Girl Scout Cookies Rule!

Lily absolutely loves being a Brownie!  We have been blessed with the BEST Girl Scout Troop leaders.  (We love you Carrie and Amanda!)  Lily was so excited to pick up all 171 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that she sold.    

She took her time and organized all of the cookie boxes!

She worked her first cookie booth on Friday, February 25th, outside of Walgreens on N. Broadway.  She had so much fun!  The girls designed posters to hold up and Lily's said, "Cookies Rule!" She drew a cookie with a crown and scepter! 

Lily is still selling cookies, so if you'd like to order, let us know!  Her troop is working so hard to save up money so they can take a trip to Disney World after they finish 5th grade.  We can't wait! 

Here is a recipe using Thin Mints (my favorite Girl Scout Cookie!): 

Thin Mint Brownies
Ingredients:
½ box of crushed Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies
1 box of brownie mix
2 eggs (3 eggs for cake-like brownies)
¼ cup of water
½ cup of vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Crush Thin Mints into medium size pieces.
2. Mix all ingredients into mixing bowl.
*Do not use electric mixer. Batter will be stiff.
3. Spread batter evenly in greased baking pan (13 x 9 x 2 inch).
4. Bake in center of oven at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.

What's your favorite kind of Girl Scout Cookie?

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3

Hitting the Lanes!

On February 16, our Home School Support Group (HSSG) planned a Social for Valentine's at Strike and Spare Bowling Alley. 
The timing of this social was perfect.  Lily had been back to visit her class at Brickey-McCloud Elementary on the 14th to celebrate Valentine's with them and left there very happy.  But soon after she had come home, I found her sobbing in the living room complaining of a headache.  My body froze...had what I feared come true?  After much prompting, since Lily is a people pleaser, Lily admitted that she missed her friends. I know this is a completely normal feeling for someone who had been pulled out of school.  She and I hugged and shed many tears together.  I cried out to the LORD asking, "What have I done?  Did I make a huge mistake letting her go back?"  I believe it was one of those life lessons that I needed to not only draw Lily and I closer, but to draw us both closer to HIM!  Thank you, LORD for your mercy and grace!
So the day of the HSSG social, Lily was excited to go bowling for the first time, but mostly to spend time with friends:

Maddy had been bowling once before so she was ready!  She tried bowling left handed!

Katy, my fearless one, wanted no help at all.  The bowling ball was almost as big as her!

I caught her jumping up and down in mid-air!

Parker had fun cheering his sisters on!

Lily's turn...

She definitely is "all girl" when it comes to bowling! 

Thomas came along with us of course!  Parker did very well considering we bowled for 2 hours right during nap time!

At the end, Parker decided he wanted to try, so Sissy helped him.

Besides bowling, we exchanged Valentine's and had yummy treats.  We had LOTS of fun and are looking forward to more socials and field trips with our HSSG! 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27

Buhl Family Favorite Recipe #2

Chicken and Rice Casserole

        *From:  Kim Dodson

2 cups Instant Rice, uncooked (we use brown)

1 stick butter

1 cup milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of celery soup

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts trimmed and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour rice over bottom of 9x13 dish.

In a saucepan combine next 5 ingredients.  Heat over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture is heated through. 

Pour 1/2 soup mixture over rice. 

Place chicken breast halves over mixture.

Pour remaining soup mixture over chicken.

Cover with foil.  Bake for 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink.

Hope you enjoy!

Baking With Love

Now that the girls are home with me all day, they are becoming very interested in what goes on in the Kitchen, especially when it comes to cooking and baking.  Lily asked me one day if I would save all of our recipes so that she would have them for her family one day.  A few weeks before that, my very dear friend, Jen, suggested compiling my recipes together into a cookbook.  So, I took both of those ideas and ran with them!  I came up with a project idea to use as part of our Home school.  Lily and I are working on a special recipe book called, "Buhl Family Favorites."  By helping me cook, she is learning Math (measurements, fractions, ounces, etc.) and by typing up recipes she is learning to become more familiar with the computer keyboard.  Lily and I are both visual learners so we are taking pictures of the food to include with the recipes.  We are hoping to have our recipe book finished and printed to use for Mother's Day and Teacher gifts this year!  As we are working on our project I am hoping to share some of our favorite recipes with you on our Family Blog.  Please know that none of these are recipes that we came up with on our own.  They are recipes that we have come across over the years through friends, magazines, cookbooks, recipe exchanges, etc.  I will try and make special note where they came from.  I hope you will enjoy them!

