You say Aweo, I say Weo! [Basic quiche recipe]

A couple of days ago we joined a few friends for a relaxing brunch on the beach.  Aweoweo Beach Park is one of those places we love we just donʻt make it there very often.  The beach park has clean bathrooms, a dilapidated playground & of course a beautiful view!

 To say Iʻve been a bit scatterbrained lately is probably an understatement.  As I was planning this brunch with friends I had grand ideas of all the delicious things I would make. in the end I had an hour and luckily a refrigerated pie crust and some eggs.  Which means, ta da! Quiche!  Quiche is one of the first foods I learned to make without a recipe and rarely fails me.  You can add whatever you have in the fridge and get a full meal with little prep or actual cooking. 

 A beautiful view of Aweoweo Beach. this is the view from our picnic table so the beach is pretty close to where you can set -up.  My favorite thing since eating food with sand in it is just not fun for anybody, except for maybe my 20 month old that eats sand by the handful. 

 For some reasons there were tons of sea turtles out that day!  I even got to put on the snorkel mask and swim around with them and creepily watch them as they eat limu off the coral reef. 

 Overall another beautiful morning in Hawaii, all of which I am very thankful for!  

Zucchini Bacon Quiche with Goat Cheese and Fresh Basil

1/2 package bacon, any kind works

1 small-medium zucchini, diced

5 large eggs

1 pre-made pie crust, I like Immaculate Bakery

3/4 cup heavy cream, or Whole Milk

Salt & Pepper

6 leaves fresh basil 

Goat Cheese, to taste

• Cook bacon until crisp, crumble and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees 
• Lightly saute zucchini in a little olive oil, just a few minutes, it will continue cooking in oven.
• In a pie dish, unroll pie crust and press firmly into dish so there are no air bubbles.  Crimp edge fancy if you want. 
• Sprinkle cooled bacon and zucchini on top of pie crust.
• In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, cream and salt & pepper.  Pour mixture on top of bacon and zucchini. 
• Cut basil into thin ribbons and sprinkle over egg mixture. 
• Crumble goat cheese on top of edge mixture, use as much or as little as you would like.  
• Bake quiche at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until itʻs no longer jiggly.
• Serve warm or at room temp! 

thankfultwenty. [Slow Cooker Beef&&Broccoli]

Nicole's Official Thankful 20.
It's the small things. :)

[Thankful for this crazy kid!] 

1.  Going pee BY MYSELF.  If this ever happens it's a miracle, a joyous miracle. A shower is even more awesome.

2.  When the Wii remotes actually have batteries.  This is a rare and elusive thing.  If they don't have working batteries I then try to rotate the same 6 batteries hoping some combo of 2 will magically work.

3.  Free stuff.  Anything free makes me pretty happy.  Things to do with the kids, free food, free baby-sitting.  I'll take it all.  And the best?  Free coffee of course.

4.  When you get a really good lock screen/wallpaper combo on your cellphone.  Yeah, that makes me happier than it probably should.

5.  Unsolicited advice.  I really love when a stranger tells me something I don't want to hear or care their opinion about.  Oh, the baby's too old to breastfeed?  You don't think my carrier is safe?  Actually that was a joke.  Please leave me alone.

6. Mom time.  I am so grateful to have such an awesome husband that is always encouraging me to take a little time for myself.  Trips to Target, coffee with a friend, a nap.  All awesome.  I love him so much for that.

7. The "ignore" button on my cell phone.  It's not that I'm trying to ignore you, I swear, I mean I acknowledged that you're calling me by hitting ignore. Right? ;)

8. Pacifiers!  Tulip is a pacifier baby, just like her big sister Lily.  Those little inventions have saved many a Mom [&Dad] hours of crying.

9. E-mail.  That way if I have something I need to say to you that's too formal to text but I'm really avoiding having to talk to you about than I can e-mail you!  Problem solved.

10.  Potlucks.  Cook one thing and you magically have a whole meal with lots of options!  Hopefully some of them are semi-decent.

[Thankful for my new Kitchen-Aid!  Thank you Mama!]

11. Coastal.com.  Free glasses?  Yes, please!  Without them I would be rocking 3 year old glasses with a super weak prescription or ripped contacts that I'm sure would be eating my eyes alive.
If you want a pair just use the code: FIRSTPAIRFREE  Your welcome!

