Snow Day

Because of a record-breaking snow storm, we didn't have school today... and don't tomorrow either. While I'm not looking forward to extending the school year past Memorial Day, I am enjoying some Mommy/Gracie time!

So far we have tried out a new Baked French Toast Sticks recipe. Super yummy, especially since we used homemade bread! We spent nearly an hour just watching it snow. And we built apartments for all of her Little People princesses. Gracie climbed into her own 'apartment', too!

We have more fun planed for after nap time, and we're really hoping Daddy gets to come home from work soon. I'm guessing he ends up staying in a hotel for the night, but Gracie wants to "See Daddy" really badly! So we shall see!

Drive-In Movie

For Valentine's Day, Grandma bought the grand kids The Ooglieloves Movie. They were all excited to watch it yesterday. We made cars - with steering wheels, of course, so that each munchkin could drive to the show. It was cute watching them stock their cars full of books, pillows, blankets, lovies, toys, etc. Another fun morning!

First Manicure

So apparently pink toes AND pink fingers are super fun when you're 20 months old. It was a bit of a challenge to keep her still long enough to let the pale pink polish dry, but she did it. I actually painted both girls' nails... yes, that's 40 tiny fingers and toes. It was fun! Pretty soon there'll be 60 tiny fingers and toes to paint, so I'm just getting practiced! I couldn't get Kia to hold still long enough, but here are Gracie's 'peety pink fingos'. I love her chubby, yet dainty hands. The way she holds a crayon or pats her baby's back with them is so sweet. I'm a little jealous though, she seriously has great nails!

Homemade Granola Bars

As I mentioned before, I've been finding ways to save money and eat healthier by making my own version of some of our family's favorite foods.  More often than not, my homemade creation tastes better than the store bought item it replaces.  My homemade granola bars are no exception.  They taste fantastic!  Better than any granola bar I've ever bought.  I've also done some tweaking to save time and work, which makes me even happier!

I started with this recipe from The Cheapskate Cook (looking at the blog title made me like the recipe from the start!).  She offers plenty of tips and advice when making the granola bars, so if you're trying these for the first time, I'd definitely start there.  I've made 3 varieties - Blueberry Maple, Cranberry, and Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I've enjoyed all three flavors, but the loves in my life (specifically Ryan, Gracie, Stephanie, and Kyle) prefer the Chocolate Peanut Butter most.  So, that's pretty much the only variety I make right now.

In the original recipe, she has you press the granola mixture into a square baking dish, bake it, then cool and cut.  Let me tell you, it's not easy to cut through the thick, chewy goodness of these bars.  So... because I'm a genius (didn't you know that?!) I have come up with the lazy approach to making granola bars.  I use silicon cupcake liners... bought them at Walmart for $1.97 for 6 of them (I have 24), and they come in fun colors... but anyway, I press the granola mixture into silicone cupcake liners.  It cuts the baking time drastically, also cuts the cooling time, important only if you're an anxious 5 year waiting to devour your handiwork!

The recipe makes around 15 granola "muffins", which means I'd have to buy 3 boxes from the store to reach the equivalent.  They make it about a week and half at my house... but we eat them for breakfast, snacks, and dessert.

Here's my version of the recipe.  I'm not a measurer... so just eyeball it, you can't mess it up!

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
• 1/3 cup flour (I use whole wheat, but it doesn't matter)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 - 3 cups of nuts and chocolate chips (I just fill 2 - 3 cups with a mixture of walnuts, flaxseed, slivered almonds, and milk chocolate chips)
• 6 Tbsp melted butter (non-dairy substitutes well)
• A giant spoonful of peanut butter (the big silverware spoons - see, I'm not a measurer!)
• 3 Tbsp water 
• A giant spoonful of honey (squeeze until your fingers are hurting, that's plenty)

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl (including the sugar).  This is a great time to involve kids of all ages (another reason why measurements aren't exact).
2. Whisk together wet ingredients until smooth.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Stir to coat.
4. Spoon granola mixture into silicon cupcake liners.  Press firmly to pack down granola.  I use another silicon liner as a "mitten" on my hand to prevent a mess.
5. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. 

That's it!  They're super simple and seriously the best granola bars ever.  If they're too crumbly, add more water and/or butter.  The 10-15 minutes of baking time is a perfect time to fill the empty bowl with soapy water to wash all the sticky utensils.  Then when you pull the granola muffins out of the oven, you're done!  

And as I finished typing this post, Kyle came in from the kitchen asking, "Hey!  Where are the chocolate chip granola muffins?!"  See... approved by a picky 5 year old... must be good!  

Success!

Only slept for 2 and a half hours (which is short for her) but Kia slept in her big girl bed and liked it! We'll try again tomorrow at nap and maybe even all night when she spends the night tomorrow, too!

Kia's Big Girl Bed!

This morning as I was changing the sheets on my bed, Kia came in and asked to help.  We got to talking as she was gathering pillows to be cased, and I asked if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed, instead of a baby's pack and play.  She thought about if for a minute, and decided that she liked the pack and play better.  It was kind of a random thought I had, but as I was talking to her, I found myself trying to convince her that she was ready to move into a big girl bed.  First of all, she's almost as long as the pack and play, so for the past few weeks, I feel uncomfortable just thinking about her scrunched up in there.  And she'll be moving to a big girl bed at her own house in just a few short months.  So I thought, why not try it out at nap time to see how it goes?!

