Friday, June 29, 2012

Cookies and a movie!

Today I want to share with you one of our favorite cookie recipes.  My mother-in-law has been making these since I can remember for the family and WE LOVE them!  Let me warn you, these are not made with healthy "stuff", save the oats.  Sometimes, 'ya just gotta break the rules!  Second warning- do not eat too many at once- there's lots of oats in them and well, they will get your system going.  Just saying!  Otherwise, ENJOY!

Oatmeal Crispies

1 C shortening
1 C brown sugar
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2  all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 C quick cooking oats
1 C chocolate chips, optional (We never add them!)

Mix and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Would have had pictures, but well, we ate them all too fast!

And then the movie...
Both my girls are off for a few days visiting friends (come home soon, I miss you all!), and I have an extra boy in the house.  Yes, I am outnumbered 4 to 1!  So, not sure what the movie choice tonight is yet, but I am willing to bet it has swords, or lightsabers, or epic battles or guns.  Pray for me!  ;)


Hugs and Happy Friday!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Sisters

I always wanted a sister.  Someone to play dress up with, someone to whisper secrets to, someone to go through life with.  That desire, unfortunately, never was fulfilled so I was thrilled when my second child was born.  Our second girl.  SISTERS!


ALP- 4 yrs., RNP- new!  ;)


ALP- 12 yrs, RNP -9yrs

They will hate me, but this was just too hard to resist!  Joining daddy in Mustache March!

See what happens in 6 years.....

18 and 14 years old!

I have heard many girls talk about their sisters in not so nice ways.  I never quite got it.  My girls love each other dearly, they truly are best friends.  Yes, they may have quarreled some as little girls, but at the end of the day they were best friends again.  They never had another option, really.  We encouraged it and we accepted no less.  In our house the rule is you treat the people you love, the family God gave us, better than anyone else.  "If you cannot be nice to your sister, or brothers, how can we trust you to be kind to others outside this house?  You need to practice here at home some more."  (I am all about practicing at home!)

And so my girls have someone to dress up with, someone to whisper secrets to, and someone to go through life with- and sometimes, I even get to be a part of it!

If you have kiddos struggling to get along with each other one of the books I highly recommend is Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by Sarah, Stephen, and Grace Mally.  Raise the bar in your home and watch as they reach for it!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Part two- The Dancer

This is part two of last week's post, The Gymnast.  You can find part one here.

Now rewind the clock 20 plus years.  Same song, different verse!  I was a dancer for 16 years.  No, really!  I did it all, but focused on mainly classical ballet and lyrical jazz, often with a partner.  I traveled a lot for competitions, spent five days a week in the studio, and dreamed of being a dance teacher.  I eventually chose a college solely on their dance program and began to plan my future.  Then came a back injury revisited and my dancing days were over.  So too, I thought, my life!  Seriously.  I was in the "what now" mode with no options in sight, I thought.  I remember calling my mom and telling her I was coming home from college.  She kindly told me- NOPE, find a new major.  I eventually did and life went on, but it. was. hard.  And painful.  And life-changing.

Know this- it was not a surprise to God and He used it for his glory but I would not want to live that again.  I am thankful for a mom who allowed me to pursue a dream all out, but I wish now that I had been a more rounded individual. 

Now that my oldest daughter and I have walked the same path and seen what can happen if we allow ourselves to become obsessive about one thing- sports or otherwise- we are much more cautious about the things we pursue in our lives.  Would I have become a great dance teacher?  Maybe, but it would have been hard to own a dance studio and move every two years with my military husband.  Would ALP have continued down the path to National level?  Maybe.  But there is no doubt she would have not had time for her family, gardening, sewing and all the new things she has since found time to enjoy.  God worked out the details- He always does.

Because, you see, it really isn't even about sports.  It is about allowing one thing to take over your life.  One thing becomes the "main thing" and pushes the "Main thing", GOD, out of your life.  If God is no longer your focus, I encourage you to step back and reevaluate...is this a fun thing or is this my life thing.

Make God your LIFE THING!

Hugs,

Friday, June 22, 2012

Guest post from ALP- The Gymnast

Note from the momma- We have often been asked how we feel about sports and specifically why we allowed our oldest to walk away from the life of a gymnast.  Here is part one of the story- from ALP.  Please know our hearts- we are not judging.  We are just sharing our familys' experience.  We must each choose what is best for our lives, with the Lord's guidance.


