Cake Pops

All my cake pop dreams have come true! And they are just as amazing as I imagined they would be!
I mean, they are IN-VOLVED - a high-maintenance, deconstructed cupcake of epicness on a stick - but
worth it!!! I made these for my kids for Valentine's Day (so I've got a dozen tucked in the freezer
for this weekend!), but we couldn't resist eating the batter, the chocolate... the final product!!!
Taste testing is a crucial part of any culinary process. And I take my job seriously.

We added some of our Young Living essential oils to flavor these yummies! I'm pretty sure that all
the sugar completely deactivated the healthy properties found in peppermint and lemon, but
NO ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS! I'm holding that close to my heart... and digestive track.
Seriously though - such vibrant, solid flavors!!!

So I made these with a gluten-free cake mix, but any cake mix you love will do.
Have you ever seen a gluten-free cake pop? Me neither... until now!

I love how people come over to my house and assume that everything gluten-free is "healthy".
I wish. And made you lose weight! Lol. I digress... it's the cabin fever talking.

_____________________________

1// Bake cake mix according to recipe. Let completely cool.
I did 8 cupcakes in vanilla + 8 in chocolate because I like options!!!
Code for "I have a problem." Ha.

2// Crumble cake and set aside.

3// Prepare homemade frosting like me, the overachiever, or use canned frosting.

For my chocolate cake pops,
I added a few drops of peppermint essential oil
to my chocolate frosting.

For my vanilla cake pops,
I added a few drops of lemon essential oil
to my vanilla frosting.

4// Eight crumbled cupcakes used about 1/2 C. of frosting. I added slowly until the crumbled cake was
just moist and sticking together well enough to roll into a ball.

5// I used fancy shmancy $1 designer straws from Target for sticks. After securing a cake ball
on the end, I placed in my freezer to chill for about 30 minutes before dipping in chocolate.

6// While cake balls are chillin' like villains, melt chocolate of your choice! You want something
that dries solid at room temperature. Again, I added peppermint essential oil to my
melted dark chocolate and lemon essential oil to my melted white chocolate!

7// Dip those cake balls and coat them with something pretty! We used crushed peppermint candy
and tangerine zest!!! Let sit at room temperature for about 1 hour to set.

8// Eat all the cake pops. Don't leave a trace.


16 crumbled cupcakes + frosting made 16 cake pops!!!


I am happy. My kids are happy. Just wait til you see their faces below!
And my husband thinks an ordinary cupcake would do. No cake pop for you, buddy! Haha.
Happy Valentine's Day, loves!!! XO







MORE ABOUT OUR YOUNG LIVING JOURNEY

Brunch for Baby

One of our favorite things to do as a family is "brunch." We refer to it as "Hobbit Breakfast"
and it usually, especially takes place on Sundays in our home. Bella was born on a Sunday.
I feel like God knew she should come in on the Sabbath.

Cheerful, sunshine glory -
she's our Alleluia, deep rest, skip to Church and run down the aisle girl.

Our little pancake. Our little bacon. Our little syrup. We take turns lavishing sweet names on our
baby girl as we gather Sunday after Sunday to brunch, to take her in, to breathe deep and just BE alive
together. The boys especially love our nickname game for Bella... "our little coffee creamer!"
I will never forget these days. They are everything.

And so it just made sense to ring in her first year with a "Lady Bella Brunch".
Full of her favorite fabric flowers, Curious George, warm syrup and a pancake bar!!!

Thank you, Jesus, for our Sunday baby.
We love you, Bells. XO.

Kiwi Crate and Craziness

The other day I had just packed my biological sardines into the van after successfully,
not without tears, braving my holy trinity of grocery stores: Costco, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.
I was patting myself on the back real big as we glided onto the interstate; music blaring,
baby sleeping and a whole carton of peanut butter cups in my lap. Life is good.

And then my five year old piped up, "Hey, mom, I gotta pee."

OF COURSE I FORGOT TO HAVE THEM ALL PEE. *bangs head on steering wheel*
But I have peanut butter cups. Angels sing. If only very quietly.

