Peanut Butter Bars

I made these as a kid, and remember how much I loved them. They are very easy to make and take little time.

Ingredients:
12 graham crackers, crushed
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

When I say 1 graham cracker, I mean a whole graham cracker (but when you buy the cheap kind, all of the crackers are broken)
Crush 12 of these. If you are lucky and have a Vita-mix, throw them into your Vita-mix and allow them to be crushed. If not, you can do the traditional zip-lock bag and rolling pin (still very easy).

Add all the ingredients, except the chocolate into a bowl. Then mix together. I use a hand mixer for this, but you can use whatever you need. Mix until it is a consistent texture.
-when you forget to prepare beforehand, like I sometimes do, you can soften the butter by cutting it up into tablespoon squares and zap all of the butter in a bowl in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. With this recipe, when mixing all the ingredients and the mixture seems to have a lot of chunks (from the butter not being soft enough) I throw the entire bowl in the microwave for 8-10 seconds.

Wash your hands and press the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. If wanting to, you can add broken pieces of pretzels to the top. You can also wait and put the pretzel pieces on top of the chocolate, which is actually easier.
Put the pan and it's contents into the fridge to help settle it as you melt the chocolate.
Put the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Put into the microwave for 45 seconds. Pull out and stir the chocolate, being sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so the chocolate on the bottom doesn't burn. Use the back of your spoon to press against the chocolate chips, helping to smash them.
Put the chocolate back in the microwave for 20 seconds and stir afterwards using the same technique. Continue melting your chocolate in the microwave ONLY 20 seconds at a time until chocolate is free from chunks.
Spread chocolate over the mixture in the pan. Refrigerate until set, or until you need it :). Cut into squares and serve.
See how easy that was?! I even enlist the "help" of my children for this one and there's usually not too much peanut butter on the ground afterward.

I'm Done

I belong to this babysitting co-op group in my town. It's nice because even though I really don't mind watching other people's kids because really, when you already have four, what's one more? But my problem is that when I need someone to babysit my kids, I feel badly about asking someone to watch 4 more kids than their own, and I find that two of my friends (you know who you are) end up watching them all the time. So I joined this group so that I could ask for help and not feel so badly.
With this group there are stipulations. I have to attend a meeting every quarter. They have a meeting every month, but every other month it is on a Sunday, so pretty much any non-Sunday meeting I have to go to. Well, after tonight I think I may be getting out of this group.
First of all the only other night they meet on is Monday night (FHE), which with Todd working this evening, we had ours this morning so it didn't really affect it this time. But as I sat there talking with these women, who are all very nice indeed, I realized that maybe I didn't belong.
One woman has never taken her three year-old to the library, yet kept bragging about how he can already read, another was saying how they were so happy when they found a preschool that would accept 24 month-old "kids".....that's not preschool honey, that's day care. There was talk of how they felt preschool should be required of all children, there was talk of how they wished that our government would pay the mothers that are stay-at-home-mothers....if the government were to do that it would come at a great cost, and the most detrimental cost would not be the higher taxes. Now don't get me wrong, these are wonderful women, great mothers, and I call a few of them friends, but I guess the real selling point of me getting out of the co-op is this:
Since Todd was working I had to bring my kids. The host, who is a friend of mine, was gracious enough to allow me to bring them along. They played well in the basement during the meeting (all but Grant, who was difficult, but bearable). When the meeting was over I went down to bring my boys up. They threw the BIGGEST FIT I have ever seen in my life. Another woman had to help hold William down as I got his shoes on, Roger was screaming at the top of his lungs, and Grant was pathetically crying the entire time. It didn't help that my friend's living room was small and very crowded with all the people present. I was just so grateful that Mikey was being obedient.I finally get all the boys out the door and shuffling towards the car (it's like 8:30 at night at this point) when William takes off running in the opposite direction. Do I leave the ninety and nine to go after the one or do I herd the group into the car first? What would all those women looking out the front window do in my situation? I'm sure that as I was leaving these women are thinking to themselves, "Remind me not to babysit for that woman." Having kids sure does keep you humble.

Botox, Anyone?

