Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Made these little gems this week with some leftover Valentines Day M&M's and Hershey's kisses.  All you do is get the square pretzels (as seen above) and line them up on a baking sheet.  

Then put a Hershey kiss on top and bake at 350F for about 3 minutes.  You don't want them melted at all, just glistening.

Then, take them out and push an M&M onto the top and voila!!  It took mine a couple of hours to cool completely and the chocolate is a mess until it is completely cools.

Sorry about these pictures not being so clear, as they were taken with Bryon's ipod with kids pulling on our legs, eager to try one, ha!  Since there are always colorful M&M's available for holidays it makes it easy to spice it up.  My friend Gabby, used the white chocolate ones with black stripes too and those were really cute!  Molly was super proud to bring these to AWANAS because they were cute and she helped!!  Love simple little baking projects like this, thank you Pinterest!!!

And the Award goes to....

Big time "Congratulations" to my husband who was selected as the Mid-level Civilian of the Year for AFRICOM!!!!  The kids and I were able to go to Bryon's award ceremony today and take some pictures.  

You can take the man out of the Army, but you can't take the Army out of the man.  Standing at attention even when he doesn't have to :)

 Bryon never brags to anyone about his accomplishments but this award brags for itself.  He works so hard and takes every task seriously.  It was 1 year ago that he was working on the Libya Crisis Team.  So many of you were praying for us as he was basically deployed for months.  We survived thanks to Nini (Bryon's mom) who was here the whole time and helped me so much. 

This shot is taken with the AFRICOM Commander (the lady) and the Comman Master Seargent (the man).  They were so sweet, I had to take Daniel out during the ceremony because he wanted to talk and laugh loudly during all the quiet moments (of course, lol). But the Master Seargent, told Bryon to bring us back in so we could stand with him for a photo.  Gotta love the military and how they take that special effort for families.  It's nice still being in that community even though we are technically outside of it now. 

This is his award.  It wasn't just awarded for the analysts here at Molesworth but also the command branch in Stuttgart, Germany!! Double wow!!  So proud of you sweetie!!!

Laundry Angels

Don't ya just love those times when your doing something mundane and boring like doing the laundry and it turns into a fantastically fun bonding opportunity.

Who knew that folding sheets could turn into so much fun.  Molly decided we needed to make ourselves into angels so we covered our head with the sheets and flapped our wings.  Seems silly maybe but that's what we mom's do. We take boring things like doing laundry and make them into grand adventures for our children.  Did I want to play angels with my clean sheets, nooooo.. I wanted to fold them, put them in the closet and go get started on dinner, but plans change and you just roll with it and thank God for every day you have with your precious children. 

Molly liked my angel costume so much she made herself a pretend camera to take my picture.  Priceless...

No More Pull-Ups!

Molly, my sweet 3 year old has been potty trained since she was like 22months.  She wanted to potty train earlier than that but we were in the States and I didn't want to train her there and have her digress when she got back here.  So, as soon as we got back to the UK she was done with her diapers and within 3 days she was accident free. 

That is the way Molly has always been.  Once she sets her mind to something she does it.  I completely understand her because I am the same way!  It drives my husband crazy no doubt because as soon as I feel like the house is too dirty, I need to clean it, like now!  If she walks into the kitchen and fingerprints on the fridge, she'll say "Mommy, I need a wipe to clean this dirty fridge", HAHA! 

The same is true with all of her stages of development. At 9 1/2 months, she decided she would crawl and two weeks later was walking.  No matter how much tummy time we did with her, she would not crawl.  She loved her bottle so much.  We tried and tried to take it from her but she would pitch a fit.  Well, one night at about 18 months, she said 'All done bottle" and never took one again.  We have learned through the past few years of her life that she is a person who needs to come to things in her own time.  Pushing and forcing gets no where with her. 

So, even though she potty trained at 22 months, she refused to quit wearing pull ups at night.  The reason being that she liked having a water cup by her bed and being able to drink water whenever she wanted.  Knowing what we know about Molly, we decided not to push it and that she would eventually stop wearing them.

