HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO KATY!!

Usually I only post about my own children. But I couldn’t love this baby more if I had birthed her myself. It’s been so awesome to watch one of my closest friends plan a family, get pregnant, and watch her (along with Andrew’s help, of course) raise such a sweet beautiful little girl. Lisa invited us over to baby Katy’s birthday party and we had a really fun time watching Katy open her presents and attack her cake like a pro. Katy hammed it up big time for me which I loved and ate up of course. I wish I could post every picture I took of her but that might be a little obsessive. Here are a few of the party.     

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KATY!

ANIMALS, FLOWERS, FRIENDS, AND BROWNIES

Chaos. There, I said it. That is how crazy life has become. Each week is packed full of STUFF. What kind of stuff you ask? I HAVE NO IDEA…. just stuff.  Here’s some of the “stuff” that we did last week.

MEET BELLA… I THINK…

 
 Ok… So each week I pray that I will find a chance to serve. This week brought me to this cute little pooch right here. I took Kalea to the bus stop on Tuesday morning last week and this sweet girl was just hanging out with the kids. Obviously friendly and great with the kids. They said that they think her name is Bella. And that they think that she lives at the house up the road and around the corner where the police car is. (Side note: We have like 5 cops that live in our neighborhood.) And that they think she’s the dog they were looking for last night. So, taking direction from a 7 year old…. yea, I know…. the blind leading the blind. I decided to take this sweet dog over to the police man’s house. I get out of my car (with the 2 little ones in back and “Bella” in front just hanging out) with my hair looking wrecked and still in my PJ’s and knock on the door. He answers. Not his. Thanks 7 year olds. What in the world am I supposed to do now? Go cop stalking?  Well, not quite but I did go to one more house and no one was home (except a cop car). So “Bella” came home with me. I fed her some eggs, ground beef, and cheese. Gave her some water. And called Christian. (Another Side note: Christian DOES NOT LIKE DOGS). I told him about “Bella”. He was THRILLLED to say the least. I think his exact words were, “get that dog out of my house” and “if she pees and poops in my grass, i swear…” blah blah blah. I decided it was best if I called a near by animal hospital/vet and see if she had a chip in her since she didn’t have any tags for ID. I loaded up the kids and my foster dog and headed over. Brought her in and they recognized her immediately as “Bella”. The 7 year olds got something right. They said they’d keep her until her owners got home.  And can I say, Bella was devastated that I was leaving. She loved me and obviously didn’t want to go with the vet, poor thing. However, this story has a happy ending. I was able to perform a service by keeping Bella safe and off the streets. And I was able to irritate Christian at the same time. Tuesday was a good day.

Moving on…
We had a TV star among us. Her name is Olivia and she is a pig. We did our weekly reading time at Barnes and Noble and this past friday we were able to see Olivia. It was a mad house with kids, parents and lots of pictures taken. Mia however was not having it. She is not a big fan of large costumes with people inside. Can’t say I blame her. She freaks out when she sees the Chick-fil-a cow, we saw a giant Jelly Belly once. And Muddy the Mudcat has a midget (I kid you not) inside one of their costumes and Mia is terrified of all of the above. And even though she likes Olivia the cartoon…. This particular Olivia wasn’t getting any love from a certain 4 year old. Landen was unphased, on the other hand. He just liked all the craziness.

*Mia, Lillie, Natalie*
 
*I don’t think they’re paying attention*
*I like this one of Landen showing Olivia some love*

I’m not really a fan of Olivia myself. Mostly because she calls her little brother her “little bother”. Doesn’t teach kindness, in my opinion. Just sayin.
 
* Mia obviously ignoring all the madness*
*My 2 cuties eating their snack. I like Landen’s crooked mouth.*

Christian knows how much I like fresh cut flowers inside. In return, I know how much it irritates him when I go and buy fresh cut flowers from a store. So, in summary, there are usually NO fresh cut flowers in my house. But Mr. Romantic decided to be super sweet and cut a Magnolia flower from our large tree in the back. Have you ever seen a Magnolia bloom up close? They are HUGE flowers… AND… they give a really powerful perfume. It’s pretty strong and I wasn’t a fan after a few days of the smell. But it was fun to have it in the house for awhile. Win Win. NO money was spent. I got a pretty flower to look at. Love him.

Christian and I went to a Surprise Birthday party for a friend of ours on Saturday as our date. WAAAAHOOOOO!!! A date! It was really fun and really really sweet to see the whole thing come together. Leah was really surprised. It was way cute. Christian leaned over and said, “Don’t expect something like this for your 30th birthday.” Ahhhh, love. Oh well. However, my friend Lindsay had her handy-dandy camera on her and I asked her to take a picture of Christian and I since we have barely any good pictures together. Why you ask? Why aren’t they good? Cause Christian likes to try and ruin every picture we take together. Lindsay can attest to that. However, we did get some good ones. Jokes on you, sucka.*Birthday Girl (in the middle) and Friends*

I made these… be jealous. They’re Andes creme de menthe brownies with chocolate frosting. By Paula Dean. They’re amazing.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cups (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 11/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 (10-ounce) package Creme de Menthe baking chips (recommended: Andes)
• Shaved Creme de Menthe thins (recommended: Andes)
• Chocolate frosting

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Using an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, mixing well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Gradually stir into butter mixture. Fold in mint chips. Spoon into greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes.

