Five on Friday: S'mores Fun

 

Hello and happy Friday to you Friends! 

I thought today for a fun 5 we'd talk about s'mores goodness. Summer will be here before we know it and one of my favorite things we do regularly in the summer is sit around a fire. 

Often just for the ambiance a relaxation of a fire. 

And it's always the perfect spot to gather if we have relatives visiting or friends over. Something about a fire makes you want to tell stories and visit which often leads to lots of laughs and fun. :) 

Sometimes a glass of wine next to the fire is just what the doctor ordered 😉 

ONE

But most of the time, when we have a fire...we break out the fixings for s'mores. Marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolatey goodness. I thought my 5 today would be to share several different kinds of s'mores. 

Of course there's the one that we all know and love - with a hershey bar, graham cracker and roasted marshmallow. Which is what we had just finished in this photo. Of course if you don't want the standard hershey bar chocolate - I think higher quality chocolate (like Ghiradhelli) can up the game a bit too. 

TWO

But another way we have often enjoyed s'mores is to add fruit slices to them. Fresh fruit with chocolate and melty marshmallow is such an amazing combination.

So for example we have made s'mores that have the chocolate and banana on it then roast the marshmallow and put on top of that. Or strawberry slices on it. 

THREE

And the fruit kind of leads to my next add-on's - different spreads. 

This is currently Matt's favorite flavor for anything these days - so he would make his s'more with this frosting, chocolate and marshmallow. 😋

But other ideas are to try the strawberry slices and marshmallow with white chocolate pieces. Or do nutella spread instead of the chocolate bar with banana and marshmallow. It's fun to be creative with flavors!

 Think of them as "gourmet s'mores" 🧡

FOUR

Or don't use any traditional kinds of chocolate, but instead use a candy bar. Have you had reese's pb cups on a s'more? Game changer! Try a reese's with banana and the marshmallow...so good! Think of how many different kinds of candy bars there are - so tons of possibilities for different flavors! 

FIVE

And the last thing you could change up is the graham cracker part. Instead, use chocolate chip cookies. Or those yummy fudge striped ones as the "sandwich" for your s'mores. 

Or I think this would be an absolutely heavenly idea:

Use a big buttery croissant to put your s'mores fillings inside. Holy yum! 

I hope this inspires you to come up with some flavor ideas of your own with anything you love! Yay for summer traditions. 😊

I will be sharing these 5 with My Creative Life blog if she links up this week. You can find her here.  

And for all of you Momma's celebrating Mother's Day this weekend, I pray you have a very blessed time with those you love and treasure most. Know you are a gift! 💝

Happy Homemaker Monday

Good morning beautiful Friends! ☀️

I hope your week has been starting great so far. 💛 And that you had a wonderful weekend. It was a fun and very productive one here. Matt & I went up to the lake to open things up and clean and get ready for his folks to come stay for the summer. They usually come up by around this time of year...but due to their health issues recently, and some test results they have to wait on until the end of the month ... they won't be coming up from AZ until June.

When we got back on Sunday we took a couple mile walk with Ruby in the lovely sunshine. Everything has gotten so green here and the daffs are up and the flowering trees starting to bloom. 🌸😍

It's so wonderful to feel summer right around the corner!

*PS: thank you so much for all of the kind words on my last post. I think those treasured memories are forever a gift...no matter how things ended up. I appreciate the love and support so much when I share things from the depth of my heart.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

I was naughty this AM and ended my fast early at 13 &1/2 hrs instead of 16 hrs, because Matt had to take his truck in early for an oil change and I picked him up...and he then suggested we get dunkin donuts. So we split some bagel bite yummies and a blueberry donut. 😋 But we're going to walk several miles again today! That makes it like it never happened, right? 😁

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

senior party meeting at Annie's school, lunch with a former co-worker from my hospice world, groceries for Mother's Day gathering here & celebration of Annie's bday, some other errands including hope to get my hanging baskets, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

A beautiful day is predicted here for Mother's Day and I hope it will happen so we can sit out and enjoy the deck when family is over. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

Sun is streaming in the windows. I've finally taken down all of the bunnies and Spring decorations that were still up. I've been dusting and cleaning this AM and plan to get out some summer decorations today. 