Well, it didn't take much convincing.  Just letting her pick out the sheets and the blankets was enough.  I added pool noodles under the fitted sheet on each side of the bed to help prevent falling out of bed, along with a side rail a friend gave us a while back.  Then Gracie, Kia, and I crawled into bed around 10:00 this morning to "practice" sleeping in a big girl bed.  We talked about staying in bed until Aunt Nerned (that's me!) comes to get you.  We also talked about all the other things big girls do, like go potty in the toilet and not suck on a paci (we'll be getting rid of Gracie's in the next few months).  It is the first of many changes as Kia transitions to being a big girl.  She's ready, even if she doesn't know it yet!

When nap time came, she asked to put her pack and play back up.  I told her we'd give this a try today.  She wasn't too sure, but I think she's going to enjoy the extra space!  Here she is all tucked in.  Three stuffed animals and baby doll bottle, just in case they get hungry.

A Bread-Making Genius!

Yes, that's right. I am a bread-making genius!

I decided that one of my goals this year was to make more homemade foods for our family to enjoy. My goal was not about making a bunch of sweets and things, more like replacing ultra-processed foods we normally consume. Like granola bars, biscuits, and sandwich bread to name a few. My motivation in doing this is to avoid ingredients that I don't understand (meaning I can't pronounce them or don't know where they came from) and also to save money in our family budget. Ryan and I recently reassessed and I made the commitment to reduce our grocery/toiletries budget from $600 to $400 per month. That includes all food, toiletries, diapers, and miscellaneous things we pick up at Walmart and Target. I should also mention that I don't really shop at Walmart (or Target) weekly anymore. My main store is Aldi's. And I love getting out of there for around $45 each week. Very satisfying when I'm used to spending almost $100. I stop at Walmart about every two or three weeks for the things Aldi's doesn't sell. We also make a Sam's Club trip monthly for diapers and chicken. And it's only fair to mention that we buy a whole hog and a quarter cow each year, too. So my weekly grocery trips don't often include any meat. But I digress... saving money and the health of my family (including my niece and nephew) are my main motive.

I searched for a dairy free bread recipe and landed on this one from The Curvy Carrot. I altered it to fit my needs, subbing non-dairy butter for Kia and replacing half of the white flour with whole wheat. I also have opted out of buttering the top of each loaf after cooking because I'm still on Weight Watchers and I can't justify the points. I'm still in the dark ages and I don't have a bread machine or a stand mixer. But that's okay, I kind of enjoy kneading bread by hand. After 10 minutes of it, I have a little more respect for a real farm wife, but all in all, I like the work of making bread.

So here's where the genius comes in. The recipe makes 2 loaves and the author and several commenters will tell you they are giant loaves. The bread just rises and rises. So much so, that a third of the bread is sticking out above the toaster when you try to toast it. And it's kind of difficult to cut because the pieces are so tall that its easy to slant the knife and end up with a wide top and skinny bottom on the slice. So it occurred to me, after 10 or so loaves (I know, what took so long?!) that maybe I could make 3 loaves instead of 2. That would mean the bread would last our family for 3 weeks, rather than 2. It would make it so the whole slice toasts. And it would decrease the Weight Watchers points value, because I'd be getting more slices. I'd also save money on the deal.

So tonight I tried it. And it worked!!! It's actually just the size of regular sandwich bread. I can cut it perfectly straight and I've got 2 loaves in the freezer, which will last us through the end of February. I haven't figured the cost exactly, but my homemade bread is much cheaper, much healthier, and tastes much better than what we used to buy at the store. Like I said, GENIUS!

Book Storage

Gracie is all about books. She loves to be read to and she loves to read books herself (ie. flip trough the pages looking for puppies). But either way, Gracie's books end up on the floor a lot! Kyle and Kia are big readers too, so when we're altogether, pretty much every book ends up out. I LOVE that they're all readers, but I don't like that the kids can't pick up the books without a lot of assistance. They just end up in a heap on the shelves until I stand them up properly. Even Kyle has trouble putting books away the 'right' way.

So I decided to search Pinterest for book storage ideas. I ran across the idea of turning a bookshelf on its side to store things. It occurred to me that I could have Ryan build small shelves to help store books for little readers. I still wanted her books to be easily accessible, but I wanted the kids to be able to clean them up unassisted too! I also liked that they could choose their book by seeing its cover, instead of pulling out book after book because the spine isn't helpful when you can't read words yet.

After 2 hours in the garage and about $25 in wood, here's what Handy Daddy built for us! They're perfect and exactly what I imagined. Gracie has already put books away... independently and successfully!

Before and after... much better!

Pink Toes!

Gracie got her first pedicure, courtesy of Momma this weekend. We've tried painting her toes once before and it didn't go so well. But this time she watched in fascination as I painted mine first. Then she chose her own color, we turned on Barney, and she sat relatively still while I painted her tiny nails and waited for them dry.

She loves the finished product and checks to make sure they're still pink every time she takes her socks off! Daddy said they were pretty, but did mention that she's still his baby girl.

Here she is wearing her dress up shoes this morning. Hilarious!

Cap Agoo

So we went out for Chinese after church. And Gracie LOVES Chinese food. She also loves this lady that works at North Dragon (she hates a different lady, but we won't go into that). So as we were looking at the menu, Gracie says, "I want cap agoo!" I looked at her and she repeated, "I want cap agoo!" I just giggled because I seriously cannot believe this child's vocabulary! Any guesses on what she wanted to order?!

She is definitely Momma's girl! We're both chatterboxes and big fans of cap agoo!