homemade mother's day gifts!

I've been excited to share about another wreath that we made (we actually made 3 of them!) I think I'm becoming a little more crafty.  My parents came in town this past weekend and my mom told me about some sewing that she is doing- and it made me wish I would have paid more attention in 7th-8th grade home-ec class.  Maybe I will adventure into the sewing world someday.  

But back to the wreath.  I saw this on a blog over 6 months ago and absolutely loved it.  It's simple and very cost efficient to make.....and it's an acorn wreath.  I know, sounds dumb, but it looks so lovely!

Here is the tutorial that I found on http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-acorn-wreath.html

and some pictures of her wreath.

the original acorns

updated with some white spray paint

and you can re-paint it as many times as you'd like to match the season

Well April isn't really a popular month to find acorns and I'm not patient enough to wait until the fall- so I needed another alternative...and found that you can make the same wreath out of lima beans.  While you now have the added cost of buying the beans, you take out the process of searching for acorns and baking them to get rid of all the critters that come with them.  An acorn wreath is still on the fall to-do list though. 

I followed http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2010/01/tutorial-lima-bean-wreath.html for my acorn wreath tutorial.  This was my picture guide for what an end product could look like:

We got to work on our lima bean wreaths.  We planned to make one for our balcony door and then one for each mom for Mother's Day.  Like I said in the caption above, I love that you can spray paint it again and change colors/ribbons and have something that is very seasonal.  So for our moms, we made white ones with a light seagreen ribbon.  And for ours, we made a light blue wreath with some black ribbon that we had leftover from wedding projects.  Though I don't have a nice wood or dark door, it looks pretty good hanging out on our pinkish balcony door.  Here is the finished project:

And a few more pictures for you:

New chairs for the balcony! No plants yet- but at least our grill isn't lonely anymore.

We got to see this cutie in Kansas City and celebrate her 4th birthday!

A lunch break on a day hike at Trail of Tears State Park...before the 20 inches of rain. (Don't mind the crazy hair!)

The school year is wrapping up here in Cape...and we are getting ready for a busy summer!  I'll try and post soon about our upcoming roadtrip!

Love from Cape G,

barberic wife

This Day in History...

Today is a day of reflection and gratitude.  A lot has happened in the last 10 years.  Let's see:
-got my driver's license
-traveled in an airplane for the first time
-graduated high school
-went to college
-moved 6 times
-got my first job
-graduated college
-traveled outside the United States 7 times
-met some of my closest & greatest friends
-got married to my best friend

...and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.  Not to mention all the things that have happened (nothing to do with me):
-September 11th
-Cardinals won the World Series
-two ongoing wars
-America elected it's first black president
-Hurricane Katrina
-invention of the ipod, iphone, ipad....crazy advances in technology
....and on and on....


But why do I choose to reflect on this day?  Because it's the day I was diagnosed with leukemia. 10 years ago.  Even though it isn't my remission date, I've been waiting for this day for a long time.  It means I'm just a few months away from saying, "I've been in remission for 10 years!" I'm just a few months away from qualifying for normal health insurance.  And I'm just a few months away from being in a "safety zone" that comes with being 10 years removed.

God is good.  April 5, 2001 was a hard day for my family....and began a hard season in our lives.  The Lord chose to heal me completely.  He chose to use a miracle on me when treatments weren't going well.  I'm grateful.  I want to make much of Him today! 

the lockout: wreaths and cookies

Have I told you before that my husband is good at everything?  It really is true.  One of the things that I love about him is how creative he is...and that I can show him things and he can replicate them pretty easily.  Well, I really enjoy "homey" things...you know, home furnishings and decor.  I like that you can change a few things around and it helps your home really embrace the season.  I've been wanting a spring/summer wreath for our front door for a while, but can never bring myself to buy one.  While out picking up some tulips, we ran across this lovely wreath, which would have cost us around $30.


