12 Minute No-Rise Dinner Rolls

- Mama 1 Comment

When we have a family dinner, we don’t just serve a main dish. We often have a bread or roll, some fruit, and a vegetable or salad alongside it. On many occasions, we pick up affordable rolls or crusted breads at the store, but since inheriting a large stack of recipes with plenty of amazing bread recipes, we’ve started trying those.

The unfortunate thing about making many different roll recipes is that most of them need to be planned in advance, with mixing, rising, kneading, rising, rolling out, rising, and more rising before baking. I don’t have the patience (or usually, the forethought) to plan these breads so far in advance of dinner.

That’s why I was so excited to find a 12-15 minute roll recipe that had only four ingredients and absolutely no rise time. However, it had one strange ingredient that I wasn’t sure about…

Yup. Mayonnaise. Not Miracle Whip, but instead, real, true, Kraft Mayo.

After thinking about it, I realized that the two main ingredients in Mayo, after all, are eggs and oil… things that are pretty commonly found in breads. I decided to try it and see what happened.

This recipe was clipped from a newspaper. I have no idea the date it was published or what publication, and the name of the person who submitted it is clipped in half… all I see is “Sand” and half a “y”, so I’m guessing her first name was “Sandy.”

All you do to make these crazy-easy rolls is mix self rising flour, milk, sugar, and real mayonnaise together.

Put that into a lightly greased muffin tin. Bake it for 12-15 minutes, then serve warm with butter.

These are SO easy to make, and so delicious. They’re light, they’re fluffy, and they’re definitely worth making again and again. Not a fan of mayo? It’s okay– you cannot taste it at all.

Plus, who doesn’t love a recipe for fresh-baked rolls that literally take less than 15 minutes from the time you start mixing until the time the hot rolls reach the table? It’s the perfect last-minute roll recipe. Company coming over for dinner? Make a quick batch of rolls. Forgot to pick up bread at the supermarket? Make a quick batch of rolls.

Try them, then don’t forget to pin the recipe because it’s one you won’t want to forget.

What do you think of the idea of mayonnaise in a roll recipe? Does it make sense, or is it totally weird? Comment below and let me know!

12-minute No Rise Dinner Rolls

1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons real mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin tin. Mix together flour and milk, then add sugar and mayonnaise, mixing until just combined.
Spoon into muffin cups and bake until done, about 12-15 minutes. Serve warm.

This recipe makes 6 rolls, but can be easily doubled or quadrupled to make more. We typically plan 2 rolls per person at dinner.

One Little Word 2013: Capture

- Mama 4 Comments

A lot of you who were following my blog last year probably remember that I chose a One Little Word last year, inspired by the craze created by Ali Edwards. My 2012 word was Growth, and I feel like, in so many ways, I really did grow a lot in the past year.

I grew with my blog, taking it on as a full-time career and getting featured by Duncan Hines, Jell-O, International Delight, Citrus Lane, and several other brands. I ended up getting over 12,000 new visitors last year alone, and had many people visiting from around the world- 93 countries in all.

I grew with my baking, inventing over 100 new recipes over the past year, and even getting invited to the Duncan Hines test kitchen as a Frosting Creations winner.

I grew as an educator, getting into the swing of where I fit in in terms of homeschooling, and discovering the right curriculum for Zach.

I grew as a mom, figuring out how to create a better routine for Zach, meeting his needs better, and learning how to figure things out.

I grew as a photographer, finding my niche in terms of style, and figuring out exactly how I wanted my photos to look. I also learned how to do better post-processing to make my photographs look as brilliant as possible. I even had a company email me and tell me that my photos were “the most professional in-action shots of their product they’ve ever seen.” Hello, awesome.

I’m not saying any of this to brag. I’m saying that, by focusing on the word “growth,” and focusing on the areas in which I wanted to grow in 2012, I ended up achieving so many of my goals, finding new ones I hadn’t thought to plan for in January of last year, and really, truly, embracing my word with gusto.

