Squeezing in the fun

Sine school is starting in exactly one week, the pressure is on to squeeze in every last drop of fun for the summer! So we have been busy doing that. Last week I let the kids make Peanut Butter Balls. They are nutritious, delicious and easy to make. Actually, I picked them because the kids could do the majority of the work!

Delaney was confused as to the function of the measuring cup. She was convinced it was a hat.

They each got to measure and pour stuff and while there was some quarrelling as to who got to do what, they were all very happy to be involved.

Look at those adorable faces!

After the pouring, I mixed it up and then they got to roll them into balls. I was surprised that they did every last one. I didn't roll any after showing them how!

They really had a good time and I didn't care if they snitched dough, because it was all healthy stuff!

And at the end, they all got to eat one.

(They lasted about 3 days.)

This week, I introduced Rylee to Oreos. Actually, I was eating them and she wanted some, so I shared. I think she liked it!

I unpacked some boxes in the basement and the girls had a marvelous time with them.

Who knew a box is all you need for fun?!

I finally took the kids to see the battlements at Ft Hunt Park. We've been to the park a lot, but I have never checked out the monuments there. Pretty cool stuff! And the children had a great time running amok and climbing on everything.

Is it a stage for dancing? Nope, it was for big guns, I think. But Callie and Delaney have given it a more peaceful function.

There is a huge set of stairs to the right, but Marian found a better way to get down! I had some tuckered out kids after all that climbing. Yay! A successful outing!

In case you wanted to know, the Peanut Butter Balls Recipeis:

1 cup honey

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 1/2 cups powdered milk (dry)

3 cups Quick Oats (uncooked)

1/4 cup Wheat Germ

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

(I added 1/4 cup flax seed as well.) Mix all together. Form into balls. Freeze on baking sheet till firm. (Mine were pretty firm already.) Store in fridge in Ziploc bag. Makes about 50.

Countdown to School!

Unlike most of my far-flung friends, my children are out of school for another week. We managed to keep busy this week without actually doing our usual things of going to the pool or the library.

Rylee discovered that she can climb up on the couch if the cushions are off.

She had a VERY good time!

Joshua built Lego scenes and stole my camera to take pictures.

(He filled the ramkin with water and green food coloring to make "acid" for the Lego guy to swim in. I love an active imagination!)

Delaney thought Rylee was having too much fun and joined her on the couch.

Callie helped me mix up dough for bread.

I let the kids make rolls in the muffin tin and Marian and Callie loved it, and did a very good job.

As a perk for being the oldest, Joshua got to make his very own mini- loaf. He thought he was so special.

10 minutes after it came out of the oven, we dove into the deliciousness that we had produced. I was too late to get a picture of the dozen rolls. Those were inhaled immediately. Then we moved on to thick slices of hot bread smothered with butter and honey. Ahhhhhh......

Joshua gets to go to Scouts and they did a fun water relay this week. I don't always go, but it worked out that we were there this time.

Look at my boy go! They had to dip the sponge in the bucket and get as much water as possible, then run to the next bucket and squeeze out as much water as possible. They had a good time.

Here was the cheering section! Delaney was happy to finally get to yell without getting into trouble.

Delaney also enjoyed running around the gym and being silly!

And her little sister did the same!

Sunday Pictures

The kids were amazing yesterday. They played happily together for a good part of the day. I was astonished, and quite pleased. This is what they were doing:

They actually had a bunch of their animals playing around the log cabin they made. It was pretty cute!

Yesterday I wanted a picture of all the children. This becomes an increasingly more difficult task as the number of children increases. I decided it had been too long since I made them sit for a picture, so I corralled the kids. Unfortunately, Joshua was distressed over a mismatched pair of socks and Rylee had just woken from her nap, so there was some grumpy going on. I bribed them with chocolate.

Delaney missed the memo, apparently.

I reminded them that I was willing to give chocolate and everyone but Rylee put on a good face. Okay, I do not know what Delaney is doing, but at least she looks happy!

Hoping to get Rylee's cooperation did not work. She was mad and not going to be happy for me. And I lost Delaney again.

I tried a new tactic to make Rylee happy and it worked, but Marian's attention wandered from me. I love, love Callie's face!

Oh, look! Everyone is looking the right way. Now if I can just get more smiles. ("Fly over Big Hawk...")

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! I love the happy faces; I can't believe Marian even cracked a grin. ("Swoop down....")

