Granola Bar Cookies

I came up with the recipe I am sharing about three weeks.  My boo, Julie and my Ma both tried them and were instantly hooked. Most importantly, my hubby lurves them. I was going for a granola bar alternative that was simple and makes a lot at one time. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Granola Bar Cookies

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, softened

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, muscavado, or sucanat

6 eggs

2 cups peanut butter (natural or regular)

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups regular oats (not minute oats, gluten free oats work great too)

2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup raisins

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter or oil in mixer, gradually add sugar and honey beating well, add eggs till blended well, add peanut butter, vanilla , soda, and salt. Stir in oats, chips, raisins, coconut, pecans, mix well. Drop in 2 tablespoonfuls per cookie on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes till lightly golden. Cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheets and then transfer to cooling racks. Makes 48 cookies. 

A few tips: these are even better if the dough has been chilled for an hour more. Julie used an ice cream scoop to dole out her cookies. These could definitely be made with quite a bit less sugar, but I would not skimp on the honey. These are also yummy with craisins. Coconut oil makes a thinner cookie if the dough is not chilled. 

Gramm's Book Party

Gramm and I began working through the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons roughly two years ago. There were quite a bit more than 100 lessons taught and they were not all easy. As a reward for finishing the book, I promised Gramm that we would have a "book party" to celebrate. He finished the book last year right around the time we sold our house and were too busy to partay. So, tonight the long awaited book party came to pass.

 The guests of honor, L to R, John Isaac, Jonathan, Gramm, my nephew and niece.

Each child was asked to bring their favorite book with a passage ready to read to the group. My niece started us out reading from Anne of Avonlea. I did not get to snap a pic of her sweet self because things were a little cray at that moment (i.e. twin girls and baby boy wanted in on the action).

 John Isaac read from Scout and did an excellent job. Dude is gifted.

 Sweet Brooklyn and Vivi had to be included. I read one of Vivian's fave Bearenstain Bears books and then Brook "read" this silly Elmo book that she loves that is roughly 15 years old.

 Jonathan read a passage from this book and had everyone laughing. It was quite funny. Jonathan is somewhat of a ham and fills my house with the sounds of his made-up songs on many occasions.

 My smart and handsome nephew read from Silmarillion. The passage he chose was beautiful and he read it in his sweet, clear voice and I almost cried. Hubby listened in on this one and was also struck by the sweetness. This boy is so precious!

 Gramm read from Go, Dog, Go! He loves that book, especially the dog party at the end. He is truly a child after my extroverted heart.

 Then, I let the kiddos make their very own pizzas. Most of them were heart shaped. I love this girl's smile in this pic. She is a lot of fun and made me laugh more than once during the evening. She is also very sweet and has a great little personality.

 I made this cake for the party earlier in the week. It's a heart shaped, four layer Chocolate Fudge Cake from the Southern Living 1983 cookbook. I died. I DIED. This cake was a huge hit.

I love these silly faces! And, I love that Gramm included his sisters in his book party. At first he was hesitant, but he did not complain one time during the evening about their presence. When we were making our own pizzas, I paired Brooklyn with Jonathan and Vivian with my nephew and the boys were HUGELY helpful. Both of these boys have tender little souls and were very kind to the girls and did not get frustrated with them one bit.

All in all, the party was a huge hit. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to teach Gramm how to read, but also to really be able to enter into the celebration of his accomplishments which is something I hope to do throughout his life.

Warm Weather and Good Books

The kids and I have been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather. We've taken almost daily walks and gone to the park several times. Getting outside and seeing my kids enjoy being outside brings me joy.

Speaking of joy, I am reading two great books right now that are chipping away at my guilt-ridden heart and bringing more peace and joy into my life and consequently, our home. Fit to Burst by Rachel Jankovic is a great book for mamas everywhere. Rachel is mom to six young kids and this book is a not-too-long, gospel-centered look at mothering. Get it, people. She also wrote Loving the Little Years which is another amazing book for moms of little ones. And, she has TWINS. Serious street cred right there y'all.

