.For Mom.

You will be receiving a phone call from me any minute.
You will hear me tell you how much I love you.
You will hear me express how I wish we were not so far away.
You will hear me say how I am going to spoil you for an entire day when you are here in 2 weeks!
You will hear me say I love you again.

You are an amazing mother.
You are an amazing wife.
You are an amazing grandmother.


You are loved.

.In Christ Alone.

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

'til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

.Happy Easter.

.Kiss Me I'm Irish.

I am happy to report the above statement is TRUE! 

I am looking forward to many kisses from my hubs today :)

H A P P Y 

S T . P A T R I C K ' S D A Y ! 

.Spring Wreaths.

This afternoon I had a few hours to myself and decided to hold off on unpacking, laundry, and cleaning..I decided to craft. It's been a while and I've missed it. Adam and I had a wonderful weekend visiting family in DE and came home to find VA in bloom! The colors inspired me to add a few more "Spring" touches to our little home. I chose to work with green (surprise, surprise) and thought it would be perfect for Spring as well as a certain holiday coming up :) If you have completely forgotten what holiday this is, here is one hint for you:

Kiss Me,

I'm Irish!

St. Patrick's Day is coming soon and even though I normally do not decorate for most holidays other than Christmas, I thought I would change it up this year! I made two small wreaths to hang on our sliding glass doors in our dining room. They were cheap, fast, and easy to make! (the perfect kind of craft!) Here are the materials needed:

Materials needed to create Spring (St. Patrick's Day) Wreaths:

      - Split Peas (purchased from Walmart for $.79)
      - Two 8 inch straw wreaths (purchased from Michaels for $.99 each with coupon, 

        originally $1.99 each)
      - Hot Glue Gun
      - Hot Glue Sticks

      - Elmer's Glue

      - Paint brush

      - Cookie sheet

      - Foil

      - Twine

This entire project cost me under $5.00 thanks to using supplies found in my home. Love when that happens! Because I am a nanny of two little girls who love to craft and watch me craft, I made a quick tutorial for your children to make a wreath of their very own :) Now your little ones can craft with you AND make the same thing as you! Fun right?!

Making Your Wreaths

1. Gather all of your supplies and prepare a clean, organized space to begin 

    crafting. (We all know it will not last this way BUT it's fun to start clean!)

2. After covering your cookie sheet with foil, pour your split peas into cookie

    sheet.

3a. For your children, pour Elmer's glue onto paper plate with paint brush and

       straw wreath close by.

3b. For yourself, grab your handy dandy hot glue gun and prepare to use a lot 

       of hot glue sticks ;)

4a. For your children, demonstrate how to dip the paint brush into the glue 

       and how to "paint" the straw wreath by smoothing out the gops of glue.

4b. For yourself, choose a small section to work on at a time. Draw lines of 

       hot glue to fill entire section. (I started by drawing a rectangle and then

       drew lines to fill in the middle.)

Now comes the fun step for both parties! Things are about to get "cooking!"

5a. For your children, once the wreath is covered in Elmer's glue (except the 

       backside), have your child or children place the wreath upside down into 

       the cookie sheet filled with split peas. Using their hands, they can rotate 

       the wreath into the peas and "smush" the peas up the sides of the 

       wreath. (Just like Mommy when she breads chicken!) When they are 

       finished, they can carefully turn it over to sit and dry. Here is the final 

       look:

It will not be filled completely with peas and that is o k a y. It's perfect because of the hands who made it :) {reminds me of an everything bagel..yep, I'm a Jersey girl!}

5b. For yourself, once your hot glue is filling in a small section of your 

       wreath, hold wreath on top of peas in cookie sheet and use your hand to 

       cup peas on top of your wreath. Again, this will be extremely reminiscent 

       of breading chicken. After completing a few small sections, it will begin to

       look like this:

6. Your child/children will be finished with their wreath but you still have 

     some work to do ;) Continue hot gluing small sections of your wreath and

     covering immediately with peas. It will begin to resemble this:

7. After about 15-20 minutes, you will be finished and left with a darling little

     wreath to enjoy!

Before I ran out of daylight, I managed to snap these two shots of my wreaths hanging up! I will post of few more pics tomorrow so you can see the whole room.

Thank you for reading! I hope you and your kids will enjoy making these Spring/St. Patrick's Day Wreaths! Remember..cheap, fast, and easy to make..the perfect craft ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

.Happy Valentine's Day.

