It's a Leap Year

I found Fat Mum Slim's blog through instagram and have been checking it out periodically since I started the photo-a-day challenge. I really liked her take on Leap Year. Check out her post here.

It has me thinking about what I would do if given an extra day and I kind of feel like treating today like a "free" day.

So what would I do with a free day? My mind started spinning as I thought of all the possibilities. Then I started wondering why I don't think of every day as a free day.

I mean, really. Each day is a gift and should be celebrated. I don't know how many days I have on this Earth so I better make the most of each one God has blessed me with.

I wanted to do something extra special today to celebrate Leap Day here on the blog so I'm offering free shipping on every "LOVE" print ordered from my etsy shop today.

Why the Love print? Well, I chose it because a portion of every sale will be donated to LOVE146 and that's something to celebrate.

Free shipping is only today so go order your print and use the code: FREELOVE for free shipping, then come back and let me know how you plan to celebrate your free day!

Breakfast To-Go - Recipe Review

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this recipe floating around Pinterest but may or may not have decided to try it yet. I don't know where the actual recipe came from. The only thing I can find is a link to a picture so if you know who made it first, I'd love to give credit where credit is due.

Anyway, it's simply called breakfast to-go.

It's all natural, no flour and not supposed to have sugar, although, thanks to a recommendation from a fellow pinner (thanks, Krista) I added 2 Tablespoons of sugar.

The recipe is easy and made of things I had on hand: oats, bananas, cinnamon, dried fruit, sugar and applesauce.

Here's the link for the recipe on pinterest.

I followed it, only changing the addition of sugar and I used a handful of dried mixed berries instead of craisins. Next time I'm going to try honey instead of sugar so it will be more natural.



You just mix 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, 3 ripe bananas, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, a handful of dried fruit and 2 tablespoons sugar (if you so choose) in a large bowl. I cut the bananas into chunks first and mashed a little more as I mixed.

Then you cook then for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. I highly suggest greasing your pan first. I have an excellent non-stick pan but the first batch stuck to the pan. I greased it for the second batch and they slid right off.



I thought they turned out pretty good. The husband ate a bite and told me chocolate chip cookies are better. I'm not arguing with that but they are really good for a healthy, on-the-go breakfast. By the way, I sent him to work with a bag and he ate them all in one day.

They're also healthy snacks for the kiddo. She gobbled hers up.

I will say, I'm still partial to the natural energy balls. I make them all the time and doubt these little cookies will replace them.

So, there you have it, my opinion on the recipe. Hope you try it and let me know what you think.

Feels Like Spring

I had another post prepared for today but the temps are too gorgeous for it so I'm just going to share some recent pics around our house.

It has been unseasonably warm for February in Oklahoma and we have been LOVING it. We've been spending a lot of time outside and doing some gardening.

And gardening means we've also been hitting up the local nurseries for our plants. I know, you're probably thinking, just because it's been warmer these last few days, doesn't mean it's going to last and a freeze is going to come wipe our your garden. I know, I know.

But, according to my grandpa - who happens to be the best gardener I know - your supposed to plant onion sets on February 14th. So, right now we just have onions, strawberries and our greens planted.

We typically get at least one more snow in March so if the temps take a dive, we'll just cover the beds and hope for the best.

Anyway, Sweet P has become quite the helper! She helped me pick out our strawberry plants and entertained me at a nursery.



She helped her daddy pick out tomato plants (we have those inside by a window right now).



I just love this one:

And when it comes to planting, she is no stranger to gardening or dirt.



She is usually right in the middle of what we're doing.



UNLESS, she's playing with her chalk!



Hope you're having beautiful weather where you live!

If you're local and looking for a local place to buy your plants or seeds, we usually go to Stringer's or Carmichael's (in Bixby). I like supporting local shops as much as possible, plus, they usually carry the best varieties for Oklahoma planting.

A Grand Getaway

Last weekend we had a little relaxing getaway to a friend's house on Grand Lake. It was wonderful.

