throwback | 1 year ago

I’m someone who remembers dates really well. Yesterday marked 8 years since the sparks flew when I first met Steve. A year ago on Saturday (the 24th), I found out I was pregnant with Ephraim.

We had been trying for several months, and I was tracking my cycle very closely. I was feeling no symptoms of early pregnancy and was already convinced that this was another month of disappointment. I decided that to be proactive for trying again in June, I was going to improve my appetite and focus on a more fertility-friendly diet. I had even bought some sweet potatoes and avocados for that purpose.

I was nervous to take a pregnancy test. Those things are not cheap, and I didn’t feel like wasting one just to be let down. I was only two days late. But I felt like God was saying to me, “Don’t discount me just yet.” And on that Friday morning in our little apartment, I looked down at the test, and the two pink lines were there! With Nolan’s test, I had to squint to see the second line, but this time, it was as clear as day!
 
To say we were thrilled would be an understatement!


It was CHILLY that day, but I had a “Pin-spired” outfit to document. I didn’t care that it was cold; I just remember being SO happy!

That night, we drove an hour to Olive Garden for a celebration dinner :)

Ephraim Luke, now 3 (almost 4) months old:

And now of course, I can’t imagine my life without this sweet boy. God plans things out so perfectly!

Linking up with Jessica for Throwback Thursday!

what i wore wednesday

This silky floral shirt has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I remember wearing it for one of my bridal showers five years ago! It’s the perfect mix of dressy and casual, and I often wish I had more just like it! I’ve been wearing the same pair of dark skinny jeans for months, so I went ahead and bought a second pair in a different wash. These ones I’m wearing here are called “dark indigo”, but they look lighter than that to me. They made their way into my shopping cart at AE.com for only $20 with free shipping during a flash sale the other day. :) (Gotta keep an eye out for those sales!) I can’t say enough about AE jeans. I have been wearing them since I was 14 because they fit my shape so well. For the past few years, I’ve even been buying Steve the bootcut men’s jeans, and he loves them.

   

Shirt | Kohl’s
Cami | Gilligan & O’Malley Nursing Tank at Target
Jeans | American Eagle Skinny Jean
Sandals | Yuu at JCPenney

If you’re coming from the WIWW link up, I’d love to see what you’re wearing this week!

What’s your favorite brand of jeans?

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Linking up with Lindsey, Alison, and Shanna.

one big collage

Some of you follow me on Instagram (@floralandfudge) and have seen some of these photos already. But, I wanted to record them on the blog for my own memory-keeping purposes :) There are a lot of reasons why I keep up with this blog—but I write first and foremost so that I can share my sweet boys with our family and friends. Most of my family is far away, and they’ve only met Nolan once or twice (and not Ephraim yet). My mom lives only about ten minutes away from me, but anyone else related to me by blood is at least a day’s drive away—Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Texas. Our friends are scattered across the country as well. I really hope that you all feel closer to us through this blog. That would make my heart so happy. And for those of you who haven’t met us yet—I can’t wait to see how our paths will cross :)

let me be your work of art

This weekend, Steve and I put a dent into our long list of to-dos. Rooms were picked up and organized, errands were run, hearty lasagna was baked, and the sandbox was filled with new white sand. Last night, Steve got home from seeing “Spiderman 2” with his brother, and Nolan insisted on going outside to play in the sandbox, though it couldn’t have been warmer than 60 degrees. The past few days, Nolan keeps repeating the phrase, “Bring back summer!” (from Frozen), and though I don’t think he knows what that means, I whole-heartedly agree. :) While the guys were outside, I set Ephraim in his swing so that I could cook some oatmeal. As I was tossing in raisins and heaping spoonfuls of brown sugar, Ephraim began to fuss (as he does when I’m not giving him my 100% attention). The fuss quickly turned in to a full-on wail. I unbuckled him from the swing, and he immediately sighed relief and smiled at me with those twinkly blue eyes. With him resting upon my shoulder, we danced in circles around the playroom to a Francesca Battistelli song while the sun faded on our weekend.

♫ “I’m an empty page, I’m an open book. Write your story on my heart. Come on and make your mark. Author of my hope, maker of the stars: Let me be your work of art.” ♫

caramel & chocolate chip cookies

 
Whenever I see the words “caramel” and “chocolate” together, my mouth starts watering and my self-control wanes. I was browsing my Hershey cookbook and settled upon this recipe almost immediately. As I was baking them, I realized they were only slightly different from my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, but the caramel adds a whole new dimension of taste! I’ve never made cookies with shortening, so they turned out lighter and fluffier than I’m used to. The plate I brought to MOPS was most definitely empty at the end of our meal the other day :)

Ingredients:
18 caramels, unwrapped (Kraft makes caramel baking bits so you could substitute those and save time)
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2  3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon hot water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut each caramel into four pieces, then cut those pieces in half. Combine shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended and creamy. Beat in the two eggs.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add it gradually to shorting mixture at a low speed with the electric mixer. Mix until well blended. Beat in vanilla and hot water, then stir in the caramels and the chocolate chips with a spoon.

