Tuesday was our first official day of summer.  All three of my kids are finished with the school year and are home with me for the next 10 weeks!  I try my best to balance activities, family time, play dates and even allow for quite a bit of unscheduled, unstructured free time.
Did you hear that people, FREE TIME!?!?!
Wouldn’t you love to just have a bit more of that in your life?
I would!
My kids, not so much…
It seems that it’s during their free time that sibling squabbles, major mess making, or the “I’m bored” complaints occur.

When the first day of summer began with lots of coloring (on themselves)

and LOTS of mess making,

{This is what my children will be using to wipe with for the next month}

 I knew it was time to pull out a couple of my summer tools….

The first is the “I’m Bored Jar.”  After scouring the Internet and racking my brain, I managed to come up with over 50 activities that do not require my time or attention.  Yes, everything in this jar can be completed INDEPENDENTLY! Here is the catch, each child can pick from the jar only once per day. They MUST DO whatever it is that they pull out of the jar.  If I hear, “I’m bored”, after they have already done their I’m bored activity, it’s an automatic chore.
Hey, I’m always in need of some extra help around here and I would hate for my sweet kiddos to have NOTHING to do.

My second summer tool is Dessert!  Yes, a little something sweet keeps me and the kids happy :) I bake with my kids and I bake often during the summer months.  There is always a barbecue or a potluck that NEEDS a good dessert at the table.  These Gooey Oreo Cake Bars are the perfect treat to bring because they are soooo EASY and take no time at all.  You should definitely put them on your “Must Make” list for this summer!

Gooey Oreo Cake Bars
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
16 Oreo Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with foil and grease with butter.
Place cake mix, butter and egg into a large bowl, and mix until well combined.

Press cake mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Top with Oreo cookie pieces.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over cookies.

Sprinkle milk chocolate chips over the top.
Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes then run a knife along the edges to loosen from the foil.
Once cooled completely, remove foil from pan and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

And there you have it, two of my best Summer Survival tips, just in time to kick off your summer :)

source:  I’m Bored Jar inspired by Shabby Beach Nest
Oreo Cake Bars adapted from Picky Palate

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The process of grieving is painfully long and the journey for many is still just beginning.

Although words continue to fail me after this horrific event, I did want to share with you the wise words that my Pastor wrote last Friday…

Pastor Ray Johnston’s response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School:

Today is a heartbreaking day. Our nation experienced the second-worst school shooting in American history. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and everyone affected by this senseless tragedy. I, like all Americans, am devastated.

During tragic times like this, there is inevitably a mad scramble for clarity. How could this happen? Why would a good and loving God let this happen? Who’s to blame for this senseless violence?

The problem – shallow Christian clichès fall short and ultimately Clarity never comes…because at best, we see ‘through a glass dimly…’ During times like this we think we need Clarity when what we really need is Certainty.

I am certain that this senseless act breaks the heart of God because…

• I am certain that God understands what it means to lose a son

• I am certain that every one of today’s victims was precious to God

• I am certain that God is near to the brokenhearted

• I am certain that no life is ever devoid of meaning no matter how short

• I am certain that Jesus meant it when He said, “Let the little children come to me”

• I am certain that life is precious and that every day with your kids is a gift

• I am certain that America needs to rediscover a reverence for life

• I am certain that a day is coming when suffering will cease and God will reign

• I am certain that when anyone closes their eyes here for the last time and wakes up in the arms of Jesus – they will be more alive than they have ever been.

Of all the words I have read this past week, these are the ones I go back to again and again.

In the midst of all the horror, there truly is no clarity but I strongly believe and echo each of the certainties that my pastor proclaimed.

Today I am remembering the lives that were lost by participating in “Cookies & Crafts for Sandy Hook”

A small gesture to show my love and support to the Newtown community.

Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag White Chocolate Peppermint M&Ms
Powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, oil and cocoa powder until well blended.

Beat in eggs one at at time.  Then stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the cocoa mixture, until just blended.

Add the Peppermint M&Ms.

Stir until evenly mixed.
Cover the dough and refrigerate until firm, about 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar to coat.

Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.
Cool completely before serving.

Enjoy!

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PMS and children do not go well together.  PMS and Candy Bar Cheesecake Brownies go very well together!  I love my children dearly but today I am counting down the minutes until they go to bed so that I can calm my raging hormones with a few one of these…

Candy Bar Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie Layer
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cheesecake Layer
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups sliced candy bars (I used Milky Way & Snickers)

Combine melted butter with sugar and vanilla extract.
Then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in cocoa until well blended.

Add flour, baking powder and salt

and stir until just combined, do not overmix.

Set aside one cup of the brownie batter and smooth the rest
into a buttered (or foil lined) 9×13 pan.

Begin making your cheesecake layer by beating cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Add the vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Smooth cream cheese mixture evenly over the brownie batter.

Cut Milky Ways and Snickers
(or whatever other leftover Halloween candy you have in your pantry) into thin slices.

Sprinkle candy bar slices evenly over cream cheese layer.