I hope you all feel love today.

..you know what my real life love story is? I am blessed with a Heavenly Father who loved ME so much, he sent his only son to die for MY SINS to give ME eternal life. I have an earthly father who is the greatest husband to MY mother. I have a best friend who chose ME to be his WIFE. I AM LOVED AND HAVE EXPERIENCED GOD'S LOVE THROUGH THE AMAZING PEOPLE HE HAS PLACED IN MY LIFE. {read full post here}

I am loved. This Valentine's Day, my 1 and only husband and I will celebrate in the love God has shown us and the love He is continually providing us and the love we have for each other. Our plans?--Not sure. Who needs them when you are married to your best friend ;)

One thing we will do together: deliver these little bundles to two women in town who have gone above and beyond for us..Happy Love Day Mom and Grandma Dottie! {recognize these vases? the white one is a sugar bowl from goodwill!}


Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 
Let us all be thankful for the love God has shown and remember Him on this special love day.

.LOVE is in the air.

Valentine's Day is almost here. My whole life prior to college this was just another day. I never had a date, never received any secret admirer letters..nope, Valentine's Day was just like any other day for this gal. There was only one special thing I looked forward to..reading my Valentine's card from my father. You see, I was (and still am today), one of those girls who has a fabulous, loving father. Every year, my dad would buy my mom and I a bouquet of flowers and chocolate covered strawberries. We would all share in the strawberries while watching a fun movie we rented for the night. This was Valentine's Day for me and I have a secret to tell--I LOVED IT! And then college happened...


I had two boyfriends in my four years at Liberty. One lasted for my entire freshman year and the other is still going strong in a little something called marriage! That's right, boyfriend number 2 turned how to be my 1 and only husband! Now let me clarify something..both of these "boyfriends" never had "girlfriends" so my Valentine's Day with them were never exactly romantic, definitely not the like movies! My 1st Valentine's Day was with boyfriend number 1 during my freshman year of college. Little did boyfriend number 1 know, I was very much looking forward to celebrating Valentine's Day with a man other than my father..a man who actually liked me that didn't involve bloodline. From what I can remember, he had practice of some sort so we were only able to spend 15 minutes in his car to talk/exchange gifts. I honestly do not remember what I made/gave to him..I think I wrote a letter, maybe..and he gave me homemade card and some drawing supplies (awesome by the way) and then he dropped me off at my dorm room. That was Valentine's Day number 1 with boyfriend number 1..I guess you can say, short but sweet? 


By the time Valentine's Day number 2 came around I was onto boyfriend number 2, pretty convenient huh? Boyfriend number 2, aka my 1 and only husband, took me to a LOVE conference held over Valentine's Weekend at Thomas Road Church here in Lynchburg. This was an all day affair, with a wonderful lunch date to Panera and Starbucks, all about relationships and the differences between men and women. We laughed together and to this day have inside jokes from the conference. When Valentine's Day actually came, Adam and I took his grandmother out to lunch and had a lovely time together. We spent the afternoon apart as I was in suspense of what our evening plans were going to be. Want to know what we did--HOMEWORK! Yep, we spent it in his room working on our homework hardly talking. Awesome right? 


When Valentine's Day number 3 came around, boyfriend number 2 was still in the picture. I decided to take initiative and plan something since last year was a bit of a--what's the word?--Oh yeah, DUD! At the time, I was living with two other roommates who had boyfriends so the girls cooked all day for our men and prepared a killer dinner and dessert for all! We made homemade red sauce, homemade meatballs, sausage, spaghetti, salad, and cake! It was a great dinner and after the meal, all of the couples split up..ah-let me rephrase, all of the couples left to do "couple" things. This year I was not expecting much from boyfriend number 2, simply hoping for a card with a nice note written inside. Well, I got my card alright..are you ready for this?--The cover of the card had this cute cartoon squirrel smirking and giving puppy eyes and the text read, "Wanna do something this Valentine's?"...as I opened the card the once cute squirrel was now wide eyed with his arms out to the sides shouting, "I'm something!!!!" This friends, was the epitome of romantic from boyfriend number 2. We spent the rest of the evening watching a movie we rented. After we said goodnight I thought to myself, "Well, I got my card..I think."