"Like bad bad, buddy!?" I hopefully question.

Next thing I know, I'm pulled over with a van full of children and groceries in the middle
of rush hour Chicago on the side of the road explaining that I firmly believe, with all my
heart, that toddler boys can pee in a plastic water bottle.

We laughed so hard I was crying. I looked at my other son and asked him if he wanted
to take a shot at the bottle. He said, "Um no," in between maniacal bouts of laughter.

"Don't drink out of the water bottle, mom!" was the joke all the long way home.

I feel like this sums up my life right now.

It's just crazy. Two days go by and I think I have a routine down and then BAM -
a certain baby doesn't sleep through the night and I'm making dinner in my pajamas.

My dear sister reminded me, "That's parenthood, Brittany."
And that same dear sister, God bless her, recently sent a KIWI CRATE our way!!!
That was a nice segue, right?! And so nice of her!



It was for Judah's 4th birthday and the thrill was intense. My boys are like *tight*
so the joy was shared all around! They were so happy -- and I was so happy -- knowing that
EVERYTHING we need (down to emergency "back-up" glue) to create a couple really cool crafts
to go along with a theme and story was in that box! I suck at kid craft time. I kissed the box.

KIWI CRATE offers a monthly subscription where a specially curated box full of craft happiness
comes to your house for your little one! Or send it off as a birthday present like my sister did!
Or Christmas present! Or "just because" from grandma!

For us it is also a nice supplement to our homeschool routine!
Where the art department struggle is real.

P.S. Right now you can use code: SAVE25 at check-out to save 25%
on your first month PLUS you'll get free shipping with that! Wha what?!?


This box was a Western theme -- so we made a horse.
Pretty sure my boys named him "Hookey."

My boys also did their first little sewing project! They made these little bags for a
"rodeo" toss!!! SO. CUTE. I am keeping these forever. And will awkwardly give them to their wives
when they get married some day. Ok probably not. HA.


"Buddy, I'm so glad you got a KIWI CRATE," are the words exchanged as this picture was shot.
I kid you not. I am not making this up. Can you even handle this brother love?!


Check it out and always always ALWAYS have your kids pee before a long trip home.
Rookie parents. They get distracted by peanut butter cups.

A Pirate Party

Judah recently turned four years old!!! I love to throw parties for my kids, and this year
my little guy wanted "PIRATES". He also wanted a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" -
"Batman" - "SpongeBob" - "Goldfish" - and a "Red" party, but I wasn't sure exactly how to
hone in on all of that. So "PIRATES"!!! I'm not Pinterest, son.

In fact, I promised myself NOT to get on Pinterest to plan his party.
Because panic attack. I just created the good old fashioned way, straight from my brain.

And can we all just pause and stare off into the distance together for a minute?
I have a FOUR and a FIVE year old. And an almost ONE year old. What is going on!?!?
I am so thankful for each of them. The adventures of a lifetime.

Especially thankful for my Judah, the birthday man, this month!!!
He brings such a WILD JOY to our family!!! His whole life is a celebration!!!



FLAG: Some old fabric from Hobby Lobby with a skull mask (yes, we literally just had
that lying around) puttied to the front. Tacked to the window frame and fabulous.

TABLE COVERING: $3 brown bag wrapping paper from Target.
We DIY-ed "PIRATE MAPS" as a family!



LABLES: Used a large hole punch and a lighter to make a burnt fringe to layer and label.
Stuck them on skewers and straight into limes.

WINDOW FLAGS: Old red and black cloth napkins from Target tied together.

Nathan made an incredible "Treasure Map" for Judah!!! It took him and his little buddies
on a hunt around the house and yard to find the buried treasure! He is STILL talking about this.





PIRATE GRANDPA: Free. And so fun!

PINATA: Target. Of course.