I don't understand why all those people spend thousands and thousands of dollars each year on botox. I mean really, I can get the same results with a lot less money. Here's how:

1-Lie down
2-Allow your child to hit your face (hard) with their head
3- Get amazing results that last for days!!!

*Disclaimer - to get truly awesome results, this will hurt, and if you do cut your lip with your teeth, the pain will let itself known every so often.

The Will-Dog is Three!

"I only have two birthdays" William informs us as he holds up two little skinny fingers. Well, now William has had three birthdays. Three years ago this little man joined our family, and we couldn't be happier about it.

William is such a joy to have around. He is incredibly easy-going, but will definitely hold his own when he feels it is needed. Easy-going yet stubborn...I wonder where he gets that from? He can be quite bossy. He will shout at the offender (even if he isn't even being personally bothered), giving them orders. He will even order me around. When I am pouring milk, he will yell at me, "That enough Mom!! That enough!!"
I would call him my quasi-boyfriend. He will give me little glances with a re-assuring smile. He winks at me, and pulls other cute faces to me.
He loves being like his bigger brothers, and does not consider himself small. He can actually hold his own quite well! He's probably one of my toughest kids. The other day during Grant's nap which we call our "Quiet Time" he hit his head on the corner of the wall. Knowing that he was to be quiet, I saw as he was trying to keep everything inside as his little head was throbbing.
He can pull the cutest frowny face, upturn the upper lip and make my heart melt. He does a good job of governing himself, so reprimanding him is rare, but when it does occur, it can be met with him frowning or putting his hands over his face.
Like I said, he has to be involved in what his older brothers are doing. I have been having "Learning to Read Time" set aside with each of my boys to teach them how to read. William insists on having his own time too, which is no problem. The problem is that he wants me to work with him on the same stuff that I'm working with his older brothers on. Unfortunately it's a little above his skill level.
He is very particular about his tableware (which little kid isn't?). He has to have the "glass" forks - for some reason these silver forks have been termed glass. He HATES having to use cups that are Primary Colors, and even though we recite the saying, "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit" several times each meal, I don't think he totally understands what it means, or else he's just playing me as he recites it joyfully then throws a fit a second later because I gave him a blue cup.
When I don't want him to do something, he'll insist that he's capable. Sometimes, it's even for his own good. He grabbed some sharp kitchen knifes and started playing with them. I immediately grabbed them (when I saw him with them) and told him he couldn't play with them. He came back with, "Mom, I'm being careful" - ya, with sharp knifes longer than your arms, I think not!
If I want him to do something, he'll insist that he's not able. He's been potty-trained for more than a year, and I am just now able to convince him to go to the bathroom without me pulling his pants up and down.
His voice cracks more than a teenage boy. The cutest thing is to hear him say, "I don't know" or "I don't want to" with his little voice going very high on the word after don't.

In celebration of his birthday, I asked him what he wanted for each meal. Breakfast was Crepples (no suprise there, he would have them everyday if I would make them for him). When I asked about the other meals he answered with Crepples.For breakfast I whipped out the Crepples and blueberries. I put a candle in William's Crepple as we sang to him. He loved this, and Grant loved it even more. He insisted on having a candle put into his Crepple as well, and he even tried blowing it out, but had to use William's assistance to get it out.For lunch my friend watched the three other boys as I took William out for lunch. He wanted ice cream for lunch, and I couldn't say no. But I was able to sneak other food in as well.
After dinner I read from my journal the account of William's birth. It was fun to see the boys' reaction to this story, especially when they were mentioned. Then we had some cake and ice cream (in the version of frozen Go-gurts). After William had finished eating his cake, he said, "I have a tummy ache" and gave out a long sigh. Well, after having ice cream for lunch and cake after dinner, I wonder why!After cake and cleanup, William opened his many gifts. He was very happy with them all.
We love you William and are grateful you were born!

