To reply to that question, 'where have you been', I thought I'd take you on a little trip through this last week. Crazy, that's where I've been. Where to begin?
Last Sunday our sweet Piper decided to chase and eat a bee. Poor pup.
Bees make for swollen faces, and long trips to the urgent pet care clinic. With meds and time, she healed right up. I'm pretty sure she'd eat another bee as soon as she could catch it.
Monday was our elementary school's carnival, and I headed up the face painting booth. I had great help, and though we were 10 helpers strong, we had lines the entire time. It was still better in every way from last year, when we spent an hour and a half after the carnival painting people in line.
Cheetah boy letting me practice on him before the carnival
Lion boy (fierce not sweet as he insists)
Both boys getting ready to play king of the forest
Let the fun begin!
Sorry about the spooky editing, but I don't know his parents to get permission.
We had fun with this one!
And a funny Puppy. I love doing this booth at the carnival, because the kids get so pumped about their new look. For a moment they're transformed. It's awesome.
On to Tuesday, which is when my husband (who is the president of our young men's group in our church) goes and does everything from scouting to serving the elderly with a bunch of young men. They're good kids. It takes all night. And I become a solo mom of 4. It works.
Wednesday I was gone again, as I'm in the leadership for our women's group in our church, called Relief Society.
Tonight we did provide relief! We called the activity 'de-stress and detox' which is kind of funny considering our faith is big on no alcohol, drugs, etc. As women, though, we are also big on overworking ourselves.
A nutritionist came and taught us how to eat healthier, and feed our family good foods. Then I taught on handling stress and avoiding anxiety. Our info was awesome, and taken from experts, so the class went really well. I made the women meditate (led by an app on my phone) for 5 minutes. I would never attempt to lead 30 women in meditation. Such a funny thought (and a little creepy). But the app did a splendid job.
We had rice bags that the ladies filled up and scented with aroma therapy then sewed shut.
We also made sugar scrubs with different natural ingredients to help our flaky desert skin (hehe). We ate dark chocolate & coconut treats- good for the antioxidants and stress (I say).
We also made green smoothies. It was a ball. And a lot of work.
I was relieved when the night was done!
Thursday rolled around. We had preschool graduation for my boy's class, and I was in charge of a portion of it. Luckily not a hugely stressful portion. Just the yearbook. He looked so handsome and was so proud of himself.
On which day, I don't know but somewhere this project got in there:
These thank you gifts were inspired by the thank you gifts on one of my older posts here
No. 10 cans are the perfect size pot for these beautiful Fuchsia plants. The banner livens up the silver can. Just remember if you're going to make this to put a few holes in the bottom for drainage.
Friday was my cousin's wedding, and she looked gorgeous.
It was a really beautiful ceremony and the dinner was fantastic. I'm really happy for you guys, Amanda!
Saturday we went to another wedding (reception) but not before we finished putting in a fence (and thank goodness it's done).
My husband and I wrestled that puppy into the concrete with only 5 or so trips back to Home Depot for more supplies. My hubby is an amazing DIY'er. I generally held the fence and got screws and spacers ready. I also kept kids away from chop saws and such. That's an important job.
Sunday we went to church (early to set up), I did my part there, Dan had meetings, then we came home and had dinner with friends. Much to our dismay, we came home from their house to find our sweet Piper wrestling with the contents of a bag of fertilizer. It had been left in the garage accidentally by a good soul (whom we love) who was helping us with the fence.
Off to the pet urgent care again (hey a visit every Sunday will keep your dog healthy).
She didn't feel well the whole night. Poor babe. I'm so thankful she didn't die. Our distraught kids said a really sweet prayer that she would be ok, and I told them after the prayer to chin up and go forward as if the thing they had faith in would happen. They did, and I'm satisfied that their prayers/faith are what kept our sweet fool dog alive. Thank Goodness.
Monday was Memorial Day. We started the day off with a neighborhood breakfast, where Dan was in uniform to raise the flag with the scouts. I love that man.
The kids and I got the house in order while Dan worked outside. Good hard work does wonders for the soul. And for crazy mommies who feel like the world is well when her kids do jobs.
Finally here we are. It's Tuesday. We went to a dance festival and authors fair.
Hannah and Aaron are wonderful authors. A story entitled 'When Mom didn't Watch' also made it into Hannah's book. Apparently when she was 18 months or so she rolled off the couch when I was watching TV. Not sure if that's true, so I'm not even going to deny it. Heehee.
I also had 2 Etsy orders to finish. Check out our shop here if you want to.
We had Raspberry Coconut Cream French Toast for dinner. It was fabulous.
If you want that recipe, you'll have to pipe up because I made it up. I'm sure some gifted foodie has a recipe on google similar to it. :)
UPDATE: a dear friend asked, so here is the recipe:
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Ingredients:
egg wash: 3 eggs, 3 TBS milk, whisk together. Add a tsp of cinnamon if you like.
Cream Cheese Spread: 1 package of Cream cheese, 3 TBS granulated sugar
Raspberry topping: 1 package of frozen strawberries, plus 1/2 C sugar sprinkled lightly on top as it thaws. Allow to thaw completely.
Heat a frying pan with 2 tsp of butter on medium high until the butter is melted. Spread it around a bit. Next dip both sides of a piece of wheat bread in the egg wash and put it in the heated pan. Cook until lightly browned on the one side and then flip it. Cook until browned lightly. This recipe will cook about 9 pieces of french toast. Keep them warm in an over heated to 200 degrees as you re-make the recipe and crank through a whole loaf of bread if you need to.
When you're ready to serve them, spread 1 TBS cream cheese spread on the top of the french toast and top with 2 TBS raspberries/syrup. It will have made a syrup by now, which is perfect.
Top by sprinkling 1" coconut shavings on top. You can find those at a health foods store like Sprouts or Good Earth.
THIS IS SO DELICIOUS and I hope your family loves it!!
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Did I mention that 2 of the kids were sick the last 5 days or so? I can't believe we survived this week with our sanity. So, I apologize for being silent on the blog, but really I'm not too sorry.
Now to curl up with a good book (by Sarah Eden if you're wondering).
Have a good night!