12. Bobby pins.  Without them I would probably cut my bangs off in a fit of rage one day.

13. Group texts.  When I can't be with my best friends I can at least harass both of them via text about watching Magic Mike at noon on a Tuesday.

14. Airplanes.  Without them I would never get to see my extended family.  At least not without an 8 day boat ride.

15.  Pinterest.  I'm sorry I love it so much, I just do.  I have a rad shirt that says, "Keep Calm and Pin Something" I'm that cool.

16. Tom Hardy.  Especially in Lawless when he's wearing a cardigan.  Yeah, pretty much.

17. That I'm not in The Walking Dead and I don't have to listen to Andrea & Dale every minute of the day.  Two most annoying people EVER.  I hope the walkers get you!

18. Magic erasers.  Otherwise my kid's wouldn't get to use the walls as their own personal coloring pages.  Oh, there not supposed to do that?  Could have fooled me.

19. Cloth diapers. Thank you for saving us ridiculous amounts of money every month & covering cute butts in the process.

20. Breaking Dawn Part II.  Not because it was so good but because I can finally stop making Andy take me to see them and we can do something different for our anniversary than watch the world's most ridiculous love triangle made square.

I know this was supposed to be a Thanksgiving thing but I've been kind of grumpy lately.  Shit has been going wrong, life has been frustrating and hard but I need to remind myself there is SO much to be thankful for.  The big & the little.  Thank you God for it all. <3

And now I leave you with this tasty recipe for.....

Slow Cooker Beef & Broccoli 

1 cup Beef Broth

2 tbs. Sesame Oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lb. sirloin, cut into strips

1 16. oz. package Broccoli Florets

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

2 tbs. Corn Starch

White Rice for Serving

[1] In a bowl whisk together beef broth and cornstarch.  Pour into slow cooker.

[2] Add sesame oil, garlic, brown sugar & soy sauce to slow cooker.  Mix well.

[3] Add in sirloin.  Cover and cook on high 6 hours or low 8 hours.

[4] Add broccoli florets, mix and cook an additional 30-40 minutes depending 

on how done you like your broccoli! 

[5] Serve over steamed rice! 

Mommy needs a beer. For....Cheddar Beer Bread!

Ahh.....the lovely 6 weeks post partum mark.

When all of reality comes back to kick you in the neck and ask you,

"Why would you think another child is a good idea??!"

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my baby girl.  She is all that is good about babies, chunky, sweet, sleeps a lot, little dimpled smiles.  Sigh.  But oh yeah, the other three.

I am starting to feel delirious.  I thought before was bad.  Three kids and 8 months pregnant was chill!

Another diaper to change, another person to cloth before we leave the house.  Another person to please, and this little person is only pleased by one thing!  Boobies.  Which happen to be attached to me and make it near impossible to get anything else done.

[My idea of a good time!]

This isn't really supposed to be one of those pity me blogs, cause it's not.  I don't pity myself and in general I love my life, there's not much to pity.  I get to be with my kids all day, I get to go to school, drink Starbucks, go shopping at Target, eat dinner with my husband every night. I mean honestly I don't need much to be happy.  Or maybe it's the opposite?  

I don't need much, but I do need it to be my way.......

Anyways!  Life is hard right now, I'm not going to lie.  I feel like sometimes my blogs are TOO happy?

If that's a thing?  Or maybe that they're a little misleading.  You didn't REALLY think I had all my shit together did you?  Ha, I'm such a great illusionist.

I've also started following a bunch of people on Instagram that I don't know.  This might seem irrelevant but it's going somewhere, I promise.  I see all these beautiful Moms with platinum hair and red lips making their kids homemade bone broth and fresh squeezed orange juice popsicles [wtf?!] for lunch and it makes me feel grossly inadequate.  I know I shouldn't compare myself, and for a long time I was doing good on that one but lately I have just been feeling like I'm not enough.

[I did vote tho!  So that counts for something right? :]

I'm not a good enough Mother, I can't keep all four of my children quiet for an hour and a half church service while my husband plays music and I try to get someone to hold the babies while I go up and play drums.

I'm not a good enough Wife, I complain.  I nag.
I do things over because he didn't do them the way I would have.

I'm not a good enough friend, if you text me with a 911 message I might text you back.  Next week.