And that’s why, this year, I’ve decided to choose a One Little Word once again. This year, my word is…

 

Capture.

(From Unglued, by Lisa Terkeurst)

I want to better capture life. Even with my blog, and even with my improved photography skills, I felt like I failed to capture the day-to-day life that we lived. I captured the big things, yes, but so many little things, like the way Zach’s hair stuck up into a unicorn horn one morning when he woke up, and the day that Zach finally understood the sign language for “all done” were lost to history.

This year, I’m really embracing the idea of capturing. I purchased a smart phone recently (yay! I’ve reached the 21st century!) and got instagram (follow me! @jengerbread88).

I want to photograph more, post more, share more, and remember more.

I’m also trying to do Project Life, a project initially created by Becky Higgins and adapted by hundreds of thousands of scrapbookers, in formats like paper, hybrid, and digital. The concept of Project Life is that you take a few photos a week, put them in an album, and include relevant journaling to capture the every day life of your family. You don’t have to take a photo every day, and you certainly don’t have to work on the project every day.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll make it through the entire year. In January, I start out with a lot of things, feeling very gung-ho, and end the year without it. But this year, I’m looking at it as, every week I DO actually complete is just one more week captured and that’s what my goal is all about anyway.

So here’s to focusing on capturing more than ever in 2013.

Do you have a One Little Word for 2013? What are you planning to focus on over the next year?

Tang-y Fruit Salad

- Mama 4 Comments

This recipe was from my grandfather, and I’m not sure where he got it from. The copy that I have is scrawled in his handwriting. When I first encountered the recipe, we were down visiting him at his house, after he had gotten ill. I thoroughly enjoyed the fruit salad, and Zach couldn’t get enough of it– the bananas, mandarin oranges, and pineapple were easy for his fingers to pick up and chow down. Because it was such a hit, I asked him for the recipe, which I texted to my email, and then promptly forgot about.

This is one of the few images I have of Zach and my grandfather together. It happens to be one of my favorite photos.

I rediscovered the recipe when I was going through the box of recipes I had gotten from him after he passed, and I decided I had to make it. The recipe was completely un-named on the paper, but all I’ve been able to surmise is that it’s a fruit salad, and that there’s Tang in it.

I told my mom I planned to make it, and she said “Yeah, but can you even still buy Tang?” Luckily, I found it at my local grocery store (and in fact, apparently they even make an off-brand, but I stuck with the original this time around!)

You’ll also need a box of Vanilla Jell-O instant pudding, a can each of pineapple tidbits or chunks and mandarin oranges (I like Del Monte), and 5 bananas (not pictured, ripe is best… too green or too overripe and it won’t be as perfect, but whatever you have on hand should work).

Start by draining the canned fruits into a bowl. Do not drain them into a sink or the garbage, because you need the juice!

Add a little Tang and the box of pudding mix, then whisk that up until there’s no more clumps of the powdered ingredients.

Put your sliced bananas and canned fruits into a separate bowl.

Then, pour the liquid over the top and mix until it’s combined.

Chill before serving.

We found that this recipe is best if made a couple of hours in advance, or even the night before, so the flavors really have time to mesh together. However, you can always make it right before dinner if you need to, because it still tastes awesome then.

This fruit salad is also good served over Angel Food cake.

Did you know that Tang was still on the market? Or better yet, do you drink Tang? Sound off in the comments below!

Tang-y Fruit Salad

1 can Del Monte chunk pineapple, drained
1 can Del Monte mandarin oiranges, drained
(reserve juice from both)
5 bananas, sliced
1 package Jell-o Instant Vanilla Pudding, dry
1 Tablespoon orange Tang
Add to juice dry pudding and Tang. Mix all, then add fruit back in. Add in 5 sliced bananas. Serve chilled.

Do Not Be Anxious

- Mama 1 Comment

I can barely remember a time in my life when I did not struggle with anxiety.

