Beautiful Family Weekend + a Chocolate Chip Pancake Recipe

When Jamie’s away with the Army, I miss him fiercely in both the little and the big moments. I find myself vowing a hundred times over to never take for granted our togetherness once we get it back.

If he were gone this weekend, I know that I would have really missed him. Spring showed its face and Kansas was beautiful. Low 70s, bright blue skies, and zero commitments. We didn’t do anything worth writing home (or a blog post) about, but I found myself making a mental note to soak this up. These are the days you always wish for when you’re apart, Erica.

We shopped. Ate a family dinner out at 4:45. Exercised. Snuggled as a family in bed two mornings in a row. Painted trim. Washed cars. Played at the park. Turned off the heat and opened the windows. Cleaned bathrooms. Played music. Worried together over a temporary high fever. Ate pancakes. Sang at church. Made a toddler giggle endlessly. Snuggled more.

I so loved and am so grateful for this weekend. We love to travel and play hard, but simple days at home together just the three of us are so needed and so wonderful.

Our Sunday morning tradition:

Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe

Ingredients for eight pancakes:

3 cups flour
2-1/3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
splash of vanilla extract
chocolate chips to taste (in the DeSpain house “to taste” means about 1/4 cup)

Directions:

In separate bowls, combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Stir bowl of wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Cook on greased grilled. Enjoy immensely.

Poor, pitiful Mickey.

P.S. This is our most favorite kitchen product. We use it to make perfect pancakes, grilled sandwiches, and grilled steaks and chicken (when it’s too cold to grill outside).

Thanks for the link-up, Ember Grey!

Erica

Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo

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