Red Robin sings to Isaac

We took Isaac to Red Robin today to have a birthday lunch. They brought him a sundae and sang to him. He wasn't sure what to think at first, but he came around and thought it was pretty great. He's so cute!

Boise Steelheads ice hockey

We took the boys to any ice hockey game in Boise tonight. It was a fun night! We're looking forward to going to another!

Isaac and his jump rope

Isaac having fun trying to jump rope:

Afternoon walk

We went for a walk this afternoon to enjoy the sun a little.

Visit to Chong's

The boys love going to the barber! She is pretty silly and had the boys laughing pretty hard.

Accidental Almond Butter

The other day I was grinding almonds to make almond flour for homemade cheese crackers. I had read that I needed to be care about how LONG I grind the almonds, as if you go too long the oils start to release and it will turn creamy instead of fluffy.

Well! I over did it. So, I just kept on-a-goin' and the result is this very yummy almond butter!

Homemade cheese crackers

I am a cracker fanatic.  One of my favorite snacks (or, let's be honest, I sometimes have it for lunch!) is crackers and cheese. I just love it!  So, I had to at least try this cheese cracker recipe! I found it on Kalyn's Kitchen website, which has tons of great low-glycemic recipes.This particular recipe is made with almond flour. Which makes it Gluten free and really quite good for you.

They turned out very good! Kalyn's recipe that I used is a small batch. What you see in the picture is about half of what I made. If you have enough almond flour, it would be so very easy to do a bigger batch.

Donn, Eli and I really like them. Isaac, not so much. Once I get some more almond flour I am definitely going to make more of these!

Isaac: No tears...oh wait...

Isaac told me that today a boy at preschool stepped on his finger. His teacher got him all fixed up and he is just fine.

I asked him if he cried when it happened. His response was "No, I didn't cry!....it just looked like it.  My eyes were just leaking."

:)

Crockpot Apple Butter

Home made Apple Butter...oh, wow, YUM! And it is so easy too!

I based my batch on this simple recipe from the Money Saving Mom website. 5 ingredients and a crockpot, now that is my kind of recipe!
 
What I did different: I only had 3 pounds of apples, so I halfed the recipe. I also didn't want to peel the apples, so I used my apple wedger to core and wedge the apples. Then I just tossed the apples in the crockpot added a smidge of vanilla and then set it....and forget it! ;) Before jarring the finished product, I threw it in the blender to make sure the peel wouldn't be noticed. The finished product is SO smooth!

It turned out sooOOO good! Next time I'll use a tad bit less sugar. The end product is super sweet and would still be delicious and a bit more healthy with less sugar.

Oh! And I can't forget the best part: free printable labels. I am a sucker for cute graphics and this is just perfect :)

Fruit loop sand art

Isaac found a project in an old edition (Dec. 2010 to be exact) of his Highlights High Five magazine the he just HAD to do (now that I think about it, this is a food based project...so I'm not surprised with Isaac's urgency of having to do this particular project)! The project is called "Colorful Sprinkles" and is very much like the Cereal Sand Art tutorial found on the Momaroo website.

We had everything but the multicolored cereal on hand. A bag of Tootie Fruities cost a couple bucks and is still over half full. So, very cheap project!

We started off with both boys working on the project, but Eli got bored with the sorting process, so he chose not to continue with the project. Isaac, on the other hand, was very focused and worked hard on sorting for over an hour! Then he rolled and rolled each of the different colors. He even let Eli help in the rolling fun.

One by one, we added each of the six colors to the jar. And, wa-la! A jar full of colorful sprinkles! The directions in the magazine say that these are a "tasty topping for yogurt and a delicious gift"....however, after watching the process, I would not suggest putting these sprinkles in your food...eeeeww.  :)

Adventure at Bogus Basin

Family fun in the snow

 
What a fun day we had!  Today we set out to explore the local ski area, Bogus Basin. It is about a 1 1/2 hour drive from our house. So not too far…but the last 45 minutes is very windy. Ugh. That made for a long drive. While I stayed focused on not getting car sick (which I was successful at doing, thank goodness), the kids enjoyed the AMAZING view of the valley below.

By the time we reached the top of the mountain, the fog and wet snow had closed in. Thankfully we weren’t skiing (yet…maybe we’ll try that soon!?). We looked around the lodge, but decided to head back down the mountain in hopes of finding a nice little sledding hill. We were in luck! We found this secluded little hill that was just perfect for us (see pics and videos posted below).

After a fun time sledding, we headed back to the car where Donny had a hot thermos of hot chocolate waiting for us. Between the sledding and the hot chocolate, a perfect afternoon was had by all!

Eli & Isaac @ Bogus

Rice Krispie treats

 

Recipe from Bakerita

Rice Krispie treats with peanut butter and M&Ms. Made these today, SO good!

Homemade laundry detergent

 

found on The Rachel Berry Blog

I made some laundry soap the other day!  It was so, SO easy and so darn cheap.  It cost me about $6 for the washing soda and borax, with I’ll be able to make numerous batches with. The Fels Naptha soap was $1. So, really, it cost less than $3 for 5…that is FIVE…gallons of laundry detergent.  And it seems to work just as good as store bought. Love it!

Bowling fun!

 

During Christmas break the boys and I went bowling with some great friends. Two moms, 4 kids, 1 hour of bowling & 1 large pizza = one great morning! There were few other people at the bowling alley that morning, we practically had the place to ourselves. The kids had SO much fun (and so did us moms!)