Sweet P was a trooper on the drive - I think it had to do with the fact that she was wearing her purple tutu! Whatever the reason, she entertained us the whole way. At one point I caught her snacking on her crayon, only to find that it didn't quite taste as good as she wanted.



We can't get enough of her. It's so weird to think that there's going to be two little ones in the backseat soon. I am loving these last few weeks we have a just a family of three but it's still sad. I hope Sweet P doesn't feel any less loved, goodness knows she won't be.

Anyway, once we got there, we got settled in, called it a night and woke up to my favorite sign.

I wouldn't mind living on the lake. Not one bit.

I enjoyed my morning coffee on the deck overlooking the water with my two favorite people.



It was a little chilly but that didn't stop us from exploring.





That girl kills me. She loves being outside, no matter how cold it is. She just started saying windy, though it comes out more like "when-we" and it makes her laugh every time. I love how full of life she is.

Later that night we visited our friend's restaurant, The Roadhouse, because it was prime rib night and I do love a good prime rib. We also got a slice of red velvet cake to-go.

And what goes best with red velvet cake on a chilly night? No, not wine, I am pregnant you know. A fire, duh!



It was so relaxing.

We had to leave the next day but before we headed home, we did a little fishing, played in the golf cart and relaxed on the deck.







Oh, and I finished off that red velvet cake!

Now it's full baby-ready mode back at the house. We started getting all the baby stuff down from the attic: bassinet, swing, jumper. This is going to be happening folks!

Embracing the Camera

It's been a while since I've participated in Emily's Embrace the Camera. Partly because I'm not too fond of taking pictures of myself all massive and pregnant and partly because I just haven't made it a priority.

It's a little weird to me that I spend the entire day with Sweet P and barely have 10 pictures of me with her in the last few months. I have tons of pictures of her and her with her daddy but not many of me.

I need to be better about getting pictures of us, especially good pictures (aka non-iphone pics). But, for now, these will have to do.




Just the two of us, hanging out in the kitchen with her purple pony.

Heart-Shaped Cookies

So, you know how I bought those heart-shaped donut pans? Apparently it's a doughnut pan but my fingers can't type that very well so I'm sticking with donut.

Well, I haven't made any donuts - YET - but I did use them last week!

I made the husband some chocolate chip cookies (his absolute favorite dessert) for our trip to the lake over the weekend. More on that later this week. So, having some dough on hand, I decided to try out my pans.

I greased the pans, spread some dough in and baked for like 8 minutes.



The popped right out and were delicious.



He told me I can't make normal cookies ever again. Apparently there's something to the extra browning/little bit of crispy the outside gets from cooking the pan while the middle stays soft and chewy.

I also realized I need to get a pastry bag. I tried piping the dough into the pans but blew a large hole in my ziploc baggie and dough went everywhere. How do I not own a pastry bag? I don't know.

Anyway, hopefully the next time I post about my pans, I'll have donut success to report.

Beautifully Rooted

I have some exciting news to share today! Have you seen the new blog Beautifully Rooted?

It's a new blog created by Heather Hamilton, of Life Made Lovely, and Rachel Reeves, of No. 17. They wanted to create an online space full of inspiration for Christian ladies and the topics are a mix of home, food, diy, parenting and faith. There are several contributors for each topic which means there's several inspiring posts a day. 

As if that isn't exciting enough, I was asked to be a contributor for the "Nourish" section! It was a little intimidating but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be part of such an inspiring place for ladies. My first post will be up sometime today. I hope you'll check it out and leave me a little note.

There are so many amazing contributors and I feel so blessed to be in such great company. I hope you'll check it out!

Poster Giveaway

Happy Monday!

For all of you folks that entered my giveaway for a new poster and didn't win, Stephanie has been hosting a giveaway over at her blog, FactThisBlogIsAwesome (how fun is that for a blog name!?), and it ends tonight at midnight!

