Homemade Peanut Butter Granola

Just had to share our new favorite breakfast cereal! A few months ago I looked up two recipes for homemade granola and came up with my own version. This has been a great breakfast and really good if you add some strawberries or blueberries to the top covered in milk...YUMMY!!

Or you can top off your favorite yogurt with some and enjoy!

Homemade Peanut Butter Granola
4 cups of old fashion oats
½ cup of coconut oil
½ cup of peanut butter
2/3 cup of honey
1 cup of coconut
½ cup of pecans
½ tsp of cinnamon
½ tsp of vanilla extract

In a small sauce pan, melt together coconut oil, peanut butter, and honey. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir all remaining ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle on the honey, peanut butter and coconut oil mixture and stir well. Pour mixture onto a large, parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread out. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes or until golden, stirring after the first 15 minutes. Let set out and cool. Store granola in an air tight container.

I have to make this once a week around here so when I made some the other day I just doubled the recipe. :) Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Thankful Thursday!

Photo by: Isaac Camp

I am thankful for:
134) baby birds.
135) a playground at the park for the kids to play on.
136) corn stalks standing tall. (see picture above)
137) Uncle David and Aunt Sandra.
138) tears of sadness and joy.
139) the prayers of my children.
140) a husband that protects me.

Isaac is 12!

 This young man turned 12 today! I get very emotional thinking about all our kiddos and how blessed we are to have them, but with Isaac I remember how much we wanted a baby but couldn't get pregnant. Then when we did find out we were expecting (5 years after marriage) we were very surprised. You can read about our struggle with infertility here. Yes it is so hard to believe he is 12!

 Our precious Sarah just had to buy Isaac something with her own money. She picked him out a Lego set. The Lego set can be made into an eagle, beaver, or scorpion. Isaac was so excited!

 Remember we got him his new puppy for his birthday. To open for his birthday we got him a toy for his dog and some dog food. Isaac and Old Dan have had fun today playing with the puppy's new toy. :)

 I tried to make a few of Isaac's favorite things today for his birthday. For lunch I made sloppy joes, for supper we had fish and carrot souffle', and instead of a cake I made theses yummy chocolate chocolate chip cookies. We sang Happy Birthday and ate a couple of cookies tonight! :) (I need to post this cookie recipe soon.)

Here he is after a good shower and warm cookies with a glass of milk! It has been a great day! Of coarse there is more to come for this young man...I will be posting as we continue to celebrate!

Enrichment Week

Last year we started our school year off with an Enrichment Week and it worked really well. I decided to do that again this year! Our Enrichment week consist of Art, computer, piano, and reading. Wanted to share the kids art lessons from this year.

Here is Isaac's bridge. Last year I ordered 2 art DVD's and have been VERY pleased!!

Here is Isaac's other drawings. We were very pleased with these. He did a great job!

Here is Sarah's bridge. The DVD's we ordered are "Barry Stebbings" beginner and intermediate art.

Sarah's art work.

Sarah's water scene with the sailboat in the background. Very proud of her too! She loves doing this!

Here is Elijah's drawing of a worm.

Timothy's drawing of a worm.

I helped the boys to draw trucks and houses using shapes. This is Elijah's truck with his own personal touches. :)

Here is Elijah's house...he drew our new house.

Timothy's house drawing. He loves to draw!

This has been a great thing for us to do to start the year off. All the kids like to draw, read, work on the computer, and practice piano. It makes for a fun time and something for the kids to look forward to!

Thankful Thursday!

127) garden fresh vegetables.
128) pizza.
129) homemade ice cream. (See recipe below)
130) a computer.
131) a God who is sovereign.
132) little toes that belong to my children.
133) safe travels.

Peanut Butter Homemade Ice Cream (6 qt freezer)
1 - 16oz container Cool whip
1 can Eagle Brand
white milk (May use Strawberry milk for strawberry flavor or Chocolate milk for Chocolate flavor.)
1 1/2 cups of crunchy peanut butter (omit if you are making strawberry or chocolate)

Melt your peanut butter just a little so that it is easy to stir. Mix peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk together and then fold in cool whip. Pour that into your ice cream freezer and finish filling it up to the fill line with white milk. Use a long handled spoon to stir all that together. Place into ice cream freezer bucket. Start freezer. Add ice with layers of ice cream salt. Enjoy!!

What is your favorite Homemade Ice Cream flavor?

A New School Year!

 We have officially started our school year. A little crazy this year with the move and all! But we have began and it is going well so far! :)

 Every year on the first day of school the kids get up and find their "cubbies" filled with "new" books and school supplies. They really look forward to this and I am so thankful for that. Sarah is in the 5th grade this year.

 Timothy started K4 this year. He has really been excited to do "school" like everyone else. This year he is going to be learning so much!