Drop rounded tablespoons, three inches apart, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Shape dough into circles about two inches in diameter and one inch high.

Bake 7-9 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack. Be aware that the bottoms tended to darken before the tops. So, personally, with my oven, I turned down the temperature to 375 degrees after the first tray and got better results.

Enjoy!

our kitchen

 

Welcome to our kitchen! I’m linking up with Andrea for the “Come On In” series. 

For those of you who are new, I want to share that we are renters. Steve just finished his fifth year of post-college studies (working hard now on his doctoral dissertation), so we aren’t in our forever-home yet. We moved in last summer, and we are in the unique position that we’re allowed to make changes and updates to the house while we are here to increase the house’s value :) It was built in 1920, so it has a TON of character. 

The kitchen is very old. Can anyone tell me what decade it’s from? The 50s? We currently don’t have any intention of updating it, simply because it would require a complete makeover—floor, cabinets, counters, lighting—and we aren’t sure how long we’ll live here.

Here it is before we arrived (when the previous owners lived here):

And here it is now:

 

One of the first things I did was take down the old lacy curtains and sew new gray chevron ones. It really changed the look of the room for me.




 

Looking from the dining room toward the back door. We have Ivy’s food dishes up on a platform Steve built since it’s better for her neck (she’s had two horrible neck injuries).

 
 

I designed this print as a reminder for us when we leave the house that we are called to represent Jesus to the world by loving and serving others.

 

 

Looking from the living room into the kitchen. I wrote about the tiny bathroom on the right in this post.

Our dishwasher has been out of commission for a couple months…the door was falling off, and we worked with that, but then we realized that our dishes were coming out dirty, so we’ve been doing them by hand.

 
 

I love having a double sink (we didn’t have one in either of our apartments). There is so much more space for doing dishes and washing hands!


 

This pretty Thoreau print found here

 
 

None of the burners worked on the stove that came with the house, so it got replaced with this new (used) white stove. It has treated us nicely!


 

The counter is pretty shot. It is so stained and cut up, and it would be the first thing to go if we were to remodel.

 

Our pantry.

 

Our eating area. The kitchen leads into the dining room on one side. However, we use the dining room as a play room, and we just eat here at the kitchen table. 

 
 

Some photos of us on the wall. The middle photo is of my parents when they were engaged, and it's my favorite :)

 
 

My brother-in-law got me this vintage table at an auction a few years ago. It was one of my favorite gifts ever! I suppose the retro look fits right in with the age of the kitchen :) My mom has always had an enamel-top kitchen table (from my great-grandma), and they are so durable and easy to clean!

  
 

Some artwork for the fridge :)

 

After I took these photos last night, we sat down to some chocolate chip pancakes (and popcorn haha).

 

Thanks so much for visiting today and taking a peek at our kitchen!! 

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josh’s graduation & mother’s day

On Saturday, we made the trek to see Steve’s younger brother Josh graduate from college! Steve and I lived about a mile from the campus, but we moved away after Josh’s freshman year. It was fun to see our old stomping grounds :)


We first visited Steve’s grandma Olive (his mom’s mom). She is turning 97 this summer, and she still has an amazing memory. She loved meeting and holding baby Ephraim!
 
We drove past our old apartment (the third floor windows in this photo). It made me really nostalgic for all the memories we had here before we had kids!
 
We stopped for some delicious subs at a new Jimmy John’s.
 
After Jimmy John’s, we swung by our favorite chocolate shop for sponge candy, milk chocolate in bulk, and freshly-baked cookies as big as our heads.


This was our view for Josh’s graduation. It started at 2, and they didn’t call Josh’s name until 4. I couldn’t believe that Steve kept Nolan entertained in his seat for 2 hours! (He can barely make it through 15 minutes of church.) Ephraim fell asleep in my arms, so I stayed for the whole 3 hour ceremony.
 

The four brothers afterwards—Dave, Phil, Josh, and Steve. It was so nice for Phil to fly in from out-of-town.


Josh with his dad Jack and grandpa Jack.



We went out for burgers and wings at Quaker Steak.
Four generations :)


Grandma and Ephraim
 

Yesterday morning we posed with my mom at church on Mother’s Day.
 

My mom made me this beautiful bunting! I love the fabrics she chose and the embellishments she added.

  
I tried to get a photo of me and my babies last night. Doesn’t Nolan look happy to sit next to Mommy?


A little better, I guess :)

So we start off Monday quite exhausted, but we’re very happy to have been able to do so much and spend time with both our moms (and one grandma)! How was your Mother’s Day weekend?