I started gymnastics early. Some of my earliest memories are of doing gymnastics about 13 years ago when I was about 5 years old. When I was 8 I, (with my family’s support and encouragement) took my hobby to the next level. Enter competitive gymnastics. A few years later, at the height of my gymnastics “career” I lived a gymnastics centered life. Just to give you an idea of what that can look like, I’ll lead you through what my typical day was, at only Levels 5 and 6. After waking up I would put on a leotard, throw on a shirt and pair of pants and put my hair in a pony tail. Then, after eating breakfast I would get as much school done as possible, eat something small, and get my gym bag. Mom would then drive me to the gym where I stretched, conditioned, practiced, and sweated for three hours. (And when I say sweated, I mean it, as we lived in Alabama for a while!)Then mom or dad would pick me up. When we got home I would shower, eat again, (Usually a hot pocket. Or two…) and finish whatever school I still had left. After that I usually had an hour or so of free time before dinner, which was closely followed by bed. Then the day started all over again. I failed to mention that I did this five days a week. Weekends usually found me in the gym again for extra practices and weekends with Gymnastics meets found us on the road for the entire day, if not the weekend. During this time I had a team of Russian husband and wife coaches who were incredible. They barely spoke English, had been gymnasts themselves and were legends (although I did not find that out until recently); having coached in four countries. (Rita actually choreographed the opening ceremony of the 1988 Olympics and Vladimir trained Olympic gold medalist Vladimir Novkov as well as Valeri Liukin. Yes, that Valeri Liukin, Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin’s father. Exactly.) Anyway, that was where I was coming from. When I was twelve, we moved again and I started at a new gym, the only gym within several hours of us. Almost immediately things did not go well. In other words, they did not go as I planned them. Suffice it to say, after a few months I began to see that something had to change. After conversation after conversation with my parents, crying hour after hour, and praying “Why, God?!?”, I made the decision to give up gymnastics. I felt like I was throwing away my life, not to mention all the money and hours my parents and I had put into Gymnastics.

 I can honestly tell you that it was the hardest decision that I have made in my 18 year life. It broke my heart. I spent the next week (month, really. Sorry, mom!) crying and began to go through withdrawal. Let me tell you that if you go through withdrawal when you give up something, you have been a slave to it. I would think about gymnastics most of the day and dream about gymnastics just about every night, as if my body said “Fine, I can’t do Gymnastics I will re-live it”. I had terrible growing pains in my legs and arms, so bad that we finally went to see the doctor about it. As the months and then years went on it got better, but I still dream about gymnastics about once or twice a month, even now, six years later. The difference is that now I see God’s plan. My entire life had been Gymnastics. Gymnastics was what I did, and a Gymnast was who I was. My entire identity was wrapped up Gymnastics, and when that was taken away so was my identity. As Shawn Johnson, a former Olympic gymnast who just had to retire from a knee injury recently said, “It's hard to accept that the one thing you had your entire life is no longer there.” I think that quote sums it up perfectly. I was a slave to Gymnastics. I now see that while God was a big part of my life, He was not my life, not my identity. God desired my heart so much that He took away what I had placed before Him. Losing Gymnastics and, consequently, myself, forced me to change my identity to one that was in God, and to trust His plan. Looking back now I see that I would not be where I am today If I was still a gymnast.

 I have often been asked the question, “If given the chance, would you do it over again?” The answer is no. While I do not regret doing what I loved for years and I certainly do not blame my parents for anything, if given the choice to do my life over again I would not do gymnastics. (Or at the very least would not compete in the sport.) Besides giving God the leftovers in my life, there were other strong negatives; such as learning to respect my coaches more than my parents, and spending more time away from home than in it. Looking back, the negatives far outweighed the positives and it was not worth having my heart broken in the end.

Today you probably wouldn’t know from looking at me that I was a gymnast (besides the fact that I stand and sit with my shoulders rolled forward, a combination of years at the gym and sitting at a piano). Most of my flexibility is gone and I certainly don’t have six pack abs anymore. =)  However, certain things haven’t gone away. I can still do a headstand, back bend, and the worm both forwards and backwards. I can over-extend my knees and tell you the skills and connections in my last bar and floor routines. Just don’t necessarily ask me to do any of that in public. =) Honestly though, all of that will eventually pass away, and all I will have is what is most important; eternity with the Lord. I couldn’t see His plan then, but I can now. God is the center of my life, and I am so thankful that He broke my heart, only to fix it with Him at the center.  -A

Stay tuned for Part Two- The Dancer on Monday!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Schoolhouse Review- IXL Math


Need some practice in math?  Need to see where exactly your child is in math?  Need a great Math review site?  IXL Math may be for you!  We have had the privilege of using this program for several weeks and have already seen where we excel and the math skills we need to work on over the summer. 


