Samantha-Lee

Very late post, I know! Easter was a couple weeks ago. But better late than never. We went to visit my Dad and took him flowers. Then we stopped by Dawson's Nana & Pop's house for a while and went to the park so he could swing & slide!





I told him to make a bunny face, and this is what he did:





The sign made me laugh. & Dawson is running around with the pinwheel we got for his Papa!






Being a goofball with his Nana





Wearing his new backpack for school!





His bunny cup!







Check out all the goodies he got!
*And yes, he got socks. 12 pairs of socks, to be exact! Why? Because he always manages to lose them!









After we got home that night and I looked through the pictures, I realized I didn't even get one of me & Dawson. I was sad! It sucks always being behind the camera.. However, I did manage to get one of myself.

I've been trying to get healthy, so I've been on a bit of a fruits and veggies only diet. It's been tough, especially with all of my baking going on.. I'll admit, I cheated on this diet quite a few times.. But I have been enjoying the healthy stuff too. Here's everything I ate on a good, non-cheating day!

Steel cut oatmeal with fresh cut strawberries




Broccoli and cheese for lunch


Strawberries & bananas for snacks


"Healthy" Mac & Cheese with Chicken chunks.

I had this idea to make pretty, colored cake balls for Easter! So, I mixed the batter for two cakes, and split each batter in half. Making 4 different colored cakes, which meant 4 different colors of cake balls! Also meaning that I had a TON of cake balls on my hands, lots of left overs. Oh well, I had fun decorating them!

These past couple of weeks have been a blur.. a baking, schoolwork blur. I've made cookies using the same recipe about 4-5 times! I also made the dough, split in half, and made white macadamia nut cookies with one. They were super delicious.
Dawson and I have been loving fresh fruit these days, and we especially love combining them into smoothies along with some coconut milk and a little bit of yogurt. Delicious. Here's some pictures:

















Yeah, the cookies were left in a little bit longer than intended.

This past assignment was to pick a topic and write an "article", and take pictures to support it. As much as I would have loved to write about the tornadoes and weather, I couldn't exactly travel down to Tuscaloosa and capture the damage. I couldn't even really be "on location" for anything, being a single mommy. So I stuck to what I had in my backyard - plants. I wrote my article on "Why leaves change color according to seasons". During the winter, these particular leaves turn into a dark maroon color. But since it's spring (nearly Summer), they have changed shades.

The Lightkeeper's Ball is apparently the third book in the Mercy Falls series, something I definitely didn't know until about a chapter in. I obviously hadn't read the first book, but I found this one easy to get into without knowing the back story featured in the previous books, The Lightkeeper's Daughter and The Lightkeeper's Bride. The story is very strongly written, keeping my attention to continue reading. The book is about Eleanor Stewart who leaves her home in New York to get married and then dies from supposedly drowning. Eleanor's sister Olivia knew something wasn't quite right because of the fact that her sister was afraid of water. Olivia assumes she was murdered and investigates, leading through an interesting and mysterious storyline.

This book was definitely an interesting and quick read which I would recommend to those who enjoy historically themed novels.



A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, let me just say that I am so excited to have the opportunity to review a childrens book! My one year old son loves his nightly bedtime stories, so we've got plenty of books to choose from, and this was a wonderful addition to his collection. Last night, I read him God Gave Us You, and although he's only one and doesn't fully comprehend the meaning of this book, he enjoyed the pictures and pointed at the bears with a huge smile on his face. I believe this book will be a terrific tool in the future, when the question of "Where did I come from" pops up, I'll know exactly how to answer it, by using this very book. It is a great way to answer it truthfully (no storks involved), without any specific and awkward details he won't be quite ready for. I look forward to helping my son form and build a relationship with God, and this will be one of the many contributions to it. It is currently available for purchase through Amazon.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.