....well back to my creative husband.  As we're looking at it, he begins to inspect how it's made and declares that it would be really easy to recreate.  I always think that, but can never follow through.  He actually can and does!  So on Saturday morning, we took a trek to Hobby Lobby to pick up some supplies so that he can make a wreath.  And $21 later, we have an adorable wreath hanging on our door.  We could have gotten it cheaper if we had planned for this and got the flowers for 50% off..which would have brought our total down to $14.  I think it looks perfect and love that it isn't quite as yellow/full as theirs and has more of the sticks showing!

So we're inspecting our wreath....hanging it perfectly so it won't get caught in the door at the top.  We were a little tight for time because we only had 15 minutes until we were scheduled to play racquetball.  And that's when it happened- we closed the door.  It was locked.  We were locked out.  No keys.  No cell phones.  Eric didn't even have shoes on.  We noticed one of our neighbors carrying groceries in from his vehicle.  We made the walk of shame (a little different of a walk than the "walk of shame" in the collegiate environment) downstairs to two neighbors both at their doorways.  They both graciously allowed us to use their phones, looked up phone numbers, and helped us for 20-30 minutes.  Maybe this was God's nudging to help us meet a couple more neighbors.  It also gave us an excuse to make and deliver some thank you cookies to them on Sunday!

And don't worry: we were able to reschedule our racquetball game.  We enjoyed our relaxing weekend very much!  I was able to go hiking with some of the girls, we grilled steaks, completed spring cleaning in our apartment, went to church, and saw Source Code too!  Plus, the Cardinals finally won a game yesterday!  I'll leave you with a picture to enjoy of us in some Cardinal gear for opening day last week.

Love from Cape G,
Kelly

PS- When we gave cookies to our neighbor right below us, she said that she was planning to actually come up and see this infamous wreath and bring cookies to us that she had bought at a bake sale.  We left her apartment with 10 cookies...ha!

Painting, STOMP, and Rainbow Cupcakes

Whew...March has gone by so fast! I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day. It has been a busy month for this Barb family.

We took some of our students on a spring break mission trip to Princeton, KY. It was only about 2 1/2 hours away and we spent the week serving at Bright Life Farms, a community for mentally or developmentally challenged adults. We spent a majority of the week painting the inside of one of their homes (maybe not the colors I would have chosen, but they wanted something bright....and it was indeed!) We also got to spend time interacting with the residents by playing BINGO, doing a craft, washing their vans, singing songs, and just hanging out with them. It was neat to get to hear the testimony of one of the residents who had been in a bad car accident as a teenager and was lucky to be alive. We heard the story about God's work in developing Bright Life over the past ten years...and that the director's daughter was a resident there too. She began having seizures as a 3-year-old and had brain activity loss because of the continuing seizures. It caused me to reflect on how life is so fragile and things can change so quickly! God is definitely at work at Bright Life and they really view everything as a gift from Him. I was a little timid going in as I just don't have much experience or knowledge about relating with special needs people, but it was so wonderful! It gives me an even greater respect for my sister-in-law who teaches high school special needs.

After returning from Kentucky, Eric and I went on a whirlwind trip for a few days. We went to Farmington on Saturday to watch my cousins Andrew and Melanie in their high school musical, "Guys and Dolls". They both did wonderful! We continued on from Farmington to Rolla for my cousin Stephanie's baby shower. She is excited and anticipating the arrival of Josalynn at the end of May. She got quite the load to be able to spoil and love on that baby girl. We then traveled up to Jeff City to meet with Stonebridge, a church that we love and miss so much! The next couple of days were spent at the CORE Conference, where we served and were challenged about becoming disciples, missional living, and leadership development. Eric and I love the time we get to spend with our Jeff City friends...too bad we live almost 4 hours away!

So after getting home on Wednesday, we finished the rest of the week with the Acts 1:8 Missions Conference hosted by the association and one of the local churches down here. It was exciting to get to meet and hear from missionaries around the world, to get to share the story of the BSU, and to help people in Cape Girardeau area answer the call to be missionaries. And in the middle of that, we took a little jaunt to St. Louis to cash in on Eric's Christmas present....tickets to STOMP! It was such a fun show and left us wanting to bang on pots, pans, and any other thing that can make noise. We snapped one picture before being informed that we were not allowed to take photos. So it's not the best, but it's the only one we have!

