It's kind of like a book review, right??

This is one of my favorite blogs! The Mothering Blog. If you are of the crunchy persuasion you will surely enjoy it. Check them out!

All Things Mothering

Homemade Granola Bars

For a while now I have been wanting to start making our own granola bars. Not only is it cheaper, but I just like making things homemade. I kind of just made this recipe up using bits and pieces of other recipes I saw online. The great thing about it is that you can tweak it however you want and make it work for what you like and what you have on hand! I am going to start making a huge batch of these every Sunday so we can have them to munch on all week. Here is what you will need:

* In a mixer, combine: 1/2 c packed brown sugar, 1/3 c peanut butter, 1/4 c corn syrup, 1/4 c melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla.

* Beat until smooth

* Add in 2 c quick oats and mix until blended

* Add in 1 c crispy rice cereal and mix until blended

* Fold in some craisins (I didn't really measure, I just dumped! I used about half of the bag shown)

* It will look like this:

* Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 baking pan

* Press the mixture into the pan

* Be sure and press it down very firmly and evenly to the edge of the pan

* Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown

* Remove from oven and let cool completely

* Cut into bars as desired

Book Review: A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family

Title: A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family
Author: Mary Ostyn
Published: 2009

Right away, the title of this book drew me in. There are lots of days when I feel down right crazy for having as many kids as I do and feel like there is no way I am going to survive one more day. It was very comforting to pick up a book, read about someone with a similar life, and know that they are going through it all as well. The author has 10 kids! Having a big family is something that Jason and I feel God has called us to do, but that does not always mean that it is easy!

This book is written in a very straight forward and entertaining way. I found myself anxious turning the pages to see what other tips and anecdotes Mary had to offer. She talks about things from saving money on clothes and food to how to take vacations for less money. She also talks about managing different school options as well as fostering sibling relationships, and ways to make each child feel special. Basically any questions or concerns I have about having a big family are addressed in this book. I find myself flipping through it often.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who currently has a large family or is planning on one in the future.

Easy Summer Dresses

After having 4 sons, I am having a ton of fun dressing my daughter. I don't really like anything too frilly but I do love just nice, simple dresses for her. Sometimes that is hard to find! Seems like everything for girls is covered in glitter and licensed characters! Totally not my style!! I have seen these dresses made before and I thought I might wing it and give it a try on my own. I didn't use a pattern or follow any instructions so bare with me as I try to write down exactly what I did! For about $8, Elliot now has 2 new dresses!




*For each dress you will need a onsie , 1/2 yard of fabric, and some elastic.

*Cut the onsie off about an inch or so below where the arm holes are.

*Cut fabric so it is 2 times the length of the circumference of the onsie.

*Cut a piece of elastic that is the length of the circumference of the onsie.

*When you are read to sew, this is what you should have:



*Sew a hem down one of the long sides of the fabric.

*One the other side we are going to sew a hem and sew the elastic on at the same time.

*Fold the hem over and place the elastic on top of it.

*As you are sewing, stretch the elastic out. You will notice that as it comes out of the other side of the machine and the elastic un-stretches it will gather the fabric for you.

* Your finished skirt portions will look something like this:





*Now all you have to do is turn the onsie inside out and sew the skirt part to the onsie part.

*As you sew be sure and stretch the elastic out a little.*Turn the dress right side out and you are done!

No Syrup Needed Pancakes

Chocolate? Check. Bananas? Check. Blueberries? Check. Actually pretty good for you? Check. These are so good and so easy. The kids ate them without any syrup or butter or anything! They just picked them up and ate... and ate, ate, and ate! Next time, I am going to double the recipe so I can have some to freeze for later! I got this recipe of a great website I go to for easy and healthy meals: greenlitebites.com Check it out! So here we go:

*Mash up 2 bananas in a fairly big bowl.

*Add in 1 cup of chocolate soy milk and 2 eggs

*Mix until frothy (that's a fun word, isn't it?)

*In a smaller bowl combine 1.5 cups whole wheat, 1 tsp baking powder, 1tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp cinnamon.

*Sift your dry mixture into your wet mixture.

*Mix until just combined. Batter will be lumpy

*Spoon batter onto a hot griddle.

*Top batter with desired amount of blueberries.

*Flip pancakes when they start to bubble and get brown on the bottom

*This recipe made about 12 medium sized pancakes which was BARELY enough for us :)

*Enjoy!

World's Easiest Cookies

A pretty bold statement, I know! These cookies only have 4 ingredients and take maybe 15 minutes total to make. Here is what you need:

* You can use any kind of cake mix that you want. I used lemon this time, but I have also used strawberry and chocolate. All turned out really good!

* Preheat over to 350

* Mix together 1 egg, 1 tub of whipped cream, and 1 box of any kind of cake mix.

* It will be super sticky and look like this:

* Put some powdered sugar in a bowl or on a plate and drop teaspoonfulls of this batter into it.

* Roll the batter around until it is covered in powdered sugar.

*Place on a greased cookie sheet. These will expand so leave some room between cookies!

*Bake for about 10-12 minutes. You don't want to over bake them.

*When they come out they will be all nice and chewy! Yum-o!

Apron from a Curtain

Have you priced aprons lately? No? Huh...just me then. Well, let me tell you they are EXPENSIVE!! When did a simple piece of cloth used to protect your clothes while you bake and cook become something cool (ie: expensive) to have?! I mean I have seen aprons going for $60!! What?!? Well, I wanted a red apron to match my kitchen but there was no way I was going to pay $60 or even $20 for one. So I started thinking of how I could make one. Couldn't be that hard, right? I found this old curtain that I used to have hanging in the kitchen at my old house. I love this curtain but it is way too small for my kitchen window now. Good thing I kept it because I was able to turn it and some ribbon scraps into a pretty neat apron.

Now here is the REALLY technical part. I hope you can follow! I held the curtain up to me to kind of see where I wanted the tie and neckline to fall and then I cut it. Whew! Did you make it through that part? I also made a pocket with some ribbon on it, but in the end I decided to go another direction and didn't use it. Oh well, maybe next time. So here is what my cut out apron looked like. My youngest son, Sawyer, was being a BIG helper :)

Now all I did was sew up all the rough edges. The bottom of the curtain is the bottom of the apron and it already has some cute, red, ric-rac on it so that saved me some time. I sewed a couple little pleats in it as well and I ended up liking how that looked better than adding the pocket. I then cut 2 pieces if ribbon for the ties and sewed them on. I draped some ribbon around my neck to see what length I would need the part that goes around my neck to be and then sewed it on. Really it was just that easy! I am pretty happy with how it turned it. I love that it matches my kitchen. And I REALLY love that I didn't spend $60 on it!