Madness of March

NCAA tournament?
Brackets anyone?
Sweet sixteen playoffs tonight?
Is this why family dinner has turned into pizza in front of the TV?

I love basketball, but thank goodness the madness is limited to March.

Now if only I could get my madness in line......

In the meantime, Go Cougars!
And as always, I'm pulling for Duke for in the Finals :)

Weekend Mirths

{Saturday's rainbow}

We've been experiencing some delightful weekends lately, which is odd, because we create mile-long to-do lists and it seems like we rarely take the chance to sit down (but of course we do-hello, it's March Madness!). While our weekends aren't restful, they are full of good food, family, a chance or two to sleep in, and the simple satisfaction of a few check marks.

These plain Jane activities have been salve to our poor little run down bodies, and the only thing that could possibly be better would be a weekend of doing nothing. Sadly, a weekend like that is nowhere in sight. We only have 3 more weeks of class and deadlines are becoming suppressive, not to mention our grueling schedule is really starting to take it's toll. As Jeffrey so fondly quoted, we feel "like butter spread over too much bread" (can you tell me what movie that is from??). We drag ourselves out of bed, puffy-eye and tousled, and sixteen hours later collapse right back into those same spots we abandoned that morning. Half the time, I don't even know what day it is.

However, the sun still shines! And we are still living, loving, and laughing. With all that we've been given, we couldn't possibly live any other way. We're so lucky to be getting an excellent university education, we're lucky to have good jobs, and we're beyond lucky to have each other to "suffer" alongside. Finding joy in our little journey is sometimes a difficult task, but here is how we accumulate bushels of joy on our everyday ordinary weekends:

{breakfast in bed, as I've said before, my ultimate indulgence}

{nothing says joy like a tea party with your husband, little neighbor girls, and their mother}

{fitting all the family on our couch for homemade waffle sundaes and movie night}

{nobody makes waffles like the Draper men}

Hey Mister

Can I just tell you about this guy for one second? I could, of course, take much longer than a second, but Jeff will already be upset with me for that one measley second so I have to move fast.

This guy gets up at 4:45am every Tuesday and Thursday to take a 1 hour bus ride into the city where he works. He then gets off work at 4pm, rides the bus back for another hour, and walks himself home from the bus walk, it's at least a mile-long walk. He does all in the attire you see above. He comes home a little rumply, and sometimes tired, always very hungry, but you know what, he rarely complains. In fact, he may never complain. The closest he comes to complaining is when he bemoans all those lucky people who don't have to work over 20 hours a week and go to school, or when he begrudgingly pulls out his books for the first available opportunity to do homework that day and it's already 7 at night. And then he grinds his way through arduous and endless math problems, refusing to give up on a major that is infamous in its difficulty. He works so hard. I've always loved and respected that about him. He does whatever it takes to take care of us and to make me happy, and I can't help but love that too.

So when he came home the other day and the sweet little neighbor girls, seeing him all dressed up, asked, "Are you dating Rachel?" I smiled to myself and thanked God that no, he's not just dating me, he's my husband.


Love you Jeff :)

Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecakes

I don't really like packaged foods, particularly packaged cookies. Sometimes the junk food bug bites me though, and I might be tempted to eat them, but the number of times I've actually given in are probably so few that I can count them on my hands. There is, however, one exception: oreos. I love oreos. I love that you get a big ole black crumbed oreo mouth when you eat them. I love that you can eat it as a sandwich cookie, or you can twist it apart and lick out the frosting (I don't think about what the frosting is made of when I do this....that would ruin it) and I love how it goes so well with milk. Oh and it's great with peanut butter as well.

In this super fast, SUPER easy recipe, the delightful marriage of peanut butter and oreos is made, and perfected, if you wash it all down with a cold glass of milk.

The Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecakes recipe from one of my fav cooking blogs, crepesofwrath.net. I hardly made any changes, but I would recommend using double stuft oreos....if you dare. And if you super dare, these would be ridiculously delicious topped with chocolate fudge sauce....and maybe a dollop of whipped cream. Mmmm, like I said, ridiculously delicious.