The Barnums: Catching Up

While I sit here & write this, I'm wafting in the aroma of fresh rosemary, lemon, & vanilla. I got the idea off of Pinterest. People were comparing it to the smell of Williams Sonoma & so I just knew I had to try it. All you do is slice up 1 lemon, add some sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 tsp of vanilla & put it in a pot filled 2/3 full of water. Then you let the concoction simmer all day filling your home with a heavenly scent.

There are some photos haven't posted from the past week. So this will definitely be a hodge podge post.

With that being said let's start off a week ago from today...

Our church had a 3 day meeting that is held annually by one of our sister churches. We were fortunate to have the blessing of hosting this year which entailed a lot of well worth it WORK. My Mother In-Law & I with the help of Sister Mahala did the grocery shopping. We spent one day doing the big list at Costco & Walmart & then closer to the meeting (on Thurs morning) my MIL & I did one more trip to get the perishables. We were busy busy bees. Even though I was beyond exhausted, it was such a pleasure to serve our fellow brethren & to see their grateful smiling faces.

I was also in charge of making French Toast Casserole, Ham & Chile Egg Dish, & Sweet Potatoe Souffle each to feed approximately 100 people. I did a lot of prep beforehand by sectioning out dry ingredients into baggies.

There were 3 big pans of this. I quadrupled the recipe

My Mom was such a huge help with the Sweet Potatoe Souffle... I don't think I would have gotten done without her. Thank goodness I had roasted, peeled, & mashed all of the sweet potatoes the day before.

I didn't get very many photos, but I had Bra snap a couple while we were serving our guests.

My Sister In Law, Ashleigh

My Mom, SIL, & Me

My Dad carving up the delicious spiral hams

Sister Dianne did a wonderful job decorating. Not to mention all of the delicious muffins, scones, & cupcakes that she made. I was so impressed! This was of the dessert/morning pastry table.

I cannot praise Mariah & Haley enough!! Seriously, they were major life savers. They took such great care of my two littles during the whole meeting. They changed their clothes, diapers, etc. They definitely played a huge part in making this meeting happen. It was a huge stress lifted off of me knowing that Reagan & Jax were being well looked after.

These are the two crafts (thanks to my Mom's ideas) that the kids got to do which are proudly displayed in my kitchen window.

Princess Party

Reagan went to a princess tea party a couple of weeks ago & I thought the girls were just too cute sipping their tea (apple juice) in their tiaras & boas {not pictured}.

My sweet Reago Prego

She made her bed the other day & was so proud of herself.

And, just because she's so darn cute!

Take Them A Meal (www.takethemameal.com)

Last night, the kids & I took Amy {from our play group} dinner. She had baby Grant a week & a half ago & we were eager to meet him. Unfortunately Jax wasn't feeling too well so I ran the food inside (while the munckins waited in the car), chatted with Amy for a short bit, & got to see the handsome little guy. He was a pure ball of cuddly bliss & I could tell Amy & her husband were on cloud nine :)

I used the www.takethemameal.com site to coordinate all the meals for Amy. I highly recommend using it. Very simple & organized! This is what we brought them....