Peanut Butter Granola Balls

I'm always looking for simple ways to make life more fun for both Grace and I. Here was a recipe that ended up being a hit. Easy for the kids to help you make, and are a yummy snack. I dare say they even made up part of Grace's lunch today- the rest she had at "snacky tables"(read: free samples at Sam's). Hey, I said I was looking for ways to make life more fun, and sometimes that means breaking the rules about three square meals! :)

Peanut Butter Granola Balls

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used 1 and it worked fine)

1 cup Rice Crispies

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)

1/4 cup dried fruit such as cherries, raisins or cranberries (or if Grace helps, more like 1/2 cup!)

1. In a small saucepan over medium, heat honey, peanut butter and butter. Stir until loosened and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. In a bowl, stir in cereal, oats, and dried fruit. Add peanut butter mixture and stir.

3. Drop mixture by the tablespoon into mini paper cupcake liners or a mini cupcake tin. Place in refrigerator until set. To store, refrigerate in tupperware for up to 1 week.

I'll leave you with a picture of Grace discovering the joy of licking the bowl when we made chocolate cake yesterday. Warning- once you let a kid lick the beaters or the bowl, don't ever think you can go back. Or get a tasty lick for yourself.

Three Months!

How can my little boy be three months old already? (And how can he weigh as much as a 7 month old??) Here are some pictures I took while attempting to be Professional Photographer Extraordinaire. P.S. No comments about his double chin. :)

Detox, day three

That is, Nana and Papa detox. My parents were here last week, which was great timing because Erik was still having to work quite a bit more than usual, so it gave Grace something more to entertain her than just Mommy. As always, a great time was had by all.

As Nana was telling Grace that they would be gone when she woke up the next morning (they left our house at 6am) Grace got really sad and said "But, I need you!" Ouch. Matthew found his Papa very hillarious.

After having to go through the three day Nana and Papa detox, today we were are also going through Daddy detox. The weekend was filled with Daddy time as Grace re-filled her "Daddy love tank". They took a bike ride to the grocery store and made a very impressive fort in the family room, spending quite a bit of time there. Apparently there was also some conference calls and snack breaks in there. I wouldn't know, Mommies weren't allowed. :) Last night as he put her to bed and told her that he would have to go to work in the morning, Grace's lower lip quivered and she said "But, I need you!" Double ouch.

Picture update Part 2

What a big help Grace is! She loves to read to Matthew. (Have you noticed by the plethora of pictures I have of them reading together?)

More babysitting by Grace. I don't force this by the way, she always volunteers. And child services need not come knocking- Mommy is always in the same room!

And more bird adventures! We were lucky enough to have another bird nest in our yard, also at eye level. This time all four birds hatched. We never saw the babies leave the first nest, so it was a real treat to discover this little guy by our backdoor one morning. He couldn't fly yet (did he fall out of the nest?) so Dixie was kept indoors so she didn't have bird for breakfast. Later that day, Grace and I went to go check on the other baby birds in the nest only to find it empty as well. However, upon further inspection we found one baby in each of our basement window wells. With a little help from a shovel, we were able to gently save each of the birds, upon which one silly guy decided to go under the fence into the watchful gaze of the Great Hunter, Dixie. Luckily I was able to stop her, along with some help from Mommy and Daddy Bird (they were diving at Dixie!).
Exhausted from her days of babysitting Matthew and rescuing baby birds, Grace didn't even bother to put her head on her pillow when she fell asleep for her nap. She truly just fell over from a sitting position. She did, apparently, have plenty of time to pull her covers up from the bottom of her bed.

Picture update Part 1

Matthew's 2 month chair picture (remember when Grace was this small??)

Daddy has a full lap!

Ugh

I feel for single parents. They must be perpetually exhausted. Even more perpetually exhausted than the rest of us. The last two weeks have been very busy for Erik at work. He worked 64 hours one week and 70 the other. So I feel like I have been single-parenting, even on the weekends. I think Erik must have realized how defeated I was feeling, not getting anything accomplished, and worse yet, having things pile up even more (quite literally, the kitchen table was nowhere to be found, nor was the sofa under all the unfolded laundry).

So on Saturday my dear husband let me take five hours to myself, even though he could/should have been working. I left the boy (well, both of them) with a bottle and got to run errands and take a card making class. I got to run those kind of errands that would take half an hour with two kids, but by myself clock in at under 5 minutes. Like running to Babies r Us to get replacement parts for my breast pump that apparently other people must also put down their garbage disposal accidentally. And getting the "Jonah" Veggie Tales DVD on clearance at the Christian bookstore. Grace later informed me that it was scary, and she determined that only from looking at the cover.


Here is some of my handy work from the stamp class (you make 13 cards, a real steal):