Using the reserved one cup of brownie batter, drop 12-15 spoonfuls over the top of the candy bar layer.

Use a butter knife to gently swirl the batters.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

source:  brownie base adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

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I was a teacher back in my pre-baby days.  In those days, my students were my babies!  I poured all that I had into them.  I would wake up each morning, thinking about our day of teaching and learning and then each afternoon, begin planning for tomorrow.  Even on breaks and on the weekends, my students were always in my thoughts.  I would see a children’s book in a store or stumble upon a new teaching idea on a website and immediately begin to wonder how I could incorporate that into my classroom with my students. Every day in the classroom was filled with a sense of excitement and newness because learning was taking place!  No one day was like the other.  There was continual change and growth in my students, as well as in myself.  The children that I hugged goodbye in June were but a faint resemblance of the ones that I had welcomed in September.

There is truly something magical about teaching and some days I miss it.  I remember the joy of the classroom and I remember the exhaustion.  It is for those very reasons that I am incredibly appreciative of each of my children’s teachers.  I am so glad that they choose a passion rather than a profession and that they live it out in the classroom every single day.

My babies are now in preschool, kindergarten and second grade.  I am blessed beyond measure to be a stay at home mom to them and to be able to send them off to great teachers each day.  I am happy to report that all of their teachers have successfully survived the first month of the school year.  I think they deserve a treat!

Back to School Brownies in a Jar
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2/3 cup granulated sugar

Layer all ingredients in order listed in a one-quart, wide-mouth jar, being sure to pack down after each addition. Secure lid and attach baking instructions and a gift tag.

Instructions for gift tag:  Empty brownie mix into a large bowl. Add 3 eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter and one teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour into a greased 9″x9″ pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes. Cut into squares.

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WARNING:  Highly Addictive!

May cause intense sugar high,

uncontrollable urges to consume more,

sudden weight gain,

and the strong desire to put on elastic waist pants.

Continue reading at your own risk!

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

1/2 bag of Mini Pretzels

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chip

fleur de sel  or sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil.

Melt the butter with the brown sugar over low heat.
When the mixture begins to boil continue cooking over low heat about 5 minutes until it thickens and forms a soft caramel.

Pour the caramel evenly over the pretzels and place in the oven to bake for 5 minutes.

 While the pretzels are baking, place the milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small sauce pan.  Cook over very low heat until melted and smooth.

Remove the pretzels from the oven.

Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the pretzels and use a spatula to smooth.

Sprinkle with fleur de sel.
Place in the fridge to chill and harden for about 2 hours.

Break into pieces and try your very best to resist eating the entire pan.
Enjoy!

source:  adapted from Mama Say What?! 

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Refreshed!!!  That is how I am feeling right now.  I have spent the last four mornings from 9am to noon ALONE, without children!!!  This is a first for me.

Every summer, I volunteer at our church Breakaway camp (VBS).  I love volunteering and being a part of such a fun-filled week for the kids.  However, this year I did it a little different.  I signed my kids up for two different weeks of camp.  The first I volunteered at and then the second camp, happening this week, I didn’t.  Dropping them off that first morning, I literally got a rush.  I had to refrain myself from skipping all the way back to the car.  Three hours all by myself!!!  The possibilities were limitless!!!

In the end, I spent most of my mornings cleaning house, doing laundry, and running errands.  It may sound a bit boring to some of you but let me tell you, I loved every minute of it.  And the best part of all was that at noon, when I picked my three little lovies up, I was ready to be a mom again and enjoy them the rest of the day :)

I made these S’more Bars in a Jar to show my appreciation to the wonderful volunteers who took care of my babies this week.  I now have my sanity back.

S’more Bars in a Jar
1 ½ cups graham crackers, broken into pieces
1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows
1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup brown sugar
In a 1 quart mason jar, layer all ingredients:  graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate chips and brown sugar.
Attach a tag with the following directions:  “Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter an 8” square baking dish. Mix contents of the jar with ½ cup melted butter.  Press firmly into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.”

Enjoy!

source:  adapted from Paula Deen

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In the Fall, I say a sweet goodbye to the carefree days of summer and my life becomes busy again. The kids begin a new school year, a new soccer team, a new grade. They have homework, school projects, practice, fundraisers. I have parent meetings, volunteer commitments, school conferences. The lazy days of summer are behind us and the life of schedules, structure and routine is in full swing again.

I find it a constant balancing act between the have to and the want to. Family time and fun time become things I must purposefully schedule in. One of the ways I do that is by creating traditions. Fall traditions that we do together as a family year after year, making time for each other during this busy season in our life.
Apple Hill and Bishops Pumpkin Farm have become two of our most cherished Fall traditions. We go away for the day, enjoy the outdoors, spend time together, and celebrate being a family. We come home with happy hearts and full bellies remembering who we are and what is most important in every season, each other.

Here is one of our favorite Fall indulgences that we always remember to bring back with us:

Slowly pour in the sweetened condensed milk and stir to combine.

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