 Here is my 6th grader! Math is his favorite subject so he was loving his new Math book. :)

 Elijah the 1st grader! This little man is reading so well! I know he is going to have a great year!!

I will try and post some this year on our curriculum. Some of it is different than last year, simply because someone had given us a ton of stuff. Might as well use it and save some money! :)

Joanna is right in there with them...she will be learning too! The morning I took these pictures she happened to sleep later than everyone else...believe it or not. :)

In the Corner

I had taken this picture and meant to post it back in January. While looking through my pictures I found it and just had to post.

Back in January Joanna was putting herself in the corner. When she got real upset (about anything) and began to cry she would run and put herself in the corner. I am sure she saw us put the little boys in the corner when they are in trouble, and they are crying because they don’t want to go to the corner. I can only imagine her little mind thinking that if you are crying you have to go to the corner.

One of those memories I don’t want to forget and one day I want to share with her when she has children. :)

Puppy Love!

 We finally did it...got the kids a couple of puppies. :) Bryan and I both have never had a dog so this is new to all of us!

 Isaac has wanted a dog for a long time and he is very excited about the dogs. The dogs are Isaac and Sarah's birthday presents.

 Isaac named his puppy Old Dan and Sarah's is Little Ann. They will be 7 weeks old on Monday.

 Even the little kids have enjoyed having the puppies. Here is Timothy with Old Dan.

 Elijah with Old Dan.

Here is Joanna with Little Ann. Joanna is not crazy about dogs so this has been an adjustment for her.

So cute to see each of the kids with the puppies. I pray that this is a good experience for our family and for the puppies. :)

Homemade Cheese-its

 I saw these Homemade Cheese-its on Pinterest and just had to give them a try. I am so glad I did! They are very easy and really delicious!!

 They are not crispy like the ones you buy at the store. They are soft and NOT full of all those "other" ingredients. :) Yummy...Enjoy!

Homemade Cheese-Its
8oz shredded cheddar cheese (I have used sharp aged white cheddar too)
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat)
4 tbs unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
3 - 4 tbs ice water

1. First, mix together the shredded cheese, salt and the softened butter. (I used sharp aged white cheddar cheese, but you can use whatever kind of cheese you like. I shredded my own cheese just because I think it has better flavor and melts better, but you can use pre-shredded too to save some time!) Add in the flour and mix until the dough looks like little fluffy clumps. Then, with the mixer running begin adding the ice water and mix until a soft dough forms. (use as much ice water as you need for a dough to form).

2. Divide the dough in two, form each into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. Then, roll the dough out on a floured surface into about an 1/8 inch thickness and using a fluted pastry cutter (I used a table knife), cut the dough into about 1 inch squares.

3. Preheat your oven to 375 F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer your little cheese-its onto the parchment paper, make a hole in the center of each with a toothpick. Bake for about 7 - 10 minutes (baking time will depend on your oven, just watch them carefully so they don't burn!), or until they have puffed up and the edges begin to brown. Let cool before eating. (They are best eaten right away, but you can store them in an airtight container).

*this is the recipe I got off of Pinterest and I have inserted my adjustments.

Race Day 2013

 This past Saturday the 3 older children were in a 1 mile race in Anniston. This is Isaac's 3rd race, Sarah's 2nd race, and Elijah's 1st race. They have been training for a month. Isaac and Sarah's goal was to beat their times from last year.

One of the highlights of going to the race is we get to spend time with family (we stayed with my parents and then we went to a birthday party for our nephew and got to see some of Bryan's family!) and getting to see friends! We were able to se lots of people at the race that we haven't seen in years! :)

 Last year Isaac finished in 7:06 and this year he finished in 6:40!! So proud of him!! He placed 7th out of 28 boys aged 9-11. Yes, that is his coach (dad) running with him. :)

 Sarah's time last year was 7:25 and this year she finished in 6:44!! Go girl!! She placed 1st out of 14 girls aged 9-11!

 Elijah ran his mile in 8:27! He did so well! Yes, that is mom (me) running with him. :)

 Love doing things like this with the kids!! Here are the runners with their coach (dad) and their cheerleader (mom).

Here is Sarah receiving her award (girl on the right). Not the greatest picture. :(

Here is Sarah with her trophy! We are so proud of all of them and look forward to next year's race!

Thankful!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
*Proof that Jesus is God.

I am thankful for:
120) the moon.
121) fresh Amish strawberries.
122) making new friends.
123) being able to worship with other believers on Sunday.
124) Jesus being the Word. (See verse above)
125) Youth Camp. (Even though this meant Bryan being away from us for a week, I knew that he was ministering to others and sharing God's word for the glory of God)
126) Vacation Bible School. (Although this week is a busy week for us it is just one more way that my children are learning more about God and His word)