I'm not a good enough student, I do every assignment an hour before it's due so as I'm doing it there's an awesome red countdown system that makes me feel like I'm also going to pass out from anxiety.

I'm not patient enough.  I'm not soft enough.
I'm not ladylike enough.  I'm not thin enough.

I'm not crunchy enough.

The list could go on, but do I want it to?  

I need to come to understand that no, I will never be enough.  I will never be a perfect version of all those things because I will never be a perfect person.  But luckily I don't need to be.

My identity, although I'm working on it, should first and foremost be in God.  Which is why I think I've been thinking so much about how I'm not enough.  I have definitely not been faithful enough,  I haven't been praying enough, tithing enough, trying enough.

It is so easy to let God go, to fall from his grasp and to turn myself to the daily buzz of life.  Such a hard routine to get into, thinking about him everyday, praying, listening, making him a priority when my day feels like it can't possibly hold anymore. 

 I can feel myself slipping away, getting weaker, so I know what I need to do to not let this world get to me the way it has before and it's never too late to start again.

Luckily my God forgives and to Him I will always be enough.

And now of course, the food!
Made this Cheddar Beer Bread for Tulip's Baptism and it was a hit!
I love the edges where the cheese & butter meet and make delicious crispy heaven.  Yum.

Cheddar Beer Bread

3 cups AP Flour
2 tbs. Sugar
I tbs. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 tbs. Honey
1 cup shredded Cheddar
1-12 oz. Bottle of Beer [I used Samuel Adams Pumpkin Harvest]
4-8 tbs. Butter [1/2-Whole Stick], melted.
*This depends on how buttery you want it, I used a whole stick and it was crazy good but REALLY buttery, I probably would do a half stick next time.

[1] In a stand mixer blend together all the dry ingredients.
[2] Using the dough hook add in your beer and honey and knead for 5 minutes or so. Add cheese and knead 1 more minute.
[3] Using a pastry brush pour half your melted butter into a loaf pan.  Make sure pan is completely greased.
[4] Pour dough into loaf pan & drizzle the rest of the butter on top.
[5] Bake for an hour at 350 degrees.  

Attention Please! [Home-Made Play-Doh]

Oh the brain, you tricky thing.  I just completed my 2nd [out of 16] week back in school.  

Yeay!  Right now, even tho my class is Human Development, we're learning a lot of basic Psychology stuff because obviously all these things are intertwined.  It's slightly stressing me out cause when I took Psych 100 like 7 years ago, I failed it. 

But I'm starting to believe that in some people's cases, hopefully mine, the older you get the wiser you get and this time around Psychology is actually starting to make a little sense! 

Right now we're learning about the brain and ATTENTION.  It might not surprise you, and I don't know why it surprised me but our attention is like a pie, it can't get any bigger than what it is it can only be divided in different ways.

When my teacher was explaining this he talked about multi-taskers, of which I definitely am one, and about how they think they are so great that they can do all these things at once when really you're not giving any one thing your full attention.  I was offended.  Multi-tasking has always been one of my greatest abilities.  As a mother I have stopped children from falling off tables, while sweeping the kitchen & talking on my phone.  That's a skill right?

But where I thought I saw strength I'm starting to see weakness.  Andy brought up with me the other day that it seemed like the kids always stress me out, this is true, they do.  That doesn't mean I don't love them, cherish them, would give my life to them but oh, do they stress me out.  Andy is the nurturer in our family, as much as you would expect it to be Mom, Andy is the one.  He can sit on the couch and snuggle with them all day.  Watch Pete's Dragon without getting up or looking at his phone ONCE.  He can read with them, do math lessons, teach them to make Top Ramen.  All this is done with patience, kindness and no yelling involved.

Does this make him a better parent than me?  I really hope not.  It was something we both had to come to understand, I love my family differently.  I love them by running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  By starting a load of laundry, making a grocery list, helping Lily with a worksheet, setting up a play date & yelling at Oliver to stop biting his brother at the same time.  This is how I function.  To me there are just not enough hours in the day to pause, to sit down at the table while the kids are eating lunch, there are dishes to wash, children to tame & muffins to bake at the same time.  But it saddened me to think that my husband could look at me and think my children just stress me out. 