IXL is an Internet based program geared towards brushing up on and improving your math skills from preschool level to Algebra, with new levels soon to come. One of the great things about this program is once you subscribe, you have access to all of the levels; a bonus if your child needs a quick refresher at an easier level, or is ready to be challenged at a higher level, or if you have multiple children working on the program. When you begin this program you set up "accounts" for each of your children and even one for yourself. The kids enjoyed this part, as they could choose an icon that suited them- from a child's face to animals. Loved this especially for the five year old who then knew exactly which icon was his!




 Once on your level, you can choose a skill to work on and then begin! While IXL does not teach the concept, if you get a problem wrong you can choose the option to be shown how to correctly work it. Each time you get an answer right your percentage score goes up, if you miss a problem your score goes down. You work until you get 100% and have "mastered" that skill. While my 5 year old never paid attention to the score, the older two did get a little frustrated when their score went down, resulting in longer practice times. On the other hand, it was a good learning lesson to pay attention and not make careless mistakes, either in working the problem or simply entering the wrong answer! On average, my 5 year old could go through a skill in about 5-10 minutes. It took the older two anywhere from 15-30 minutes to complete a skill.

A fun part of the program is that you can earn prizes- stickers on a chart, as well as achievement badges.  While this was not an incentive for my 5th and 9th graders, my five year old loved it.  The fifth grader finally got in the act by making up a silly story about all his stickers.  Hey, if it works!




Another part I love about this program is that it is very mom friendly!  From your icon, you can access reports of your children showing what they have done, how long they worked, etc.  In addition, in case you forget to check or simply do not have the time, progress reports for each child are emailed to you weekly!  LOVE THAT!  In a glance I could see who had practiced, for how long, what skills they had worked on and what they had done!  To me, that is worth its weight in gold!  Also on the web site are each state's standards so you can keep up with how your child compares, if you wish to do so.


A few things to consider-
-This is more of a review program, not a full teaching curriculum.
-At this time, there seems to be no way to mark your spot.  Once you enter your child's screen, you will have to find the chapter you are currently on.  For my older children, this was not an issue, especially since they chose to jump around in the chapters.  For the youngest, I had to help him get started and then he was off!
-If your child does not read, there is a speaker icon for the younger grades that reads the problems, allowing them to work more independently.  My only concern is that it speaks rather fast and sometimes we had to replay it several times before my child could understand what it said.
-There is no fancy music or sounds!  This seemed to turn my auditory learner off a little, but he adjusted.  I reminded him we were not doing the program to be entertained.

Bottom line- As a parent, I really liked this program!  While the kids were not highly entertained by it at times, they have had a great review of math by using it.  We will definitely continue to use this, especially for the Kindergartner!  He asked to do his math several times a day.  I encourage you to check it out!

You can subscribe to IXL Math month to month or join for the year by clicking here.




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Disclaimer- I was given a free 6 month subscription in exchange for my honest review of this product.  The views expressed are my own and were not influenced by the company in any way.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Schoolhouse Crew Review- Creation Illustrated


We don't do many magazines in our house.  Quite frankly, I simply do not have the time, not only to read them, but to weed out the trash from the good stuff.  Not a problem with the magazine I recently had the privilege of reviewing, Creation Illustrated!  Think a Christian version of National Geographic.  Stunning photography, engaging articles and written for the whole family and sprinkled with scripture throughout.  From their website:
"Our purpose is to share the wonders of God's creation. By revealing fresh insights of His infinite wisdom, gentle touch, undeniable justice, redeeming love, and flawless design, pure truth shall bring renewed peace. Each part of this publication is offered as a reprieve from the daily rigors of life so that all can look to the future with unbridled gratitude and hope."
 

When I received the four latest issues in the mail last month, the first thing I noticed was the quality of the magazines.  Each page is a heavy, glossy paper- ready to hold up for years of enjoyment.  In each issue there are three themes- Creation in Nature, Creation in Scripture and Creation in Living.  There are articles about nature, animals, and points of interests, as well as a children's story in each issue and tons of amazing photography! 

