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Bug Goes to School! {Recipe & School Printable}

Crazy eyes 2

And, clearly, he’s ready for it.

Our Bean starts Kindergarten today, and little Bug will be going to preschool twice a week.  To say he is excited would be an outrageous understatement.  Since getting his “poop in a group” – if you follow my drift – he’s been asking frequently when the beloved transition would begin.

The day has arrived, crazy eyes, it has arrived.

Crazy eyes

He is scarily good at peeing 4 feet across the grass, devouring large quantities of food in a matter of minutes, and crossing his eyes. 

His father is very proud.

We decided it would be fun for the kids to take some treats to school for their teacher – in celebration of this new school year – so amidst the hussle and bussle of prepping and packing, we made some cookies.

And it just so happens, being as gosh darn lazy efficient as I am, I decided to forgo the from-scratch technique and break out a box of cake mix.  I’ve never made cookies with cake mix, but I’d heard rumor of it’s yumminess {not to mention simplicity}.  The lone box : red velvet.  I’ve also never baked an R.V cake before, nor am I a fan of the massive amounts of red food coloring therein, but a rushed mama’s got to do what a rushed mama can.  I found these babies on Pinterest, and despite my sad lack of white chocolate chips or plain apple sauce and shortage of butter, I forged on.

Clearly, I need to grocery shop.

Red Velvet Cookies

Red Velvet {Cake Mix} Cookies

              Ingredients:

      • 1 box of red velvet cake mix
      • 1 cup of all purpose flour
      • 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce {I used strawberry, unsweetened}
      • 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips {original calls for white chocolate}
      • 1/2 cup {stick} of butter, softened
      • 1 large egg

Directions:

  • Leave butter out to soften for a couple of hours.  Once softened, beat until fluffy {preheat oven to 350*}. 
  • In a bowl, sift flower and stir in cake mix.
  • Slowly add flour and cake mix into butter bowl and mix until incorporated. 
  • Next add your egg and mix completely. 
  • Fold in the chocolate chips and drop tablespoon-sized ‘blobs’ onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 
  • Bake for approximately 15 minutes. 
  • Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. 
  • For a little extra kapow and artery-clogging goodness, slap some frosting on those babies and fashion up some red whoopie pies.  Whoopieee!

{don’t forget that handy little “Print Friendly” button at the bottom of this post which allows you to delete the drivel and keep only the essentials of a recipe.  Why you would want to delete the nonsensical babbling I throw your way is entirely beyond me…but I won’t judge.}

Recipe adapted from Peas & Crayons

Cookie Collage

And, because I’m a sucker for fun packaging, I whipped out our two Wendy’s salad bowls from our lunch-on-the-run the day before, pulled up this fab little template, and created this baby here…

School Printables

Click right here for the download.

**Today we’re also celebrating our little man’s precious life…yet again! 

I know, I know…his birthday was 2 weeks ago, but…three years ago, today, we stood paralyzed against thick, cold hospital glass watching while 9 medical workers poked, prodded and finally cardioverted our 10 day old son as he fought for his little life.

The doctor’s words, without knowing I was pumping behind the curtain, were, “this little boy’s heart is toast”.

Today we celebrate what God has done in his 3 vivacious years of life, and the fact that he’s been off his heart medication – with no sign of SVT – for over 18 months.  You would never know, looking at this healthy, hilarious, solid little guy, that there was ever a day we wondered whether he’d be able to pull through.

But he’s a fighter!  Read all about his journey here.

Bug is so delightful. God is so faithful.  Life is so sweet!

{and those cookies – I hear – were pretty darn good}

Related posts:

  1. If Santa Had A Picky Palate
  2. Marzipan {Recipe & Welcome! Printable}
  3. Sunflower Love (Recipe & October Wallpaper)
  4. Scrumptious Roast Pork Loin {Rub Recipe}
«
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Simply Bloom exists to empower women to embrace their stories, live out their passion with purpose, and leave a legacy of love.
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Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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May you remember that God is not only the God of d May you remember that God is not only
the God of destinations, but of detours.