One of my earliest memories of my horrible anxiety was when I was younger, probably around the age of 10, when my mother was hospitalized due to problems with her gallbladder. Because of how close my mother and I’s relationship was, this was especially hard on me. To help get my mind off of things, my grandparents did what they thought would be the best thing to do, and that was to take me on a vacation to Wyoming. To this day, as much as I remember the fun things that I was able to do during that trip, and I have many hilarious memories from it, I still get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I recall making a phone call to my mother from a pay phone outside of Walmart during our trip. As the phone began to tell me that it would disconnect if I didn’t insert more money, I started to panic. My grandparents scrambled for change, trying to help me finish my call, but I remember yelling into the phone “I love you!” just after the phone had disconnected. I panicked, thinking “My mom didn’t hear my say I love her. What if the last words she ever hears from me weren’t ‘I love you?'” Even writing about this experience has me with tears in my eyes, and all I want to do is run to the other room and hug my mother.

Separation anxiety plagued me; it was physically traumatizing for me to be far from my family, and I would feel ill if I hung up the phone without an “I love you.” As time went on, I started to outgrow some of that anxiety, but when I got pregnant, a lot of my anxiety returned.

Another memory of my anxiety attacks showed up during my pregnancy. My then-fiance had taken me to a restaurant, and we were waiting to be seated. There were many people who were standing in the doorway waiting to be seated, and I began to get nervous. The exit was crowded with people; I felt surrounded, overwhelmed, like there was no escape from the room. I started to overheat, a combination of nerves, the heat of the restaurant, and the sheer number of people around me. At once, with no explanation, I bolted from the restaurant, running outside into the winter chill, and leaned against the hood of his car. I totally lost it; I dissolved into tears, got physically sick, and couldn’t bring myself to go back inside. I just felt horrible. My anxiety had gotten the best of me, again, and we weren’t even able to eat.

When my son was born, I had a pretty traumatizing situation with my heart, going into heart failure and cardiac arrest during childbirth. Without a skilled medical team, my mother’s insistence that the hospital continue to monitor me, and God on my side, I likely wouldn’t have survived my son’s birth. After his birth, my anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks, yet again. I couldn’t stand to be away from him. Because of my heart condition, I had to undergo extra tests, x-rays, and more, just to ensure that my heart would function suitably for my release, and to make sure that the fluid on my lungs was receding. This meant that every once in awhile, they would have to take me out of the room so I could get some tests done. Couple that with the fact that my son occasionally had to be taken to the nursery, just for his own immunizations, circumcision, and other baby-related things, and I was in full-fledged panic. Yes, after having a baby, some of this is normal, but it got to the point where I would shake uncontrollably from my anxiety. One time, as they wheeled me down to get x-rays, one of the x-ray technicians actually had to get an assistant to hold me still, just to ensure they could get the x-ray, because I was shaking so badly.

During these anxiety attacks, I couldn’t control my situation at all. My panic was deep-seated, and it was much more than I could handle on my own. I wished beyond all hope that my anxiety would fade, that I could get over it, the way so many people encouraged me to. After all, it was all in my head, these thoughts of panic and uncertainty. So why, then, were they so overwhelming? Why did I have such violent physical reactions to such “imaginary” issues?

To this day, I still don’t know exactly what caused such intense anxiety. I don’t know how my struggle with anxiety will be in the future. I do know that God is placing something very specific on my heart right now, though.

Every year, as one year comes to a close and I stand on the threshold of the year to come, just waiting for that door to swing open, I stop to consider what God is laying on my heart. The other day, when shopping with my mother and grandmother, I found a ring. This ring really impacted me on a very deep level, and I knew that it had to be the verse that would guide me through 2013. The ring was inscribed with a verse, Philippians 4:6.

God says not to be anxious. He says to cast all of those cares on him, to let him be in control of the situation. He says that, through prayer, we can be relieved of those things that are causing us to be anxious.

While I know that I will still struggle with my anxiety, I also know that focusing on Philippians 4:6 throughout 2013 will help me in my continued fight against my anxiety.