At my hubby's suggestion, I am also reading Desiring God by John Piper. I am barely into chapter one and it is rocking my world. Enjoy God? Accept the fact that I am pardoned from sin? Actually stop trying to pay for my mistakes (repeatedly at times)? What?! I don't know if I can do this. Either way, I am trying. I long to understand grace and feel it to the depths of my toes. I have prayed those exact words more than once. (And as an aside, can I just say that I LOVE John Piper. Truly. He just gets it.)

One more little thing I am enjoying is the Mom's One Line a Day Journal. The journal is set up so that you write one line a day for five years. I bought this last year and wrote a line most days of the year. It is super quick and so much fun. I love looking back at last year. So many milestones in 2012: selling our old house, buying a new one, saying goodbye to our first foster son, and welcoming into our home our baby boy who we hope to adopt in the near future. It was a great year and I am grateful for the ability to jot down my memories of these days with my little crew.

Happy Weekend!

Lately

I made yummy bread with my boos. I found the recipe in Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kennison. I highly, highly recommend this book to all you mamas out there. Bread was easy and tasty.



We had my precious, hilarious, lovable niece over to play. I had her and the twins do a few "exercises" in order to create a few moments of calm.



My handsome and very handy man made me a foot stool to make giving our baby boy his bottles much more comfortable and easy on my granny knees. Love this man!!

I took my bigs to the Green Corner Store to get kombucha and ice cream sammies from Loblolly Creamery. Deeeelirsh!! (V on left) I also bought myself some of my new favorite make up...made locally here in Little Rock. Etniq is the brand and it is amazing and great for sensitive skinned, chemically conscious peops.

I am loving being able to take my girls on a date about once a week or every other week. Their favorite place: Black Angus. Such sweet times with my girls over chicken strips and fries.

I discovered this book on hubby's side of the bookshelf. I am in love. Head over heals in love, I tell ya!! So so good.

Crazy Crazy Christmas

 Christmas started off with a bang this year. Gramm decided to make and sell ornaments in order to raise money for Gospel for Asia. He did odd jobs around the house and for his grandparents and raised over $100. I was so proud of this dude. He and his bud down the street combined their hard earned cizash and purchased several needed gifts for people in Asia.

 The month of December was very full with homeschooling the big boy, the twins at preschool and adjusting to life with a sweet little babe around (sorry no pics can be posted at this time).  We had about six different Christmas celebrations planned with family, the first one being at our house. This was our first time to host something in the new house. It was so much fun!! We had my mom and our crew over for our annual Christmas cookie bake off. Lots of cookies, appetizers and great convo.

B is a serious decorator...

Vivs is intent on eating sprinkles

The Grammster. Ate every cookie as he decorated :) 

 Our second Christmas event was at my man's parent's house. I cannot share details because our little boy is a foster child, but he became visibly ill after we returned from the in-law's. We spent two days in Children's Hospital. He is doing great now and we are thankful. I spent Christmas morning alone with our babe in the hospital. It was a sweet time but I missed my big kids like crazy. As soon as babe and I were released, we opened presents at home! Yay!! Lest you think we are perfect, sweet B had a meltdown before presents were opened. And, me with my greasy,
hospital hair got to give her some Mama lovins.

 

Reading the Christmas story

Vivs opening her much desired "pup-cake legos!!" 

B lurves all food, even fake food

My girly girl, B, loved her dress!

Ninjago for the boy, oh yes we did. 

All ready for snow, B on left. 

Tomato soup on a snowy day

My boos watching a Christmas flick and eating a yummy lunch.

About 2 hours after we got home from the hospital, the power in our house went out. It was out for 3 days. I did not enjoy that time at all. I was so ready to have Christmas at home with all four of my kiddos and I was just a big baby about the power outage. Either way, we survived and I've been cherishing my days at home with our healthy crew. Love to all.

