Weekend Update

Our last official weekend of summer was exactly what I was hoping for. We spent Friday night at home with a large cheese pizza and fresh-squeezed lemonade. On Saturday morning, we headed to Lowe's for the last of the Avengers Build and Grow series! (I'll have to take a pic to show you all six of the projects that Nolan made this summer.) We gave little brother a hammer too, and he happily "helped".

  

 

 On Saturday night, we asked my in-laws to babysit so that we could attend Steve's 10-year high school reunion! Steve went to a Catholic high school in the town we currently live in. Not a lot of his classmates were able to come, but the ones that did were Steve's really good friends. We had the best night catching up with them and reminiscing on the fun things they did a decade ago :)

Steve got this ADORABLE shot of our little friend Audraya and her daddy :)

 

On Sunday morning, we headed out to our church's property in the country for "Rally Day". We had a worship service under the pine trees, and then we feasted on freshly smoked chicken along with potluck sides and desserts.

 

 

Rally Day marks the start of the new Sunday School year. Nolan will stay in the same class with his little buddies :)

 

On Sunday afternoon, we relaxed while Ephraim napped and Nolan watched some "Daniel Tiger". We did a little bit of yardwork and chatted with neighbors.

  

My mom was in Philadelphia this weekend for a Women of Faith conference, and we missed seeing her on her actual birthday. But last night, we were ready with chocolate cupcakes and gifts to wish her a very happy last year of her fifties :) 

My birthday is nine days after my mom's, and Nolan's is nine days after mine, so we are in full birthday mode around here for the next couple of weekends.

Hope your weekend was lovely! Come back tomorrow for a fun before & after home post :)

Friday Favorites

 

Happy Friday to you! This week has been a bit of a blur for me. We had some highlights which you'll see below, and a few lowlights including (another?!) bat in the house and another trip to the vet with Miss Ivy. Everything else is really good. This is Steve's last weekend before teaching starts on Monday, so our summer mode is about to shift. We just found out that he'll be teaching FIVE courses this semester, which is pretty big for a part-time college professor :)

On Wednesday, our friends invited us out to the pool, and we happily obliged! It was the perfect, extra-hot day for swimming. Nolan is becoming quite the little fishie, and it's hard to get him out of the water. Ephraim still gets nervous around the pool, so I spent most of my time chasing him around the perimeter :) I loved getting to chat with three of my friends though! In the summer, we don't see each other nearly enough.

 

Yesterday, I shared this "Whatever is Lovely" free print that I designed. It's based on Philippians 4:7-9, which are a couple of my favorite verses. Feel free to print a copy for yourself! Eventually my living room gallery wall will get done! :)

 

If you missed Wednesday's post, this rhubarb cobbler may be the sweet (and a little sour) dessert that you're looking for!

Last Saturday we went blueberry picking for the first time, and we loved it!

A few of you asked for the recipe for blueberry zucchini bread. The recipe is here. It makes two loaves. If you want the berry version, add two cups of blueberries. 

Yesterday, I mixed a cup of blueberries with a cup of fresh raspberries into some zucchini bread, and the flavor was amazing! 

Also: the recipe works for muffins. Yesterday, my batch made one loaf of bread along with 18 muffins.

 

Thank you for all your nice comments about my high school photos post. Tomorrow is Steve's 10-year-reunion, and we're really excited for a night out visiting with his old friends!

Nolan figured out how to work my cell phone camera this week. I don't let my boys play with my phone, but I couldn't refuse when he sweetly asked if he could take some pictures. This one makes me smile because it's his low-to-the-ground view of his mommy :) He also wanted to take a photo of his red trike. And then, my favorite. . . he wanted to take a photo of his cut-up pizza because I'm always photographing my food. How adorable, right? :)

 I hope you all have an awesome weekend! 

 

Follow along with us on Instagram @floralandfudge!

Linking up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci.