In order to remind myself of this verse, I designed the printable above to make sure that I could always have it in a visible place, so I could remember exactly what is weighing on my heart. But then, I realized that this verse may touch my readers, as well. It is designed to be printed to fit an 8×10 frame, and I’ve made it in four different versions: KJV, NIV, NLT, and The Message. If you click on the words below that say “Download this Printable,” you will be taken to a 4shared page where you can click download. From there, you can look in your downloads folder or wherever downloads appear on your computer, and located it. Right click on the file, and hit “Extract All” or something similar, and you’ll be able to extract them, select the version you want, and print it. Then, it’s ready for framing. You also have full permission to take the file and have it printed from a photo printer (or someplace like Walmart) if you desire a photo-quality print.

Download This Printable

 

Do you have a specific verse that is guiding you into 2013? I’d love to hear it, so please share below in the comments! And let me know what you think of the printable I designed above!

Chicken Spaghetti

- Mama 3 Comments

After my grandfather passed away, I inherited every recipe in his house. Some of them are older– recipes from great-grandparents, some dating back to the 1940s or earlier, and some are newer– as recent as the 90s (Oh my gosh… SO long ago!). Some are scrawled on pieces of paper, some torn from cookbooks, some typed with a typewriter onto a recipe card… Some of them have unique stories behind them, and some of them have no stories at all. I even found a couple of recipes that literally were just written on post-its that were stapled together. Whenever I do a post from these recipes, you’ll see a seal on the photo that shows that it’s an heirloom recipe. My family has tried each and every one of these recipes and I will share comments about what they think about each recipe below. I hope you enjoy each of these recipes that we have tried together. If you are coming here from Pinterest, be sure to look in the sidebar for ways to either “like” my facebook page or follow me through an email or RSS subscription!

I honestly don’t know the origin of this recipe. It was clipped from a newspaper, I’m not sure which newspaper or when the original date of publication was. In fact, I’m not even sure who the recipe is from… there was no source listed on the recipe I had clipped– it had been clipped off completely. I wish I knew the original source on it, or at least the publication date.

You’re going to start by boiling chicken. This time around, all I had were thighs, so after boiling I had to de-skin and de-bone them. It would have been easier to use boneless skinless breasts so I could have skipped that step, but it’s truly up to you. You can use a small fryer, some thighs, chicken breasts, literally any chicken you have on hand. For the record, this would also work with turkey meat. Add a chicken bouillon cube to the boiling water, as well.

After the chicken has cooked, set it aside on a plate to be shredded, and save some of the chicken-water (chicken broth? something) in the pot.

Break spaghetti noodles in half, put them in the chicken-water pot, and then add enough water to cover the noodles.

While the spaghetti noodles cook, go ahead and chop some green bell pepper to add to the mixture later. You can also add other colors of bell peppers to the mixture (the original recipe called for red and green, but we only had green on hand).

In a 9×13 casserole dish, combine the shredded chicken, 2 cups of shredded cheddar (we typically shred the blocks fresh, but you can certainly buy it pre-shredded), the bell pepper, a diced onion, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (or your homemade equivalent, but I prefer to use Campbell’s), a little seasoned salt, and a dash of pepper, combining until it’s thoroughly mixed.

Mix in the cooked spaghetti noodles, then cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Top with another 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese on top, then serve warm.

The entire family loved this dish, from Zach (18 months old) to Dad (I won’t list his age…). It was creamy and easy-to-make (the most time consuming part was de-boning the chicken).

Some perfect pairs for this dish? Dinner rolls, fruit salad or fresh fruit, and a salad. Don’t forget to comment below and tell me what you’d serve with this yummy chicken spaghetti!

Here’s the full recipe below:

Chicken Spaghetti
 
1 whole chicken, cut up
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 lb spaghetti, broken in half
2 cans mushroom soup
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp seasoned salt
dash of pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook chicken in a pot with water and a bouillon cube until done, about 45 minutes, then remove chicken and all but two cups of broth.
Add spaghetti noodles, broken in half, to the chicken broth. Add enough water to cook the noodles.
Remove bones from chicken.
Mix all ingredients except spaghetti in a casserole dish until well combined, reserving 1/2 cup shredded cheddar for later, then stir in spaghetti until the pasta is well-coated.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Return to oven for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

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Last Friday, we got our first official snow of the season, just in time for getting us all into that Christmas spirit. We had been looking forward to snow, and when it finally arrived, we were thrilled! The day started out with the older kids sledding.