He Gives and Takes Away

Hello friends! I apologize for my absence from the blogosphere. Moving in August, unpacking in September and homeschooling the big boy (and sometimes the girls) through all of it has been busy. I will update with pics of the kitchen soon, but for now I'll catch you all up on our life.

In mid October, my dad called me to let me know that his mom, my Mimi, had fallen and hit her head. The fall was severe enough that the doctor did not think my Mimi would ever regain consciousness. She had not been in the best health for quite some time. She was taken in to hospice care at a local hospital and I was able to spend time with her in her last few days on this earth. I also got to spend some sweet, sweet time with my precious (and hilarious) aunts and cousins. My Mimi was a kind and loving woman. My parents divorced during my freshman year of college. She wrote me letters several times throughout that year, which was definitely a really rough time for me. I saved all of them and have reread them recently. I am blessed to be her granddaughter. Many smells remind me of her...sweet potatoes baking, greens in the frying pan, and moth balls (random, but true). I have three quilts that she made for me, one for Gramm and one precious baby bag. She was an amazing homemaker and I hope I can one day sew and cook like her.


(my Mimi's hand in mine during her hospital stay)

The same day that my Mimi left this earth, we received a call from our adoption specialist at DHS. She was wondering if we would be interested in taking a tiny baby boy. We slept on it and said yes the following day. Within 10 days of that call, we brought home our new foster son. Life with this little dude has been a whirlwind, but so good. We are busy, our hearts are full and the big kids are thrilled to have a baby in the house. I cannot post pics of the babe, but believe me when I say he is dang cute. :) I'll leave you all w) a pic of the big kids and my niece.


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All Moved In

We've been in the new house for about a week. We had a lot of work done on the house before we moved in and there are still a few things to be done. I don't have many pics to show at the moment, but I will soon. We have been doing lots and lots of unpacking. One of the first treasures I came across while unpacking is the lovely painting you see above. My long-time bestie, Krystal, painted it when we were in high school. I have taken that painting with me and proudly displayed it every single place I have lived since 1999. This painting says "home" to me and reminds me of the blessing of years of friendship and life lived with Krystal, also known as Aunt Krystal to my children who love her to pieces.

The past week has been full of meals brought by precious friends and neighbors, packing materials piled to the ceiling, a very tired Mama and Daddy and a sometimes very cranky Mama. I've been reminded in this process of my need to just rest in grace. Every day, I start out with the expectation of being the kind, God-honoring, sweet yet consistently firm Mama that I've always dreamed I would be. Every day I fail. Many days, I fail a lot. By lunchtime today, I'd given in. I was thinking to myself, "Failure! Failure!! You are a big fat failure and you will never get this right!! You big dumb idiot!!" Okay, so I added that last sentence to be funny. Seriously though, I give in and believe the lies that 1/ I can will myself to be the best mom ever 2/ If I can't meet my own high expectations, I am doomed and my kids will be screwed up because of me. So, today, I am saying no to the lies. I am telling them to get the heck out and give me a minute's rest. I am choosing to believe that God's grace is so sufficient. Every time I fail, He will forgive me. He gives me chance after chance. He is my ever present help in my time of need. He loves my children more than I do and He will give me wisdom as I try to love them and lead them to Him. I'm going to fail several times daily, but I can't stop going back to God and saying, "Please be with us. Please show me how to parent these kids. Please help me to not grow weary. Give me strength to persevere."

So, all you other Ma's out there reading this, please join me in calling out the lies that the enemy is whispering (or shouting) in your ear. We have an amazing Helper who prepared this good work of parenting in advance just for us. We do not have to live in fear. End sermon.

I have one more house pic to share. It's really terrible, but it's of my pantry (the doors are open in this pic). I lurve this pantry. It is now full of yummy food just waiting to be eaten. I promise to post more house pics soon. Over and out.