Rhubarb Cobbler

  My friend Jeanie cut me some rhubarb from her garden in June. I washed it, cut it into slices, froze it, and then last week, I decided it was time to make a summery dessert! My first thought was pie, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go through the work of rolling out pie crust, so I took an easier route with a cobbler. Sweet and sour is the name of the game with rhubarb. It tastes so much like a pie, but it doesn't have to be as perfect!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons sugar

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/2 stick butter

6 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened, sliced rhubarb

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the topping, stir together the flour, 2 Tablespoons sugar, baking powder, salt (and cinnamon if desired) in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside while you work on the filling.

In a large saucepan, mix together the rhubarb, 1 cup sugar, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, and as you continue stirring, it eventually will get thicker and bubbly. Keep the filling hot.

In a small bowl, mix the egg and milk. Add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Transfer the hot filling to a 2-quart square baking dish (9x9-inch)  Using a spoon, immediately drop the topping in mounds on top of the filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Let cool for about an hour. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream, or just enjoy it by itself!

Not a fan of rhubarb? Try six cups of fresh or frozen unsweetened pitted tart red CHERRIES! :)

Rach in High School

I've been going through a box of photos and memorabilia from high school, reminiscing on some of the better times that I had in those four years. I just missed my 10-year high school reunion last week, and I would have loved to go, but we're looking forward to going to Steve's this weekend. I chose a lot of photos that are special to me (bear with me as I had to take photos of photos because a lot of these were pre-digital.) 

A little backstory. . . 

The day before my freshman year of high school, we moved from Chicago to Lincoln, Nebraska. Up until that point, I had only lived in one house, and I had gone to the same school from preschool through eighth grade. I lost my only sister Hannah in February. My mom started dating Don, got engaged, and walked down the aisle in a matter of six months. And Don lived in Nebraska. So we left everything and started a new life.

I was a fairly shy girl to begin with, but all of these changes pushed me further into my shell. I started my freshman year in the middle school, with hopes of transferring to a brand new high school for my sophomore year. Breaking into a circle of friends wasn't easy. I gained a lot of weight, acquired some shiny new braces, and I spent a lot of time at home. We adopted our yellow-lab mix puppy Holly, and some of my favorite memories were going on long walks with her and my mom.

I was definitely a hopeless romantic. Like most teenage girls, I had crush after crush, and I spent many an hour daydreaming about a first date and a first kiss. I kept expecting high school boys to step up and act like the smooth guys that I saw in movies or teen dramas. I didn't get a chance to date anyone in high school, and I secured my own dates to prom, but things worked out okay for me ;)

The summer between my sophomore and junior years, I reached a turning point. My faith got stronger, I lost 35 pounds, I gained a lot of self-confidence, and I finally started to feel like ME. 

In school, I wasn't a part of marching band or theater or sports. I joined a few clubs, but I mostly focused my energy on my classes and homework.

I took five years of Spanish in high school, and I fell in love with the language and Latin American culture. I had two of the most incredible Spanish teachers, and I loved their vibrancy in the classroom. For a while, my dream was to become a Spanish teacher in an elementary school because of these two ladies. Before my senior year, my family went to Quito, Ecuador on vacation, and it was really amazing to actually hear and use the language. I went on to pursue Spanish in college (as a minor).

(Nervously riding a horse in Ecuador.)

I loved my art classes--pottery, photography, 3D design, jewelry-making. I would have taken as many as I could if it weren't for those pesky "Gen Eds". ;)

One of my very favorite classes was AP US History my junior year. There was a lot of expected challenge in the writing and the AP-difficulty level, but American history has always had a pull for me. The hard work in my classes paid off with a spot in the top 4% of my senior class.

 

 There were around 400 people in our class, and we were only the third graduating class from our school.

 

We took this panoramic class photo in bright, bright sun on my 17th birthday, and somehow I ended up front and center :)

Aside from school, I was super active in my youth group. When I think of my very best friends from high school, they were from church, even though many of them went to the other high schools in town. We made SO many memories together in these years, and I was most myself with them.

After graduation, I moved back to Chicago for college, and college ended up being more fulfilling for me than high school. (I did meet Steve!) However, I'll never forget the high school years and how formative and life-changing they were for me.

Linking up today with Andrea for her high-school link-up.

Thanks for stopping by!  XO