Last night, Molly came downstairs before bed and said, 'Mommy, these pullups make me hot when I sleep and I don't like them".  I replied by saying, "To quit wearing pullups you have to give up your cup at night and go to the potty if you feel like you need to pee pee."  To which her reply was, "Ok Mommy, I will."  And that was it. 

She had a little accident once but she did really well for her first night without pullups!  We will see if she sticks with it but I'm going to be doing a major happy dance when I look down and see no pullups in my grocery cart on our next shopping visit.. Now onto Daniel potty training.. hmmmm, no time soon :)

New Recipe: Beef with Wine Sauce

Growing up, my mom and dad felt strongly that Sunday's were a day to spend in church worshiping the Lord, away from work and our normal routine, and just resting. I remember getting all dressed up for church in the morning and going to Sunday School and "Preaching" as we called it down south, which most people call the Worship Service.  Then we would come home, eat lunch and take naps, or just play outside.  I was annoyed by this philosophy as a teenager mostly because all of my swim meets were Saturday-Sunday and I always missed the Sunday events.  It meant I would never be the best ranked swimmer because I never attended the Sunday portion of the swim meets.  

Now as an adult, I am SO very thankful to them for imparting these values to me.  I watched the movie "Chariots of Fire" the other day and realized how far our society is turning from these values.  In "Chariot's of Fire", for those who haven't seen it, an Olympian actually backs out of his Olympic heat because it is on a Sunday and he does not believe in competing on the Lord's Day.  Wow! 

Some of you may think this is archaic, but even God rested on Sunday when creating the world, and I personally would like my life to be lived as close to His example as possible.  Granted, I feel like I rarely achieve this and am always falling short, but I know God can see my heart and I trust that my motivation and genuineness counts more than my successes or failures.  Whether you believe in God or not, I think we could all agree that taking a day for relaxation and family time is so important in our fast paced world.

Because I try to make Sunday's a relaxed, laid back day at our house, I try to put something in the crock pot on Saturday night to have it ready for dinner the next day.  Why do I do this?  Well, cooking meals is part of my 'work' everyday, so if I am to apply this philosophy to myself, I can't be scuttling around the house trying to put dinner together like I do every day.  

This week I tried a new recipe...

"Beef with Wine Sauce"

Ingredients

• 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 medium onion, sliced 
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, halved
• 1 (1.61-ounce) package brown gravy mix
• 1 (10 1/2-ounce) can beef broth
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 1 bay leaf
• Hot cooked egg noodles or rice 
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Whisk together gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables. Add bay leaf.
3. Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish, if desired.

REVIEW OF RECIPE

BRYON: 8/10 My hubby is a beef lover and he likes anytime I put beef over egg noodles.  He really liked the flavor of the sauce.  I may add a little Worcester Sauce next time.  Plus the yummy biscuits didn't hurt, lol

HALEY: 6/10  I am not a beef lover.  I would be happy being vegetarian, minus the occasional Chick fila nuggets of course.  I made this more for my husband tho so his opinion counts more in this case :)

"All that is British Book Club" February Selection

I really enjoy reading.  Not as much as my husband perhaps, but I love finding a good book that transports me to another place and time for a little while.  My husband always says I was born in the wrong era.  I should have been alive during the 50's or even earlier than that when women liked to bake their own bread and greet their husbands by the door when they got home.  The only problem with that is that I dont like heels or hairspray, so guess that wouldn't work.  I love old music and movies and books that take me back to the "Good ole days".  Most grandparents alive during the "Good ole days" will tell you those were not actually the "Good ole' days', the times we are in now are the good ole days.. Anyway, I digress..

So, I started a book club here in the UK.  It is called "All that is British Book Club" and we are reading books written by British authors that are set in Britain.  The goal for this being that we read a book every month and have an experience in British life/culture related to the book/author.  We already have over 30 members of the club (not everyone coming every month as military life is anything but constant, we learn to always be flexible).  Having young kids, I sometimes get to the end of my day and realize I didn't have 10 minutes of adult conversation.  This happened a lot more when I just got here than now and thankfully, I have a husband who is great for stimulating conversation but I think most stay at home moms can relate to this. 

