Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Does anyone remember this from their childhood?

This salad/dessert brings back Sunday lunch memories for me!

My sister's made this the other night when they came over for dinner.

It's been YEARS since I've had it.

I had forgotten how delish the sweet and salty mix is!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad 

-Ingredients-

2 Cups Crushed Pretzels

3/4 Cup Butter, Melted

3 Tablespoons White Sugar

1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, softened

1 Cup White Sugar

1 (8 oz) Container Frozen Whipped Topping, thawed

2 (3 oz) Packages Strawberry Flavored Jell-O

2 Cups Boiling Water

2 (10 oz) Packages Frozen Strawberries

-Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Stir together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 tablepsoons sugar;

mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Using a glass dish is the best so you can see all the pretty layers!

3. Bake 8-10 minutes, until set.

Set aside to cool.

4. In a large mixing bowl cream together cream cheese and 1 cup sugar.

Fold in whipped topping. 

Spread mixture onto cooled crust.

5. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.

Stir in still frozen strawberries and allow to set briefly.

When mixture is about the consistency of egg whites, 

pour and spread over cream cheese layer.

Refrigerate until set.

Simplifying and Being Intentional

Simplify: To make less complicated, clearer, or easier

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Intentional: Done deliberately

__________________________________________________________________________

My momma heart has been praying and pondering over this next year for our family.

This move back to the city... back to our tiny cottage...it's been so good.

Life changing in fact.

Over the past two years the Lord has taught me so much through the people who surrounded us.

Hospitality, generosity, being thankful.

Things that I want to instill into my children.

After much prayer we've decided to homeschool Emma next year.

We had tinkered around with preschool this past year.

Nothing official.

And in the back of my mind I had planned on sending her to public school for kindergarten.

But there was an unsettled feeling that wouldn't go away.

And we prayed...and talked it through...and prayed some more.

And it was clear that the Lord wanted her to be home with me this next year.

I couldn't be more thrilled!

I'm excited to nurture and grow our little family.

To train them up and to build little lights for Him.

And this next year I don't want us to just to learn grammar and math.

I am so excited to explore the world with them.

To make them into little adventurers.

To show them that it's fun to learn why and how things work.

And to learn more about The Creator who made it all.

All of this goes hand in hand with wanting to simplify our lives even more.

We have been blessed with so much.

Less is best will forever be my motto with these little ones.

We don't need an abundance of things.

It's more to pick up and to keep up after.

So that's where I'm at these days.

Enjoying and savoring life with these little ones.

And working on our little cottage.

Making each little space in it functional yet cute!

I am the queen of starting ten projects at once which means it takes me awhile to complete them.

So once I'm caught up on projects I'm going to share them with you!

One of the biggest ones is I'm turning our bedroom closet into a workspace.

It's a fun one that I can't wait to share!

Have a great weekend my friends!

-they were building little dams along the sidewalk-

This Week/Instagram

Are you on Instagram?

I absolutely love it!

It's a fun way to document little moments of our day in a quick fashion.

I'm @thevanillatulip on Instagram.

For those of you who aren't on Instagram and following me here are a few bits from our week...

This little gal fell asleep one night this past week at 5:30 pm and woke up at 6am the next morning.

She woke up in great spirits and felt the need to crow like a rooster every few minutes.

Since our house is small we had to sit on the front porch 

together so that she wouldn't wake the rest of the kids.

She obviously thought it was awesome :)

And for those of you who have asked how I have trained her to sleep through the night...

I did no training whatsoever.

This girl was born a great sleeper.

My other kids didn't start sleeping through the night until around 9 months.

I've done nothing different with her... she's just a jewel:)

 Project of the week... making a headboard for our bedroom.

It cost less than $38 and took me a few hours to put together (and really not even that long).

I'll share details on the blog next week for those who have asked!

Weeding of the flower beds...coffee...kids playing in the yard.

My favorite kind of mornings.

We've been swimming almost every day this past week at my sister's apartment pool.

Glorious!

After they get done swimming they watch an episode of Arthur before we head home.

I love their zombie like states after swimming:)

Date night with my main squeeze this past week.

It was our first time alone on a date since Eloise has been born.

Thanks to my youngest sister for baby wrangling for the evening!

It was such a treat to sit and visit for a few hours...uninterrupted!

Girls night with my two sisters and my two girls (and a good friend!).

I'm so thankful to have two sisters who are my best friends.

Shopping and dinner at The Cheesecake Factory...such a good time!

How was your week!?

Fort Worth

Last weekend we ventured over to the Forth Worth Stockyards.

Every day at 11:30 and 4 they have a cattle drive down the main street.

I have to be honest I was thinking it would be more like the running of the bulls.

But it was more like the long horns just loping along down the road. 

Pretty uneventful.

But the kids loved it;)

We filled up on bbq...bought a few cowboy hats...road a few ponies...then headed home.

If you're ever around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area it's definitely a must see!

My youngest sister Kaitlin is in Texas for a few weeks visiting us...

I've been loving having her as my right hand man!!!

-Lately-

Lately...

I can't get enough of these four.

 I've been tackling projects around the house.

One of the biggest projects I've undertaken is wrapping a metal bunk bed in yarn.

Crazy..yes.

But it'll look cute once I'm done.

Next year.

I've been cuddling this little guy extra.

After his nap every afternoon he finds me and says "Holds me!"

And we snuggle...and snuggle...

until his love tank is filled.

Another project I tackled this week is curtains.

No sew curtains to be exact.

Old sheets, pom pom trim (which I may be addicted to)  and fabric glue.

Easy. Peasy.

And the last lately of the week.

I've been asked several times what my go-to clothes are as a mom of four.

This little pile would definitely be it.

A pair of cut off shorts (or skinny jeans), v-neck t-shirt, fun sandals and either a hat or headband.

Simple yet I still feel put together.

What are your go-to items?

Have a good weekend friends!!!

Front Porch Living

We are front porch people.

It's one of my favorite parts about our home.

Saturday mornings after breakfast we love to sit and drink our coffee while the kids play.

I love the slow pace of life that it encourages.

We rock and visit.

Catching up on how the week went and talking about dreams.

The kids play in the yard in front of us and on the porch around us.

Life is slow and sweet when we're on the porch.

Moments I want to remember and cherish.

Moments I look forward to each week.

Are any of you front porch people?

Memorial Day

"Home of the Free...Because of the Brave"

I couldn't agree more.

I am so proud to live in our country.

And even more proud and thankful for the men and women who fight to protect us daily.

Thankyou to the service men and women...

thankyou to their families on the home front...

we are eternally grateful.

God Bless America!