And HE Shall Direct Thy Paths...

It has been 2 years since I last posted on here! Wow, 2 years full of surprises and changes and amazing things. My blog has since moved, and has a new direction, with a little of the same flavor as this one. If you'd like to check it out, it can be found at Coffee With Sprinkles. Thank you so much for stopping by, hope to see you at my new home!

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding; In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. 

Got Spinach?

Sorry, couldn’t resist using the most over-used catch phrase ever!
Just another quick spinach smoothie post!

This one turned out a gorgeous deep reddish plum color, and tasted awesome.

It contained:
8 oz. Frozen Mixed Berries
Ice
A Banana
1 c. Water
1 c. Grape Juice
Loads of Spinach
There was a little bit left over, so we made Spinach Popsicles, which the kids were thrilled about and enjoyed immensely.


Warning! They make a mess! Everyone had to change clothes afterwards.

Tea Party

Yesterday, a very nice tea party took place in our backyard.

There were a few highly distinguished guests.



And one party crasher, who was politely invited to stay.

The tea started quite simply,
But soon grew into a rather elaborate affair.

There was an elegant centerpiece,

Fine china place settings,


And expensive hors d'oeuvres.

The guests were on their best behavior--

Except for one, who still needs to learn a few manners.

A lovely time was had by all.

Porch Project -Sneak Peak-

Getting a lot done on our back porch. Still have plenty to do, but here's a little peak at what I've been up to.

I’m hoping to get it power-washed and painted before July!

Early Summer Monster Smoothie

We had a Blueberry-Raspberry Monster Smoothie on Saturday, and it came out such a deep pretty purple color, I had to post a few pics. 

We used fresh blueberries left over from Memorial Day's trifle, and frozen raspberries. It was gooood. 

On Growing

We’ve been spending most of our time outside lately, the kids and I.

Making bouquets.

Chasing winged insects…and catching them sometimes!

Discovering grass and clover.

Planting a little garden.

And me just looking. Watching my children be children.

I haven’t been getting a lot done inside, but...I’m really not missing much.

I don't want to miss anything.

Because it grows so quickly, this little garden of mine. The busier I get, the faster it grows.

And if I don’t look now, I’m going to miss it.

So lately, I’ve just been watching it grow.












Today, I'm linking up to Denise In Bloom.

Rainbow 6th Birthday

In the weeks leading up to her birthday, Lily was on quite a rainbow kick. Rainbow works of art were coming home from school almost every day.

So when I showed her all the gorgeous rainbow cakes popping up on Pinterest, she definitely wanted one for her birthday! I was happy to oblige…do you know how much fun it is to plan a rainbow party, even a small one? So much. That’s how much.
Her day started with a wake-up surprise hanging all over her room.

And a rainbow treat with breakfast.

Party guests this year we limited to family which kept the day stress-free. Bowling and playing outside with cousins made for an easy and enjoyable day!





Her favorite cake on my pinboards was a plain white one using skittles and marshmallows for the rainbow. Being the dessert-impaired person I am, I used the hardest-to-ruin least-complicated recipe I could find!


I used:
2 White Cake Mixes (Meijer Brand, because I’m cheap like that) (NO, I didn’t make it from scratch, are you kidding me???)


Food coloring in 6 colors of your choice


2 cans of Fluffy White Frosting


3 (or as many as you have) round cake pans (I did not actually have any cake pans, so I bought a set of 3 disposable ones for like 2 bucks, and they worked great).


Large Bag of Skittles


Marshmallows


Directions: Mix the cake according to the package instructions. Divide equally into 6 bowls. With food coloring, create a different color in each bowl. Pour contents of each bowl into separate cake pans. Bake according to package instructions. When completely cool, carefully stack each layer, separating each layer with white frosting. Frost outside of cake and decorate as desired. And voila!


You have a very tall, and very impressive 6-layer cake!




This was actually VERY easy, even for me. It was time consuming, (3-4 hours) but worth it. The hardest part was frosting the sides--trying to hide the gaps in between each layer. And the best part? The look of surprise on everyone’s faces when I cut into it! Even my chef brother-in-law was impressed, AND didn’t know it was a cake mix! (way to go Meijer!)







We made the day a little more memorable by hanging some fun rainbow décor in the dining room.




The rainbow sky was created from crepe paper streamers and blue wrapping paper. It was supposed to cover the whole top half of the wall, but apparently the wrapping paper company thought $4 for 2 yards of paper was a fair price. :/
The birthday girl couldn’t have cared less about the skimpy wrapping paper though, she loved it all.




So did her brother.




Until he knocked the cake over…




Luckily, the candles had already been blown out, and everyone had already had some cake.




And even though I wish she would slow down a bit with this growing up business, I love knowing that her birthday was fun and memorable.

Anyone else made a rainbow cake or something similar? I’d love to hear about it!