Winter Weekends

This is what we do for FUN around here (BRRRR!)
At least I was able to talk Lee into a trip to the mall in the evening :)

Valentine's Day

Last year on Valentine's Day I had to buy 4 new tires and sit in the tire shop all morning while Lee spent the day (year) in Afghanistan!!! SO, I knew this year had to be better :)

Lee bought flowers for B and I, and candy for G! We had planned to eat at a restaurant in town, so he dropped everything off there on his way home and surprised us with it at the table!
How SWEET!!!!

Cabin Fever

Even though it's been a mild winter, we are starting to go a little crazy because of lack of time outside. Lee set up the tent in B's room and let the kids sleep in it last Saturday night. Other than the fact that they got up at 5:30am!!!! they did great and had a blast!

Sleepy heads :)

Oatmeal Bars (Oatmeal Breakfast Clafoutis)

I'm always looking for easy, make ahead breakfast food. Lee HAS to eat in the morning (and the kids, obviously) and I'm NOT a morning person.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and LOVE it. You can make ahead, freeze individually, and then heat up as needed. They can also be taken to go!!! Perfect combination for this house :)

They are also very versatile, you can add in any type of fruit/nut combination you like. I used raisins, craisins, and pecans.

Find the recipe here.

Lee's new ride!

Gas prices + 700 mile weekly commute = Toyota Prius


It just needs a couple stickers...
maybe NRA, "Don't Tread on Me", or an upside down American flag??? :)

Spirit Week

Tuesday was Grant's 100th day of school!!!!!!!

They celebrated all week with Spirit Week. They had a theme for each day, a special chapel service with story each morning, had 100 snacks!, wrote 100 words, and had a lot of fun.


Monday - Inside Out Day

Most of the kids (and teachers) even had their pants on inside out, but Grant wouldn't do it. He said the pockets were weird. So he just wore his shirt inside out.

Tuesday - Career Day

Our little farmer :) HIS choice of career.
He wore a JD hat, JD tshirt, flannel, jeans, rubber boots, a belt with pliers attached.

Kindergarten Class: football player, cheerleader, 2 stay at home moms :), gymnastics coach (like her mom), farmer, football player. His teacher was a missionary.

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday

I must not have taken a picture of Wednesday....but he wore camo. Not really wacky for him, but the only day I'll let him wear camo to school :)

Thursday: Class Color Day
Kindergarten was BLUE

I don't know why this picture is so small. He won best dressed boy for his class this day b/c he had blue undies, socks, 2 blue shirts and blue jeans.

Friday - Favorite Team Day

ISU jersey and a tattoo on each cheek!

Frittata

Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omellete or quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, veggies or pasta. It may be flavored with herbs. (from Wikipedia)

This is SO good, easy, and can be made with whatever is in your fridge + eggs!

Saute' the veggies (here is sweet potato, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and spinach)
****Use an oven proof skillet, as you will bake this for a bit****

Whisk eggs and pour into veggies, I used 5-6 eggs
Let cook for awhile on med-low heat, lifting up the bottom to make sure it doesn't stick and letting some of the egg mixture flow underneath. When it is cooked on the bottom but still runny on top, stick in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Throw some cheese on top if you wish.

Done! Slice and serve, easier (and fancier) than omelletes.

Slow Cooked Mexican Pork Carnitas and Cilantro Lime Rice

Slow Cooked Mexican Pork Carnitas (Spicy Mexican Pork)
Recipe HERE

Cilantro Lime Rice
Recipe HERE
*I would suggest cooking your rice according to pkg directions, then adding lime juice, cilantro, etc...following her recipe, my rice wasn't quite done.

Homemade Guac (YUM!)
I used a combination of these two recipes HERE and HERE

This is SO good and different from our usual homemade Mexican food.
G thought it was okay (he ate it), B thought it was to spicy, and Lee and I loved it! Lee loving Mexican food is really saying something.

Homemade Granola Bars

Super easy, super yummy and pretty healthy!!!

I found the recipe on Pinterest, where else?

Individually wrapped in plastic wrap so you can take them with you!

The original recipe is below. I omitted the chocolate chips and added raisins instead. Next time I would add cinnamon with the raisins, and I would use a little less butter as they were just a bit soft. I am going to try them with peanut butter too, oh maybe pb and chocolate chips! You could add craisins, nuts, coconut...anything really! They are easy and quick, and no ingredients that you can't pronounce like the store bought ones.

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
yield: 10 bars
adapted from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan {about 12x8x1} and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. {If your pan isn’t small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together.} Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Recipe Notes: If your granola bars don’t seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have made them too thin or you didn’t pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together. {Be sure not to keep them in there too long or else they’ll become super hard!} The next time you make them, try reducing the butter to 3 tablespoons and really packing them down.

http://www.laurenslatest.com/no-bake-chocolate-chip-granola-bars-easy-healthy/