Late anniversary & valentines weekend away

gold out

card stunt side 1 - during the national anthem

card stunt side 2 - during the WI lineup

Jeremy and I headed to Iowa City this past Friday afternoon for a night away and the Iowa basketball game the next day.  It was relaxing and much more quiet than it would have been if we brought the kids along!  Thankfully his parents were able to keep the kids for us and they enjoyed some grandpa and grandma time.  We did a little shopping, ate supper at The Airliner (which is actually where we first met!), and relaxed in the hot tub.  It was a nice day/night away but I was happy to see the kids again on Saturday night.  Unfortunately the basketball game didnt end up how we would have like but it was still nice to get away and spend some time just the two of us.

The "bored" jar

We have been having a lot of the "I'm bored" comments at our house lately.  I saw this idea on a blog a while ago and decided to finally give it a try.  The kids helped me come up with the ideas to write on the slips of paper and we cut them out and put them in a jar I had downstairs on the shelf.  The rule is that you have to do what is on the slip you drew before you can draw again or do anything else.  So of the slips have a job or chore listed such as vacuum the stairs or work on letters/math.  Others are a little more fun such as tv time, play video games.  Each child picked out a slip tonight after we got it all put together and as luck would have it the boys both got a fun one while Aubrey got to vacuum the stairs with the dust buster.  So far they are enjoying it.  I am sure we will add more ideas as the weather changes and we think of them.

SOY fun day

The kids and I headed out to the Vermeer pavilion a few weekends ago for their family fun day.  They have inflatables, games, balloons, and face painting, not to mention a free lunch.  I really like supporting this mission, for more info go to this website http://serveouryouth.org/.
Jeremy was helping one of the other families from our church small group this morning so he wasnt able to join us this year.

my pink zebra

my black ninja

my white ninja

Aubrey's dance recital

This is the second song Aubrey's class danced to.  A Little At A Time.  Enjoy!

Healthier Monster Cookies

We take our monster cookies very seriously around here!  I can remember making these with my mom all the time and now I do it with my children.  With our new focus on healthier eating I looked at the recipe and decided to try it with a few healthy substitutions.

Original recipe:
2 eggs
1 cup and 2 Tb brown sugar
5 Tb butter
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup and 2 Tb white sugar
1 1/3 t baking soda
3 cups oatmeal
M&M's
chocolate chips
Makes about 3 dozen

Today I make it with the following changes:
1/2 butter and 1/2 applesauce
1/2 skippy and 1/2 PB2 and water
baking blend truvia in place of white sugar, half as much
old fashioned oatmeal

The cookies batter was wetter than usual and took a little longer to bake.  The cookies did not spread out like they do sometimes and they are "chewier" than normal.  The kids and Jeremy all said they tasted great!  I would like to be able to sub something healthier for the brown sugar or at least part of it since there is a lot.  Maybe someday I will get really adventurous and buy some carob chips, or at least dark chocolate chips and dark M&M's!

I still need to get a sample to my favorite monster cookie lover and see if she approves!  I just finished my Advocare 24 day challenge and Jeremy is on his last week but I have been dying to bake so this was a good alternative!

Final song from the dance recital - Dance

Aubrey's 1st dance recital