As much as I hate to admit I may need to change as a Mother, I understand.  I see how much he loves  being with his kids, watching them ride bikes, and talking to them that I want to be like that too.  The house will never be clean.  The laundry will never be done.  Oliver will never stop terrorizing everyone.  So, I'm trying.  This is a semi-new revelation so don't expect too much of me as of yet!  

But I'm trying, if anything to be aware, to know when I'm doing too much and making the conscious decision that maybe my kids as people come first and not their next meal, or a made bed, or a certain Kitty towel freshly washed.  

So I've been trying.  To slow down.  To focus.  When I'm older will I be happy all the attention I gave to the things that dirtied themselves again, or will I be happy to know I sat with my daughters and painted their nails?  

I cooked lunch WITH Lily today instead of telling her to just "Let me hurry up and do it myself." 

 I still cleaned the kitchen while we made Play-Doh tonight but hey.....baby steps right?  

Home-Made Play-Doh

1 1/2 cups AP Flour

1 1/2 cups water

1 tbs. Vegetable Oil

1/2 tbs. Cream of Tartar

3/4 cup Iodized Salt

Food Coloring [any kind]

[1] In a medium saucepan mix together all the ingredients, any order is fine & make it any color you want!  Although I will warn you making a pretty Violet is doomed to begin with.

[2] Place saucepan on medium low heat.  Using a wooden spoon stir constantly.

[3] The "batter" will start to dry up and become a ball, this can take a few minutes.  About 5 or so.  Just keep stirring and watch the consistency.

[4] When it's starting to look like Play-Doh take it off the heat and turn it out onto a table to cool for a bit.  

[5] When it's cool enough to handle, I just start right away because I have asbestos hands, knead it like dough till it forms a smooth consistency.  Play on! 

[6] Store in Ziploc bags or containers.  Not sure how long it will last since ours magically disappears somewhere before the 2 week mark. 

Do all things without complaining.

I don't know how many times we have said the words "stop complaining!" to Jonas.  

Well to any of the kids actually, but Jonas seems to be our worst culprit.  Asking him to do anything usually ends up with a reply of "I'm tired." aka "I'm lazy."  Hopefully this whole blog doesn't come across as me complaining about my kids, oops. 

Andy and I consider ourselves to be hard workers, and I hope others do too so it's frustrating to have a child that doesn't understand the concepts of team work or being helpful.  If he is in the mood he can be the sweetest most helpful child but most of the time he's not.  As our kids get older, and I feel as we get more unprepared!  We have been trying to figure out different ways to get through to them that don't involve me shouting angrily and them ending up crying and not doing what I asked anyways.  I came across this idea on Pinterest, yes again, and really liked it.

[And darn you Pinterest, I feel like I will never again have an original thought. Sigh.]

I pretty much am in love with Mason jars & I don't even know how to can.  So far I've used them to make Vietnamese Veggies, hold homemade creamer, non-toxic cleaning solution concentrates, sort things, give mango salsa as gifts, wrap small baby shower presents, etc.  They're just so useful and awesome that I now buy them by the case.  

For this project it was pretty easy, we used the verse....

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Philippians 2:14

The kids decorated their papers and I taped them inside the jars.  Then we put change into each jar, the concept is each time they complain or argue when they should be doing something with thankful hearts then they get a quarter [or dime, hey we're broke.] taken out of the jar.  Each Sunday they get to keep the money they have left in the jar and Monday starts us new, cause even God gives second, or third, or  fourth....chances right? 

I'm really hoping this is just another way we can teach our children to do things with thankfulness, gladness and helpfulness for others because of everything we have been given by God without any payment.  Anything we can do would never be enough.  Hopefully this does not make them think they should get paid anytime they do something without complaining but I can see that happening too.  

We'll just have to see how this one turns out!  

I hope to raise children that understand that everything they have is a blessing.  To be thankful for all that they have and know that all of that comes from God.  I've been around to many complaining adults to ever want my kids to be that way.  For someone to always have more, better, prettier, happier.  All of those things will probably always be true but I am not here in this life to compare the things I do with what others have.  I want my children to grow up with joy & gladness instead of complaining, bitterness and a woe is me attitude.  

So hopefully having the attitude I want them to have will help, complaining is natural but with it should also be an attempt to solve those complaints or wonder why those things are happening instead of constant blame on someone else.   That being said that me, like my kids, can always use practice in being grateful!  

