Macro Snowflake Pictures

I recently saw this article that showed some incredible macro pictures of snowflakes.  It inspired me to take a few macro pictures of our snowflakes.  I didn't have a fancy set up and I only used my old little point and shoot camera but the kids had fun looking through the pictures. 

We also used this Guide to Snowflakes to help us learn about the different shapes of snowflakes.  Nicholas noticed the pattern of multiples of 3 in the different snowflakes.  God's amazing design is seen in even the smallest of details!

Homemade Chocolate Raisin Oatmeal Bars

I'm trying to take baby steps in making our kitchen more healthy.  I try to buy more natural products and a lot less of the processed foods that I'm so used to cooking with.  

My kids are always ready for an afternoon snack so instead of buying oatmeal bars with ingredients I don't know, I'm going to start trying to have more homemade snacks for them.

Here is a yummy recipe for homemade oatmeal bars that I got from a friend.  I actually altered the recipe on accident (note to self: read all of the directions before you begin!) which made a completely different kind of oatmeal bar than what my friend makes but one that I love even more.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup honey 

1 cup natural peanut butter

2 Tb butter

2 cups crispy rice cereal (Rice Krispies, organic crispy rice cereal, or even crispy brown rice cereal)

2 cups Quaker oats

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

1 cup mini chocolate chips (ok so it isn't a sugar free recipe)

Directions:

1. Melt the honey, peanut butter, and butter over low heat.  For the honey, I buy local honey from my area anytime I can.  There is not a lot of research on it but some studies show that consuming honey made from pollen in your area may desensitize your body to some of those allergens.

2. While the liquids are melting, combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  This is so easy for kids to make since it is just measuring and combining ingredients!

Of course, when it came to the chocolate chips, there was much sampling required to be sure that we were using a quality ingredient in our recipe.

3. Pour the melted peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients and combine.  The chocolate chips will usually melt and blend throughout the oatmeal mixture making it all chocolatey and yummy.

4. Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper (or wax paper).  You could probably just butter the dish if you don't have the paper but I haven't tried that.

5. Pour (dump!) the mixture into your baking dish and spread it out to all the corners.  If it gets too sticky to spread, use the back of a buttered spoon or a piece of wax paper to press it into the corners.

6. Let it cool on the counter (or in the refrigerator if you just can't wait).  It will firm up as it cools. 

7. Slice into bars and enjoy!

Creativity with Tinker Toys

I have always thought of Tinker Toys as building toys for really young kids.  I expected that once both of my kids were building with LEGO that we would get rid of the Tinker Toys.  

How wrong I was!  My kids, even my 9 year old, still loves the Tinker Toys.  He probably builds something with them every day.

This morning Rachel built this bow and arrow set.  She tried to shoot it but she is kind of missing some of the science behind how the bow and arrow actually work.  But her design was great.  She even had a rest for the arrow.

Nicholas also made something out of Tinker Toys.  We weren't quite sure what it was at first.

  XOI?  What is XOI?  

Then he told us it was X Box One!  Yes of course, that is a square and not an O.  It was his very creative way to ask if he could play video games.

They aren't allowed to have "screen time" during the school week.  This includes video games, TV shows, or computer games unless, of course, it is something I have them doing specifically for school.  But it always leads to lots of asking for screen time on the weekend (we still control how much screen time they get on the weekend).  We let him play video games for a little while this morning but Stuart pointed out to them that they would not have used their imaginations to create these Tinker Toys contraptions if they had been glued to the TV all morning.

I Won 2 Prizes This Week!

I had a fun week which included winning two prizes!  Prizes are always fun, right?

First I won a $25 gift card to Pottery Barn from Beth at Unskinny Boppy!  She has a great website with home decorating ideas and but I particularly love her DIY projects that look amazing but don't cost a fortune to make.

I found two great projects on her website that I want to make for the kids.  Nicholas loves the game Minecraft and Beth has this cute printable for making Minecraft magnets.  And I know Rachel would be giddy over this Fairy Garden project!  Ok, yes Mommy just wants the Fairy Garden herself.  But who wouldn't?  Isn't it adorable??

I LOVE Pottery Barn for home decor but I can't decide what to get with my $25 gift card.  I was really hoping to find some new placemats in aqua/turquoise (my new favorite color!).  They have some great napkins that I like but just not placemats to go with them.

They have a lot of cute products to help organize your home so I imagine I will probably get something like that.  But for now I'm just having fun browsing their website.

The other prize I won is a little flu prevention kit from the Mom Bloggers Club Network. The contest asked for a description of your child's favorite comfort food with a picture to go with it.

I submitted this picture of Rachel when she was younger.

And submitted the following description:

My daughter’s favorite comfort food is yogurt.  She loves to lick the lid when we first open it.  But when she has licked it clean, she doesn’t just grab a spoon and eat the yogurt in the container.  Nope.  She uses to spoon to refill the glob of yogurt on the lid which she then licks clean again.  It takes her f-o-r-e-v-e-r to eat one container of yogurt if I let her (and she gets quite messy while she’s at it too!).

She's a mess!  I'm glad the prize pack includes some hand cleaner!  I can always use that!

Chef Nicholas Made Breakfast For Us

Our family loves a "big breakfast" on the weekend.  This usually means pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit, and either sausage or bacon.  It's a lot to pull together so we have been working on training the kids how to help out in the kitchen.

Both kids can measure ingredients and crack eggs.  Nicholas is good at actually cooking the scrambled eggs.

Today he made bacon and pancakes for the first time!

He was a little messy and had some usually shaped pancakes but they tasted wonderful!  Great job!