Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ainsley didn't want to get her "favorite"shirt dirty so she "had"to take it off

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a Clark Family Favorite and the girls were really excited to make them afterschool on Monday.

Here's our recipe (Company's Coming Most Loved Treats)

Hard Margarine (or butter), softened   1cup
Brown sugar, packed                          2 cups
Large eggs                                          2
Vanilla                                                 1 tsp

All purpose flour                                  2 cups
Baking powder                                    1 tsp
Baking soda                                         1/2 tsp

Quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)  2 cups
Semi-sweet chocolate chips                  2 cups
Medium, unsweetened coconut             3/4 cup

Beat margarine and sugar in large bowl until light and creamy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Beat.
Combine flour, baking powder and soda in a small bowl.  Add to margarine mixture.  Stir well.
Add remaining 3 ingredients.  Stir until well distributed. Drop, using 2 tbsp. for each, about 2 inches apart, onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake in 350*F oven for 8-10mins until golden. Let stand on cookie sheets for 5mins before removing to wire racks to cool.  Makes about 5 dozen :)

WOOOO HOO It's FINALLY Up!!!!

I bought this calender for my girls, atleast 2 months ago, at Staples. It was something like $19 (Canadian), which I thought was a little steep.  BUT I thought if I mactac the hell out of it I could get LOTS and lots of use from it while educating my little ladies.
So  needless to say months, rolls & rolls of mactac and LOTS of patience later we finally have it hung up in our playroom! 
Grampy rescued this big dry-erase board from his office (pre-retirement) for us to hang it on....we quickly realized it was not magnetic so we had to move onto Plan B (packing tape).
 All of the dates/months/days of the week are held on with velcro dots from the Dollarama (since I mactac'd over the slidey holes...which would not have stood a chance in this house). 
Our Daddy (Wayne) works outside so you can ALWAYS find the weather network on in the a.m because of this our girls are very intrigued with what's going on outside our windows.
The weather chart is a HUGE hit with Ainsley(6yrs).  She charts the weather with the dry-erase marker and watches for patterns and trends in the weather.  Ava(3yrs) LOVES LOVES LOVES the weather wheel and it's little spinning arms (Thank you Dollarama for the pretty purple brads*)
Ava often wakes up and runs to my bed yelling out the weather forcast for the day "Mommy wake UP! It's a Sunshiny Day!!" or "Mommy GET OUT of BED!!  It's wet and rainy out there!"

I LOVE this set up for many many reasons but most of all for the fact it helps me in my argument for appropriate dressing for the weather.  If your weather wheel says windy and snowing then there is NO argument for sundresses.
I have to Thank my sister-in-law for finding this at her Staples in Niargra Falls.  I have wanted one since Ainsley was a toddler but had no idea where to look.

Salt Dough Ornaments

This year the kids have an artificial tree of their own (oh so spoiled I know...but I bought it 2nd hand for $20) to hang all of their many many holiday crafts on.
To start the season off we did salt dough ornaments on Wednesday.

They are fairly simple.  To start you need:

2 cups of flour

2/3 cup salt

3/4 cup of water

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.  Slowly stir in water until it forms a ball.  Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3mins.

Then roll out and cut shapes with cookie cutters.

Don't forget to punch holes for ribbon (to hang)

.Bake for 30mins at 300*F...Cool then paint.

Then I seal mine with clear acrylic sealer spray (do this outside or in a well ventilated area because I gagged my family out this year....ooops)

Usually I use christmas wrapping ribbon to hang these on the tree, but because I used the funnel to make my holes this year the kids were able to slide the ornaments right onto the branches of their tree.

Lasagna Roll ups ...Mmmm Mmm so good :)

I have so many things to post from this week that I couldn't decide what first...so I went with something all together different and then I'll go post crazy when the kids & Dad go to bed :)

Tonight for supper we are having one of our new family favorites!
I got this "recipe" from a friend of mine and we now love love love it.

You need :

Lasagna Noodles (NOT oven ready)

spinach (fresh or frozen)

sauce (canned or homemade)

parmesan cheese

ricotta cheese

an egg

mozzarella cheese (grated)






Boil your noodles as directed and your spinach (if fresh) then drain.