Boyfriend number 2 and I were still together for my 4th Valentine's Day in college. We attended another LOVE conference at Thomas Road Church and this time felt like we truly belonged because we were now ENGAGED! After the night conference, boyfriend number 2 drove me to my townhouse and handed me a box of chocolate covered strawberries and a gift certificate for a massage! Boyfriend number 2 did alright this year!!--except..a certain father called checking he got the things he suggested..he, meaning my dad. BUST. At least boyfriend number 2 learned one important lesson: He listens to his (at the time) future Father-in-Law.


A lot happened between Valentine's Day number 4 and number 5--boyfriend number 2 and I got MARRIED! Now I can refer to him as my 1 and only husband for the rest of this post. Our first married Valentine's Day should have been the most romantic since we could now have s--oh, you get the picture? Okay moving on. I was sick, the kind of sickness that even your mom would prefer kissing you on the cheek instead of your mouth. So much for our most romantic Valentine's Day yet. My 1 and only husband made it up to me and we decided to see a movie in the nice theatre, the $10.50 a ticket nice theatre (remember, NEWLYWEDS!) We saw..I bet you can't guess--"Valentine's Day!" Yes..sadly, we were those people who saw this movie on that day, we did exactly what all the marketing people said we would do. Oh well.


Valentine's Day is almost here making it Valentine's Day number 6 and my 5th Valentine's Day with my 1 and only husband. My expectations are low, so very low. I have learned that real life is not what is projected in the chick flicks the world shoves in our faces (even though I LOVE watching them and crying with the characters)..you know what my real life love story is? I am blessed with a Heavenly Father who loved ME so much, he sent his only son to die for MY SINS to give ME eternal life. I have an earthly father who is the greatest husband to MY mother. I have a best friend who chose ME to be his WIFE. I AM LOVED AND HAVE EXPERIENCE GOD'S LOVE THROUGH THE AMAZING PEOPLE HE HAS PLACED IN MY LIFE. 


I am loved. This Valentine's Day, my 1 and only husband and I will celebrate in the love God has shown us and the love He is continually providing us and the love we have for each other. Our plans?--Not sure. Who needs them when you are married to your best friend ;)

.Valentine Inspired Dinner Party.

I'm back.

 Hopefully you saw a few ideas you liked in the making it pretty portion of our dinner party last night. As I have already said, we had a wonderful night and feel all of our guests enjoyed themselves and left with their tummies full, the way it's suppose to be :) Before I post our cooking, well, our "Making our own Raviolis," let me share these two pictures and simply caption it as:

I LOVE him.

Okay, let me focus and get back to the point of this post..sharing pictures from our dinner party!

 Introducing our guests:

Thanks to these smiling faces, Adam and I have felt at "home" in little Lynchburg, Virginia. The Lord has been blessing us with fantastic relationships and it is a joy to live life with them!

 (not to mention I get my baby fix EVERY time we get together, see below)

Jack Manley. Yes, that is his real name..amazing, I know. This big boy can now squat, stand, and WALK at 10 months! Oh my..cannot wait to hear him say "Katie." 

Liam Loper. Those eyes get me every time..and how cute is his little cranky face?! This was Liam being "fussy"--ladies, he only let out a few peeps, wrinkled his face and that was it! Such a good baby..Dear God, Yes Please!

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love babies?--Oh I have, in almost every other post, ok..just making sure ;)

Now to the ravioli part..sorry it took me long, but here it is!

Step 1: Mix 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of water. Get dirty, dive right in, and work those hands..knead away! (keep working those fingers for 5 min!)

Flour and water all measured out for our guests!

Step 2: After letting your dough sit for 10 min, divide into groups..it does not matter how many.

Step 3: Grab your rolling pin, extra flour and begin rolling! Roll until the dough is evenly spread and very thin. Hint: Imagine the texture of raviolis you have had in the past..if you prefer the texture of dumplings better, then roll a bit thicker.

Step 4: When your dough is nicely rolled out, grab a cookie cutter (any shape you want!) and press it in just like you're making sugar cookies :) We used heart shaped cookie cutters in honor of Valentine's Day..(cheesy I know, but I "loved" it!)

Step 5: Find a spoon and dunk it into your ravioli filling! Depending on the size of your cut out dough, place a mound of filling in the center.

(I made two different fillings for our party. 1st- Italian hot sausage and ricotta cheese. Cook meat fully and then blend it up! Thanks to my magic bullet, I had a gross looking goo after but it made for perfect, creamy filling..especially with the ricotta cheese! 2nd- Spinach, ricotta cheese, minced garlic. Using my magic bullet again, I got a wonderfully green, creamy goo that tasted delectable!)