It was Nicolas’s first experience with snow, since Bolivia doesn’t get much of the powdery stuff. The fun part was that it was also his first snow day, but beyond that, it was his very last day of school! Since he’s only a semester student, he won’t be returning to school after Christmas break, which means that his very last chance to go to school here was foiled by the exciting event of his very first snow day!

They were out sledding and snowboarding until they could hardly feel their faces!

Our guest for a few days, Raisa, from Spain, had a blast in the snow, too!

Since the winter air was much too cold to take Zach out in, we decided to bring the snow inside to him!

I grabbed a plastic shoebox and put several scoops of the clean snow inside, then brought it indoors for Zach to explore. He was able to feel the cold snow, and pack it into a snowball. We talked about the snow using many descriptive words, saying that it’s very cold, that it’s white, and that it can be powdery. We talked about how snow was from outside, and it often came in the winter.

When his hands would get a little too cold, he’d wipe them on his pants, then walk away for awhile, but he kept coming back to play for awhile.

He would even carry the bin from room to room with him!

After the older kids had warmed up a little bit from their sledding in the morning, they headed back outside to jump on the trampoline.

Then, they all ran and jumped into the hot tub!

My photos got annoying, clearly, because they threatened to snowball me!

I was so thrilled that we were able to get that touch of snow before the Christmas holiday. Even though it’s all melted away now, it was nice while it lasted, and really helped to give me that last boost of Christmas spirit.

Because it’s Christmas, and I want to spend time celebrating Christ with my family, I’ll be away from the blog for a few days, but I’ll be back later on in the week. I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and blessed holiday season, snow or no snow. Stay cozy!

The Target $5 Challenge

- Mama 3 Comments

For Advent, we’re always looking for creative ways to bond as a family, as I’ve previously shared. I love trying to do this in new and different ways. I had been considering ways that we could really either get to know each other better, or prove that we knew each other very well as a family.

When I saw these awesome Gift Card coins from Target, my idea came to me pretty suddenly.

Aren’t they adorable? They look like little cookies! You can load any amount on them, but the only catch is that all 5 coins in the package have to be loaded with the same amount. I chose to load $5 on each gift card, meaning that this pack was $25 total. I can think of so many awesome ways to use these other than the way we used them, such as:

-Teacher gifts. Buy the whole package, load the amount on all of them, and have your student pass out a coin to each of their teachers.
-Stocking stuffers. Put a certain amount in each one and slip it into stockings for a great gift that allows the recipient to pick anything out they want.
-Rewards. Potty training? Give your little trainer a gift coin for every certain amount of times they use the potty. Give them for good grades, one coin for each A, give them for doing extra work around the house or as a reward for siblings being extra nice to each other one day.
-Allowance. Instead of giving the kids cash for allowance, try a gift coin. Since you can pre-load the amount on multiple coins at once, you can keep the stash and give them out one at a time (or to multiple kids at once).
-A way to put yourself on a little bit of a budget. If you’re like me, you can’t enter Target without spending ridiculous amounts. By purchasing these with my limit in advance, I can go through the post holiday sale knowing I only have a certain amount of money to spend. Then, come Valentine’s day sales, I can pull out another coin and spend that amount in THAT sale.

I’m sure you can think of a ton of other ideas for these awesome coins, but for our gift challenge, this is what we did:

When we entered the store, we had a small pow-wow. I gave each person a gift coin (since our family has 6 people, I had to purchase one extra gift card separately) and each person drew a slip of paper with another family member’s name on it. Each person had $5 and 30 minutes to find the perfect gift for their recipient. I personally had to shop for my person, and help Zach find his gift for someone, as well.