And what post would be complete without showing something that I have recently baked? I tried to come up with some creative desserts while we were on our spring break trip. Well, maybe not really creative...but I wanted pie for PI day (3.14) and then something festive for St. Patrick's Day. Instead of sticking with the original green for St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make rainbow cupcakes....you know, the leprechaun in search of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This was really simple as I just made a white cake mix from the box....but then divided the batter into 6 separate bowls, colored them, and then layered them in the cupcake liners.

Date Night: Cupcake Wars edition

Each week, Eric and I make sure that we set aside one night for a "date night".  It might not necessarily be something "special"- maybe just cooking together, going out to eat, getting a redbox movie, or bowling...but we want to consciously set aside time for just us.  We've heard the argument that every night before having children is a date night (which is true)- so this is a priority that we want set in place from the start of our marriage.  We know that it might look different later in life, but we are trying to be very deliberate in establishing things now and starting our marriage off well in every aspect.

One of the shows that we love to watch is Cupcake Wars....where four bakers come in and are competing to present a 1000 cupcake display for a special event and $10,000.  Eric challenged me to a cupcake war for a date night a few weeks ago.  We both got to pick what we wanted to attempt to make (and unlike the show, I used a box mix).  Eric decided to make a classic chocolate cupcake with cream filling and a buttercream frosting.  I decided to make a chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  I had to make cookie dough and freeze it for at least 2 hours and then add that into my batter.

For those of you who do not watch Cupcake Wars (and are missing out)- the competition is comprised of 3 rounds.
Round 1 is based on taste. There are four bakers and they usually have to work with secret ingredients- and one is eliminated.
Round 2 is based on taste and presentation. The three remaining bakers have to create three different cupcakes that best represent the theme for that episode- and would represent the event they are trying to showcase. One more is eliminated after this round.
Round 3 is when the two remaining contestants work with a team and compose a 1000-cupcake display, in which they also work with a carpenter to create something perfect for the event.
And someone is declared winner.

So at the end of the night, we both split a cupcake and Eric declared me winner.  He felt like the chocolate cupcake was a little dry.  I would call it more of a tie as I may have won the taste portion, but he is better at decorating.  I struggled to use our Pampered Chef frosting decorator- so he actually decorated over half of my cupcakes!
 

Look at that cookie dough inside! YUM!!

He inserted frosting instead of the original cream filling!

I made my cupcakes a bit healthier, using applesauce in place of the oil, and egg beaters in place of the eggs- which also makes them more moist.  Eric made the chocolate cupcakes again a few days later to take to a youth event at church and they turned out SO great.  He just decreased the baking time and made some chocolate shavings to dress them up.

A few final comments:
1. No, I didn't intend this to become a baking blog.  I'll try and think about non-food related things to write about soon.
2. No, Eric and I do not eat everything that we make.  We generally try to give most things away and don't just have treats like this lying around the kitchen all the time.
3. We've heard that you can get "relaxed" and "let yourself go" after getting married.  We don't have any plan to do that- and yes, we still work out and eat fairly healthy.

I gotta feeling...

These are my confessions:
-I think I'm more creative than I actually am
-I'm a bit of a perfectionist

You may remember about a year and half ago when my friend Abby and I took cake decorating class.

 
It was a lot of fun...but as the classes progressed (I took 1&2), it became a constant struggle with my inner perfectionist. I couldn't get the icing to the exact consistency I wanted or the tip of my rose to be absolutely perfect. But I see things and think, I can do that....(insert "not as creative/crafty as I think", won't settle unless it looks perfect- and I want it perfect on the first try, and maybe a slight competitive spirit)

So this weekend was the Super Bowl....and of course, a Super Bowl party. My husband and I both love a good party- and began to think about what we would take to the Super Bowl party. I suggested that one of our contributions should be cake pops. Now I know that cake pops are so 3008 and I'm so 2000 and late- but better to try late than never, right? I've seen so many cute ones and it seems like everyone knows how to make them, so they can't be that hard....(ha)...