In the meantime mix ricotta cheese, 1/2cup parmesan cheese, 1cup mozzarella and egg together...later add chopped spinach...in medium bowl

Then roll out noodles flat and smear mixture on

Then roll up

Add about 1/3 of sauce to bottom of casserole dish, then put roll ups in

then pour remaining sauce over and bake at 350*F for about 20 mins....then  I put more mozzarella over top

an heat til melted

Back-to-Back Thursday Family Fun!

Do you ever find that somedays are busier than others?  Or that all the excitement happens in a small time space between long boring stretches?
Thursday is our busiest day of the week. It's the day the kids can't wait for!

Every Thursday morning Ava & I head to our local library to do a program called "Time for Tots".  This is based on ages 18-36mths.  They do a Welcome song, ribbon & action songs, drum time and a story.
Ava LOVES her weekly program, especially the ribbons ( watch for an upcoming post on How To:  Ribbons).

1. Welcome Song  :  A is for Abigail, pretty , pretty Abigail, All the children love her blow a kiss Hello.
2. Ribbon & Actions Songs    The Itsy Bitsy Spider... Head and Shoulders, Knees & Toes...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ...Hokey Pokey
3. Drum Time  Horsie, Horsie-  Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,  Horsie Horsie On your way      We've been together for a many a day.  So let your tail go swish and your wheels go 'round--Giddy up, you're homeward bound! Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,Clip, Clop,
4. Story Time  Today was Brown Bear, Brown What Do You See? 

The Craft for the day (in the main part of the library...drop in program)

was brown bears & polar bears.

You need:  Construction Paper (cut into Medium circle{3inch diameter}, small cirle {1inch}, and 2 smaller circles{1/2inch}), glue, scissors & black fun foam (cut small circle-size of thumb, punch 2 holes with holepunch)

Then  afterschool on Thursdays we have "Family Ties".  It's Literacy Program that promotes Food, Family, Fun!  Our family and 9 others meet at Ainsley's elementry for a healthy meal (tonight was chicken rice with veggies, and chicken with multigrains rolls), social time with other families, then we seperate into 3 age groups: Preschool, school, & adult and do an hour of workshops that involve Literacy & Numerancy in our homes.  This evening Ava's group did The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Monkey's tease the Crodile & a drawing (Preschool).   Ainsley's group learned about Different Ways to be Smart: Word, Music, Picture, Body, Math, Nature, Myself, and Other People Smart (School).  The Adults had the Principal of the school as a guestspeaker and she had a very informative chat with us on how the report cards work, how our school is a "Community School" (we have businesses in the community who volunteer at & sponser our school) and did a Q & A for any of our concerns etc.

Overall we had an EXCELLENT day! ...I just wish sometimes the excitement were spread a little more evenly throught the week...since I still work evenings as well...leaving me to blog at obscene hours of the night lol.

GoodNight!!  Have a GREAT FRIDAY :)

Old traditions are continued

As a child I spent a lot (pretty much most) of time at my grandparents house.  My Nanny was my best friend in the world, the only person who truly understood me and loved me even more because of it!  I am not going to lie to you I was SPOILED by my grandparents!  There was NEVER a day that I looked into the freezer and could not find chocolate icecream.  And never a weekend passed that my Nanny didn't prepare my favorite meal on Sunday.  Every Sunday evening without fail Nan would make a ham dinner with scalloped potatoes just for me....I know this because she also made double the recipe so I could take leftovers home for the week :)

With my favorite meal we also got to sit out in the dining room, use the fine china & crystal, and light candles.  This was a special weekly tradition was just for me!  No one could make me feel more special than my Nanny & Grampy.

I have lots of fond memories of my grandparents that I love to share with my kids as often as possible.  And now that they are getting older we are starting to incorporate some of my favorite traditions in our own lil family.

So tonight we had our first candle lit dinner.

To prepare for our first candle lit dinner we made placemats.  I saw this idea on one of my favorite blog sites confessions of a homeschooler.  But we opted to go with a paper version.

front side

Ainsley's personalized side

Ava's personalized side

We used a legal sized file (trimmed), scrapbook paper (plate, cup, napkin & handprints) & construction paper (utensils)  for one side. 