Here is Recipe #1 that we made recently and really enjoyed:

Creamy Baked Ziti

*from Kraft Food and Family magazine

4 cups ziti pasta, uncooked

1 jar (26 oz.) marinara sauce

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, cubed

8 oz. sour cream

1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt. Remove from pan; drain. Meanwhile, add marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese to same pan; cook on medium heat 5 min. or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Return pasta to pan; mix well.

Layer half the pasta mixture in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella and remaining pasta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake 20 min. or until heated through.



So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1Corinthians 10:31

Tangled!

My sweet husband took all of us to the movies as a special treat on Valentine's Day.  We saw Tangled for the second time and I have to say that we loved it even more than the first time!  We went to a matinee showing and were the only ones in the movie theatre!  We pigged out on butter popcorn and had the best time together.  Thank you, Jonathan for our treat and for loving us like you do! 

Dear Friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1John4:11-12

Dance With Joy

Lily's Dance Studio, Angela Floyd School, always plans a Father/Daughter Dance week each year so that the girls can bring their Fathers to Dance class.  It is a special day that Lily looks forward to because she gets to combine two things she loves, dancing and her Daddy.  She was so excited to bring her Daddy to Ballet and Tap class on February 10th!  I took tons of pictures because it was so very sweet. They both had THE BEST time together!

They were both smiling ear to ear!

Then it was Tutu time!  Everyone had to put on tutus, even the Daddies!  Since they were too small for their waists, they put them on their heads! 

I don't know who had the most fun that day!  

At the very end, it was the Daddies turn to dance for their daughters.  Miss Mary Beth taught the Daddies a short dance to perform for everyone.  Jonathan and J.D. Sullivan really got into the music and put on quite a show...Jazz hands and all!  

Go Jonathan!!!

What a special time for Lily and Jonathan!  I love how Jonathan loves all of his girls unconditionally.  He always makes them feel special and completely focuses on them and what they're doing together! 

Thank you, Angela Floyd for planning this precious Father/Daughter time.  We can't wait to do it again next year! 

And from far away the LORD appeared to his people.  He said, "I love you people with a love that will last forever.  I became your friend because of my love and kindness.  People of Israel, I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt.  You will pick up your tambourines again.  You will dance with those who are joyful."

Jeremiah 31:3-4

Daughters Are Special...

Especially Mine! 

On Friday, January 21st, Lily, Maddy, and I went on our first outing with our Home school Support Group.  It was a special Mother/Daughter Celebration at the Fountain City church campus.  Lily and Maddy were so excited to dress up and go out with their Mommy!
The girls had fun decorating treasure boxes.

We ate lots of special treats and then listened to all of the stories behind how each girl's name was chosen. 

Here is our precious first born, Lily Marie, and the story behind her name:

Soon after Jonathan and I learned that we were expecting our first daughter, we chose the name Lily. We both thought it was a beautiful, feminine name for our baby girl. When researching the meaning of the name Lily we discovered that it meant Blossoming Flower. The flower lily is a symbol of innocence, purity and beauty. These are words that we can use to describe Jesus. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2Corinthians5:21) We are praying for Lily and that she will set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. (1Timothy4:12b)

We wanted her name to include a part of me, so we chose her middle name after my middle name, Marie.

Here is our second-born, Madeline Faith, and the story behind her name:

When we found out that we were expecting another daughter, Jonathan and I decided on the name Maddy. We liked how our two girls who would be just 1 year apart would both have names ending in “y.” We named her Madeline and later found out that it meant High Tower.

Jonathan and I wanted her to have a strong middle name, so we chose the name Faith because of our strong faith in Christ alone. We love Hebrews 11:1 that says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We are praying that Maddy will stand strong and firm like a high tower and boldly defend her faith in the One who created her.

Lily and Maddy have always been close, but they are even more so now that they are at home learning God's Word together.  It makes me so happy that they have each other!

God was so sweet to me when He gave me daughters!  They are so special to me and I thank God every day that I have them to love and love me back! 

Here are all of the precious daughters that came to celebrate:   

I absolutely love our Home school Support Group.  I was so nervous when I went to my first Meeting in October and I prayed that God would wrap His loving arms around me.  Boy, did He ever?  They usually have a special topic or speaker, but that night in October was just a night of sharing, praying, and what I call "just being real."  It was exactly what I needed.  It was obvious that the Home school Support Group is one big family.  Everyone has made me feel so welcome and have opened their arms and hearts to our family.  I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful group of godly mothers!

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.  She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.

Proverbs 31:25-28