After a little searching online, I thought we should make football cake pops and then just some that are team/logo color coordinated. We decided on devils food/chocolate football pops and then the team ones as funfetti/white icing. Sorry to disappoint that we don't have step by step instructions or pictures, but if you want to see the queen of cake pops, you can check out Bakerella's website. (Which I just checked...and she made the exact same cake pops...and they look "similar" to ours)

So here we are in the mixing process....and then our balls are chilling...








Sunday afternoon, we began melting our chocolate...then dipped our sticks, inserted them into the cake balls, and then dipped the cake balls. Here is where something went wrong. I struggled to get perfectly covered balls and then struggled to keep them on the sticks. I just don't know how to make them look sleek and clean. Eric made the footballs- and was having some success. I just ended up ditching the sticks and made cake balls for the team ones....
They weren't a complete failure- they tasted great and looked decent (for the first attempt), plus I had the time of my life making it. My wonderful husband told me before we started this adventure that I would have to be okay with the fact that they might not look perfect on our first try.

the colors might be hard to see....but the white ones have the Steelers logo and then there are green ones with yellow drizzle for the Packers.

So here is our finished project and I'm not just going to give up- I will try again...and hope to maybe master the cake ball/cake pop.

P.S.- Yes, there are random lines from the stars of the halftime show in this post. I enjoyed the BEP.

One of our new favorite treats!

Remember the time I said I would tell you my goals for 2011. Oops. I still have 11 months to share them (and succeed in them), right?


Well today, I want to share with you a new recipe that my hubby and I absolutely love! Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins! Who doesn't love a great combo of peanut butter, banana, and chocolate? We thought it would be fun to take pictures and post (for all 2 of you that read this) to try out too!




We've gathered all of our ingredients together!

Measure out 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour











And sift, sift, sift the flour into a large mixing bowl

Then add 1/2 cup sugar to the flour

And if that isn't enough sugar, now add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Next, add 1 Tablespoon baking powder to the mixture

 
Add 3/4 teaspoon salt

Add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Now mix together all the dry ingredients and grab 2 more bowls- a small one and a large one

Mash 2-3 ripe bananas with a fork in the small bowl and then put them into your larger new bowl (I guess you could just mash them in the large bowl- and save some dishwashing)

(yummy mashed banana goodness being poured into the new bowl)

Now add 1 cup of milk to the bananas

Add 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (We are Skippy Natural fans...but any creamy PB will do the job)









Next add 3 Tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil

You only need to crack in one egg!

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix, mix, mix

Now you're ready to pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients











 More mixing....

 Stir in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I always need to give them a test!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your muffin pan with non-stick baking spray






And we're ready to fill with batter!  Fill them 2/3-3/4 full (I'm just getting started in the picture...I came through with round two to fill the cups)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. This batch came out a little darker than I like, but they still tasted great! I even made some mini ones because I had some leftover batter. I could have filled my tins even more full.



These muffins are SO tasty! Here is the full recipe for you to try. Let me know if you make them and what you think!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip MuffinsAdapted from Cooking Light Bulletin Boards
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed, golden brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 large, ripe bananas, mashed-enough for 1-1/4 cups banana
1 cup milk
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, sift together (make sure to sift), flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and the cinnamon; combine.

In another mixing vessel combine mashed bananas, milk, peanut butter, egg, oil, and vanilla; mix well.  Add this to the dry mixture previously prepared; mix just enough to combine.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray, if you are using liners, spray those too, and fill tins 3/4 full.  This will make 18 nicely sized muffins.  You can double the recipe if you need more.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Pretty simple, eh?

And I know you're loving the picture of my apron that you can see a glimpse of in the picture of banana mashing. It is the Vera Bradley Barcelona apron that my husband got me for Christmas!
I was not looking like Rachael Ray or Paula Deen in these pictures- so sorry- no full shots!