Pintertest Kitchen - Caprisi Salad Paninis

It's my first Pintertest Kitchen! I know, where have I been?!

Here is my fabulous inspiration...

                                                                                   Source: myrecipes.com via Jami on Pinterest

This was super easy. I would use a softer bread next time I think, but other than that, YUMMY!

All ready to assemble...

Rolls from Trader Joe's, Roma tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil.

I just put some olive oil in the pan, put the sandwiches in and then set another heavy pan on top. I don't have any pictures of this because I was helping my oldest two with homework at the same time and something had to give. In this case it was the camera.

Also, can someone please buy me a panini maker?

Yes please!

Everyone ate these {including the short picky people who live in my house}.

I served mine with brussell sprouts. I know what you're thinking..."is she kidding?"
Hear me out.
Cut the brussell sprouts in half, drizzle them with olive oil, add some salt & pepper and then top with Parmesan. Are you with me yet? Bake them at 450 until they look almost burnt. Soooooo good. Trust me.

I made one other change. The recipe calls for a balsamic glaze for the sandwich. Let's face it, that just dirties another pan so I just poured some balsamic vinegar in a dish and used it as a dip for the sandwich.



You're welcome.

"we encourage"- Take Heart

This encouraged me this week...

                                                                     Source: bippityboppityboo.tumblr.com via Jami on Pinterest

Let me tell you friends, I needed it. 

I have had more than a few parenting challenges the last few days. 

The kind of days where I am left feeling depleted, emotionally and physically.

Days when the thought of answering one more question or cleaning up one more mess is more than I can stand.

But guess what? God knows where I am.

He is reminding me, "Don't try to do this on your own."

And I think I was.

I know I was.

I have been letting the frustration and insecurity get the best of me.

These children are not mine. 

They are His.

But I am blessed to have been gifted them here on this earth.

And when I am at my end, my Savior tells me to "take heart".

What a beautiful thing. 

A Few Minutes

There is something I love to do that with 4 kids doesn't always happen.

I love to read.

The book I'm currently reading.  My worship leader asked the whole team to read it. I'm so glad he did, it's a great book.


When I get a few minutes to sit down and read I am always thankful. On this particular occasion N was laying on my lap which made it even sweeter.
I've made some adjustments to my daily routine to make sure I have time to read each day.

It's good for my soul.

It's always a few minutes of peace, thoughtfulness and rest.

Why Do I Do It?

Why do I feed her muffins? They are obscenely messy.

 And usually end up like this...

So why do I do it? Because she wants one. And who could say no to this face?

"we encourage" - Recognizing Sin

Happy Tuesday friends! Sorry "we encourage wasn't up last week. Let's be honest...nothing was posted last week. I had one of those weeks where I rarely knew what day it was and it was over before I knew it.






I had a very eye openig conversation with J this weekend. I was truly amazed by her ability to look at her own heart issue and articulate it.
Over the weekend J had two girlfriends spend the night. Can I just tell you that it did make me wish just for a minute that I was 7 again. It was so fun watching them spend time together.

Here they are in the completely awesome fort Hubby made.

At one point during the weekend the girls were making bracelets. There were lots of fun things to decorate the bracelets with. Stickers, rinestones, etc.
During the bracelet extravaganza one of J's friends came out to tell me she was trying to cheer J up.
Here is what I'm thinking, "What? Cheer her up? She has her two best frinds over and she is making jewelry. What could possibly be wrong?"

So I brought her out to have a talk.

I could hardly believe the wisdom in this little girl.

What I thought she was trying to say was that one of her friends had gotten a sticker she wanted to use and it was making her sad. So of course I instantly launched into my mom talk.

You know the one.

The one where I tell her there are plenty of stickers and I understand that she is disappointed but she should put her guests above herself and just enjoy their time together.

This is the moment in time when my 7 year old daughter taught me a lesson...

"Mom, I'm not sad about the stickers. I'm glad my friends got them. I'm sad because I know I shouldn't care that they got the stickers first. I was being envious and I don't want to be. It makes me sad I was feeling that way."

I'm sorry, can you repeat that?!

My daughter recognized she was being envious.

She recognized it, knew it was wrong and it upset her. What an amazing moment. I'm so grateful for the conversation that followed. We were able to discuss sin, the fact that everyone sins and how we are called to deal with it.
As I later thought about our conversation together it struck me that I know many adults who can't or choose not to recognize their own sin. Myself included.

How many of us ignore our sin?
Minimize our sin?
Rationalize our sin?
Repeat our sins over and over again?
Hide our sin?

My daughter brought something into the light for me.

I want to encourage all of us to recognize our sin, confess it, ask forgiveness for it and do better.