This is Stephanie:

She's giving away one of these:

So hurry over to her blog to enter the giveaway - that is, if you want a chance to win a poster from my etsy shop! While you're there, tell her I said hi!

Insta Friday

I have no idea who hosts Insta Friday link ups but I had some Instagram pics I wanted to share so I figured today is as good a day as any!



LEFT: I have been drooling over all these baked donut recipes I've been seeing in blog-insta-pinterest-land so I about wet my pants when I saw these donut pans at Target for 50% off! If you have an insanely awesome recipe for baked donuts - send it my way.

RIGHT: Did you know Oreo turns 100 this year? I didn't until I saw the Birthday Oreos at the grocery store the other day and now we are all celebrating. The cream filling tastes like cake batter and has sprinkles! Such fun, although I still prefect the plain ol' double stuffed one.



LEFT: That was my breakfast one day last week: coffee and chocolate sheet cake, The Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake, to be exact. Great breakfast and super easy, fast and delicious recipe.

RIGHT: Sweet P enjoying her Mexican food. Mmm.



LEFT: Peek
RIGHT: a-Boo



LEFT: Making memories and bringing joy to one of her great-grandmas.
RIGHT: Just a little morning reading on the floor.



LEFT: Aha, someone found out how to make the shutter click.
RIGHT: And it may be the greatest thing EVER!

Oh the fun of instagram!

Well, Hello There

We've had a bit of a rough go of it around our house this week. Nothing major, just some illnesses that have had us all down.



I have a never-ending pregnancy sinus issues, Sweet P had rsv, the husband got the stomach flu and then he gave it to me. I think we are finally all getting better though, well, I still have the sinus stuff but it seems that's just a lovely side-effect of being pregnant, that and leg cramps while I sleep!

Anyway, my little girl had been an absolute dream while we've all been sickly and she steals my heart every day.



I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with another little one around.



Where will the love come from? How can my heart get any bigger?



I don't know but I'm super excited to find out!

P.S. Don't you love Sweet P's headband!? It's from Snugars!! I love it!

Thanks so much, ladies!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hope your day is filled with LOVE!

Monday

Creative title!

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind for me - in a crazy, good way! So this week may be lacking in posts as I try to relax a little.

As you know, I opened my etsy shop last Monday so I needed to make a few changes to the blog.

If you're viewing this on a feed, you haven't noticed the changes so come on over and see for yourself.

The design hasn't changed, I just updated some things. First of all, I updated the top menu bar. Now there are links to my etsy store and an about me page.



I realized I didn't have any sort of about me section and a lot of you are new to my blog, so hopefully you can check that page out and get to know me a little better.

I also added some sidebar links: one for my Etsy shop (I know, I know, get off the Etsy shop already :) ) and a little instagram graphic with my username, @recipeforcrazy.

Sometimes I'll see bloggers post their instagram pics but not their name which makes it pretty hard to find them - I do this sometimes. So, instead of leaving my username after every post, if you want to find me, there I am.

These aren't major changes but I hope they're helpful!

I hope you have an awesome week!

The Winners Are ...

Wow! There were 235 entries on the poster giveaway! You guys totally blew me away.

Thank you for all the sweet comments on the prints and shop. I'm so excited.

Now on to what you're waiting for, the winners.

Drumroll ...

199. hutch mom: who said, "YAY!! love your posters!! i added your shop to my favorites...i LOVE the JOY poster. it's LOVELY! {it would look perfect in my SWEET PEA's room}..." You get the JOY poster!

143. Suz: who said, "i LOVE the "you are my sunshine" print!" You get the SUNSHINE print!

42. Mom to Two Lovelies: who said, "I'd love the Joy print!" You get the LOVE print!
  - I couldn't find a way to contact you so please email me your info.

Congratulations to the winners!

You will be getting an email today but if you don't, send me your info at lesley(at)recipeforcrazy(dot)com and I'll get your prints shipped.

