Six Months

Ummm...
Where to start?...

Six months.
The light bulb post.
I don't think I proved my point with my hubby.
There's currently 2 bulbs in our family room out.
They've been out for months.
There's 5 more still working.
So I suppose he thinks we're good for a few more months.

Six months.
A couple of hard decisions.
Three birthdays...the boys.
One anniversary...19 years!
(We bought our very first bedroom set.
A queen size bed even.
I feel so grown-up.)
New jobs for Ryan and me.
(Ryan is marketing Carlos O' Kellys.
I'm teaching preschool part time.)
The busiest, strangest summer on record.
(Two trips to the Chicago area,
a trip to Phoenix,
two trips to Oklahoma,
two trips to Kansas City,
a trip to Minnesota,
and we just threw in a trip to Texas over Labor Day weekend.
All by car.
I'm choosing not to add up the gas bill for all that.
And days upon days of rain.
So only one trip to the pool.)
A high school student.
(What?
I'm not old enough for this.
Certainly I'm still in my 20's, right?)

Six months.
They all look so big.
Life.
It keeps moving.

I Won

We have a ceiling fan with 4 lights in our bedroom.
When we moved in,
almost 5 years ago now,
one bulb was burned out.

For some reason,
just to be a pain, I suppose,
I decided I wasn't going to change the bulb.
I wanted to see how long it took Ryan to do it.

Time went by.
Probably a year or so.
And another bulb burned out.

And still I waited.

Then another year or so and a third bulb went out.
Leaving us with one good bulb.

And still I waited.

Inevitably, recently, the last bulb burned out.
Leaving us with no bulbs.

I got some bulbs.
Set them on the dresser.
(See, I conceded a bit.
I'm not totally stubborn.)
And waited.

A couple days later.
I walked into our bedroom.
Flipped the switch.
And we had light.
Amazing.

I won the nearly 5 year battle.
I think...

Last Month

Well, February just flew by.
Here's a bit of what went on at the Entz house.

Ryan's 40th birthday.
We were so busy, nothing special happened.
I made him lemon pound cake.
My first time ever to make it.

He said: Do I like this?
Me: Umm. You've asked me to make it before.
Him: I have? Huh...

He really likes Starbucks' version.
I don't think this was quite as good.
Good, just not quite the same.
Ryan liked it, though.

We weren't home for supper the evening of his birthday.
But the next day, I made his favorite.
Tuna steak.

He was definitely more excited about that than the pound cake.

Valentine's Day was low key also.
Dinner at home with the family.

With a few things that the kiddos love.

Plus a rose from Daddy for his little girl.

 Dessert.

We have had a couple of date nights.

We went to an opera.

Ryan got free tickets.

It was in English.

And even then, it was difficult to understand sometimes.

It was...ok.

We left at intermission.

We also went to an event for Girl Scouts.
It's always a fun one.
Different restaurants/businesses/candy shops
create a dessert using Girl Scout cookies.
We get to sample all of them.
If we want.
And I want.
Then we vote on the best.
I must make an informed decision.

Sugar overload.
But delicious.

I got this $140 dress for $21.
Then I had to buy some shoes to go with it.
It's hard to see, but these have some coral on them.
Super cute.

I didn't even know Ryan was posing.
Doesn't he look dapper?

We've already had an event in March too.
No pics, though.
I've had fun getting spiffy lately.

I have a new nephew.
Again.
Ryan's older brother had another boy.
Welcome to our family little Wyatt.

That makes 8 grandsons for Ryan's parents.

And one granddaughter.

We love all those boys.

But we're so thankful for our 1 girl.

Brookie is still hoping for a girl cousin on the Entz side.

Big brother wasn't too sure about things.

Brookie finally got to hold Wyatt the other day.
We weren't allowed into the hospital.
And then the snow came.
They live out in the country.
It was nearly impossible to get to their house.

Pretty precious.

That's our February.
Besides all the snow...

The Scent of a House

Do you ever wonder what your house smells like to other people?
Some houses I go in to smell so odd.
Some smell wonderful.
Some I don't really notice a scent at all.

I wonder what my house smells like to others.
Does it stink?
Smell old?
Musty?
Like dirty socks?
Or laundry detergent?
Or my current favorite candle?

More often than not, it probably smells like cookies.
Because I make lots and lots of cookies.

I get tired of making the same cookies over and over.
Chocolate chip and chocolate waffle cookies mostly.
So sometimes I like to create something new.

One of Brookelynn's favorite cereals is Frosted Shredded Wheat.
There are A LOT of crumbs in these boxes.
And I hated throwing all of those crumbs out.
Apparently, sometimes I'm ridiculously frugal.

Other cereals,
like Honey Bunches of Oats
and Frosted Flakes
or Corn Flakes,
seem to never quite get all eaten.

A year or so ago,
I decided to do something with all of these crumbs.
I started "collecting" them all in one bag.
And when I had what I thought was enough,
I made some cookies.
I've made them several times.
Changing the recipe a bit each time.
I think this time I finally got it about right.

I could not tell you
why the cereal is in a separate bowl from the flour.
But I love all three of my Pyrex bowls.
The smaller two where my grandma's on my mom's side.
And the yellow was my grandma's on my dad's side.