Here are a few of my heart shaped raviolis! I used a fork to create pretty edges as well as pressing the two pieces of dough together. That nasty looking mush, yep--that's the italian sausage and ricotta cheese filling. Trust me, it tasted AMAZING!

Step 6: Create a dough sandwich over your mound of filling. Simply take a fork to press the two pieces together while adding a very homemade, pretty little detail :)

Step 7: Collect raviolis (we had probably 10 plates or more as pictured above!) Place raviolis into a big ol' pot of boiling water. Keep them in boiling water for 5 minutes or until they have all floated to the top.

Step 8: Remove raviolis from boiling water. Place your delicious, beautiful, homemade creations on a plate..

Step 9: Smother your hard work in red sauce and spice it up however you'd like :) (Our choice in the Miller house, crushed red pepper and Parmesan cheese!)

Food table all set with food! I should have taken off the crock pot lid..there's yummy red sauce inside!

Step 10: ENJOY YOUR DINNER!

Friends, I will not lie to you. When I had my plate all fixed..I did not grab my camera, but my fork!! I did great capturing all night long except to get a picture of the final result, "silly Katie" as Grace and Joy would say :) So I am asking you--if you make your own raviolis after being inspired by ours, please leave a comment with a link to your post, I would love to check it out!

Step 11: Share your meal with amazing friends, talk up a storm, laugh until you cry, and then dig in to some coffee and dessert! (forgot to picture the brownies)

Thank you for joining me and taking the time to read about our Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired Dinner Party!

 Happy Living--Happy Cooking

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--

.Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired...Dinner Party.

Last night was perfect.

 Adam and I hosted our first official dinner party and we could not have been any happier.

Our theme: Make Your Own Ravioli Night

It's February and LOVE is in the air.
 What better way to celebrate than a house filled with amazing couples, adorable babies, and delicious food..
not to mention some Valentine inspired decor :)

The best place to start is decor and set up (at least I think so)..cooking is a blast, but for me--
it's the part of "making it pretty."

Here is my making it pretty:

Time for a few close ups!

This simple heart garland was made by scraps and only took 30 minutes to make. I used scrapbooking paper and created a heart pattern to trace and cut out all of the hearts. Once cut, I simply made a heart sandwich using hot glue as my jelly around the twine. Final look is simple and sweet, perfect for Valentine's Day :)

As my table runner, I was planning on using some simple brown paper. A trip to the Dollar Tree led me to this beautiful wrapping paper..it's simple, regular brown craft paper with white flowers..how delicate and such a lucky find! Did I mention it was a $1? I used white table cloths, also from Dollar Tree, to brighten the room up while keeping simple and rustic! I just love the romantic touch the white flowers added :)

Centerpieces. My heart loves centerpieces. 

For under $2.00 each, I made these beauties (look up now look down):

My lovely ladies got to take home a candle and a heart bouquet home as their little Valentine.

Are you all still with me? I have more photos..let's just say I was a little camera happy :)

Sitting by candlelight is nothing but romantic and sets the mood, you know which one, perfect for the month of LOVE, ow ow.......okay okay, let's cool down and remember, this is Make Your Own Ravioli Night, we need light!!

Ready for our guests: 

Living Room rearranged, CHECK!

Cooking Stations ready, CHECK!

Food Station ready for food, CHECK!

Coffee Station ready, CHECK!

(note: the creamer made an appearance for the picture and then

 went back to it's home in the fridge until it was time to come out.)

I hope you have enjoyed my "Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired...Dinner Party" making it pretty portion. It was a blast designing and decorating for our dinner party. Remember, you do not need RED and PINK when doing Valentine's Day decor, think outside of the box and use soft color palettes. For all of you newly weds and stay at home moms--this party was fun and AFFORDABLE! Look through your house before shopping for any items and materials that can work for your party. Dollar Trees are a fabulous place for table cloths, plates, cups, utensils, decor, etc. It's important to pick and choose where you want to spend money..I chose to splurge on yarn ($1.29 for each color at Michaels) and mason jars ($1.19 each at Michaels) while everything else came from my home, outside, or the Dollar Tree. 

Be inspired and get CRAFTING!

"Cooking, eating, smiling. laughing, cooing, walking" pictures coming 

later this afternoon :)