I found a free app for iPhone [free is pretty much the only app I have!] called GratitudeDiary.

It's a simple app, you just type something in that you are grateful for each day.  And really, one thing shouldn't be that hard should it?  It will give you friendly reminders to be grateful and I definitely could be doing more time sucking things on my phone.  Also they've done studies that people who write down what they are grateful for each day have less depression.  So go ahead, be grateful!  It can't hurt. 

Mornings are never good. [French Toast Iced Coffee recipe.]

If you know me at all, you know I am NOT a morning person.

I keep waiting year after year, child after child for my body and myself to understand that waking up early is just the adult thing to do. I always imagine waking up early, doing my prayers in a calm & quiet house and using the time before the kids wake up to be productive and wonderful.

But try as I might to convince myself, it just never happens.  I HATE mornings.  I don't like being woken up until I'm good & ready.  Of course I'm usually woken up to various unpleasant scenarios because of this.....Oliver somehow got his diaper off & peed all over our bed, Jonas & Lily are fighting over the iPad, someone is STARVING and must be fed rightthissecond or they will die.  The usual.

So, I know it might be time to give up this illusion of sleep that comes with being a mother.

Resign myself to the fact that I should be waking up before them, or if not at least before them than at least with them and not try to fight them off for an hour in bed grumbling that I just need 5 more minutes and wouldn't they be kind enough to leave Mommy alone?

A few things to help my morning transition go a little smoother.

A hot shower.

Waking up to a clean house. 

Cartoons.

COFFEE.

Morning prayer.

Cartoons for the crazies, since they don't get to watch much TV I do like it for the morning so they can let me shower in peace and if we can catch the Ryan Reynold's episode of Sesame Street, even better. 

I also love waking up to a clean house, ahh nothing is better than that.  

It's pretty rare but just such a nice way to start my morning without the stress that comes from already having a sink full of dirty dishes and yesterdays beach gear thrown all over the living room.  I know that stuff will come soon enough, an hour or two without it is my heaven.

& coffee.  My constant companion.

I made up an awesome French Toast iced coffee yesterday morning and its become my new addiction.

Seriously, so tasty. 

Yesterday morning Andy also found us an awesome prayer for morning time and I'd love to wake up everyday and recite it to help my day start off on the right track no matter if I'm waking up to a cup of water being dumped on my face or 3 pairs of feet in my face cause they all missed me so much in the night.  

I may never learn to love mornings, and people still might call me "The Beast" if I'm awake before 8am.  But I can choose to start my days better no matter what time that is and prayers & coffee will definitely aid in that.  

Morning Prayer of Consecration

Good morning, Lord!

I adore You,

I bless You,

I love You,

I praise You,

I thank You,

and I worship You!

Lord, I consecrate this day to You, and call upon the fullness of:

Your anointing,

Your grace,

Your guidance,

Your healing,

Your power,

Your presence,

Your protection,

Your provision,

Your revelation,

Your understanding,

and Your wisdom

to permeate everything that I do today.

I ask all this boldly and confidently:

To the eternal glory of God the Father in the might name of Jesus the son, and through the awesome power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

French Toast Iced Coffee

I cold French Press all my coffee, I just don't like hot coffee.  Weird I know, but at least here in Hawaii it makes sense.  So this is exactly how I make my coffee but you can tweak it to however you make yours!

[1] Put ground coffee, about 1/3 cup into bottom of French Press, I have a standard size.

[2] Fill with cold water & leave in fridge over night.

[3] In the morning pour coffee over ice.

[4] I use French Vanilla creamer, pure Maple syrup, about a tbs. && garnish with TJ's cinnamon sugar grinder!  

But really, you get the idea.  Tweak it to your taste, I like my coffee pretty sweet!

Happy Father's Day! [Sunday Slow Cooker Stew Recipe]

Had a great time celebrating Andy's 5th Father's Day this year!

At least I thought it was great, I hope he agrees.  

5 years & 3, soon to be 4 kids later he still amazes me with what a great Father he is.  

How much he loves his kids, the time he is willing to invest him in and how much he continues to grow  as a Dad.  Without his support, open mind and love I could not be the Mother I am.

