1. we constantly have music playing in our home. anything from worship, to hip hop to indie rock to justin bieber (mason’s constant request) you’ll will hear. our desktop computer is in a central location so it is easy to have pandora playing all the time. but i quickly reach the 40 hours a month limit. we recently tried out rdio.com for something different and loved it. it is the same idea as pandora but you can listen to whole albums at a time. basically any song is at your finger tips. check it out. we’ve been having fun rocking out to some sweet 80-90’s music. good memories:)

2. i busted out the resurrection eggs this week. getting the kids thinking about easter and what this celebration is really all about. not the easter bunny and candy that they are seeing everywhere, although this is still fun to do. i was happily surprised how much mason remembered of the easter story. as i was reading the story i was reminded that it just isn’t the easter story but a story of resurrection that we are invited to live out everyday. how lovely. i love sharing this story with the kids using the resurrection eggs.

3. we go through snacks like water. 3 kids and often 3 snacks a day makes for ALOT of snacks. and prepackaged snacks aren’t cheap. it kinda drives me crazy that a such a large chunk of our grocery budget goes to snacks that really don’t fill our kids up, but often what they eat because they are bored. so i’ve been on a mission to come up with an alternative snack plan. i haven’t fully switched over yet but we are getting close to ridding our home of goldfish etc. i’m sure there will be a lot of crying and flailing of arms but i’m prepared. so what will i do instead? well one thing i found are these super easy and good granola bars. these are the best i’ve found that everyone likes. here’s a picture, terrible i know but you get the idea. i always do better seeing what something is supposed to look like.

4 T salted butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c honey

2 c granola

1 c rice cereal (krispies)

1/2  c raisins (or what ever dried fruit you want)

1/2 c of the long skinny pretzels broken up a bit

1/2 c choc. chips

***combine sugar, honey and butter. bring to boil over med-high heat, then simmer till sugar dissolves (about 2 min). remove from heat. add the dry ingredients to saucepan and coat evenly. Transfer to a greased dish ( i used an 8×8 because i wanted them thicker). Gently press choc. chip into top. Put in fridge for 15 min. Then cut into granola bar shapes.

*** anything can be added to they dry to change up the recipe, almonds, flax seed, wheat germ etc.

4. i made this picture a couple weeks ago using one of my favorite quotes from the jesus story book bible. i painted it blue first and stenciled in the doily on the bottom corner. then i painted on the quote. quick and simple. it hangs above our “time out” chair. coincidental? i think not.

5. we’ve quickly learned that spring break is a BIG thing around here. everyone leaves and goes else where. seriously it is like the exodus around here. yeah, we didn’t get the memo. maybe next year? looking forward to next week of hopefully spring like weather to match spring break.

simple quick rendition of 5 on friday…

1. i’m running in a 1/2 marathon tomorrow! hoping for weather that is semi-decent.

2. my parents are visiting this weekend. very fun to have them both here. and i’ve really missed my dad:)

3. within 24 hours we went from wearing shorts and tshirt outside to watching it snow:( spring where are you?!?

4. my husband has been in and out of town and going non-stop for the last 2 weeks. as of tomorrow afternoon the pace will slow down. so excited to see this man a little more!

5. all in one day we had new friends over for a playdate, neighbor kids over to play and friends from cali over for dessert. i loved sharing our new home with others. my heart is happy!