Then I let them decorate the other side with stickers, die cuts & a tic tac toe board. And then covered both sides with mactac (lets just say clear the room of kids & men before attempting this because you have to get it right the first try or you have to start from scratch...or have a really wrinkled mat like Ava does)

We had a lovely meal of roast beef, carrots & potatoes (scalloped ofcourse) and chocolate pudding for dessert.  While we ate we discussed proper table manners for "fancy" restaurants vs. everyday meals with the family. Over all it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience for everyone ...even Dad who still argues that his fork is in the "wrong" place ;)

Saturday Night's sure have changed...

It's FINALLY my weekend off, 12 nights straight I've waited for this, and I am sitting home childless & bored! 

My girls are having a sleepover at their Nanny's tonight and Dad is eating munchies watching UFC, so here I sit in the office wondering which of my millions of projects to tackle tonight.  I think the most tedious should be the first to get out of the way ....but because it's a bit of a pain I'm really stalling here (hence this post lol).  This was a really cute idea I found on http://www.marthastewart.com/.  I bought the materials 3 years ago in hopes to make these cute mittens for my lil girl and her cousins for  Christmas...and well thank goodness there is a newer Clark girl and newer cousins because the older versions will no longer fit the materials.  How's that for stalling? 
So procrastination aside here's how I am spending my Saturday evening alone with my hunny...romantic eh?

My stitching theory changed from one mit to the next...

Next time (haha) I will do these right from scratch because these premade mits were
soooo difficult to fit my hands in to stitch

Remembrance Day

This week we have been pretty busy (but when aren't we?)  but we managed to squeeze in a Remembrance Day craft.  Remembrance means a lot to both Wayne & myself and we hope that our children keep the meaning in their hearts as well.    So first you you start with an idea...check...then you consult Google (What DID we do before Google????)...check and so here is what I found

PRETTY right? 
I thought this was beautiful and said everything I wanted to say.  So I forged ahead with the plan. 
- basic 8x10 paper
- mactac doves (Thank you Google)
- finger paint  (although the instructions had clearly stated water colours...you will see why)
- 2 eager kids
...CHECK

I really need to get a new camera, Ava is too fast for the cell phone

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
   Here are my kids beautiful interpretations

These were sooo soaked with paint that I could not print on the verse on them....
and well see you were suppose to use watercolours so that the paint wouldn't dry/stick
to the mactac....Ooops! Life's a learning experience right?


And well learning experience #2 in one day ...
DO NOT LEAVE TODDLERS even momentarily
with paint LOL

Measuring

Just recently my father in law (FIL) has retired.  He is one of those very busy with his hands kind of guys who lives for his work and "projects" and now since retiring we all have bets on how long is it going to last?   Most figure he'll get bored and be back to work within a year.  Myself I have decided maybe the girls and I can help keep him stay entertained (wink, wink)
I have been asking hubby for awhile for a table for the girls playroom and a bench for the front door....and well now that FIL is going to be sooo bored Ava and I thought we'd do a little measuring to help him out :)

Ava loves Daddy's measuring tape!  First we measured how wide the area is where we'd like the bench then Ava stood up against against the wall and we measured how high we thought it should be...and ofcourse we then measured how tall Ava was (3'8")...then Mommy(5'8")...and then next thing you know everything had a measurement :)

Grampy is suppose to arrive sometime today with our whiteboard (Yeah!!). I just hope he comes late enough in the day so that big sister(Ainsley) can come home from school and use the measurements to make a drawing of what we'd like our bench and table to look like.

{I know her pj's are filthy lol ...she tried drinking her chocolate milk from a coffee mug this a.m}

Consider yourself CHALLENGED!

I have a couple of Facebook friends who started this 30 Day Photo Challenge and it looked like so much fun!  So  I decided to give it a try... while reveiwing my 'challenge' photos with my sister in law (SIL) we came to realize that a LOT of my days consisted of family photos and since she had recently started her blog http://at-home-with-mom.blogspot.com/she pulled me into the blogging world.

30 Day Photo Challenge
Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.
Day 04 - A picture of your night.
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item.
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do or did the most screwed up things with.
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 - A picture of something you love.
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity.
Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little.
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 - A picture of your day.
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you.
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of.
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss.

Let's see how this works..lol

So if you haven't gathered from my post title, I am totally new to the blogging world.  I have been faithfully following some outstanding blogs and thought to myself how do they do that? So here is my first ever attempt.

Any suggestions, tips etc are greatly appreciated as I am not all that computer savvy.