The best part of the challenge was that, sometimes walking around the store, you’d see someone else in the family. Immediately, one of you would dart behind a sign or head down another aisle. Since none of us knew who had us, we didn’t want to spoil our own surprise, and we didn’t want the person we were buying for to see their gift, either. I kind of felt like a super spy when trying to participate in the activity!

At the end of the activity, we each checked out separately using our Target gift coins, and then we met in the cafe area at the front of our store. Then, it was time to head home and unwrap our gifts. It was at home that we would find out who our Secret Gifter was. We gifted in order of age, youngest to oldest.

It turns out that Nicolas drew Zach’s name. Zach was eager to find out what might be inside of his shopping bag.

CARS!

Jeffrey was next…

Dad clearly did a good job with his! Jeffrey and Nicolas often have Nerf wars around the house, so it’s not uncommon to have a little orange bullet whizzing past your head at any given moment. It was a great choice under $5 for Jeffrey!

Nicolas got a great variety of snacks from Jeffrey, including some favorites like Goldfish and Hershey’s Kisses.

Mom bought me one of my favorite things– Ghiradelli chocolates filled with caramel!

When I drew mom, I found the perfect present for her quite easily… when she had gotten her shoulder surgery a few years ago, she constantly needed help from me. You see, she puts on socks at night, but then by morning, they’ve somehow fallen off of her feet. After surgery, I had to look for them, since she couldn’t search under the covers to find them!

I purchased some warm, cozy, fuzzy socks so that for years to come, we’d get to play the sock game.

Nicolas didn’t think it sounded very fun, so mom said “Don’t you insult the sock game!”

We wrapped up with Zach’s gift to my dad (his Grandpa), a pumpkin pie and a leg lamp stress ball!

It was amazing the creative gifts that we could get for only $5 each! It was really cool to see how creative each of us got and how much thought we put into our gifts. I loved that each person was thoroughly pleased with what they received (and with what they gave!). $5 was plenty to get an interesting and unique gift for each person… and it helps that Target has a lot of sections that have affordable gifts. It also helped me see how many great gifts I could get for Christmas, as well, even though I’m on a strict budget.

The front of the store has a great $3 stocking stuffer section currently, as well as plenty of items priced at $1 and $2.50. The seasonal section includes gobs of seasonal candy and gifts at great prices, as well as more stocking stuffers at a $5 price point. There are also many great books, CDs, and movies in the $5 range, as well as food, gourmet coffee, and gifts. For example, 4 pairs of fuzzy socks for $5? That’s awesome!

My family did consider ways that we could have done things differently. All of us thought that more time would have been helpful. A lot of us spent more time worrying about whether we were on time than if we were getting the right thing, so having an hour instead of 30 minutes would have made the experience more fun. We also were surprised that if we had $7 instead of $5, it would have totally changed what we could have gotten each other, and absolutely made a difference in the number of items or quality of items we could have purchased. It’s amazing what a huge difference $2 could have made!

All in all, it was the perfect evening for our family, filled with fun and giving, and we loved having a great opportunity to try to pick out the perfect gift for other members of our family.

On Reflecting and Memory-Keeping

- Mama 5 Comments

Today, for the very first time, Zach opened a door by himself. He did it again, and again, and again. He’s finally reached that height, and it was amazing to see his face when he finally got it.

This little event seemed so momentous, and, as with any new task he’s learned in the past year, I started to think about the things that he has learned, the ways he’s grown, and really, the ways in which my entire family has grown. We’ve been through a lot in the past year, like my grandfather’s illness and passing, my mother’s very scary illness over the summer (which she is still going through, but not to the degree she was over the summer), my sister visiting, our exchange students, my blog hitting over 100,000 views, purchasing my domain, my Duncan Hines trip, and so many other things.

Part of why I started blogging was to record these memories. However, there are still things that I just don’t share with my readers. I have a personal life, absolutely, and I like to sometimes keep that separate from the blog. Even though I’ve shared some pretty intimate details about myself publicly here, like my struggle with PMDD, or my heart failure during pregnancy, there are still things that are best kept private.

