This, That & That.

The internet is a funny thing to me.  It can be used for so many bad and hurtful things and yet it can also be used for so much good.  It can build relationships and bridge gaps and make strangers feel like long time friends.  I am so thankful for your kindness yesterday.  I’m so thankful for the sweet and thoughtful emails.  I am so thankful for the sincere and thoughtful words.  I wrote yesterday’s post because I knew someone out there could relate.  You could relate to the actual situation with your own child or a friend’s child or you could relate to the deep unwanted feeling of defeat and doubt.  I just new someone would be able to read my words and realize they are not alone in whatever struggle they face.  I needed to remind myself of God’s goodness.  I love the community the internet can build.  Thank you for being such a genuine and loving community.  It’s really something quite amazing to watch.

In other random news that is not so gushy…Remember the Shake That Does NOT Taste Like A Wendy’s Frosty recipe I shared with you?  Remember how I bet my kids would still eat it because it resembled chocolate ice-cream?  Yeah, well, I was totally wrong.  First, I totally forgot it had peanut butter in it and right before serving it to Hudson…my highly allergic to peanut butter kid…I remembered.  Harper and Sol gave it a good attempt, but they both bailed really quickly.  It was too bad even for my kids.  Geesh.

Lots of you shared recipes in the comments and through email and I am thrilled to give them all a shot.  I’ll let you know when we have a home run in the meal department.  Thank you for sharing.  My cousin Amy gave me a recipe for no-bake protein balls and then I found this recipe on Pinterest.  I ended up taking Amy’s recipe and the one I found and intermingling them.  Here’s what I went with:  1/2 c peanut butter, 1/3 cup honey and 1/2 tsp vanilla mixed together.  Then I added 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/3 cup ground flaxseeds.  I also did a batch where I used sun butter instead of peanut butter and used whole flax seeds instead of ground.  Everyone devoured both minus Huddy, who was a little freaked out by the overwhelming peanut butter smell.  He was convinced I was giving him peanut butter.  Amon was a protein ball fein…he was jonesen bad after he had a few bites and was ticked when I cut him off.

Josh Kelley claimed they tasted very similar to a Reeces cup.  I do think they get even better after they are balled up and sit out for a bit.  They are truly yummy.  I was completely pleasantly surprised.

I’m also still working on orders and still open for new orders.  I’m excited to start some new orders today and some canvases for a sale.  These camera straps are completed and headed to their new owners here in Tennessee and Alabama.  Thank you so much Kristy and Casey.  So appreciative for all you crazy kind people who are ordering.

And lastly, we got some new pictures of the kids from the amazingly talented Cheyenne from Shots by Cheyenne.  She never ceases to amaze me by the beautiful way she captures the ‘us’ in our family.  It’s lovely and I’m so thankful for the images she captured.  I could barely narrow down the selection to just these, so excuse the excess of Kelley kid photos.  I clearly cannot help myself.

Cheyenne is crazy good right?  Totally.  Thank you again Cheyenne.  As always I am completely over the moon.

And that’s that.  I’ve got a busy day with a certain small ace of hearts and lots of work which needs to be started and completed.  And I’ve got a hot date tonight.  I think it’s going to be a pretty grand day.

Happy Thursday!