Banana Nut Bread - SO EASY!

 

Earlier this week, I made the best banana bread recipe I've ever made! You can find it on Pinterest, but I'll post the screenshot of it at the end.

First, you cream together your butter and sugar.

It will look similar to this when it's creamed.
It should come together nice and supple and shouldn't be too sticky or too runny.

 Then add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt:

Your flour:

Pop it in the oven (see recipe below for baking instructions) and this turns out amazing. I added in chopped pecans, but you could easily add walnuts instead, or even keep it plain.
It was so good that we dug into it immediately and forgot to take a picture!
Womp, womp, womp.

Happy Wednesday, ya'll! Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday 5.9-5.15

Hey ya'll! It's time for another Meal Plan Monday.

Last week, we didn't get to hardly any recipes I had planned.
Monday, my mom made copycat Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets (SO GOOD!), green beans and rice. Tuesday we had Taco Bell. :o Wednesday we had an early Mothers Day tea at church, so we ate there. Thursday we had french toast and sausage. Friday was beef stroganoff and roasted cabbage. Saturday we had a birthday party that we ate at, and Sunday Mike took us out for Mother's Day to an amazing little Italian restaurant. I had the veggie linguine - it was so good!

DId ya'll have a good Mothers Day? I did. Mike got up before us and made my mom (who lives with us) and myself coffee, and he was making oatmeal with fresh berries on top for us when we stumbled into the kitchen. That was a nice treat. He cooks very well, but he doesn't cook often (other than grilling in the summer) so it was an extra special treat. That works out fine for me because I enjoy cooking. :) We spent some time riding country roads, had lunch at the great Italian restaurant mentioned above, and spent a little time at the pier on the lake. Then he planted some tomatos , I broke in my new lounge chair in the sunshine, and my mom rested. It was awesome!

Now....let's get on to yummier things!

Monday:  potato leek soup (from Taste of Home magaine, but I can't find a link online)

Tuesday: tacos (with mine on red bell pepper wedges)

Wednesday: pasta with ground beef and a four cheese sauce, served with fresh snapped green beans

Thursday: BLTs with pasta salad

Friday: Gyros

Saturday: tuna noodle casserole with sweet peas on the side

Sunday: ribs in the crockpot and finished on the grill fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes

I also posted a YouTube video on my channel about this - you can check it out!

And as always, go check out Organizing Junkie for some great inspiration!

Happy Mothers Day! 2016

Happy Mothers Day!

 

I became a mama 8 years ago. I actually became a mama 9 years ago, when I found out I was expecting our sweet Sara Faith. 

.

I have been blessed with this sassy little thing for almost 9 years now. 

She is my first true love, the one who made me truly realize the feeling of realizing I would give my very own life for her to have just one more day on earth.

She was 23 months old when we found out we were expecting our sweet June Claire. I was absolutely thrilled to be having a second little girl, becuase I knew the best friends they would end up being. And they are. Junebug has brought us SO much joy. She is our comedian and we love her to pieces. From day one she has tried her hardest to be just like her big sister.

 

Today I'm celebrating my 9th Mothers Day.

Some have been harder than others.

But each one has been wonderful and so far, I have not missed one with my girls!

 

 

Spending Mothers Day 2013 at Emory University Hospital.

 

 

 Of course, I wouldn't be a mama without these two people. 

My mother-in-law and my husband are two of the best there is!

And this woman here is quite special to me - she's MY mama.

You are never too old to need your mama, and you should never be too grown to admit it.

Thanks to this woman, we're able to function as a family. She always, always gives up what she's doing at the drop of a hat to come help us. 

I love you, mama. Thank you for teaching me how to be a good one to my babies.

Five on Friday! 5/6/16

Happy Friday, ya'll! I love reading all of  the Five on Friday  links every week. It's a great way to kick off the weekend! I'm linking up this week and will spend my "down time" this afternoon reading the other links. :)

 | O N E |

This sweet girl right here is my mini-me. Sara is 8 now and she is on FIRE! 

I have apologized to so many people in the past few weeks for how I must have acted when I was her age. I"m still applogizing. I don't think I will ever be done. She is never still. She asks seven jillion questions every second and never stops creating ways to do things.

If I open a cabinet or drawer to see it changed and "re-organized" on emore time, I might scream.

Of course, this only annoys me because I AM JUST LIKE THAT. I want it organized MY way and rarely stop to consider that...someone else in the world may be like me. :o

| T W O |

 This happened the other night. I have  never had any tea other than sweet iced tea before in my life. Even with my years living in England. But I got a hankering for a hot cup of something, and I didn't want to have coffee at 8:30 at night.

And it wasn't bad. There's more of it in my future. 

| T H R E E |

 

 This boy right here has my heart. He is so strong! FIrst of all, he's put up with me for almost 11 years, and that right there is enough to crown him King of All Things Calm and Patient. 

But he's going through chemo now, and still found the energy and wherewithal to cut grass this week.  Last week he was in the bed sick 24/7, but this week he only had one day of chemo and seems to be feeling better. He'll be back to feeling awful soon enough, so we're enjoying the good days while they are here. :)

| F O U R |

 

 I'm hooked on this breakfast lately. It's delicious!

It's scrambled eggs (or fried hard, I like to change it up), topped with salami I've warmed up in the pan with some spinach and mushrooms, topped with feta. I prefer it with fruit on the side,

 usually a banana or berries.

Ya'll should try it. You won't regret it.

| F I V E |

 

 

I'm sooo excited to share this! Miss June Claire finished Kindergarten!

Both girls actually finished their school year yesterday, and I didn't get a picture of Sara, because as you can imagine - it was total chaos once I announced it was O V E R! 

