*Best Friends*

Meet Lil Muffin's best friend, "Dora". These two have been inseperable since they day they met. I grew up in a place where there wasnt a range of ethnicity around me. I had wanted my kids to be around other culture growing up. You see, because there wasnt ethnicity around us, mini me was terrified of people of another race. I hated that. Now, living in Georgia, we have a wide range of ethnicity and skin color. I love that. My kids no longer see color- Everyone is the same to them.
In fact, going back to Oregon last year, mini me was shocked at the fact that there was no culture and actually asked me where all of the black people were.

I love how these two are so "innocent" in the way they think and how they just love each other unconditionally!

Dancing Queens-

Look at these two- maybe we as adults could learn from these little girls to love unconditionally, no matter what your skin color may be!

Teachers and Chocolate

Last week, the Mr. and i made a quick run to the grocery store- ok, when he is hungry, he will buy any and ALL junk food there is to be bought. He ran across these no-bake cookies and thought about buying them. Until he saw the price - maybe 8 cookies for almost 3 bucks. im sure people would pay that for them- in a pinch... MAYBE .. but if you've known me long enough, you'll know i dont do pre-made.. i like to be Martha and try to make it all from scratch. i'm obsessed with cooking- REALLY.. so today i made no-bake cookies for the Mr. Im not exaggerating when i say, these cookies MAYBE took me 10 min to make. Literally a few ingredients.

Every week, i send a goodie to mini me's teachers- her main teacher ALWAYS gets a treat, along with the bus driver. Her teacher from last year is literally on her walk to her classroom, so she scores a goodie as well. I try and send them on her days with art , pe, and music to butter those teachers up as well. Our kids teachers work hard and deserve something little. I bought these bags @ my fave dolla store and use them every time. i think a pack has 25 bags in it?! i'm a ribbon hoarder, so i grabbed some football ribbon and some red for the DAWGS-

here is the recipe for the no-bake cookies, courtesy of Cooks.com:


CHOCOLATE OATMEAL NO-BAKE COOKIES

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

I'm sure we'll be scoring some more brownie points with the teachers, the MR., and with the neighbors we ding-dong- ditched tonight and left these as a present!@ Dont you wish YOU were my neighbor?!

My, What Big teeth You Have!

SHE DID IT, My Friends!!

6 months ago, this lil muffin was too afraid to get her x-rays done on her teeth-

Today, SHE DID IT!

... Without a fuss, flinch, or tear in her eye!
Next it was on to the teeth cleaning- better watch Sis to make sure it was ok.

Folks, 6 months ago, this lil muffin was TERRIFIED to have her teeth cleaned and it was a struggle for even the Dentist to put fluoride on them. SHE DID IT! She hopped up on this chair literally faster than the hygenist was able to get ready- notice she's still putting on her mask and had to get everything ready and lil muffin has her mouth WIDE open! ;) ( She definately doesnt take after her "Bampa" cause Lord knows you'd have to dope him up JUST to get him into a Dentist OFFICE! )

Grandpa, maybe you can learn by example! After all, the Dentist gives bubble gum "toof paste", princess toothbrushes, a token for a prize, AND a chik-fila meal. What could be better than chik-in?!

Here comes Fall!

After a LONG hot and humid summer, Fall is upon us and this year i'm ready. i'm ready for the warm, rich colors of fall. The browns and oranges and all of the things that come along with it! Yankee Candle is having a sale- 7 dollars for each plug in. I think these plug ins last the entire time i have them, unlike another home candle/ lotion store that starts with a B. I like the fact that you can have them let out a little scent, or a TON of scent. i place these in my main entry way, and put 4 of them around the room. That's usually all i need- THIS "BE THANKSFUL" scent is out of this world. So warm and smells like fall. I miss this Spiced chai- i cant find it out here in the south, but this is what we used to serve at our coffee shop. I would describe the taste as every smell you smell at Christmas, but in a drink. They do have it in a sugar free as well. If you live in the salem area, you can buy this at Cash 'n carry for a FRACTION of the price and it BEATS a major coffee food chains chai!!!
The Good ol pumpkin roll- how i love thee.. i have searched EVERY grocery and specialty store around me and let me tell you, there is NO pumpkin anywhere! There is a shortage ( dead serious, Hungry Girl stated that a few months back) and so this fall STOCK UP when you see it in the store. If i want it now, i have to sweet talk my military wife friends to buy it on the military base, because that's the only place they have it now-