Thanks again for everyone that participated in the giveaway! You guys are so awesome!!

If you didn't win, you can still get a print from my etsy shop  :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Last Day to Enter the Giveaway!

Hey guys, I just wanted to remind you that you have until 11:59 this evening to enter in the drawing for one of three of my new poster designs.

To enter, go here.

In other news, my little miss is 18 months old. She's actually 18 months, 2 weeks, but here's a photo I forgot I had from a failed attempt at her 18 month pics.



She was a tad moody so that was the best of the bunch!

Happy Thursday and see you tomorrow to announce the winners!!

Robbers Cave State Park

First off, you guys are awesome! Thank you so much for all the comments and kind words about my new etsy shop yesterday! I'm so excited. If you haven't entered the giveaway, you have until Thursday night.

So, on to some other fun. Last week we took a little "baby moon" to Robbers Cave State Park.

I have been wanting to go on a little getaway for a while now and when I saw a Groupon for 1/2 price stay at the cabins, I decided to surprise the husband with a little trip out of town. My mom and dad watched Sweet P so we could have a little alone time before baby #2 makes his/her big debut.



Sweet P got a special donut breakfast before we left her for the night. And man, it sure felt weird going out of town with an empty car seat. We talked about how it just didn't feel right. I can't tell you how many times I glanced back to see if she was ok!

Anyway, we made the quick little drive out of town and got to check into our cabin earlier than expected!



When I booked the cabin I had a choice of the honeymoon suite or a two-bedroom cabin. I opted for the honeymoon suite because it was supposed to have the best view. When the lady asked us what room we were staying in, I told her the number, 101. She replied with an "ooooh, the honeymoon suite!" I giggled because she didn't see us walk in and the counter was pretty high so she couldn't see that I was 32 weeks pregnant. The husband then felt the need to explain our whole life story and how this was our second honeymoon before baby #2 arrives and yada, yada, yada. I felt like a dork.

All that to say, the honeymoon suite did have the best view on the property!



The cabin was really nice and very spacious. I could've stayed a lot longer than one night.



So, after we got all our stuff in and unloaded, we ventured out to do some exploring. Our first stop were the caves. There's a little area of caves that you can hike up and around and even do some rock climbing or rapelling - if you're not 32 weeks pregnant!



Side note - on the way up to the caves a little older lady stopped us to ask if we were going up to the caves. I said yes and she politely warned me of the steep climbs and not to go into labor in a cave.

Thanks for the tips - on we went.



The weather was perfect and the views were fabulous. We hiked around and explored the caves.



By this time, the little older lady and the kids she was with were gone leaving the entire area to just me and the husband. It was awesome. No diapers to change. No schedule to go by. Nothing but the love of my life and the great outdoors.



We were enjoying our little get-a-way.

After cave exploring, we did a little fishing before heading back to the cabin to start on dinner.



Since the cabin was stocked with cooking utensils, a kitchen and plates, we brought an ice chest with some food for our lunches and dinner. I started on dinner and the husband started on the fire.



A little surf and turf - who says you can't eat good when staying at a park!?

We sat outside by the fire until the wee hours in the morning talking, laughing, wondering what our little girl had been up to all day and brainstorming names for baby #2. Ok, let's be honest, we stayed up until 1am. Not the wee hours but far later than I've been up in a long time!



Then, one of the greatest things happened! I slept in until almost 9am! Granted, my internal clock woke me up at 8 and I couldn't fall back asleep, but still, I got to stay in bed until 9!! It was glorious.



We ate a little breakfast, packed up, checked out and headed back home. There was a minor miscalculation in how much gas we had and where the next station was but we made it just fine. A little excitement added to the end of a great trip!

We picked up our much-missed, much-talked about, little girl and got her back where she belongs and I even got a little cuddle time in before it was time to go to bed.



And thus, the end to our "babymoon" and the trip was a success! The only thing we didn't accomplish was choosing a name for baby #2. So now it's crunch-time!!