The kids and I caved in and gave him all his Father's Day presents on Saturday night cause none of us are very good at surprises and Sunday mornings are usually a blur of papers, dresses & coffee in an attempt to get ready for church on time each week.

Besides a card the kids picked out we put together a deck of cards Reasons We Love You project that we found on Pinterest.  This one was hard for me because as much as I like cooking & birthing babies anything requiring precision on the computer only ends up in me being pissed off.  So I did my best, trying to remember the whole time that Andy would not want me to be stressing out over something for him.

We spent his actual Father's Day at church & then at the last day of our marriage retreat in Kalihi.

Came home to stew just finishing up in the slow cooker, I baked him an Apple Bundt cake & after the kids were in bed we snuggled up and watched The Grey.  

I could never do enough to show this man how much I love and appreciate everything he does for our family, so I just hope it is enough to tell him every chance we get. 

His surprise!  I was so excited to get these for him cause he never spends money on himself and Death Cab is one of his favorite bands.  So exciting that they are playing a new small venue here in Hawaii too, it will probably be our last big date night before Miss Tulip arrives! <3

[Father's Day 2012 Kalihi Valley.  Dad w/his homemade leis on. :]

Despite the looks on their faces they really do love their Dad!  

Or as Jonas would say "I like you really, really much!"

[I love this man.]

Papa Andy's Sunday Stew

1 lb. rump or chuck roast

5-10 red potatoes

4 carrots

1 yellow onion

1 can stewed Italian tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1/2 cup water

Salt & Pepper to Taste

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbs. corn starch

[1] Halve or Quarter red potatoes depending on their size, place on bottom of crock pot.

[2] Peel & cut carrots into fourths, add to potatoes.

[3] Peel & cut onion into thick slices, place on top of potatoes and carrots.

[4] Sprinkle seasoning on top of veggies, everything except corn starch.

[5] Add can of tomatoes & red wine.

[6] Place meat on top of everything, this is how to get a little crust on the meat which I like.

[7] Pour water on top.

[8] Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8.

[9] When stew is done cooking mix cornstarch with 2 tbs. of water, then add to stew pot to thicken juices.

[10] If you're doing this true Papa Andy style serve with white rice & soy sauce!  Yummy!

....So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.....

Don't tell me what to do [or] why I hate baby sign language.

We have recently been teaching Oliver baby sign language, we went to a free preview class that one of my parenting groups had and we all enjoyed it, big kids and all.

I see the benefits of it, I really do.  It's kind of amazing to see a child that can't talk yet really communicate with you.  The problem is, I don't like being told what to do.  

Not by my husband, not by my kids, and yes I admit it, sometimes not by God.  So while this baby sign language could be an wonderful exploration into how much smarter your baby is then the next, it has become a twisted game Oliver likes to play.

We learned a ton of fruit & veggie signs at the class along with some easy basic like please, thank you, more, etc.  Oliver has learned MORE.  Oh sure, on occasion if he feels like it he will sign "please" and "all done" usually "all done" after he has thrown his plate of food on the floor so it's already pretty obvious.  But "more" is his favorite!  And eat, of course.  

It's a frustrating thing to have a 1 year old follow you around all day long signing eat, more, more, more, more!  Like a 4 year old that asks "Why?" constantly.  It's cute in the beginning, but after about 3 days you're going crazy.

I have no idea what he wants more of?  I ask him and he'll storm to the fridge or go to the pantry and randomly start pulling things off the shelves like Panko bread crumbs & fast acting yeast.  I honestly doubt he wants more of that.  So yeah, at the age of one I feel like he's just messing with me.

And he knows it.

Ollie trying to look innocent after demanding MORE, MORE, MORE! 

He finally conceded that more watermelon was actually what he wanted.  

But darn it my kids are cute & adorable and all that other proud Mommy stuff and no matter how much I might complain I love them more than I could ever imagine. 

So here's a recipe for some fun treats I made for them today, hopefully to take on a  zoo trip this weekend!

Honey Nut-O Treats!

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup honey

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

5 cups Cheerios [or generic Toasted O's like us cool Moms do]

[1] Mix the honey and sugar in a medium sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

[2] Let boil for about a minute until everything is smooth.

[3] Turn the heat off and add peanut butter and vanilla.  Whisk. 

[4] Add in the Cheerios and stir to coat everything evenly.