I feel like I’m missing so much, though. I always say I’m going to make a photo album, and to some degree, I definitely scrapbook. However, I’m really bad about dating the pages, and sometimes by the time I get around to the picture, I’ve started to forget the details of the story.

That’s why, when a friend told me about a website, I decided to give it a try. I swear I’m not advertising or anything– I am truly passionate about this website, and I feel like it’s something that my readers can benefit from. Also, it’s free.

I’ve bought a billion journals. I’ve written in the first page. I’ve forgotten or lost them. I’ve moved on. I’ve tried starting a private blog online, too, but then I forget to log in and update, and it just goes completely unwritten still.

But this, well, it’s revolutionary.

Let me ask you something. When you’re online, what’s something that you do every single day?

The one thing I think we all can agree we definitely do online each day is check our email. Right? This website, OhLife, sends an email to you every night (around 8pm), asking you how your day was.

You don’t have to go to their website to journal about your day. All you have to do is hit reply and type. You can type a little bit, or you can type a ton. It’s all up to you.

I’m seriously in love with OhLife, though. It’s the longest I’ve used a journal without fail. I love it because it doesn’t feel like journaling. I just start typing. And, the beauty, I think, of OhLife is that it’s private. There are no share buttons, no pin buttons, no tweet it buttons… nothing. It’s just your words, your thoughts, and it’s private.

I love sharing, don’t get me wrong. But some things, like I said, are just for you and your family.

I want to tell Zach’s story, and remember the skills he learns each day. I want to tell my story. I want to reflect on my emotions. On the occasions that I do scrapbook, I would like to have some journaling to pull from. And if I’m working on that journaling each and every day, it’s going to be fresh in my memory when I reply to that email at night.

I love the idea of journal-by-email. Oh, and there’s an export function, so you can eventually export your stuff if you ever need to. The website has been around since 2010, so it’s not likely to be going away anytime soon.

Did I mention enough that it’s FREE?!

Go sign up. Like now. www.ohlife.com. You’ll get a nightly email. Reply. Write your life story before you forget it.

If there’s one thing I’m going to resolve to do in 2013, it’s going to be to capture my memories better. OhLife is perfect for that. I hope you’ll join me on that adventure and work on preserving your memories, too.

 

 

Do you keep a journal or do you skip that altogether? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Heartbroken

- Mama 1 Comment

I don’t even know how to begin putting my thoughts into words. This tragedy in Connecticut has me captivated, in all of the worst ways. I just feel sick to my stomach.

I am that mother. That sister. That cousin. It could have been my son, my brother, my cousins, my friends’ children… it could have been any child I go to church with, any child I knew from when my mom did daycare for years and years.

That town in Connecticut is like my own. It’s small. Many people who live there are relatively affluent. The school is about the same size as my school, the town about the size of my town. The type of area is so much like my own. It’s my town, really, only in Connecticut.

The tragedy they are going through could have unfolded here just as easily as it did there. It could have been the next town over, a town in the state next to mine, a town in your area. It could have been anywhere.

It’s easy to rationalize tragedies that happen to adults. When an NFL player in my area killed his girlfriend, then killed himself, I was stricken with how horrible that situation was, but at least that is something I could comprehend, that he went through such a delusion, such a struggle, that there was domestic turmoil. But what causes someone to kill that many innocent children? Who goes and kills 20 5-year-olds?

That’s not to say that any violence is okay, or justifiable, or understandable. It’s not. It’s all beyond the grasp that people understand.

But I just feel like there’s always been this line that wasn’t crossed. Shootings happened in schools, but, it was high schools, colleges… those deaths aren’t okay, it’s NOT okay, but this line, it was crossed when someone decided to go into a school and kill very young children.

I know it will hit me even harder in the coming days, that media will show the images of these children. I will see the similarities, maybe a boy with blonde hair much like my son’s. Maybe a young soccer player, like my brother. Maybe a young girl who played with dolls, much like I did as a child. There are presents under those peoples’ trees, waiting for Christmas celebrations. Others are in the midst of Hannukah celebrations.

