a thought...

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who not change like shifting shadows ~James 1:17

I am thankful for this truth today.  I am thankful that God loves me and wants to lavish me with His love.  I am thankful that He does not change; He is not fickle or fake.  He is constant and unmoving.  

happy saturday!

I've said this lots of times before, but I love Saturdays! 

We have nothing planned today, so we're just going to hang out and relax =)  We might even play in the snow.....pictures to follow!

Have a great day!

cinnamon roll cake

Tonight we were invited over to a potluck dinner and get together with some good friends.  I, as usual, brought dessert! =)  I found this yummy looking recipe on Pinterest a little while ago was glad to have an excuse to make it! 

ooey, gooey, deliciousness!

Ingredients:
cake:
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted

topping:
1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 TB flour
1 TB cinnamon

glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 TB milk
1 tsp vanilla

For the cake, mix the first 7 ingredients together in a bowl until well incorporated.  Slowly mix in the melted butter.  Pour the batter in a greased 13 by 9 pan.  Set aside.

Next, for the topping, cream the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together with the softened butter.  Drop by the spoonfuls on top of the cake.  Take a spoon or a knife and swirl the topping into the batter.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

While the cake is baking, whisk together the glaze.  Once the cake has cooled slightly, pour the glaze over the top.  Serve warm or room temperature.

**My notes**
This recipe is super easy to throw together!  It definitely does not disappoint.
For the cake part, I only had 3/4 cup of sugar left in my pantry, so that's what I ended up using.  The cake still turned out plenty sweet.
I made the batter ahead of time, put it in a covered 13 by 9 dish, and kept it cold in the fridge until I was ready to bake it.
Also, I didn't use all the glaze this recipe makes.  I poured maybe a half over the cake and let the rest sit out so our friends could put extra on their cake if they wanted it.
I think this cake would taste amazing with vanilla ice cream ... but if you tried that, I would skip the glaze. 

sledding with friends

All the schools in the area were closed from all the snow we got yesterday, so this morning Jaden and I had a playdate/lunch with some of our friends!  We brought our snow stuff and sleds and had a great time out =)

the sledding hill next to starla's house is humongous...and the perfect place to kiddos to sled!

jaden absolutely loved it =)  the snow was pretty packed down, so he and carson practically flew down the hill each time

cami could not be persuaded to sled.  she watched the boys the whole time we were outside.

carson liked sledding too...he didn't venture up the hill as high as jaden, but he still had a blast

i love carson's Mohawk hat =)

eating snow...seems like that's a requirement for all kids when there's snow around

cami ate a ton of snow while she watched the boys =)

first snow

Finally it snowed! There were several times this winter that forecasted snow, and all we got was rain, or cold, or wind, or some combination of the three.  So when the weather called for snow today, I was pretty skeptical.

But....it did!!  And now everything is covered in soft, wet, white snow.
Jaden and I bundled up and went outside to play =)

walking on the golf course behind our house

a view of the course

jaden kept screaming "look, there's no footprints!  this is so fun!"

the park in the snow?  yes, please!  =)  jaden said the slides were suepr fun.

so pretty

a view from the bridge at the park

puddle splashing

on our way to splash in some puddles

i love his face =)

this was jaden's favorite puddle

starla's baby shower

My good friend Starla is also pregnant and happens to be due two weeks before me.  I got to throw her a baby shower this past weekend.  It was fun! =)

starla =)  look at that preggy glow on her face!

playing "measure the belly"....you take ribbon and try to guess how big around the momma's belly is =)

the ladies

all is grace

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace ~John 1:17

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace ~Proverbs 86:6

Give yourself grace.  Give yourself a break.

It is something easy to hear, and easy to say......but it's been REALLY hard to do. 

Recently, I've been struggling with resting.  Letting myself take breaks.  Taking it slow.  Maybe this is because I'm such a go-go, type-A, structure personality.  Or maybe because I like to challenge myself and prove to myself that yes, I can do x, y and z activity....and I'm not going to let pregnancy stop me!

I really struggle with fitness and being pregnant.  I expect my body to perform to my non-preggo standards and then I'm left disappointed and angry at myself....instead of being thankful that I still have energy and ability to exercise. Why can't I do this workout?  Why am I so out of breath?  Why did 5 miles just take me an hour and half?  I catch myself constantly being negative about everything.

But the Lord is showing me that those reactions are sin because they are full of my pride...and those expectations are totally unrealistic.  He has been showing me that I have a world of time after this baby is born to get "back into shape".  He has also been showing me that carrying a baby is hard work and it does take a toll on my body.  More so, if I want to exercise post-baby, I need to make sure I'm not going to cause injury to myself. 

The Lord has put some very faithful friends in my life that have spoken these truths to me during my pregnancy over and over and over.  And they encourage me and pray for me. 

And so very slowly, His truth is seeping into my head. 

Yes, all is grace. 

Roaring Run hike

We have been fortunate to have some beautiful winter days recently!  =)  Yesterday was one of those days.  The air was cool and crisp, the sun was out and we had nothing do to...so we went hiking! 
One of our goals this year is to do more hiking so we can explore the Valley a little bit better.  We found a new hiking place just outside of Eagle Rock (which is 20 miles from where we live).  This place was pretty!  The two we did were both a little over a half mile each way.  There were also a 3 mile loop, and a 5 mile loop (and, according to the park map, if you combine the 3 and 5 mile loops, it made a 8-9 mile loop....which eventually I'd like to try out too).
Here are some pictures of our day out!

the entrance to the park...just beyond it to the right was a picnic area and then the trail heads

on the way up, we were along side the river...it made for lots of pretty pictures!

jaden said "hey look!  a log just for me!"  and crawled in =)

the waterfall at the top of the hike

sled riding in PA

Pennsylvania got a few feet of snow while we were visiting, so we went sled riding!

snow angels

Jaden thought is was fun to fall into the snow and eat it

jaden and lexi

Yorktown and Pennsylvania Christmas 2012

Later Christmas day, we drove from my mom's to Yorktown to celebrate Christmas with his family.

I love this picture!  Derek was playing with his camera while Jaden was opening presents.

Derek's family: Derek, me, Pam, Bob, Josh and Jaden

We also got to visit with Derek's family in Pennsylvania for a few days over the holiday break.  This is Derek's cousin Amy and her husband.

Jaden and his second cousins: Brandon, Lexi and Allison

The Pennsylvania posse