Bits of Splendor - The Girls Room

Hi Strangers. Long time no talk. Sorry about that!

I'm so excited Laura is doing this link up. And I can finally share my girls bedroom.  It's 98% done.

I feel like all the rooms in my house are 98% done. That's a whole other story.

Here we go...

The beds. My dear friend gave us these bunk beds. Yah, as in for free. She's my hero. We painted them Martha Stewart "cornbread" yellow. I found white chenille bedspreads at Bed, Bath & Beyond on clearance. My favorite detail is the old quilts. The one hanging at the end of the top bed I bought at a local antique store. The folded quilt on the bottom bed was made with love by Lora from Eager Hands.

This is right inside the doorway. I spray painted some old frames apple red. The scripture prints are from Jessi at Naptime Diaries and the beautiful "all is well" hoop art is from Aly at Blossom & Vine.

The window treatments are just white valances from Target. I took fabric that I bought from Sew Obsessed. Tore it into 1 inch pieces and tied it in knots around some twine. I love the way it came out. The wall has a framed picture of a little girl praying from an old book I had. My favorite painting from Casey Wiegand and all C's hair pretties from RockStar Babies Boutique.

Here is the detail of the window. I'm so happy I didn't have to sew anything. And by that I mean I didn't have to ask my mom to sew anything.

I found these great racks on display at a local clothing store and bought them to hold the girls books.

I still need to find or create a desk for the room. J is begging for a desk to use for homework and crafts. Hopefully I can find just the right thing.

See you next Monday!

PS: "we encourage" will be back tomorrow. Come link up.

Oatmeal Rasberry Bars

Let me share my little bowl of happy with you...



Yes, that's brown sugar and butter. I know. Stop it.

I can't take credit for this recipe. It's a Pioneer Woman recipe with a couple differences.

Here's what you need:
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c quick oats
2 sticks of butter{softened and cut into pieces}
1 c packed brown sugar
10 oz preserves {whatever kind you like}
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350
Mix everything except the preserves into a bowl. Takes a little while to get it all worked together.

Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Put 1/2 the mixture into the dish and firmly press down spreading the mix to cover the bottom of the dish.
Spread the preserves evenly over the top. Then add the remainder of the mixture and gently pat it down on top.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool and then cut into squares.

These are amazing! We took them for snacks to Disneyland and they kept everyone{even Hubby] happy.


You have to make them, they are so easy. You can thank me later! Or you can thank the Pioneer Woman. Whatever.

Enjoy!

we encourage - Listen

Be sure to pay attention to what you hear. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them. Luke 8:18

I've been taking the time to listen lately.

To really listen to what the Lord is trying to say to me.

Of course I should be doing that all the time but let's face it...I don't.

He gets drowned out by kids, dishes, laundry, the latest episode of Hoarders{please don't pretend I'm the only one watching that}.

I've been eliminating some distractions from my life. Some time fillers. Time waisters.

In the process God has made some things abundantly clear to me. Some things Hubby and I had been wrestling with for a long time.

I'm so grateful for the guidance I've recieved. He also reinforced that my time could be much better spent. My time could be much more productive.

More of that time will be spent listening.

Are you listening?

"True blessing isn't just found in hearing God's voice, but in heeding it." Priscilla Shirer

No More Ear Infections

If I make that the title of my post it will come true right?
No?
Well, it was worth a shot.

Remember last week when I said I would get back to posting more regularly and then that didn't happen? Here's why...

The week started off something like this.


Am I the only one who's kids get sick after hours? No one ever gets sick on a Monday at 10. They are lucky they're so cute.
Friday night at 5 I look at N and his eyes are bright red with some very attractive goop coming out of the corner. My friend says, "that might be pink eye". Greeaaaattt.
So off to the after hour care at Kaiser.
The verdict...an ear infection. Lots of anti-biotic and eye drops in our future.

Then a few days later, miss C starts acting less than her happy magnificent self. I'm hoping a little motrin and a lot of snuggling will take care of it. Call it wishful thinking.
But when does it get really bad?
Around noon on Saturday. Yes Saturday. No not Monday. Saturday.
Again, here we go to the after hours care.



Yes, I took her to see the doctor in her jammies. Sue me. I would like to add here that there should be a rule that all babies are seen right away. Do they have any idea how quickly this slumber could have turned into a screaming fit? I'll consider us all lucky that didn't happen. Being in the waiting room for an hour when you also have an ear infection will do this to you. Poor baby.
Clearly, there is more anti-biotic for us the rest of the week. They both seem to be on the mend so all should be back to normal this week. That is until the next thing happens.

On the positive, C's hair is now long enough for pigtails! Holla!


I have already ordered some fabulous bows for her, not to worry.