You know that you

exercise too much when your children attempt to do their own exercises and yoga poses.
First thing in the morning I exercise. If I'm not running, I do some sort of work-out video. To help get my legs more stretched out I have taken up completing a lot of Yoga videos. The boys will usually be awake during this time and will come down to the basement and watch me. Honestly, sometimes I wish they wouldn't because when you're trying to do an awkward yoga pose, it's even more difficult to keep balanced in the pose with all the noise going on around you. Also I know that they want to make my exercise more resistive so that I can get more from it, but pulling a Pilate's Teaser while your child jumps onto your legs is NOT the easiest thing to do.Because of my children seeing that this is important to me, we have had discussions on what exercise is and what the purpose is. Now the boys, especially Roger, will do some funky move with their body and ask, "Mom, is this exercising?"

Are you jealous?

Rub-a-dub-dub,

four "men" in my tub

Reb-a-deb-deb,
four "men" in my bed

Orange Juice Snow

"Mom, we don't eat yellow snow......because it's pee-snow......and we don't eat brown snow because it's poo-snow" said by Mikey.

My kids are smart, very smart. But maybe I'm not too smart for this is one of our winter treats, Orange Juice Snow.
A couple of years ago we had snow outside, and in the excitement the kids started eating it. I had a jug of orange juice in the fridge, so we decided to make our own little treat.

Needless to say we still love it today...I'm just hoping that the only colored snow that they eat is Orange and given to them from me.

Bathroom Cabinets

Even though I did this about 6 months ago, I am just getting around to posting pictures. But don't worry, it only took me two years to get around to actually painting my cabinets, so I am ahead of schedule.

Here is what my bathroom cabinets looked like before:
In the photos they don't look too bad, but in real life the white of the cabinets with the white "marble-like painted swirls" countertop didn't mesh really well. They were two different whites. It made the room look washed out. Plus the cabinets were having pealing in places.

I decided to paint them black and give a little shabby-chic French style to them. I cleaned the cabinets (I am always very OCD about this first step, I don't know why, maybe because it's the only time I ever clean my cabinets) and took off the doors and out with the drawers.

I gave the cabinets a good sanding. Because I was going darker and wouldn't be needing the wood coloring, I did not sand the cabinets bare (I know, the professionals would be freak if they heard this, but we real people don't have the time for unnecessary stuff like that), just enough to make them smooth. Then I did a quick cleaning to remove the sand dust.

I added some wood scroll work on my two non-working drawers to give them more flare and a more French look for my French bathroom. I just purchased the scrolls at Home Depot and used wood glue to put them on.

Because I was painting the cabinets black, I did not need to use a primer. I taped around my work and I started painting. I find that painting the more intricate details first then painting the rest of the cabinets is more effective. Also, I had to paint a small area close to a mirror. The best thing to do with a mirror is to place some sort of Vaseline or even chapstick on the mirror. That way when you nick it with paint, it easily washes off. Something I had to learn the hard way.

After the first coat of paint life is a little discouraging. In your mind you picture some beautiful cabinets in the color you were imagining. Instead you find yourself with cabinets in a color that resembles a mixture of the color you are wanting and the color you started with. You almost want to lock the door and forget you even tried, but don't quit. If you painted your cabinets correctly, you didn't lather too much paint on the wood. Yes, this means that you will have to do several layers of paint, but it also means you won't have huge paint drips that run down the cabinet door (another thing I sadly learned from experience).

To give my cabinets the distressing look I wanted, I sanded them after each coat of paint had dried. This was difficult to do because you just get through painting the cabinet, seeing how nice a fresh coat of paint looks, and now you are going to destroy it?!! It sounds insane, but I not only like the shaby chic look, but have found it to go very well with 4 young boys.When you sand the cabinets, be creative. I usually worry about over-doing the sanding, but when I'm done I wish I would have done more. Just go and let the sander take you where you want to go. (Also, I would suggest investing in an orbital sander - best 10 dollars I ever spent). With previous projects, I've only sanded the outside edges, but with these cabinets, I let it fly in the middle also, giving it a worn look.

After getting my cabinets to look how I want, I applied several coats of Poly-urethane. This can be very difficult, don't shake the can, apply very gently, you don't want bubbles (I've made many mistakes).