Now that the first month of the book club is over, I will say that it was so great challenging myself with books outside of my normal selection and then meeting with others and working through the book/play on a somewhat intellectual level. As the majority of us have small children, it is going to take a few months to switch our minds to adult thinking mode, but I'm ready for the challenge :) Plus, I think it will make all of us better mom's taking some time for ourselves.   I'm incredibly excited about this club and plan to post my thought about the book each month. 

The first month was my month to lead, so I chose the play " A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare.  To me, you must start a British book club out by reading Shakespeare.  He is brilliant and the epitome of British literature. I had read this play several times in the past, but never had to lead a book discussion on it, so this time around I got so much more out of it.  It is Shakespeare's easiest and most well loved play and for a reason.  The characters are so funny, the relationships so crazy and it is a really great read if you are nervous about taking on a literary giant like Shakespeare.

 The activity I chose to go along with the play was dinner at the Cambridge Chop House and a showing of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Cambridge Art Theater afterwards.  I found this resturant online, but little did I know what a complete gem it was!! Wow, is all I can say!  We had 11 people attend the event, and were given this private room in the back of the restaurant, underground through this little tunnel.  It was FANTASTIC!  The setting was soo good, even if the food had been bad, I would have been happy.. 

We had a pre-theater set menu which can be great or totally the opposite, but this was GREAT, I mean really really great!  I had potato and leek soup and salmon cakes, yum!!! Bryon had something called "Devils on a horseback" which was dates wrapped in bacon and covered in some sauce, and then he had game cottage pie, both of which were also sooo flavorful and unique.  Needless to say, we were stuffed and very satisfied from this restaurant.  I highly recommend it to anyone in the Cambridge area.  5 STARS!!!

 

This is the Cambridge Art Theater where we saw the play.  It was a modern interpretation of the play, so it started in an office and portrayed the king as the president of a business and the play within the play portrayed the actors as construction workers.  The theater was pretty small and quaint which really made for a great atmosphere.  Every seat could see the stage.  We had the cheap tickets but I could see the actor's hair blowing from the fan in front of him in one scene and the actress Helena's run in her pantyhose in another scene.  

The group who preformed the play was the renound Marlowe Society which gave start to famous actors/actresses such as Tilda Swinton, Ian McKellen, Sam Mendez and Rachel Weitz.  And after watching the play, I know why they have such a reputation.  Bryon and I were rolling in laughter the majority of the play.  For those familiar with the play, the actor who played "Bottom" was the most hysterical play actor I've ever seen.  Look him up, he will be famous.  Bryon and I saw this play several years ago with my sister Mary, in Greenville, SC on an outdoor stage one summer but this blew the socks off of that performance.  The English accents gave it a totally different feel as well.  I wasn't keen on the way the fairies were portrayed but you can't like everything.  All in all, another 5 Star performance!!!

  Will most definitey be revisiting this theater to see what other gems we can find.

Cute Calendars

Today was our playgroup leadership team meeting and I always put together little packets for all of our ladies to help us as plan activities for the upcoming months. As I was putting our packet together last night, I came across this awesome website with adorable free printable calendars. Totally cute!! I've spent hours trying to find a site like this and now I have!! Yupee! Here is the March calendar that I printed.

{Free Printable} March 2012 Calendar

Octopus Hotdogs

 I made these cute little guys last night for dinner.  Octopus Hotdogs.  Oh man, did my kids love them!  On Wednesdays, Molly attends AWANAS at our church.  She adores going but it doesn't end until 8pm, which is super late for her to go to bed.  So, on AWANAS nights, Molly has to take a nap.  Since she no longer takes naps, this can sometimes be a chore.  This week, I told her we would have a really crazy dinner if she would take her nap.  She went straight to bed, no complaining or anything, so I had to deliver... thus Octodogs!

 

You just cut the top and bottom off of your hotdog (like 1-1 1/2 inches) on each side.  And then you cut the flat end three times across.  Drop them in a little oil and fry for 15-ish seconds on each side.  The little tentacles flip out just like an octopus! 

 The end result.  Our octopus's were swimming in a sea of ketchup or red water as Molly liked to call it.  I said the green beans were seaweed from the ocean which made them extra yummy.  Whatever works!

 

Molly and her Octodogs.  Daniel wasn't so sure about the strange shaped hotdogs but was a huge fan of the ketchup ocean and all but licked the ketchup from the plate.