While brownies are baking, prepare frosting. Combine butter, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until spreading consistency.

Remove pan from the oven and allow brownies to cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with chocolate frosting. Top with shaved mint thins.

*Landen really liked the batter too.*

NATURE WALK & MORE

Friday was by far our busiest and most exhausting day this week. Our Joy School group went on a nature walk around Durant Nature Park. It was such a fun time. Despite the 80 degree weather, it was pretty cool in the shade. We walked about a creek and picked up different leaves, sticks, bark, and many many many gumballs along the way. Landen took about 2 steps to every gumball he picked up. The kids had a blast and it definitely wore them out. By the end Landen didn’t even want to walk up hill to the car.   

   After our looooong walk (ok, it wasn’t that long but it took us forever b/c of Landen). We were definitely the last ones to arrive… anyways, April brought paper, markers, paint, and glitter glue for the kids to make a collage. The kids loved it.

  Ok, so after our Nature Walk, I wanted to rest. But Mia had other ideas in mind. She has been wanting to make cupcakes for a few days now. After laying Landen down for his nap (he’ll finally sleep in his room now, without Christian or I, by-the-way… SUCCESS!) So Mia and I made cupcakes and they turned out really yummy. I’m not usually  huge fan of cake and such, but these were yum yum delicioso.

There’s more. Christian was outside painting our railing up to the front door and heard a loud noise. One that sounded fairly familiar. Lately, we’re heard more of these noises, especially on the weekends. Apparently, someone has opened up a business near by. What type of business you ask?… A HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE business… naturally. That noise is the fire filling up the balloon.

  

A FEW OF MY CUTIES

Ok, so we found out Landen had pinkeye (Mia had it last week) and Kalea had a fever on Sunday. So all the kids and I stayed home Monday. No school, no activies… nada. Landen’s eyes cleared up by his 2nd dose of eye drops and to be quite honest, the kids were driving me bonkers by 4pm. So I scooted them outside and locked the doors… just kidding. We played out back and I tortured them with my camera. Here’s what we got:

   

~FIN~

PHOTOS OF THE SIMPSON5 FAMILY

Last Saturday I was able to take a few pictures of Chad (Christian’s brother) and Jessica and their family. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them. I think the pictures turned out pretty good and am really happy with them. On Mother’s Day Christian surprised me by signing me up for a Photography class offered through Wake Tech. I’m really excited about it so I can hopefully learn more and get better!

Baby Spencer *only 5 weeks old*

Sada 
  

Kipling
 

The Family
 

MOTHERHOOD – A PRICELESS AND ETERNAL GIFT

Happy Mother’s Day to all the women out there who have selflessly brought another life into this world. Who raise their children to become a righteous and beautiful person. Who have shown unconditional love to their little ones and who have put their own needs on hold. I have found a wonderful blog here about mothers and has some wonderful quotes also. One in particular I read a few months ago and really stuck out to me.

President Howard W. Hunter on motherhood:

A man who holds the priesthood has reverence for motherhood. Mothers are given a sacred privilege to “bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of [the] Father continued, that he may be glorified” ( D&C 132:63).

The First Presidency has said: “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind” (in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency, 6 vols., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75, 6:178). The priesthood cannot work out its destiny, nor can God’s purposes be fulfilled, without our helpmates. Mothers perform a labor the priesthood cannot do. For this gift of life, the priesthood should have love unbounded for the mothers of their children.

Honor your wife’s unique and divinely appointed role as a mother in Israel and her special capacity to bear and nurture children. We are under divine commandment to multiply and replenish the earth and to bring up our children and grandchildren in light and truth (Moses 2:28; D&C 93:40). You share, as a loving partner, the care of the children. Help her to manage and keep up your home. Help teach, train, and discipline your children.

You should express regularly to your wife and children your reverence and respect for her. Indeed, one of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

A man who holds the priesthood regards the family as ordained of God. Your leadership of the family is your most important and sacred responsibility. The family is the most important unit in time and in eternity and, as such, transcends every other interest in life.

I am eternally grateful for the mothers that have been put on this earth for me. Including my own mother, my mother-in-law, and my grandmothers. They have each taught me something different and have helped mold me into a better person. They have loved my family and shown that love unconditionally in so many ways.

I am thankful for my husband. He is a great example of what The First Presidency has said, “Indeed, one of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” I am so blessed to have him as my eternal companion. He has shown me love and support in ways that I never knew were possible. I am thankful to him for making me a mother.

I am also extremely grateful for the best example of what a mother is through the mother of our Savior, Mary. She was chosen by our Heavenly Father to bear and raise the Savior. She was guided by the spirit to teach her precious child the things the Father wanted him to learn. She was faithful and the ultimate example of love. I thankful to her and for her worthiness to bring our Redeemer into this world.