I might as well have put on a cape this morning, I was that super!

It's the simple things in my kids eyes that keep me great and for that I am thankful.

As my groggy 6 year old schlumpped out into the family room, head low, rubbing his eyes- he instantly stopped. Lifted his head and sniffed.

BANANA BREAD he yelled as he ran into the kitchen where I stood. He looked at me with the sun shining through my bed tasseled hair and my super cape on {I'm sure that's what he saw} and hugged my waist.

Yup, for the simple gesture of using up my old, ripened bananas, I got a superheroes welcome!

I tried a new recipe from House of Smiths, buttermilk banana bread.

So here's the ugly truth. I didn't love the recipe. SSHHHH, don't tell House of Smiths. It was good but not great.

I would much rather eat this recipe from Allrecipes. Simple, basic and lots of bananas giving it a fabulous banana taste.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed bananas

Mix together dry ingredients and wet ingredients and then stir them together. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar and bake 350 until done! {I use mini loaf pans so they cook faster than the one large pan that the recipe calls for.}

Try them and let me know what you think!

My day in laundry

This is what happens when the laundry is neglected for a few days. All clean, waiting to be folded and put away. The beautiful weekend we had, had a hand in that. Who wanted to be inside doing laundry when the sun was shining and yard work awaited? Not me! The yard work obviously won out.

Good for me, it rained ALL DAY LONG today so I was able to stay inside {guilt free} and do a few things that had been neglected for so long!

This is what happens when you have 3 growing boys, a few years apart. They grow fast and clothes must be sorted and organized into bins for the next child. Gotta love hand me downs! I've gotten rid of TONS and only kept the best of the best but still, these boys need to stop growing!



The sorting and organizing is complete! I do love hand me downs, I found some great shoes I had forgotten about that both Creed and Easton can now wear and I am reminded of what stuff I have and what stuff I need so as I start shopping sales, I can "try" and stay focused and only buy what they need!

Yeah! Sorting is done for another season!

The day after I wrote my last blog entry, I woke up to a text from my mom telling me my sister Chana, 23 1/2 weeks pregnant had gone to the hospital because of bleeding and cramping.

I didn't think much of it. I thought she might be put on bed rest or maybe she was being overly cautious, I said a little prayer for her and waited.

I received a text a short time later that said "Chana had baby."

I started crying and stopped about three weeks later. The month of April was an emotional one, one that I need to blog about in it's entirety, but for now, I want to link to a photographer named Holly Brimhall who took some beautiful pictures of baby Freddie, 3 days before he passed away.

You can read it here.

I was able to fly to Phoenix for a day {literally} and be there to meet and say goodbye to Freddie. I have never cried so much and so hard in my life. It was an emotional week of ups and downs but after he passed away there was an absolute peace in the room. We all knew that Freddie's purpose on earth had been fulfilled. His earthly mission was complete and because of the knowledge of eternal families that I have, I know that Chana and Fred will see Freddie again and be able to raise him in the eternities.

My sweet and strong sister has also been blogging her story. It starts here.

The healing has begun and for all of us. We are so grateful for the photographers who donated their time and talents to photograph our Freddie as he lived, and after he passed. Those pictures will be a constant reminder of the life we need to live so that we can be with Freddie again.