One of our favorite parts of this magazine is each issue included an Instructional Guide.  For each article there are questions to ask and discuss.  Not only does this help with checking reading comprehension for your children, but also gives a great jumping off point for family discussions.

The photographer in our family, NOT ME, is getting ready to enter the photography contest they have in each issue, inspired by the editor/publishers' daughter, Melissa, who is the associate photo editor and judge of the contest.  My oldest son's favorite aspect was the children's stories, particularly one entitled "Wild Pony Witness" by Katrina Rogers.  I loved that every article pointed to God and that I could allow my children to read a magazine from cover to cover without the worry of negative worldly ideas and values.  How fun to even see the five year old enjoy looking at the pictures!




You can get a free introductory issue by simply clicking here!  I encourage you to give it a try, I think you will be pleased.

Creation Illustrated, published by Tom and Jennifer Tish four times a year and can be purchased for $19.95 for a year, $37.95 for two, or $53.95 for three.  If you pay now by credit card you can save $5.00 per year!


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Disclaimer- I received four complementary copies of Creation Illustrated to review in exchange for my honest opinion.  The views expressed are mine alone, and were not influenced by the publisher in any way.


Friday, June 15, 2012

940 Saturdays

That is how many Saturdays you will have with your child from the day the are born until they turn 18, according to Harley Rotbart from No Regrets Parenting

940 Saturdays!

That is really not that many, take it from a mommy whose oldest turned 18 recently and is getting ready to head to college. 

After reading that statistic I tried to see if I could remember as many of our Saturdays together as I could.  Some are easy- a party here, a vacation there.  But many just somehow slid into oblivion.  And that makes my heart sad.  Not that I should remember every minute mind you, I am over 40 now, but certainly I should remember many.

Am I just letting the days slip by one by one, or am I making the most of every minute.  Are you?!
Am I creating memories for my family or just wasting time on trivial things?  How about you?
Am I loving my children as best I can today knowing that soon they will be off on their own?  Are you?

CJ really is a happy boy, he just was NOT Having fun getting pictures that day! :)

Life gets busy with many important things, but NONE as important as family.  Let's vow together to make sure we show them how important they are...for 940 Saturdays and MORE!


My hubby and oldest are headed home tomorrow from a mission trip- planning a special Saturday to welcome them back.  Family Fun Friday just won't be quite the same without them tonight!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Schoolhouse Review- Reading Street



Pearson Publishing has been providing quality materials for schools for a while now.  They have now joined the ranks of homeschooling families and offering homeschool bundles of their products as well.  Take a few minutes to check out their website!  One of the things I loved about their website was a section called Resources.  Under that tab you will find a map link for each state's homeschool requirement, a must for this military moving family or just someone new to homeschooling.


Pearson makes it easy for you to inspire a joy of learning by tailoring homeschool programs to fit your child’s unique learning style.  This built-in flexibility lets you set the schedule and the pace that works for you and your child.  You can rest assured that all the fundamentals for success are included because our lessons are created by experts and scientifically developed and tested.  Plus, our award-winning homeschool curriculum is at an affordable price for your family. 
We invite you to explore the various homeschool programs we offer, to see how Pearson can help you build a rich foundation of learning in your home.- from Pearson's website

With our new CREW year beginning, our first vendor to review was Pearson!  Being the book lovers that we are, we were excited to be chosen to review their Scott Foresman Reading Street for 5th graders.  The homeschool bundle that we received included:
Student Edition Package
Teacher Resource DVD-ROM
Guide on the Side
ExamView Assessment Suite CD
The bundle can be purchased here for $124.99.

Let me tell you a little about each product.


The Student Edition Package is really two hardback books.  They are beautiful!  Think back to your school days.  Each book is divided into themed units and each unit broken down into 6 weeks.  Each week features a type of reading; in our case:
Week 1- Novel
Week 2- Tall Tales
Week 3- Novel
Week 4- Biography
week 5- Expository Text
Week 6- Reader's and Writer's Notebook.
At first glance, there is a lot to take in!  The thing I had to constantly remind myself was that under one cover were four subjects- grammar, literature, writing and spelling.
That takes us to the Teacher Resource DVD.  On it you will find any materials you will need to teach each unit, and then some!   From worksheets, to vocabulary flash cards, to lesson plan charts, Pearson has you covered.  This is a well organized and easy to navigate program. My only complaint- worksheet overkill.  I quickly found that we had to pick and choose the ones we wanted to use, hard for some of us to do, or it would completely overwhelm my child.
The Guide on the Side is basically a teacher's handbook full of instructional how to's.  It is the one component I quickly perused, set aside and did not pick up again.
ExamView CD is exactly that.  Test, tests, and more tests.  Again, well organized and easy to use.

