Peach Cobbler Is GOOOOOD!!

If you live in Georgia it is required that you know how to whip together an amazing Peach Cobbler.
And since we are swimming in peaches at the Pope house right now, I thought now was as good a time as any to try my hand at it.

I'm a Northern Girl so I was a little nervous. I know I can handle "bars", but cobbler? Not so sure.

Luckily I had this little Southern Belle to assist me. She's sweet enough to eat all by herself!

Not only have we been picking peaches at the local "U-Pick" fruit farm, but Mr. Terry showed up a couple days ago with a box full of peaches and tomatoes from his garden.
So I whipped out the recipe that Andrew's awesome mom gave me to put a cobbler together for our cookout with the Gowers.
It's a Paula Dean recipe, but don't let that scare you. It was seriously the easiest thing I have ever made.

• If you're using fresh or frozen peaches follow the next few steps. If you're not into that, just open a big 28 oz can of peaches and skip ahead. (MUST HAVE HEAVY SYRUP!!)

1. Slice and peel your peaches. You want at least 2 cups.2. Put peaches in a sauce pan and add 1 cup sugar3. And one cup water.4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
   5. Put 1/2 a stick of butter in the dish you are going to bake the cobbler in and stick it in the oven at 350 to until it is melted.6. While the butter is melting, mix 1 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of self rising flour, and 3/4 cup of milk in a bowl.7. Pull your melted butter out of the oven.8. Slowly pour your flour/sugar/milk mix over the butter. DO NOT STIR!9. Gently spoon your peaches into the dish being careful not to stir it up.10. Then pour that yummy sugar water (or heavy syrup) over the whole mix and sprinkle with cinnamon.11. Stick it in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Feel free to do a little cleaning while you wait.

Your kitchen will start to smell like Heaven about 15 minutes into the baking time.
I screwed up and melted a whole stick of butter so we ended up doubling the whole thing and it turned out just as yummy.

Plus now we have left overs! This is so easy and tastes just like something Maw Maw would've served up.

Maybe I'm a little more Southern then I give myself credit for.

Extreme Makeover Toy Room Edition!!

About four months ago I walked into Josie's playroom and decided that it was not very playful at all.

I started to dream about bright colors that would inspire imaginations.
I designed different centers in my mind that would grow with her.
I made list after list of the supplies that I would need.

And last week, when I had my Mom captive, we began the Great Playroom Transformation!

The playroom is the bonus room above our garage. It's a big room that is shaped like a big ole rectangle.
It sat empty for awhile, then it was a bedroom for a couple foster babies, and last Summer it became the playroom.

Here are some shots of the room before:
It didn't have any storage so all the toys were lined up against the wall and the entire room was void of color.

Not any more!

We painted the walls with the paint that I found for $3 on clearance at Walmart. I have no idea what it is called, but I love it.
We also painted the ceilings (twice!) with Benjamin Moore's "Airy". Its a very light blue.

This corner is going to be the play "house" area. Right now it just has her babies high chair, baby bed, and the $3 table that I redid in it.

I am going to move her kitchen up there and paint a fake window on the wall this Fall.

My Mom bought us the toy storage shelf and it is amazing!

I decided to anchor it coming out of the wall instead of against it to create different areas in the room.The other side of the toy shelf has the puzzles and the felt board that I made.

This felt board was so easy to make and cost me about $2.

So far it has been the crowd favorite of the whole room. I am going to make a bunch of different scenes for it when I get my craft on again.This is the reading area.
And Josie calls this her "couch".

She watches movies on it.

I have a few more hand towels that I am going to make into pillow so that the whole back of it will be super comfy.And my favorite part of the room is the Dress Up area.

I found this mirror in the attic and just repainted it.

I added the verse, "You were fearfully and wonderfully made," to the top of it.

I am going to store all of her dress up clothes in an old suitcase once I find one and I plan on buying some different costumes after Halloween.Andrew's desk got a makeover too!

We spray painted it bright yellow and reattached the fabric that is the color scheme for the whole room.

It's messy so I just took a quick shot of it. I am so in love with this room.

I walk into it about a hundred times a day just to look at it.

I still have about 10 projects to finish before it will be complete, but it is already so playful. And I love that it will grow with her.

Thanks Mom for all your help! It really is a little girls dream playroom!

Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad

It's hot in Georgia.
And I mean Hot.

And this Northern Girl is not a fan of cooking when it's hot.

So here is a nice and easy, super cool, Summertime recipe just in case any of you are despising the oven like I am right now.

GRILLED CHICKEN CESAR SALAD

- Chicken breast for each serving, Cesar dressing, Bag of Cesar Salad, Kabob Sticks

- Take a chicken breast for each serving and place in a baggie.
- Pour in some Cesar Dressing.
- Marinate for at least half an hour. (I did ours in the morning and it turned out super delish!)
- When your ready to cook, take out of the baggies and chop into chunks
- Thread onto kabobs
- Grill for a about 5 -10 minutes until cooked through.
- Open a bag of Cesar Salad (or if your fancy chop up some Romaine lettuce)
- Throw salad in a separate bowls and put a couple of Kabobs on top.
- Top with croutons, dressing, and a little Parmesan cheese

Where You'll Find Me

The pool in Andrew's parent's neighborhood finally opened on Thursday so you can bet your bottom dollar that Amy and I were there bright and early Friday!
It is gorgeous!
And perfect for the kiddos.
It has two parts, one for adults and one for kids. The kid part is huge and a zero entry so that it feels like a beach. The deepest it gets in the main section is 2 feet so the babies were free to swim and crawl and splash all they wanted! Or drown their baby dolls as my daughter prefers.
And as Uncle Baby Shiggins is demonstrating, the kiddie area is perfect for laying out in 100 degree Georgia heat since you can actually lay in the water!We had a blast.