I've plugged my plug ins in the wall and taken my FAll decor out- lemme tell you that its SO easy to decorate on a budget. ALOT of times, if you find something you like at a MAJOR craft store, they will have the knock off version at the DOlla store- i bought MANY things there last year and pulled them out for thrifty decor. Also, use nature!! i collected many pinecones on walks last year and have used those as well.

Take me out to the ball game!

Baseball season has almost ended, but we wanted to get a little Braves game in before it was too late. We loaded up the pilot with our fam and neighbors and drove to the ATL.
Daddy and lil muffin walking towards the field after some serious tailgating- look @ lil muffin with her cup, it cracks me up. I kid on the tailgating part!


The Mr. all the way at the bottom of the picture in the red hat- watching them practice and coming up with a master plan on how to get a ball...

If plan A doesn't work, go for Plan B- bringing lil muffin to "WATCH" them practice, so they see her adorable hair and give her a ball. Mission: Accomplished!

Mini me enjoying some funnel cake- this is after the soft pretzel, coke, frozen lemonade and fries!

After a disappointing first half of the game, the Braves turned it around and won!

Unbeknownst to us, there would be a free concert after the game- none other than Kutless!! From Portland, Oregon. Really.. its a small world.

Before they played, they had a man speak and this verse he quoted. i love the verse, and i loved the fact that it was on this board, in a baseball stadium. I'm pretty sure this wouldnt fly back in Oregon where we lived..

Kutless began singing... loved it.. it was like a huge worship service!!

Sissies taking a break from dancing to the music in their matching dresses one of their sitters out here bought them last year.

When we got there, it was so hot and right when we sat down, mini me said :"mom, this is so boring". i thought we were in for it- hours of "when are we going home?" But, i was pleasantly suprised and found that if their mouths were kept full, they stayed happy! HA!

Who loves S'mores?!

Smores.. who doesnt love these suckers?! They remind me of summer- i could probably eat them on a daily basis!

Golden grahams has these smore bars out- they're delish, but honestly, there's only 6 measly bars in the box for almost 3 bucks. LAME- expensive.. and why would i buy something with all additives in it, when i could make it MYSELF?! well.. i did. I found a blog post ( if its' yours PLEASE let me know so i can give you the credit earned!) I couldnt decide what chocolate to use, so i used two different kinds and used an entire box. I made a semi sweet and a milk chocolate. i personally liked the milk chocolate best.

After making it, i broke it into pieces and bagged it up for mini me's teachers and bus driver ( i fully believe in buttering your teachers up- they treat your kid better!!)

SO, here's the SIMPLE 3 ingredient recipe!:

S'mores Bark

Inspired by: Golden Graham S'mores and my co-worker, CL
*Almost 1 bag mini marshmallows
*Almost 1 12 oz box graham cracker cereal
*2 lbs candy melting chocolates


Divide: I found it easier to work in two batches. Divide the ingredients approximately in half.
Melt: Take the first pound of chocolate and in a microwave safe bowl heat in the microwave at 50% power for 30 second intervals. Stir in between. Stop when chocolate is completely melted.
Combine: In a large bowl, mix the melted chocolate with about 1/2 of the cereal and marshmallows. Toss to coat well.
Spread: Take the mixture and spread it out onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet.( I just laid 3 pieces of wax paper to line my counter tops and poured it on there) You may need 2-3 cookie sheets total for the whole recipe.
Repeat: Repeat the steps above with the remaining half of ingredients.
Cool: Allow bark to cool completely for an hour or two.
Assemble: Break the bark apart in small chunks and serve in cupcake liners.
(Note: Recipe can be cut in half. This makes a large amount of bark.)