So would I buy it?  That is a hard one for me.  I really love the way these books look and the stories in them are fantastic, but it does concern me that a child at this age needs to read a little more- a novel, not just an excerpt.  On the other hand, my son loved the reading. The worksheets, not so much.  A page on a subject was fine, but after that it seemed like busy work to us both.  One thing I would add though- if you are new to homeschooling, or if your child has come from public school, this is a great value for the money and probably much more of what your child is use to.  It may lead to an easier transition into homeschooling.



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Disclaimer- I received the Reading Street Homeschool Bundle in exchange for my honest review of the material.  All opinions are my own and were not influenced by the company in any way.

Monday, June 11, 2012

How Do We Love Thee...

Let us count the ways

God blessed us with you after many years of praying!


Your smile can light a room.

You are as smart as a whip.

You keep us on our feet!

Your hugs and kisses are the best.

You love everyone you meet.












You make us laugh.

You have been home for three years and you still talk about Guatemala like it was yesterday!

Your sense of adventure is catching.

You think you are a fish. I have never seen someone love the water like you do.



You would pick fruit over sweets any day!

Such simple, trusting faith. You know you are loved, by us and God!



You are amazing, CJ! Happy 5th Birthday! We love you!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Sweet or Salty?

When you crave food, what kind is it?  Sweet?  Salty?  Both?!

We love salt in this house!  (OK, we like chocolate too, just not quite as much.)  Granted, it may not be great for your health, but there is just something about salt!  There was a time when I kept Lipton Onion Soup Mix in business!  'Ya know, add it to sour cream and munch away!  It was a staple item in our house.  There never seemed to be enough though when I was craving chips and dip, which is pretty much every Family Night.

I was very happy when I found this recipe for homemade Onion Soup Mix!  Erin, over at 5 Dollar Dinners, always has great recipes!  Trust me!  It does taste slightly different from the old standby but once you have it a time or two you'll be hooked.  We triple or more the recipe, store it in a little jar and pull it out often.  The Walgreens here has there spices on sale frequently and we pickup cheap jars of minced onion to have on hand!  Saves money too!

Grab some chips and enjoy!

Homemade Onion Soup Mix

Yield- One packet worth

Ingredients-
 4 tsp. beef bouillon granules (we use cubes usually and grind them up)
 3 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
 2 tsp. onion powder
 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
 1/4 tsp. pepper

Sir ingredients together.  Store in airtight container.  When ready to serve, mix with sour cream!  (Or use in soup, with a roast, whatever you would normally use it for)


Got chips?

So what are you  watching for Family Movie night at your house?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Review- Mobile Apps-Rainbow Sentences

Have you noticed my new sidebar button?  We have a new name- Schoolhouse Review Crew along with an updated website.  Check it out to see what we are so excited about here!


And here's my first review under our new name: Rainbow Sentences by Mobile Education Tools.
Mobile Education Tools has created some neat products!  The one our family got to review last month is a grammar related product made for your iPad.  Here's what the web site has to say:


Rainbow Sentences is designed to help students improve their ability to construct grammatically correct sentences by using color coded visual cues. The who, what, where, and why parts of sentences are color coded to help students recognize and understand how combinations of these parts create basic sentence structure.




Here' a screen shot of a level three sentence.  Your child is encouraged to drag the separate sentence parts to their correct location.  As you touch the word group to drag it, it is read to you, a huge benefit for my non-reader. Once you think they have the sentence correct you check your work, and then either move on to the next sentence or get a second and third try with a little more guidance.  Every few sentences done correctly earn a puzzle piece that is then animated when complete.  A fun little  built-in reward system.   A level one sentence would consist only of the who and the what.

One of the best things about this program, in my opinion, is the settings button.  You can gear it specifically to your child in numerous ways: turning on or off the color coding, line color coding, word color coding, word grouping, and the audio instructions, as well as changing the complexity level.  CJ's favorite part- the record correct Answer button, which allows him to record the sentence he has fixed and then hear himself.  He thinks it is great, though I did have to remind him occasionally to record the correct sentence, not his own funny one!