Finish with putting the doors back on, drawers pushed back in. I like to put in new hardware, it gives it a nice new touch. And viola, you're done after many hours of ignoring your children and husband (when he's home) while dressed in old paint-stained pajamas, inhaling paint fumes all for the name of beauty and self-accomplishment.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:I have painted several other cabinets. The ones that we had in Athens, I actually did the kitchen ones, if I get around to it I'll post pictures of those also (don't hold your breath).

Guess What We Put Away?

After 5 years, we no longer have a high chair cluttering our kitchen. This is AMAZING!!! Instantly my kitchen feels so much cleaner and bigger.
The only nerve-racking thing is that now Grant sits on a tall bar stool. I can't complain though because he hasn't fallen, and he can't complain because he LOVES being up with the "Big Boys". He has been eating more and spending a lot more time at the counter.

Sometimes

I feel that my boys look like orphans.
I do care, really, but sometimes getting their hair combed, faces washed, ensuring that their clothes match, are clean and presentable is just too much for one woman to take care of.Isn't it enough that I make sure that they're safe, fed, loved, read to, sung to, played with, snuggled, validated, taught to, encouraged, listened to, disciplined, and kissed on.

Laundry Soap Recipe

I have been able to save a lot of money by making my own laundry detergent, and I don't have to run to the store to get some more! I make it about every six weeks - and I do a lot of laundry in my house, especially with cloth diapers.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 bar of soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup of Borax
2 Gallons of Water (32 cups)

For the soap use any sort of solid bath soap like Dial, Ivory, or your personal preference. Some suggest using Fels-Naptha, but I have found no difference with those that I have used, so I use the cheapest I can find. The amount of soap will determine how "gelled" up your detergent will be. If you want it more gelled, add more soap, less gelled, less soap. I usually use somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 bar - so would that be like 3/8 bar?

Washing Soda is NOT the same as Baking Soda. It can be difficult to find. You can call Arm & Hammer at 1-800-524-1328, the UPC code is 33200-03020. They can tell you the nearest store that you can purchase it at. If there aren't any stores near you, you can buy 3 boxes and get free shipping!

Borax is a laundry booster found in the laundry aisle. I had no problems finding this

You will need some sort of container to hold this laundry detergent. The recipe makes 2 gallons. To heat up the soap, I use my big canning pot, when finished I pour the detergent into an old detergent bottle- one of the Costco sized ones.

Directions:

Grate the soap (it is actually quite easy and smooth to grate). Fill a saucepan with water (at least 4 cups of water, but it all depends on the saucepan's size). Add the soap to the water, stirring occasionally. In a bowl, mix the Borax and Washing Soda together.

When the soap is melted, add the Borax/Washing Soda mixture into the pot. Stir until it is dissolved.

If you used a pot big enough to hold 2 gallons of water, add the remaining water needed to reach 2 gallons, stir, then when the solution is cooled down, pour the soap into whichever container you have assigned to hold the soap.

If not, pour your soap solution into a bucket (or whatever you have planned to hold your detergent) then add in the remaining water that is needed. Stir until mixed well.

If you would like, at this point add in 10-15 drops of an essential oil. I like to put in Tea Tree oil.

Let soap sit for 24 hours.

When washing:

Use about 1/2 a cup of soap per load. Be sure to either stir or shake your soap between each use to keep the contents more congruent.

Does this get clothes cleaned? I've been using it for almost a year and can tell no difference between this and the much more expensive stuff I bought at Costco (it's amazing how cheap making this soap is), but I don't recommend looking at my boys' clothes as for proof of the soap's effectiveness - remember these clothes have been worn by 5 boys (their clothes are hand-me-downs from my nephew). But in reality, the soap is effective and I have had no problems with it - and I wash cloth diapers with it, so that should say something. I will tell you though that you won't get a lot of perfume-y smells from the soap, so if you want a scent, add in an essential oil.

Is this safe for my HE washer? I have a front loader and have had no problems with this soap. True I have had problems with socks, but not the soap.

Now wasn't that easy? Now you can have more chocolates with the money you will save.

Back to School

Oh ya, not really for usHave I mentioned that I love homeschooling