easter.

our first family bike ride to the park.

happy easter!

He is risen!

treats

this morning i woke up to find a layer of snow on the ground. it's a good thing there was a baby in the next room crying for my attention, or i definitely would have crawled back into bed, pulled the covers over my head, and told my husband to wake me when spring decides to show up for real (at this point, i don't think i would have cared how long it took).

mondays always seem to be long days at our house. jeremy has a full morning and early afternoon of class, and then he works an extra hour and gets home shortly after seven. the combination of this long day, my strong desire to be with family in california, piles of laundry to fold, the snow this morning, and still struggling to get back into our routine really put me in a funk this morning.

so what was i to do? well...after folding those piles of laundry and doing various tasks around the house, i decided it was time to bake something. i couldn't decide between brownies and mounds candy bars, so i made both.

the brownies are absolutely delicious. they are very rich, so a little goes a long way, which i like. our little one loves to "help" me cook and bake, and she fully participated in the creation of these brownies. she poured, stirred, and loved helping me grease the pan with butter. when i cook or bake, i like to let her touch as many things as possible - all those different textures are great for learning. fingers stuck in the salt container? sure, why not. a little one reaching for a handful of batter? that's fine, see what it feels like! this is all easier when daddy is here to hold her up next to me, but when he is not, we make it work.

greasing the pan:

the recipe for the brownies is from elanaspantry.com. i haven't made very many recipes from her blog, but the ones i have made have turned out very well and i look forward to trying more. i appreciate the fact that the food she makes is nutritious. although these brownies are sweets, they don't have any sugar, and are packed with a lot of nutrition. (i have to confess that the ones i made did have some sugar in the chocolate chips. we had a bag of regular semi-sweet chocolate chips left over from the little one's birthday party that i couldn't let go to waste. usually, however, i would probably use a chopped up dark chocolate bar or dark chocolate chips). 

i used honey instead of agave nectar, and peanut butter instead of almond butter. yum. some (most!) of these brownies will definitely be going in the freezer.

the "mounds candy bars" were next on my list. the recipe calls for a candy bar mold, which i don't have, so i decided to make them in muffin cups...similar to how i made peanut butter cups a while back (after clicking on the link, scroll down to find the recipe). because of that, they ended up being more like mounds candy drops for me. either way, they are yummy. i melted half of the chocolate on the stove, poured it into the muffin cups and let it harden in the fridge (for about 15 minutes?). meanwhile, i mixed up the coconut filling using honey instead of agave nectar. i formed little balls and placed them on top of the hardened chocolate. 

waiting for another layer of chocolate...

i melted the rest of the chocolate, poured it over the coconut filling, and put it all in the fridge to harden.

 they turned out kind-of big, so they are definitely best cut in half. 

yummy treats over here. they don't take away the snow, or the laundry, or the sadness we are experiencing...but it is therapeutic and satisfying to create them, and a great little treat for the day.

weekend.

coconut flour pancakes.

maple syrup from "our farm" (the lovely place where we get our raw milk).

headache all day.

church.

two glasses accidentally broken - one before church and one after.

jet lag still lingers. 

tulips opening. 

a failed trip to the library (it was closed).

a swim at the health club. 

time in the hot tub.

lots and lots of laundry. 

i am having such a hard time getting back in the swing of things. 

what has your weekend looked like?

dinner.

roasted root vegetable salad

and melon.
yum.

home.

tulips...

and good coffee...

to soothe the ache for our california family,

and help us transition back to this place.

san bernardino national forest

today. an escape.

 

 

 

family

it's been a bit quiet on the blogging front these days. i have been hesitant to say anything, but we are experiencing a very difficult time in our family as my mother-in-law is seriously ill with very aggressive cancer. we had originally planned this trip to california as a vacation to visit family, and when she suddenly became ill last week, we changed the dates of our trip and came as soon as we could. this is especially difficult for us as we just lost my dad to cancer last november. as much as i desire this blog to be full of creativity and beauty, there are times when those parts of life seem hard to come by these days.

this blog brings me much joy, and i will continue to post as i find the energy to do so, especially after we return home this week.

we have been blessed by many friends who have been bringing us meals...such a practical way to help out during this busy time. this website is a great idea and someone from the church set it up for our family. i hope to be able to use this website in the future to set up meals for someone else in need. the website is great because there is a place at the top of the site to give guidelines to people who are bringing meals (like how many people are at the house, not to stay for more than 10 minutes, what time to drop off the food, etc...) and then we can see who is bringing what each day, and people also just sign up online. this website is a great idea and definitely simplifies the meal coordination. i wanted to spread the word about this website by mentioning it here. tonight some wonderful church friends brought us rotisserie chickens, pineapple, and salad. our little one was devouring her food so quickly she was practically gasping for breath in between bites. she is what keeps us going these days.

cousins.

greetings from california

 our little sunshine. in the sunshine.

we are soaking up the sun, flowers, and time with family.

our little love has discovered sand.

love that little sandy face.

we took the little one on her first trip to the ocean. she cried when it was time to leave.

we're taking walks, blowing bubbles...

and we are right where we are supposed to be right now.

we are here for two weeks, but the exciting news is that we found out we will be moving here for the summer! 

hooray!