I think this is as good as it is going to get! Its a keeper! ("Get the little Chickens!")

And now the silly shot. They really are so funny! Check out Rylee, trying to figure out what is going on.

Gems from Delaney

Delaney says the most interesting things. Here are some samples just from this evening:

"There was a monster in my closet. But it was just Daddy. That is so silly! Then it was time to get up. And then it was night time again and there was a monster in the closet and it was you, Mom!" (Just to be clear, their closet is not big enough for Dan or I. Neither has Dan or I ever hidden in it.)

"I'm a superhero! I have to catch the cactus. But it is too fast."

"Mommy, do you think you want me to have the moon? And do you want the sky? You gotta have the stars"

"Then there was a lot of noise that made you cry. There was a monster making a "Rawwwr" sound. Yeah, that's what it said."

Chocolate Fun!

I have been trying to do some fun activities with the kids. The problem is that so many kiddie activities LOOK fun when I read about them, but the actual process of doing it tends to go very differently than it does in my magazines. I have decided that this is due, in part, to the fact that they expect you to only have one or 2 children. Doing projects with one or two children certainly would be more fun, less mess, and much easier than doing it with 5. Still, I tried something yesterday.

Some of you have perhaps heard me gush about the 365 Days of Crock Pot Cooking blog, and she has a fun looking recipe called "Witch's Hats" that I thought we could do. Silly me though. I assumed that it was one of those recipes that she didn't actually need a crock pot for, but needed a recipe requiring one. Oh, how foolish I was. But let me begin at the beginning!

The recipe is this: you make chocolate cookies. You crush M&Ms and then melt them down. You coat the top of a cookie, and coat the top of a sugar cone. Then you pour a spoonful of M&Ms into the cone and put it (top down) onto a cookie, making a witch hat. An interesting dessert, I must say, but it looked like something the kids could do and have fun with. Unfortunately, I made 2 mistakes. I put the chocolate in a saucepan to melt and then I skyped my mom.

The chocolate boiled.

I know, I had it on low on the same stupid burner that took 30 minutes to boil my eggs while on high, and it boiled my chocolate in 20 minutes! Oops. So it didn't quite work so well. The theory was sound, but my execution was a bit off. I think I will try these again, and next time I will use the crock pot to melt the chocolate. Our witch hats did not look like hers and the chocolate was not sticking to the cones as it cooled. So the kids all made at least one good hat, and then frosted their cookies with the chocolate, and then just ate the chocolate.

Here we have a pan of the decadent chocolate cookies, which are chocolaty and rich enough by themselves. This picture also shows what happens while you skype with your mom and your 5 year old asks if she can stir the chocolate and you say yes. I must say that Callie was very cute and tried to wipe up the spilled chocolate, as you can see.

Here we are, all set up and ready to go! We have our cookies, our cones, our pan of melted M&Ms and a bowl of mini M&Ms to go in the cones. There is a completed Witch Hat on the plate and Callie is getting to work.

Delaney was so cute, trying to frost with the thick chocolate.

Joshua thought these were great. And he enjoyed snacking on the M&Ms. Pay no attention to the boxes on the window sill behind him! Those are my goal for this week. To unpack them and find the stuff in them a home.

Check out Marian's cookies! She did a really good job on them and had a good time. She just quietly worked on them without needing any help.

When they were done, which means the chocolate was no longer adhering to anything but tummies, I told the kids to all hold up a cookie to show me. Delaney called out, "I'm going to hold up my hand!" She's so silly!

Despite a large gap in his front teeth, Joshua dived in to his cookie.

Delaney thought she was so clever and bit off the tip of her cone.

Rylee didn't want to be left out, so she got a cone, which she dismantled and threw on the floor.

Marian liked Delaney's method and nibbled on her creation from the top down.

Callie gave the project 2 thumbs up!

I will mention that none of them actually managed to eat an entire cookie. Since we were able to complete so few of them, I didn't eat an entire one either. I did snack on some of the chocolate topped chocolate cookies and that was rich enough to send me on chocolate overload! A rare thing for me! They are SO chocolaty and rich, I don't know if I could eat an entire one either.

And now for something completely off topic, but oh, so cute! Here is my big helper:

I was unpacking this box of books and Rylee came on in to assist. She is so doggone cute!

Wordless Wednesday: Puddle Jumping