When life takes you somewhere you never intended to go,
may you recognize that you have not been forgotten.

May you have eyes to see the people in front of you,
hands willing to gather the sticks,
courage to shake off the snakes,
a heart willing to welcome and be welcomed,
and faith to believe that even here,
especially here, God is at work.
What if the place you keep calling a detour is act What if the place you keep calling a detour is actually part of the story?

Paul was headed to Rome. Instead, he ended up shipwrecked on Malta.
It wasn't the destination. But it mattered.

A reminder for all of us: don't waste the waiting,
the detour, or the place you didn't choose.

🎙️ 042 | Make Malta Matter | Finding Purpose in Divine Detours
  The latest Oh, Good Grief Podcast episode is out now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #MakeMaltaMatter #SimplyBloomCo
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What if the years you thought were wasted… weren't What if the years you thought were wasted…
weren't wasted at all?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Leah Harvey,
we go deeper into what it means to trust
God when the outcome is still unknown.

Leah has spent years carrying the ache of infertility,
and she doesn't offer a tidy answer or a spiritual shortcut.

Instead, she talks about restoration.
About eternity.
About choosing Jesus over her preference.
About looking for treasure in the middle of the story.

And about the surprising realization that there
may not have been wasted years after all,
because God was present in every one of them.

He is.
Even here.
Even now.

🎧 Part Two with Leah Harvey is live now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
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What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean bel What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean
believing He will give us everything we ask for?

That's one of the questions my friend Leah Harvey
and I wrestle with in this week's episode.

Leah and her hubby, Jake, have walked through years
of infertility and the kind of unanswered prayer that
doesn't just hurt once—it asks you to keep
trusting God over and over again.

We talk about grief, surrender, the questions we sometimes feel afraid to ask, and what happens when we stop trying to put tidy answers over messy pain.

This is a tender conversation about choosing Jesus over our preferences, embracing the mystery of God, and learning to believe that His goodness doesn't depend on whether He gives us the thing we're asking for.

Part One of my conversation with Leah Harvey is live now
🎧  040 | The Goodness of God in the Waiting

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Before the world told you who you needed to become Before the world told you who you needed to become...
Before fear taught you how to survive...
Before shame convinced you to hide...
God looked at you and called you His own.

Not because you had healed.
Not because you had figured yourself out.
Not because you had become your best self.
Simply because you were His.

You are still becoming.
And you are already loved.

Keep coming home.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
What if the goal isn't to become a different type, What if the goal isn't to become a different type,
but to become more fully yourself?

We've spent the last several weeks exploring the Enneagram:
our gifts, wounds, coping strategies, and the stories we
learned to believe in order to survive.

Now it's time to come home.

Episode 039 closes this Summer Series by asking
what happens when self-awareness becomes surrender.

The Enneagram can help us understand our patterns.
But it was never meant to become our identity.

You are not your number.
You are not your trauma.
You are not your coping strategy.

You are a beloved child of God.

🎧 Oh, Good Grief — Episode 039 is available now.
Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, m Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, my Bible and a book of maps in my lap, and the sun on my face, has me thinking about how strange and beautiful life can be.

It’s no small honor to be given the opportunity to preach at our church from time to time. Had you told the broken, shoplifting, lying, giving-her-body-away-for-free teenage girl I once was that one day she’d stand in a pulpit and talk to people about God’s goodness and grace, I would have laughed at you.

But maybe that’s exactly why God delights in using the messy, the unlikely, the misfits. Because these are the stories that make His redemption impossible to miss.

One of my favorite lines from The Chosen, spoken by Mary Magdalene, sums it up perfectly: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.”

That’s my story, too.
And if I were to hazard a guess, it's yours as well.

It’s one of my greatest joys to dig into God’s Word, share what He’s laid on my heart, offer some encouragement and conviction, confess the uncomfortable things, and ultimately point people back to Jesus.

Because there’s no denying the extraordinary power of redemption when you’ve lived it yourself.
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