It’s senseless. It’s terrifying. I can’t comprehend it yet, let alone know how to share that with others.

I find myself turning the television back to the news. I find myself being afraid to head to the mall to shop this weekend. I see myself hugging my son a little tighter. And I see myself sitting there, tissue in hand, wondering what if it happened here? What if this was in my town instead of that town in Connecticut? What if it was my brothers’ friends involved instead of those people there?

It could just as easily happen here. There’s a strong chance there will be copycat shootings following this; there almost always seem to be.

So the question is, where do we go from here?

I’m still not sure. All I can do is pray. Hope, pray, and keep going. Hold my son and brother tighter. Remember that God has his hands on the situation, on our country, and on my family. I have to remember that God is in control. I have to hold strong to that faith, absolutely.

Walking In a Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops

- Mama 3 Comments

Lately, in Kansas, it’s been very un-winter-like. We’re talking 70 degree weather kind of “not winter weather.” It’s been very hard to find a good way to get the winter feel lately amidst all of the sunshine and warmth.

Luckily, on our trip to see Santa, a friend suggested we check out the Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops, complete with Santa. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I had been in the Springfield Bass Pro Shops location many times, but never the one in Kansas, and never during their winter festivities.

When we first arrived, we were directed to the back of the store, where the ceilings were all aglow with hazy winter blue lights, to a small ticket booth.

Luckily, since it was early on a weekday, there was not much of a wait at all. However, we had this pass to make sure we could shop and explore until it was our turn with Santa. It helped calm down the line waiting, so you would line up at that time and have a shorter in-line wait.

During the wait, there were several cool stations to explore, including tables with crafts, coloring pages, and letters to Santa (plus mail boxes to deposit those letters into), slot car racing, and more.

Bass Pro has a couple of Wii games that they’ve set up for people to try out, including their hunting and fishing games. The boys had fun trying those out.

There was also a fun duck gallery set up for fun.

You could take aim with a toy bow (complete with suction cup, of course!) to hit the ducks and knock them down.

There was also a laser gallery set up with some guns that with laser beams that turn targets from green to red. Hit three, and you got a temporary tattoo! I passed off the camera and got a little gun action myself (and yes, I’m fully aware that I would NOT be able to shoot someone, the way I hold a gun…)

An arena was set up with an RC car, demonstrating how all-terrain it was.

All of the boys, young and old, had fun playing with the truck!

One of the older boys’ favorite activities was the indoor snowball fight, complete with little fuzzy snow bean bags.

I got directly into the line of fire in order to snap some photos of the boys in action.

The lovely Wonderland also had free carousel rides!

At first, Zach was not impressed with his moose, but he enjoyed it more later.

Jeffrey was a ham for the camera, as always.

After doing many of the activities, we decided it would be fun to cheese with the snowman for awhile…

Nicolas decided to hug “Frosty,” as he named them.

Jeffrey picked a fight with Frosty.

The tables turned.

But, in the end, they became bros…

Zach was not so impressed with my funny faces.

My favorite photo is this one, that captures the awe he had when he first approached the snowman.

And with that, it was time to approach Santa… the path to find him was lined with these great little animatronic elves.

By the time we got to Santa, though, Zach was not impressed. It’s that whole stranger anxiety thing… no matter how much we talked about Santa in advance of us going, or looked at pictures and videos of Mr. Claus, he still was not ready to see Santa in person this year.

This was the hilarious, but heart-wrenching, result:

Luckily, a candy cane solved the tears pretty quickly.

Would you like to experience Bass Pro Shops Winter Wonderland yourself? This awesome free event includes a free, studio-quality 4×6 print of your photo with Santa (you can, of course, order additional copies), plenty of free games to enjoy, and even crafts (as available, may vary) for the kids. Head to the Santa’s Wonderland section of the Bass Pro website in order to find a location near you!