My middle child who lives in Oregon came for a visit this week. There are 5 of us that have birthdays within days of each other at the end of February and the beginning of March so we decided to have a big family birthday dinner together. I was in charge of the cupcakes. Each person got to choose their own type and thankfully two of them chose the same kind...and I chose not to make a different type for just myself. I was worn out making 3 different kinds and 3 different frostings.

Chocolate Peanut Butter with Peanut Buttercream Frosting
Garnish: mini Reese's cups

Vanilla Tinted Green with Almond Buttercream Frosting tinted yellow
Garnish: Green sugar sprinkles and Oregon Duck toppers

Lemon Coconut with Lemon CreamCheese Frosting
Garnish:Toasted Coconum

Birthday Cupcake and Present display

Mommy and Daughter!!

Changing?

The above picture was on our Pastor's Facebook post. Boy this spoke to me right away. God spoke to my heart for sure....through a family member that was ill and eventually went on to be with him. But through her He spoke to my heart and in turn caused a situation to be changed...which in turn set a chain of events in motion...still being played out. I am excited to see what He is going to do next!!

Sweet Valentine's Day!

Although it was a very, very crazy day at school it was a great one. My student's could not have been sweeter. Many of them remembered their teacher and showered me with gifts. Candy, flowers, hearts, candles: what more can a gal want? I planned a super dinner tonight. My hubby asked for meatloaf, so I decided to try a new recipe for meatloaf and although he did not care for it he did eat it and said it was okay he just preferred our usual. I called our middle daughter to wish her a Happy Valentine's Day and she informed me that was not a menu to cook on a work night...well, being Valentine's Day I just did it anyhow cause I wanted to give my hubby a nice dinner. I was so very happy that God gave me an idea to do for my hubby for Valentine's Day...you see I have not had a whole lot of money lately due to trying my hardest to pay off debt...so Sunday night when I went to bed trying to go to sleep it came to me....cut out some hearts on our die cut machine and write sweet love messages

Flowers on the left were delivered to me at work . They were from my sweet hubby!

Dinner!!

My hubby's Valentine surprise!!

 on them...I taped them to the bathroom mirror last night after he went to bed so he would see them in the morning. I was kind of proud of myself.

I also was very proud of myself this morning cause I scheduled pay-offs for 2 of my 4 bills to be paid off tomorrow when I get paid. I am soooooo excited to get these bills paid off.

Off to the Grocery Store!!

Fun Sunday afternoon. I am getting ready to do the Sunday afternoon chore we normally do together, but hubby has decided he is going to just stay home. So off to the grocery by myself. Fun, fun! NOT! But I have a short list so maybe it won't take very long. Then, I guess we are going to Outback for dinner...had steak, salad, baked potatoes on the menu but the weather turned very cold and hubby doesn't want to grill out and he suggested we go to Outback...don't blame him for not wanting to be out in the cold and just glad to get to go out. Here lately we have become real homebodies and don't really go or do much of anything. So, here's hoping to a great time out and a very fast week cause come Friday, I am off for the next 5 days!! Yippeee!


Update: I bought groceries...not a good coupon week only save $4. We went to dinner and had a very nice time together....we had wonderful conversation...went next door after dinner and looked at new Chevys. We are in the market for a new car but may wait a little bit. I was surprised that hubby wanted to go next door and walk to take a look cause it was freezing out!

Encouragement!

I have so many things to feel blessed about right now! I have received so much encouragement over the past few days. I have also received several signs and confirmations that the decision I am working on is going in the right direction. God is so good and I give Him all the glory for taking this heartfelt, soul-searching decision of mine and making it also important to Him. I know that He cares about everything I do and cares about every hair on my head. My prayer is for Him to continue to give me the strength, guidance, and the direction that He wants me to take. Just so thankful that I have Him to lean on and wonderful encouragers around me to cheer for me!

Winner!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:7Powered by RANDOM.ORG

I used the random generator to choose and the result was as you can see #7. So the winner is Rosa...send me your address at teresascraps.gmail.com and Iwill get your prize out to you. Thanks again to everyone who entered.

Getting Crafty!

My friend Carole and I challenged each other to do something crafty this weekend. Well I am ususally a woman of my word and when I tell someone I am going to do something typically I keep to my word. I did not get a whole lot of time...Saturday I helped a friend all afternoon with stuff for her parent's 70th wedding anniversary party. I have been so glad to help her out. It was dinner time by the time we finished...then today we went to have breakfast at my daughter's, home for a nap, then to the grocery store, then dinner...NO wonder weekends go so fast. Well I decided after dinner to go in my craft room and get busy creating. So, here is what I created...I decided to use up some things that have been sitting in my stash forever!

The Final Result

The cupcakes were a big hit with everyone at the team breakfast. I asked all my friends to give me the lowdown and to be totally honest. Well, first of all I thought they were wonderful. Everyone else thought they were fabulous. Now my husband on the other hand thought they tasted mushy. So I think a vote of 8 to 1 overrides his opinion...haha.

Enjoy the pictures of our wonderful celebration.

Patty tasting the cupcakes. She would not look at me!

The birthday ladies!

Ethan and his cupcake. Kiersten playing games. 

Update on Strawberry Cupcakes

Well the best of plans sometimes go awry! I did not quite have enough powdered sugar to make this cream cheese frosting stiffen up so it was a bit runny. But it was oh so good! Does not look the best in the world but I topped each cupcake with a half of a strawberry and sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar on top. Next post will let you know how they tasted! Can't wait!

Strawberry Goodness.

I made strawberry cupcakes this evening for my team birthday breakfast celebration. These cupcakes smell absolutely delish!! Here are the cupcakes. I will come back tomorrow and post final pics and an update on how they tasted.

Don't these just look fabulous!

Strawberry Cupcake Recipe

1 Strawberry Moist Supreme Cake Mix
1 cup finely chopped strawberries
3/4 C oil
3/4 C whole milk
4 large eggs

Mix together until well blended. Follow directions on box for baking cupcakes.