I am dying to get back there! Look how happy we are.

Sun, tanning oil, and happy babies?!?! Doesn't get much better then that!Unless you factor in the nap factor of playing in a pool all day:Now I know it doesn't get any better then that!

Same Kind of Different As Me

I am taking Josie and JP to the movies this morning. We need to be out the door in 45 minutes, but instead of getting out of my pajamas or waking up my sweetie pie, I have got to tell you about the last book I read.

I finished The Same Kind Of Different As Me in three days. It was so good.
I'm not exactly sure what about the story reeled me in, but I loved it and it inspired me to get back on track with reaching out to the people who need it most.

I know I can't do the book justice in a paragraph review but it is basically about a rich white husband and wife who have made it big time in the art dealing business. The wife is not into all the materialistic things that come with being well off and feels that the Lord is calling her to serve at the homeless mission in the city.
They start off volunteering once a week and that turns into a full on ministry.
The story is about the husband reaching out to one hard to reach homeless man who was raised as a modern day slave.
The things they teach each other and the way the family accepts the man, Denver, into their own family is heartwarming.
The story has a lot of ups and downs. And it's a true story.
I love true stories.
I guess I liked it because it was real.

Andrew and I used to go feed the homeless at least a few times a year.
We'd get a big group of people, usually the kids in the youth group, and spend the morning making bagged lunches and decorating the bags with Scripture.
Then we'd head downtown to the parks where we knew the homeless made their home and hand them all out.
We'd talk with them and pray for them.
I was always scared and usually stood back a ways watching the girls to make sure they were safe.

After reading this book, I wonder how many opportunities I missed to impact someones life.

Or to have them impact mine.

I am now pumped up to get back out there and actually get involved this time.

I highly recommend this book. It was an easy read that really shows the importance of reaching out to people.

Even the ones you don't really want to.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Skinny Dipper

June 21st, 2002

Andrew and I met 10 years ago when I moved from Minnesota to Georgia.
It's hard to believe it's been that long.
We were best friends, inseparable, from the second time we met. (The first time we met he ignored me, but I'm persistent and hooked him the second time!)
This is a picture from our first summer camp.
Seconds before this was taken, Andrew had grabbed my hand for the first time.
A couple years later we decided to make it official.
Andrew proposed and two weeks later, we were at the courthouse saying, "I do."
Yup, two weeks.
And no, I wasn't pregnant, although everyone else was convinced that was the reason for the rushed wedding.
We picked our date based on how fast my parents could make it in to town.

In 14 days I picked out a dress, made a cake, and put together travel arrangements for family coming from both ends of the country.

My dress was a tea length dress from Banana Republic. I still love this dress.
Obviously I didn't see any issues with photographing a white dress on a white door.

I went to have my hair and makeup done and then drove myself to the courthouse.
I got there way before everyone else did and was convinced that nobody would show up. I looked like a bride that was left at the alter, err, courthouse.But everyone did show up.
We packed the courthouse out.Andrew and I giggled through the whole ceremony.
It was short and sweet. Just like our engagement.My poor Mom missed her first flight and then had her second flight get hit by lightening. It was a rough morning for her!Awwww, look how little Uncle Baby Shiggins was!!After the wedding we all drove over to High Falls to take pictures.
It would have been gorgeous is the waterfall hadn't been all dammed up.I love the pictures of MawMaw from our wedding. She was so proud.All the siblings.Then we ate at Andrew's favorite restaurant, Buckners!
I still can't believe I let him talk me into having our wedding dinner at an all you can eat fried chicken place.The day before the wedding, my friend Hannah came over to help me make my cake.
Oh yeah, who needs a fancy wedding cake when you can make a Funfetti one yourself?!?We ended up running out of frosting on one side and the cake totally started melting when we were doing pictures!It took us five minutes to figure out how to do the whole interlocking arms thing for our toast!A few weeks later we flew up to Minnesota for a wedding party at my parents house with all my friends and family from back home.And that was our wedding.
Nothing fancy, just us binding together for the rest of our lives.
It's crazy to think of how far we've come in just 7 years.

My oh my, do I love my husband.

Every year we celebrate our little homemade wedding.

In 2003 we went tubing up in Helen and then stayed at a really crappy hotel!In 2004 we went to Daytona Beach with our friends the O'Prys.In 2005 we stayed at an amazing hotel in Atlanta and Andrew took me to see all the touristy things I've never gotten to do.In 2006 we went back to Daytona Beach for a week.In 2007 we spent another night in Atlanta and ate at my favorite Japanese Steakhouse.And in 2008 we took our newly adopted answered prayer out for her first ice cream cone.This year will be another quiet anniversary at home.
We went to the beach a couple weeks ago to celebrate.

Truth be told, there is nothing I'd rather do then spend tonight laughing with the man of my dreams. No matter where we are.Our marriage is one of the truest ones I've ever seen. We are each other's best friends.

And if I had it to do all over again, it would be exactly the same as it was 7 years ago.