House Pictures

We did more entertaining than usual last week. We had company Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights! Thankfully it's easy to keep the house clean when guest just keep coming. On Sunday we did nothing just to have a moment to breathe. (We LOVE entertaining. It's one of our household fundamentals and you can read more about how I feel that's part of God's calling on our lives and the blessing that our home is right here.)

Okay, so with a clean house I could snap a few pictures of the downstairs in it's current state. I took these at night so the lighting is a little yellow. First I'm showing pictures of the house from our closing day. I was very prepared to take lots of before pictures so we could have a visual of the work we were going to do!

As you can see, we haven't changed out the drapes. Thankfully, they aren't so bad that I had to replace them. We also haven't painted any of the rooms I'm showing today. The dining room will be the first to be changed. It's not a bad color, but they used some sort of plaster mixed with paint and the finish is awful. So here it goes.... a little progress!

{Three Seasons Porch Before}

{Three Seasons Porch}

{Living Room Before}

{Living Room}

{Dining Room Before}

 {Dining Room}

{Dining Room with view into Living Room}

Hope you enjoyed this mini tour! More pictures to come as we keep updating.

Stephanie

Easter Update

I know it's way late, but here are a couple pictures of our little family on Easter as well as a recipe to share.

{I like the tradition of taking pictures on our front stoop}

{Josh, Stephanie & Toby}

{Josh looking dapper while I messed with the timer on the camera}

I contributed deviled eggs and ham for our Easter dinner at Josh's mom's house. I think deviled eggs are such a yummy picnic treat (if you can keep them cold), so I'm going to share my recipe. It's from Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee by Daisy King, a cookbook my mom and I picked up on a trip to Tennessee over a decade ago. This cookbook has lots of great treats and fun Tennessee trivia tucked inside as well.

Deviled Eggs

Adapted from Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee

12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chilled (I follow the directions from Simply Recipes for perfect hard boiled eggs every time!)

1/4 - 1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 green onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons well-drained pickle relish

Paprika for garnish

Assemble all ingredients and utensils. Cut eggs in half lengthwise, remove yolks, reserve whites. In a bowl, mash yolks until smooth. Combine mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper and add to yolks. Stir in onion and pickle relish. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if necessary. Fill a ziploc bag or piping bag with yolk filling and pipe into center of the egg whites.  Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate until serving. Yields: 24 eggs.

Hope you're enjoying some picnic worthy weather! Rochester may get one last snow, so naturally I'm pining after warm summer nights!!!

Stephanie

Minute To Win It

We are insanely blessed with a fabulous small group. I desperately needed a group to call my own after moving to New York a year ago this past Sunday. In January, we started attending a small group at the church we now attend. I think we just fell right in line with this group and really enjoy doing life with them! So thanks to our new small group for making us feel so welcome!

Last Thursday we had a fun little night with our SG at Brad and Melissa's house. They are wonderful hosts! (We love them doubly because they are about to become family of sorts. Josh's sister is marrying Melissa's brother in June!) The evening was based on NBC's Minute to Win It. Here are a few pictures of the friendly guys vs. girls competition.

{The Happy Couple}

{Our darling ref for the evening, Melissa}

(Josh and Brad competing at Dizzy Mummy -which they lost!}

{My unsuccessful attempt at This Blows} 

{Melissa and Zack competing at the Skittle Scurry}

{Donnie proving his Ping Tac Toe skills}

{Family Pretzel Bobbing rivalry between Yaicha and Todd}

{Grand Finale: Face the Cookie -the guys were lightening fast}

{The evening winners with their loot, a gift card to Cold Stone}

{The evening losers...}

{...who are just so happy to be friends!}

We look forward to much more fun with these sweet new friends in the months and years ahead!

Stephanie