

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir.

Now, don't stir like crazy and get it smooth...you want it to be a little lumpy and, well, shaggy.

Put the dough into a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan that you have sprayed with nonstick spray.

Be sure to send the dough to all the corners like a kid who needs a time out...or something like that.

Bake it at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until it is golden on top and you put a tooth pick in and it comes out clean.

Resist the urge to pop it out of the pan right away.  Let it rest in the pan for 15 minutes.

Slice and enjoy!

I served this with soup, but it would be good with salad or on its own!  You could easily stir in some shredded cheese or herbs.  I think it would be good with herbed butter or even honey on it, too.

But not honey with the herbed butter.  Not good.

This could be the best 5 culinary minutes of your day!

Have a great one!

Saturday Picture and Forts

We had a pretty full Saturday!  

Isn't it funny how Saturdays are?  There are some Saturdays where we don't have anything going on, so we end up just being lazy or walking around Menards, or something equally random.  Then, some are so busy that you need a vacation afterwards!

This Saturday was just right!  We had a couple of things going on, but plenty of time for relaxing fun around the house!

The girls jumped right into making long pictures!  My mom gave us some old school printer paper awhile ago, and every now and then they rediscover the awesomeness of it.

Here is a closer view of the sections.  Please pay careful attention to what Aaron is wearing...

I'm not really sure what he's wearing there, but it's pretty funny!

After that, they decided they wanted to build a fort, so we put one up.

It does kind of look like they are behind bars, but I assure you, they are not in jail :)

Leah and Gracie loved being in the fort...

...while Maggie preferred being outside of the fort, making vegetable soup to serve to the aforementioned fort dwellers.

The vegetables have been a hotly contested item of late...lots of arguing and unwillingness to share.  They are going on break, much like a certain other toy.

After that, we went to a movie!  Leah got a couple of free passes to see an older movie at one of the movie theaters in town.  We saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  I thought it was pretty funny, but a little scary at the end for the littler girls.  I was shocked that Gracie made it through the whole movie!  I though that, for sure, I'd have to leave with her, but she did awesome!

Saturday evening, we went to our friends' (Evan and Bri) engagement party.  It was a lot of fun, and Maggie found out that she gets to be the flower girl!  She is SO excited!  I'm really proud of Leah for not being jealous of her.  

Leah was the flower girl in the wedding of some other friends (Brandon and Hannah) when she was almost 3, so I kind of made it sound like she already had a chance to be a flower girl, and she went with that.  Whew!

Aaron is going to officiate Evan and Bri's wedding, so it will be a super special day!

On a random side note, Leah wore her hair down (or "flat" as she likes to say) to school on Friday.  I don't usually let her because it's a huge pain to comb out the next day.  And, yes, I'll admit that I like having it pulled back (usually in braids) because I think that makes it harder to get lice.

Can I say nightmare?!?!

Anyway, doesn't she look pretty!

Have a happy Monday!

Snow Day Recap

Leah had a snow day on Tuesday!  

I actually knew about it this time, so that's always good :)

I don't mind all the snow.  I know some people are sick of it, which I understand, but, my non-scientific analysis of this weather makes me hopeful that summer won't be hotter than sin.

I don't know what hotter than sin is, but in my mind that means really, reeeeeally hot!

Last winter was mild and summer was horrifying, so I'm being optimistic that our very cold and winter-y winter will give us a pleasant summer.

A girl can hope, right?!

The day started out with the girls getting out of bed.  

Did they sleep in?

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

That would be a big ol' no.

But, they did bring out blankets and pillows and make pretend beds on the couches!

Leah is showing me that her headband can make the letter "c".

Next up was a really yummy breakfast!

Baked French Toast Sticks from Iowa Girl Eats.

Make them now and thank me later :)

After that, they played with Duplo Blocks, La La Loopsy Girls, Pretty Ponies, and game pieces of themselves.

They each have a really great imagination, which I just love!

Then it was bath time for the little girls.

Leah got to play on the iTouch while I bathed her sisters.  They all like to be in the bathroom at the same time when one of their sisters is being bathed, which can be a tiny bit stressful for me, so I try to keep the non-bathing beauty occupied with something else.

It's also super fun to look at all the snow outside and watch the squirrels jump through it!

We live on a dead end and didn't get plowed all day.  Good thing Aaron can work from home!

The real fun began next with the Fancy Nancy Game!

Even though we have all girls, I don't really get into the princess thing, but I LOVE Fancy Nancy!  We were at Menards on Saturday and they had this game on clearance for $5.99 (probably left over from Christmas time), so we picked it up.  It has been so much fun and really easy.  All of the girls enjoy it.  Gracie and I are always on a team together so I can keep the game moving along :)

After we put the game away, I read them a chapter of a Ramona book.

I love Ramona books!  I remember where I sat in the library at my elementary school when I read them.  I feel like Ramona is an older, sweeter version of Junie B. Jones.  

I like Junie B., but I LOVE Ramona!

While I was getting lunch ready, they played fetch.

Leah is the dog.  It's always pretty amusing to me that they like to play fetch because they are terrified of dogs.

After they ate lunch, I let them dunk Oreos in their milk.

I don't usually let them dunk cookies in milk, because it usually ends in spilling or someone playing in their milk and then someone cries.

I'm happy to report there were no incidents and nobody cried.

WIN!

Maggie got to have a turn with the iTouch after lunch.

She's laying on Gracie's quilt.  I made each of the girls quilts for Christmas.  It was really stressful at the time, but I'm SO glad I did it!  This is the back side of the quilt, which I think I like better than the front (I do really like the front, though).  It is made up of my favorite fabrics.  So bright and cheerful!

While the little girls napped (shhhh, don't tell Maggie that I referred to her as a little girl twice in this post), I let Leah paint.

Beezus painted in the chapter we read in our book, so Leah did some wonderful, imaginative painting, too.  She is one really creative little girl!  (She just got out of bed and was reading over my shoulder.  She said, "Why did you say I'm little?"  Hence the cross out :))

After Maggie and Gracie got up from their naps, Aaron took them all outside to play!

They enjoyed some hot chocolate when they got back in, but I didn't take a picture of that.  Oops!

It was a great, great snow day!

Have a super weekend!