I like the texture of the dough.

Cereal Cookies

2 cups cereal crumbs                           1 cup butter

2 cups flour                                         1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda                                1 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder                           2 eggs

1 tsp salt                                             2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips                  1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, combine cereal crumbs, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well. Beat cereal and flour mixture into butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

Drop by tablespoonful onto baking sheets. Bake for 8-9 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire rack.

Yield: about 5 dozen

Most people think they look like oatmeal cookies.
But they've got a great crunch to them.

You can, of course, change the kind of chips you use.
I've made them with butterscotch chips
instead of peanut butter.
We just really liked the peanut butter better.

Come over.
Enjoy some cookies.
And, please, tell me what my house smells like while you're here.

Love Jesus Today and a Kiss

As I've said before,

I don't do new year's resolutions.

Why set myself up for failure?

I'm bad at following through on things.

Terrible at it, really.

So I learned long ago not to make them.

Within a week, or so, I've blown it anyway.

But the Holy Spirit has shown me 3 things already this year.

Areas in my spiritual life that are lacking or where there's sin.

Areas that I need to commit to work on/change.

Monday afternoon I was sweeping my floor.

Pondering my Bible study for the next day.

Suddenly, completely convicted by how little I pray for my kiddos.

This is hard for me to admit.

If I love God.

And love my kids.

Why am I not praying for them more?

You would think that would be the #1 thing to do, right?

It's easy to pray for them when things are rough.

When I'm frustrated with them.

Or when they are struggling with something in life.

Or when I see a yucky attitude or heart issue.

But the everyday.

That's when I...forget...

Everyday I send them out the door,

well, the older two anyway,

with a kiss on the cheek.

Then, as they are walking across the yard,

I holler at them:

Love Jesus today!

Immediately I turn back into the house

and rush the little boys to finish getting ready.

The older two quickly forgotten 

as I search for shoes, 

sign planners, 

finish packing a lunch,

wrestle with coats, hats and gloves.

Then it's out the door we run.

Walking as quickly as I can

with a 5 and 8 year old

across the yard or down the sidewalk.

(we always seem to leave the house

a couple minutes later than we should).

At the door to each boys' classroom,

I give them a kiss on the cheek,

tell them I love them

and head back out the door for my solo walk home.

Thinking about my day.

What needs to be done.

What's for supper.

How am I getting everyone to this practice or that practice.

Blah, blah, blah.

This imperfect mom 

had sent her imperfect kiddos

out of our imperfect house

into an imperfect world.

And was foolishly thinking

Love Jesus today!

and a kiss on the cheek

was enough.

Not nearly.

So thankful the Holy Spirit breaks through sometimes.

In spite of me and my foolishness.

It's only by the grace of God.

Now, each day,

as I kiss them,

I try to say a small prayer.

Of some sort.

Lord, show Jobie how to be kind today. 

Father, help Ezzie 

to show Your love 

to someone in his class today.

Lord, Jakie needs to
feel Your presence today.
Please show Yourself to him.

Father, give Brookie the courage 

to love the "unloved" or "unpopular" today.

I know there will be days I forget.
Days I'm rushing around like a crazy lady.
Days I'm crabby.
Days I'm just not thinking.

Thankful the Lord is gracious.
He won't let me, or my lack of prayer,
get in the way of accomplishing His will in their lives.
But I so want to be an instrument
to help draw them closer to Him.

So, I will pray.
Lots more.

Jake's Dream

For many years Jakie has had a dream.
A dream of going to a KU basketball game.
On Sunday, that dream was finally fulfilled.

And to sweeten the dream,

It was just him and his dad.

No brothers, no sister, no mom.

Although, I would like to think it would have been ok

if I had been along.

When Ryan sent this picture to me that day,

I teared up.

I could tell he was just soaking it all in.

They stayed for two hours after the game was over.
He got nearly all of the players' signatures.

Plus pictures with them.
Young.

Johnson.

Jake said he had rap music playing.

Very loudly on those beats.

A little fuzzy.

But this is his favorite player.

Releford.

The same one who signed his ipod touch.

So glad he got to go.

So thankful for a daddy

who takes the time to make his boy feel special.

And to fulfill his boy's small dream.

Rentzville

I'm putting Rentzville away today.
I'll miss it.
It will never look like this again.
Every year I marvel at the way Ryan creates it.

It's fun to look at.
Especially at night.

Nearly every night before I would turn it off,
I'd get down at eye level.
And imagine myself in the scene.

Next year, we will have a new Rentzville.
It's never the same twice.
For a couple of reasons:
1. We usually get a new piece or two for gifts every Christmas.
This year we got 3 new accessories.
Well, two new ones really.
And one replacement piece of sorts.
A few years ago, a little girl came into my house
before school one morning,
whipped her stocking cap off...
one of those stocking caps with the extra long top...
Good morning, Gina!
As her cap swings in the air and swipes Father Christmas.
To the ground.
In pieces.
I've looked at buying a new one for a long time.
But just couldn't get myself to spend the money.
My hubby's brother and his wife bought it for us this year.
I was so excited.
And the 2nd reason Rentzville will never be the same again:
My guy is way too creative to do the same thing twice.

So, farewell Rentzville.
Until next year...