Meaningful Advent Fun

My husband and I are currently planning an Advent Event for our church entitled "24 Reasons to Celebrate Jesus." He is the part-time pastor of Family Life and has been working on events to bring the church family together. At this event we will be providing 24 ornaments and a devotional for each family for $10, with a soup supper. Some of the ornaments will be ready-made, and some will be embellished or created at the event. I will post more as the items come together. The ornaments focus on a characteristic or name of God, which can be tricky to come up with ideas for! I am down to trying to find two more ornament ideas...any ideas for: God with us, or Counselor???

Quick Banana Bread

Here is my recipe for Quick Banana Bread. I'm not sure why, but it is always tastier the next day!

1 - 8oz Cream Cheese
1 - Cup Sugar
2 - Ripe Bananas
2 - Eggs
2 - Cups Bisquick

Cream the cream cheese and sugar; add in bananas one at a time; add in eggs one at a time; add in Bisquick until moist. Place in bread pan and bake at 350 for approximately 1 hour (60 min). Wonderful warm with a cup of hot cocoa. Enjoy!

Hello! Hello!

Good Afternoon Everyone! I think I am back to blogging after a looooooooong break. This little joy of joys has been keeping me busy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I waited a long 4 years for her and am so thankful to have the opportunity to mother a newborn again...OK she's two months old now...but that's still pretty new. Don't you just love that smile when they're sleeping. I think she is dreaming of her thumbs that she has kept out just in case she needs them. Big brother and sister have fallen back into their routine and all is well in Central PA. Come back for new posts soon on mouth watering recipes and food for thought too!

Pictures from the Trip: Part 1

Here are a few pictures from our trip out west. It was such an enjoyable time! We are so thankful for all of the hospitality we received!

We spent a lot of time holding our newest little nephew.
We used a butterfly kit and watched the caterpillars metamorphosize into butterflies. This was release day.

We had to have a butterfly party afterward of course :0) Playing video games with cousins in our jammies.
Blowing bubbles with cousins in Grandpa & Grandma's yard.
Golf lessons from Grandpa.

More pictures to come, as well as some summertime recipes!

The Long Hiatus

Hello all! I did not plan on being away from my blog for 6 weeks!!!! My adventure out west to visit family and friends went very well and was bittersweet as I had expected. Here is an updated picture of my little ones (the 7yr. old not so little anymore) in my parent's front garden.

Upon returning I plumped right up in all of my extremeties with the east coast humidity and am thankful to have gone back to "normal" with the exceptionally cool weather this week :0) I have never experienced pregnancy and humidity at the same time...and I do believe they are not friends, for they do not work together very well!

With approximately nine weeks left until the "due date," you can assume where my efforts will be! I hope to post a few pictures each day of our trip and get back into blogging more regularly. Up and coming as well are the crafts for the Pre-K through 2nd graders for VBS next week. I truly enjoy working each night's verse into the craft somehow, using the suggestions from the publisher. I think many of them could be adapted to verses you may be teaching your own littles at home and most reuse household items or are made with inexpensive craft items. Looking forward to being back!!!

An adventure ahead...

Wow! It has been a whole week + since I have posted!!!! Along with finishing up our year end AWANA bookwork and getting VBS crafts ready, I have been busy getting ready for a 4 1/2 week trip with the kids out west. My younger sister had her third baby at the end of February and asked if I would come out for a month and care for him while she finished up her teaching for the year. (She teaches 1st grade) Of course I had to really be coaxed into visiting family and taking care of a cute little guy :0) We will stay with my parents, who are three blocks away, and then take care of the little guy Monday - Friday.

Everyone is excited...except my husband. It really is bittersweet to go out and visit family and friends and have him stay here at home. Truthfully, he will be very busy with work, church and other projects that need to be tended to, and we wouldn't have seen him a whole lot, but we would have been here when he finally did get home each day. My hope is that the time will pass quickly for him. I can't believe April is gone and May is here already...maybe May will slip by the same way for him. All in all, your prayers would be appreciated.

I will be posting here at the pantry while I am away...and maybe even more prolifically than usual with extra eyes and ears around at Grandma and Grandpas. I have lots of posting ideas started and notes written. The long plane ride should help to flesh some of them out. I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend ahead!

Cinnamon Vanilla Whole Wheat Waffles

Every now and then we have Breakfast for Dinner at our house. The kids love it, I love it, my husband...not too excited about it. However, it makes a quick easy meal on evenings daddy has to work really late and won't be joining us for supper. Last night he was home, but we still had it. The kids were begging for these waffles, and I couldn't deny you the recipe for a quck, delicious, healthy meal. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Vanilla Whole Wheat Waffles

• 1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) canola or vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside. Beat egg yolks well; add in milk and oil. Add dry ingredients to egg, milk, oil mixture. Beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Sift baking powder over mixture and blend in quickly. Bake in hot waffle iron. Below is my waffle iron, I get 10 waffles out of this recipe (2 at a time, as you can see). Top with your favorite fruit and powdered sugar for a light, fresh taste, or go all out with butter and syrup!