The Real Me

I've entitled this posting "The Real Me" because I want to start being real with all my lovely blog readers.  Since I've had this blog, I've made it pretty much a place where I can post pictures for family back home to see what we are up to.  I intend to keep it that way but I also want to express my thoughts, interests, ideas, and anything on my heart here. 

So for starters, lets talk about my heart, what things are important to me.  First and foremost, I love Jesus.. I don't mean that I attend church and sing in the choir and pass out tracks, I mean I LOVE Jesus with all of my soul.  I long so much to see the man who died in my place on the cross.  I long to have him wrap His arms around me and say, "It's ok.. I love you".  I long to see Heaven, to feel the warmth of it, to smell the fragrence that comes from being surrounded by Christ. 

I also ache for every person I know to have a relationship with God.  No, I don't mean attend church, I mean to KNOW God, intimately.  To not read John 3:16 and say, yeah yeah, I learned that when I was in Sunday School, but to hear the words.  "For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His ONLY SON, that whosoever believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life".  When I hear that verse, now after having children, it is so much more powerful to me.  Could I give up my child, especially if it was my only child, for someone else?  Especially knowing they would be beaten, mocked, spit on, and hung on a cross to die?  That would be a big no. 

I also love my family.  I'm madly in love with my husband.  Sure, we've had our ups and downs, our arguments that went on and on but he is without a doubt the man God created for me and I love him more every day.  I love my children.  I look at my Molly and see so much of myself in her.  Sometimes thats frustrating but most of the times, it's great. She is already a mommy, cleaning the house, taking care of Daniel, asking me if I've read my Bible today and telling me my outfit doesn't look so good, haha! yes she does!!  Daniel is my quiet compassionate man child.  He is the same size as Molly but is so gentle.  My biggest problem with him is that he hugs little girls his age and knocks them over!  Then he tries to help them up but is so strong he knocks them over again all the while saying "sorry, sorry".  He is an independent thinker, and just sits and figures things out, much like my hubby :) 

I love life.  Yes , this sounds very cheesy but it's true.  I love exactly where I am in my life.  I wasn't sure if I would be happy here in England, being away from my home and family, from the comforts of the US and my sweet North Carolina, but I am!!  There is a time and a season for everything and this is the time and season for me to be here.  I was a little resentful of having to give up my career, my reputation, my achievements, everything I'd worked so hard for and become Bryon's wife (the plight of many military wives and mothers), but God has shown me so much through these past 4 years.  I adore having this time with my children.  They are only small for a short time and I wouldn't take a zillion dollars for this precious time with them.  I have learned to slow down, smell the flowers, taste the coffee, feel the breeze and live each day like it's my last.  No, I don't have this perspective every day, especially when the laundry is sky high, the dishes didn't do themselves like I wanted them to and I haven't had time to sit down and watch American Idol that has be DVR'd for days and just waiting to be watched.  But today is a good day so let's go with that :)

Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day!!   

 Valentines Day was a little different this year, as Bryon had to spend the whole day in London with work.  So, the kids and I made the best of it and had a blast!  We made cookies with Molly's cookie cutters and decorated them with colored sugar.  

 Daniel's contribution... tasting.. yummmm.

 Molly loves baking and has really gotton good at it.  If I give her dough, she can roll it out, cut out the shapes and put them on the pan for me.  Pretty soon, I will no longer be needed, she will replace me.

 More baking.  I had all of these cute Valentine's Day cookie cutters I got after Valentine's Day last year and she wanted nothing of it.  She wanted to do Christmas cutters, spring ones, anything but Valentines Day.. So funny..

End results.. Beautiful cookies, happy daddy and one proud little girl 

We also made these Rice Krispy treat kisses.  You make the basic Rice Krispy Treat recipe but use colored marshmallows depending on the holiday.  Then you put them into a funnel to shape them like a Hershey Kiss.  Once they cool you wrap them in foil and create a little "Hershey Kiss" tag to hang out of the top and voila!  Kisses on Valentines day from the kids who were sound asleep when Bryon got home :)

Kisses wrapped in foil.  I saw this idea on Pinterest, it was so clever!  We will definitely do it again.