CURRENTLY READING

magazines currently

ON THE TV TODAY:

Jeopardy, Call the Midwife, LPBW, The Good Wife,  The Good Doctor, The Rookie, Grey's Anatomy, Survivor, Ghosts, Shark Tank,  When Calls the Heart

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  clean out the fridge leftovers

TUESDAY - alpine beef, mushroom & swiss baguettes w/ arugula salad (HF meal) 

WEDNESDAY - one pan mango salsa pork tacos (HF meal)

THURSDAY - garlic butter steak & eggs with truffle parm potatoes

FRIDAY -  maybe out for dinner? or throw something on the grill?

  

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read in the sunshine, go for walks

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Finally finished this cross-stitch for one of my Mom's gifts this weekend. Love the green heart that runs around it all to be part of the "vine" with  the green leaves. 

daffodils fully bloomed :) 

First thing when we open the cottage is to take down all of the sheets that hang in the windows for the winter. Let the beautiful sunshine in everywhere. 

I need to bring one of Annie's grads up for the lake. Love that Matt's Mom has my future graduate pic with her baby's grad pic 😊💕

As a Mother's Day gifts, we get Matt's Mom flowering hanging baskets for the hooks on the trees out the big window. So we obviously haven't done that yet. But we did hang up all of her cute bright windsock hangings.  

boats will be in soon! 

The peepers were out up at the lake - and almost a deafening chorus. It was pure sounds of summer! 🐸 💚 Take a listen: 

Back home on Sunday it was a gorgeous day for a walk.

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere. For Matt's folks to be all clear to come home in June! 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

If you're a Momma and are celebrating with loved ones this weekend...I pray you have a very blessed day and a wonderful time! 💝

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Wordfull Wednesday: So Many Memories

 

So many memories. Sitting on shelves in various ways. Albums, loose photos, camcorder video CD's... 

There was so much pain when I split up from my ex 6 years ago. We had tried to work on things. Both of us didn't want to give up. But we eventually knew it was never going to work again. Too much damage had been done from his affair. He had lost respect in himself and I had lost respect in him. Even if I could forgive, how do you trust someone and be in love with them when you don't respect them anymore? And what about respecting myself and our daughter watching and having her know her own self worth and what she deserves in a relationship one day? It's, sadly, a common tale that I have had too many women reach out to me and share their stories through the years. Some even blogging friends. And two more instagram friends just shared recently too. When they reach out and ask me about things - I try to talk about grace, forgiveness, empowerment and self-love. And especially about how it all gets better over time. 

So, as you can understand, lots of pain and tainting of all of our old family memories had me stashing them away in cabinets and on shelves. But I've been pulling them out recently. I have my own office/craft space now. And I've been working on lots of Annie's senior class projects and things. However, pulling out some of these old family pictures/albums the other day had me realizing how far behind I was in our old family and trip albums (for obvious reasons). As I sat there looking at them, I realized how far I have come and how much life has changed. How much I've healed. How happy and secure I am in myself and my love and future marriage to Matt. And how well my kids are doing now. They both have a good relationship with their dad. They were on a recent trip with him and shared about the things that are better now, and some things they still tolerate in his life(can even poke fun at now) but overall, are in a really good place with him. They are happy well-adjusted young adults and I'm so very grateful for that. 🙏🏻💕

And the pain I used to feel when I would look at those old photos or home movies, isn't there anymore. I feel fondness towards the memories of what used to be and the almost 30 years that were truly wonderful and special. We were best friends and close from the time we were 15 years old, then started dating at 16. Married at 24 and didn't start having kids until we were 29. Had these amazing kiddos and such fun as a family. Then we almost made it to a 25th wedding anniversary and over 30 years together. That is worth something in my mind and heart now. Especially when I know it was all worth something to our children. And so for them I want to finish those albums. Let them have the gift one day of looking back and treasuring the memories of their youth and where they came from. 

And in my own way, to honor those young kids who grew up together and shared so much love and friendship once. They are a part of me forever. Just like the 2 best gifts we created in this life are a part of us both, always.

xoxo