I think I've mentioned before that we started homeschooling this year and let me just be honest here, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it. It's not easy work and if someone ever tells you that it is, they are lying straight through their teeth. I have gained a whole new respect for public school and private school teachers now. I only have two students. They have around 20, give or take. I would have been in the psychiatric ward, I believe. 

I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

 

Meal Plan Monday! 5.2-5.8 2016

I'm back again! Can you believe it? (I can't.)

The weather today is a little dark because it's supposed to rain later this evening, but still a day with great weather. After school lessons were done, we got outside for a while. The girls helped me pull some weeds and pick up the yard (we filled up a whole "weed bucket" - aka an old Easter egg pail - and together we got the front walk and stoop swept off. Some of the wildflowers the girls planted are coming up in the flowerbed! Not big enough to get a good picture, but maybe in another week or two. We've got more bell peppers and tomatoes coming along in the back yard, and we have another packet of flower seeds to plan. Still waiting on the daylilies my mom planted for me to show through. I love spring and summer, especially here in Alabama!

 

I love menu planning. It is one of my favorite things to post and read. I've been following Organizing Junkie for years and I love following her Menu Plan Monday linkups. They're great! Go check her out, and if you link up, let me know!

Monday: Copycat Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets with roasted cabbage

Tuesday: tacos (mine will be on red bell pepper wedges)

Wednesday: potato leek soup

Thursday: Baked egs with spinach and feta, sausage

Friday: BLTs and pasta salad

Saturday: poolside birthday party! 

Yay for sunshine and fun with family1

Sunday: beef stroganoff, roasted brussel sprouts and sweet peas

I hope ya'll have  agreat day! If your weather is good, get outside and enjoy the sunshine for a little while! If not, take a minute and play a card game with a friend or loved on. Just get up and do SOMETHING!

God bless!

Sunshine, vegetables, and nurses - oh my!

Well, lookee here! I made it back twice in one week!

It's been a crazy week. Mike completed his first week of chemo (GO MIKE!) and while he's quite nauseous, extremely tired, and just feeling a bit down in the dumps overall - he's trucking on through like a champ. I'm SO proud of him!

I'm just going to do a cell phone picture dump for your pleasure, okay?

I came across this meme today:

Isn't it so true? I've never had an old dog to fail me, old folks just want to sit in the rocking chair and be loved on, and old ways have proven to be great.

This was Monday's selection of books to read.
We're still working on The Bobbsey twins.

Miss June loves to help me do my PT exercises every day during their PE time.

Love being able to do schoolwork with the big windows and enjoy the sunshine!

Mike came home from chemo not feeling very well,

but he decided to grill steaks anyway.

I'm so thankful for him. Yes, we fuss. Yes, he annoys me to no end.

But he is my #1!

Nurse June had to check him out with her doctor kit as soon as he walked in.

Here, she's checking to make sure his port is okay.

Sara is just snuggling up to him, happy to have him home.

June and MawMaw (my mama) having a "chat" (as June likes to call it).

Our first tomato!

And our first bell pepper!

Love this scene on a Friday night.

Can't say I'd have it any other way. :)

Our Chemo Life

Well, friends. It's been a while, per usual.

I think this blog is now just somewhere I can pour out my real feelings from time to time.

I'm not even sure anything shared will ever be of real value again.

To recap - we got orders to Florida a few months back. we were going t be stationed in the same town my in-laws live in, and we were THRILLED, to say the least, After 8 years being assigned to the same duty station, we were ready for a change - even though we were near my family.

But God had different plans.

One Sunday afternoon, we went to lay down for our usual Sunday afternoon naps.
 Ya'll know how it is, especially if you have children.
You wake up in just enough time to throw everybody together in clothes that you pick out solely on a no-iron-needed basis. Shove down whatever is the easiest and least messiest thing to eat and rush out the door in the hopes of not breaking any of the Ten Commandments, especially those about being kind to your sisters - I mean neighbors,

Anyway, we laid down and Mike suddenly began having severe abdominal cramps.It got so painful that he ended up going to the ER where he was diagnosed with kidney stones. Eventually, in the next week he was diagnosed with the unthinkable.

Cancer.

Not something we were expecting to hear.
 Not from Michael.

We earned it was stage 2 testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen,

Today he started chemo. He's in the chair next to me right now.

You know, it's funny. People ask how we handle this all - my multiple diagnoses, June's premature birth and three month hospital stay, and now this (basically 6 years of hell on earth) - because apparently, on the outside we look calm.

But inside? We're falling apart.

We're perpetually waiting, with bated breath, for the next shoe to fall.
Who am I kidding? 
We wait for the next bomb to drop and infiltrate our lives, changing our family forever....again.

But the one thing cancer can't change?

Our souls.

It cannot change our souls.
Because our souls don't belong to cancer - they belong to Jesus.

Bombs, war, premature babies, babies too perfect for earth, wheelchairs - they can't change our souls.

Sometimes, I like to think our souls change them.

You see, I believe Satan sends all these things to attack us. But, if you stay strong and focus on the word of God, it just strengthens your soul. And then he gets mad. Oh, he gets REAL mad.

Our pastor likes to say that if you are ever in a place and you realize you don't feel like you're being attacked by even small things - then you might be in a spot you don't wan to be.

Yesterday mornings sermon was how God likes to create something out of nothing.

Cancer equals the lowest point I personally have ever been out, so for me:

Canceer = Nothing

But when God steps in...

Nothing = Something

Follow me?

We're okay with being brought down to zero so He can create more than we ever imagined.

**Now I'm home, several hours after having written this. I'm sitting at the desk in our bedroom, editing this post to publish. Mike is laying on the bed with Sara and June, reading The Bobsey Twins to them. See? I have no reason to complain about this life. To me, it's pretty perfectly imperfect.