Though I am pretty sure my almost 5 year old did not get quite yet the mechanics of how you build the sentences, he was able to do so with the color coding off eventually.  By listening to the sentence parts he could figure out where to put the word groups.  The program held his interest, I think, for several reasons: 
-It's very colorful and engaging
-The voice used is clear and easy to listen to
-The menu at the bottom of the page was simple enough for him to navigate alone
-The puzzles were a fun incentive to play



Happy Boy, Happy Mom!

Rainbow Sentences can be purchased here for $7.99 to be downloaded though iTunes onto your iPad. 

In the past I have not been a fan of games on my iPad for my children.  I have since changed my mind because of excellent products such as these.  While in iTunes, check out the other apps this wonderful company has to offer.  Several of the reviews online mentioned using them successfully with special needs children, a bonus in my book!



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Disclaimer:  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are mine.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Garden hope


See the garden?  Do you remember the before???  We are not as hopeless as I thought and I am so excited.  Things are finally beginning to grow.  In the far back peeking up are potatoes.  In front of those, which you cannot see, are rows of onions.  Then come the tomatoes.  Last year we had to beg the plants to produce.  This year we not only have about 8 healthy plants we planted, but now have about 5 that are volunteers from last year.  Who knew?!  In the middle are zucchini and squash plants.  We hope to actually get to show you pictures of vegetables by next month.  Hiding under the squash are our three pepper plants.  I am thinking they may need to be moved since they are not getting much sun now. 
Blue tub alert!
These, by the way, are the same sorry plants we showed you last month.  Do not think they have grown one inch.  As a matter of fact, now that I have looked back at the pictures, they seem to have shrunk. Why didn't someone tell us it was a bad idea...oh, I remember, I asked you kindly not to.  Next time- ignore me!

These are the few herbs we grow.  I know it does not seem like a lot, but it really is enough for our family, as I sadly do not use herbs like I should.  Just never know what to do with then.  We have gotten to share parsley with a neighbor because it keeps trying to take over.  There is also dill (MY FAVORITE), oregano and scallions.  We usually end up drying it all and using throughout the year.  Spices are expensive!  If you have one that you grow, AND love, AND you can tell me what to do with it, I would love your suggestions!

This is my oldest working.  Since she really does all the work and is the one that deals with ticks (my LEAST favorite thing in the world, I am pretty sure)  I thought I better give her some credit.  She is a hard worker.  The funny thing about this picture is she kept finding new plants that we did not plant come up.  We finally decided to let them grow and see what would happen, hence our new watermelon plants that want to take over the garden.  Seriously!  I guess composting is good for more than one reason.  Last year our garden had perfect little rows and did not produce like we wanted it to.  This year, much to ALP's dismay, it is a haphazard mess with NO organization, but is lush and showing much promise.  Oh well.
-This is by no means our dream garden.  That requires land of our own and acres of crops. Not that season for our military moving family- YET!
-This will by no means sustain our family.  A family of six requires more and some of my crew are not even particularly veggie loving folks.

But it is a start.  It is more than last year.  And it makes the momma happy!

"Then the Lord said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it, according to their various kinds.'  And it was so."  Genesis 1:11

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursday sponsored by A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa and GNOWFGLINS and Culinary Bliss.  Check out their awesome blogs!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Candy Pictures

I talked the family into a quick WalMart run last night.  Oh, the fun we have on Fridays!  ha ha  Have you been to WalMart on a Friday lately?

Anyway...

Due to me overdoing it the past few days and needing to get off my feet, DAD made the candy! 

And did a great job!

This is the before, with all ingredients in the crock pot-

This is once it has all melted and been mixed up-

Spooning the mixture out-



I have a newer crock pot, and therefore one that seems to cook faster and at a higher temperature, so we only needed 2 1/2 hours of cooking time.  Any longer would have burned the chocolate for sure.

Since we got such a late start, we left the candy on the counter overnight to set and put it into containers this morning.
These are just two of the four groups we made!


Remember this makes a lot.  Enough to share with a neighbor or two, or four!  ;)  I am thinking that this would be a great thing to make at Christmas to share.   You can find the recipe here!

 Easy and fast and oh so yummy!