[5] Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto waxed paper and let cool!

I keep these in the fridge cause it's humid here so they take awhile to set up.
Edit: Also I suggest making these pretty small, while the kids liked the taste they are hard to eat!  I would just use a greased teaspoon and make small drops, you will get a ton that way too! :)

Have fun! 

Easy Peasy! 5 in 5. 5 Fun Projects under 5 supplies!

I love projects.  Projects to do with my kids.  Projects to eat.  Projects to help me save money, to organize, to clean, etc.  I'm a project kind of girl.

Here are 5 really easy simple ones I have done in the past few days.

More to come. :) 

Try them out for yourself! 

1.  Easy bubble refills!

[1] Empty Container [2] Water [3] Original blue Dawn

The simplest of all the projects is making bubble refills.  I am constantly buying little containers of bubbles for the kids, they love them, they're fun and easy to do outside.  How can I say no?  

But moving back to Hawaii I'm realizing just how pricey this stuff can be so after buying the latest bubble installment of 2 bubble wands and they used them up in about 30 minutes I decided no more!

Besides the waste factor it's just so easy to do with something I already keep on hand, for stripping diapers, plant spray, etc.

Basically just mix the Dawn & water together, each container is a different size so the ratio will always be a little different but it's super easy to tweak.  Try and blow a bubble, didn't work?  Add more Dawn.

Now go have fun!

2. Banana Pops!

[1] Bananas, cut in half. [2] Popsicle Sticks [3] Melted Chocolate [4] Toppings

With all these easy projects they really are pretty self explanatory.  Something I like, sometimes I'm not in the mood to read directions and if I think I can figure it out on my own I'll usually try.

With these banana pops you just cut the bananas in half, insert a stick [be careful depending on how ripe your bananas are] dip in melted chocolate, chips warmed in the microwave work fine here & then sprinkle with whatever toppings you like!  I did chopped almonds for me and sprinkles for the kids.

Then you can either refrigerate them or freeze them depending on your mood.

I did fridge cause it's easier for the kids to eat.  Enjoy!

3.  Home made multi-purpose cleaner.

[1] Empty spray bottle [2] Citrus peel from one fruit [3] White distilled vinegar [4] Water

I have been looking for ways to save money all over, reduce waste in our home & environment and find some non-toxic ways to clean around all the babies.  Vinegar and citrus go great together!

After you eat a fruit, any kind will work and it will give the cleaner a slight smell, lime. orange. grapefruit. lemon.  Cut the peel into pieces that can be put into an empty bottle, make sure you don't have any of the fruit left on the peel, scrape it really well.

Add some white vinegar, a funnel is handy here if you have one.  I do enough to submerge the fruit about halfway and kind of use the end of the sprayer to poke the rest down.

Let that sit as long as you want, an hour or 24 if you feel like it.

Then fill the rest of the bottle with cold water and shake!

I actually don't know if this stuff "goes bad" I clean A LOT and my bottles are always empty before anything funky happens.  I haven't figured out a method to get the peels out of the bottle yet tho either......

4. Grape popsicles!

[1] Popsicle Molds [2] Halved red seedless grapes [3] White grape juice

Being ever thrifty this project is even a free one for us!  We get white grape juice & fruit vouchers on WIC.  Oh yes, thank you Women, Infant & Children.

Fill the popsicle molds with as many halved grapes as you want.  I like mine full because the frozen grapes are my favorite part, the kids only like a few.  Top off with the white grape juice & freeze!

A pretty healthy snack and nice when I'm sweltering to death 5 months pregnant in a 3rd story apartment with no air conditioning.  Boo.

5. Coffee Pot Fish Bowl

[1] Marbles, rocks, etc. [2] Water [3] Old Coffee Pot [4] Fish [5] Fish Food

This one really is as easy as it looks!  I cold brew all my coffee and someone had given us this coffee pot so I just put it away knowing eventually it would be good for something!  A few months later, someone gave us a pregnant guppy, now named Rainbow Dash, thank you Lily & that's the story! 

You can cut the cord off the coffee pot if that kind of thing makes you nervous, I just put tucked ours into the space for it on the back of the maker.  I took the filter out of the top too so I can store the fish food up there and there's no muss, no fuss!

Just keep swimming! 

 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,
Deuteronomy 30:8-10