CAKE: I ended up finding a plain wooden "treasure chest" and "canoe" at Hobby Lobby for super cheap.
Painted and accessorized - I was pretty proud of the results ($3 total)! Found gold (chocolate) coins
and small pirate figurines at a party store. Coconut for ocean. Crushed graham crackers for sand.
HE LOVED IT!

PIRATE FLAGS: Found a great FREE print on Google images and resized it before printing.
Cut and pasted to toothpicks.





Such a fun day!!!
So thankful for all our family that came out to celebrate with us!!!
Happy Birthday, Judah!!! You. Argh. Loved.

An Un-Curated House Tour

We always knew that we would move home eventually. Back to the town so familiar, literally impossible to go anywhere without running into someone you know, to raise 'em up. We loved living in the suburbs of Chicago - the hustle and bustle is so alluring. Always something to do. Everything you want at your fingertips. But we didn't want our kids to miss it. We didn't want them to miss the joy of a quieter life, a slower pace and family.

Nathan and I have the privilege of sharing a home town. This place is our old and new stomping grounds. We're back, but it's different. The town has changed. We have changed. But family doesn't change. And that is just so good. An irreplaceable gift.

"Sometimes I find myself thinking about the people I love,
all spread out all over the country and I think: why are we so far apart?
Would it be insane to move houses or cities or states because of friendships?
Doesn't it sort of make sense? This is what I want, in my secret crazy heart:
I want to pick a neighborhood and put out the call: lets' do this!

Let's stop texting and seeing each other twice a year, if that.
Let's pick a neighborhood, and let's move there and raise our kids together
and have dinner together twice a week and go running together and put our kids on
the same bus in the morning. Here is my question these days: when you have friendships
that are so dear to you, when you feel so seen and loved and connected and thankful
for what these amazing people bring you, why wouldn't we change our lives,
or at the very least our location,for them?
- Shauna Niequist
I'll never forget the day we decided to start looking for a new job and house. I was in the midst of an autoimmune episode. It scares me. Wakes me up a little bit each time. One life. And boy is it fleeting. So why not? Why not live where we want to live with the people that mean the most to us? We had to try, and God blew us away when He opened every door that ushered us into this new life for our family.

We quit "living so far apart" and it feels good!

I've been planning to take pictures for weeks now. I had hoped to curate a nice overview of our little, brick ranch for you all, but this is about as un-curated as it gets. The rooms aren't Pinterest worthy, but I slapped a nice filter on all the photos just in case. Wink. This is a real life, work in progress, people live here kind of thing. So don't go calling HGTV or anything. HA. But if you do, please call Chip and Joanna Gaines. Please and thank you!


I live in the kitchen. It's the first time that I have a window over the sink. I'll never go back. It looks out into the fenced-in (all the mothers said AMEN) backyard. It's basically a vacation every time I step into this room. I love it.


I have a new theme for my house. It's called minimalism. We hung four things on the wall in our main living space: a crucifix, Mama Mary, a mirror and a bulletin board. I've got boxes of décor sitting in my basement. I dream of a garage sale in the spring.



The boys have their own space. With a $1 tiger I found at a rummage sale.
I know. So mid-century of me. I try.


We have plans to use this as a baby/guest bedroom. Right now Bella is holding down the fort.



And here is our laundry. I mean our master bedroom. Ahem. I'm excited to expand this little office space for me and Nathan! I've got an Ikea floating shelf in mind. An upright chair. Faux animal skin rug. Baby steps. Gotta fold that laundry first.


This one is for anyone dying to see our bathroom. We downsized in the bathroom department. I didn't realize how much we were going to miss our "en suite", but we are consoling ourselves with a that little office space! Eventually we hope to finish the full basement and add another bathroom down there. We shall see.

I almost included a picture of our backyard for your viewing pleasure. But then decided against it. You basically can look at any overgrown forest on the side of the interstate and get a good idea of what it looks like. HA. For real though. Mulberry trees are from the devil.


Ok, well now I feel super naked. As in exposed.
But we LOVE our new life and home and wanted you to share our joy. Curated or not. In this case, not.

WELCOME.