School Day Breakfast Idea.

2 peeled & diced apples {smallest you can get them}

1 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 cups old fashioned oats {not instant}

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups milk

2 cups water

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Place diced apples, cinnamon and salt at the bottom of the crock pot.

Sprinkle in oats, brown sugar, vanilla, milk and water.

**DO NOT STIR**

Cook on low for 3 hours. 

{you can also use 2 cups of steel cut oats and cook overnight 8-9 hours}

{you could also speed up this process by boiling apples in the water, then adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking on low on the stovetop till oats are cooked. In this case you could use quick oats. I think I'll try this method next time.}

I like to add milk & a little brown sugar to mine before I eat it. Mmm. 

Back 2 School Traditions.

I just realized that I haven't posted anything since January!
We bought a new home in Sept. 2012 and I guess with moving and fixing things up I have completely ignored my blogs!
I hope to post a new idea for being a better mother at least once a month!
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Do any of you moms out there do something special for your kids each day?
Like, send a note in their lunch?
My kids eat hot lunch so that doesn't work for me
When I was a child my mom always had warm home made bread or cookies waiting for us.
I LOVED it and more importantly, I always felt loved.
So, I am hoping to have something for them each day when they get home.
Like muffins or an apple with a yummy dip or cookies... something.
I want them to feel loved by their mother when they come home... you know, before we have the fight over home work... ;)

I think I'll try making this Blueberry Buttermilk Cake, but with something other than blueberries... cause I don't have any. Hmmm. What could I use?

1 cup of butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup buttermilk {did you know you can use regular milk, and add 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar to it, in place of buttermilk!}
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

For the glaze:
4 tablespoon butter 
1 cup powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 - 3 tablespoons milk more if need to get to the right consistency
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a medium bowl cream butter and the sugar until well incorporated. 

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. 

Add the sour cream and beat until the batter is smooth and fluffy. 

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, and add then add dry ingredient to the batter and partially mix together. 

Add the buttermilk and beat until you have a smooth batter.

Add the blueberries and gently fold them into the batter. 

Pour into a  10-inch bundt pan that has been greased and floured. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. 

Let cool in the bundt pan for 10 minutes to cool and remove from pan and continue to cool until completely cooled.

For the glaze -
In a small sauce pan melt the butter and continue to cook over low heat until it turns a golden brown color. 

When it reaches this color take it off the stove and set aside. 

In a small bowl whisk together the powder sugar and the vanilla and then whisk in the brown butter. 

Thin out the glaze with milk until it is the right consistency.  

Drizzle over cake.

Busy.

For this week and the rest of my life this is going to be my new motto. 
Why is it so appealing to be "busy?" 
Why do I need to have a million things on my plate to feel like I'm accomplishing something? 
Isn't having 4 kids, a husband and a house to clean up after enough?
And I feel like all of the other things I throw into my life are just taking away from what's most important, my family. 

So let's stop this madness! 

Lets stop the glorification of busy and see what happens! 
I bet I will feel less stressed. 
I bet I will not be so horrible to my kids. {at least I feel horrible most days.} 
I bet I will take more time to sit back and enjoy the small things around me. The things that won't stay small forever, and definitely won't want to show me the cute picture they drew, with such enthusiasm you'd think they'd painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 

These are the things I should be filling my life with. 
Water coloring with my four year old. 
Reading with my six year old. 
Cooking with my almost nine year old. 
Cuddling on the couch with Mr, even though he's watching basketball. 

I love my family and I want them to know that they are the most important thing in my life.

Love Me When I Least Deserve It.

I'm back! I took a short break with the Holidays and then our whole family got the flu!  Yuck!  One right after the other. We all got better and then I got it again! I don't know if it was the combination of being sick for two weeks and the after holiday blues, or if it was one or the other, but I was really in a mood for quite a while. So, with that being said, I am in need of some extra love. {poor Mr. doesn't know what to do with me}

Then I got to thinking.  Aren't we all this way? I know with the my kids, and the Mr, it seems like when they are the grumpiest is when they need the most love and attention.
Since I have been feeling down lately, I have decided to stop thinking about myself and do something for my loved ones. That always seems to make me happier about everything.  Get my attention off of my own little pity party! I think I'm going to start with the Mr.
ANY IDEAS????

Here are six ways we can start building up our 

husbands today:

1. Listen to what he has to say so that you will recognize what's on his heart.
   
2. Make an effort to be as cheerful as you were when you were engaged to be married.
   
3. Ignore his faults and focus on his strong points by taking note of them.
   
4. Compliment him for the way that he looks and the good things that he does like working hard for the family.
   
5. See him for who he is, not who you want him to be.
   
6. Be slow to anger. Relay your frustration with love, respect, and a cool head.

I found these ideas here: http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.ca/2011/09/6-ways-to-build-up-our-husbands.html

AND REMEMBER!!!

Christmas Eve Activity

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here is a little Christmas Eve activity for the kiddos!

I got them here:

http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com/2012/11/freebies-christmas.html

Weekly Mom Challenge

Last week I challenged myself to sit down to dinner as a family every night and ask the kids questions from our conversation jar. We did pretty good but it was a busy week so there were some nights we didn't. So, this week I want to continue with that challenge as well as add a new one.
This week I want to make sure I hug my kids at least 3 times each day. I'm not saying we never hug, cause I think we hug and say I love you's more than most families we know, but usually it's just in passing and in a hurried get-it-over-with kind of way. This week I want to make sure to talk and listen to them when I hug them on there way to and from school. I want them to know I care.

Friday Night = Fun Night

Usually I HATE Friday's.  The kids get home early and Mr. doesn't.  That means 2 1/2 extra hours of the kids, by myself. I think even they must feel the difference between Monday-Thursday & Fridays because it seems they are WAY crazier than normal. Is it just us? 
Now that we live further from town, and make less trips to town, I have decided that something must be done to help us cope with, what I now call, "the case of the Fridays."
So from now on, Friday night = fun night at the Vick house. Last night we went and got Redbox movie's and Subway. Mmmm. It was raining outside so we started a fire in our fire place and started our movies. Very soon the fire place was crackling and the house was toasty warm. :)
Hope you all do something fun with your little ones, and hug them just a little bit closer this weekend.

Scottish Shortbread Cookies & Sisterly Bonding

Lately my girls have been having a really hard time getting along. After their incident the other morning I have really been trying to get them to do things together. And of course that means I have to participate too or it just ends up in another fight. AND of course, since it's Christmas time, we HAVE to make treats! I found this recipe in a copy of LDS Living.  Shortbread cookies are the cookies that come in the tins at Christmas time.  They are an acquired taste, but I like them so we thought we'd give them a try in our kitchen and leave the preservative filled cookies in the tins at the store. :) The girls had fun helping me and I am glad to say that there was NO fighting!  Yea for Mom!... And the cookies turned out great! Definitely a thumbs up from us!
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1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp peppermint flavoring {optional}
Food coloring {optional}
2 cups flour
Sprinkles
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Cream butter and powdered sugar together.
Add peppermint flavoring and food coloring and mix well.
Add flour and mix till well incorporated.
Add more flour as needed so dough is not sticky.
Sprinkle powdered sugar or flour on clean counter top and roll dough out.
Cut with cookie cutters and transfer to greased cookie sheet.
Decorate with sprinkles if desired.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Adjusting the Sails

Last night at the dinner table I was asking my girls different questions from our conversation jar.  I asked my oldest daughter what she thought was her younger sister's best quality. {The one that's two years younger than her.} She couldn't answer me.  She sat there for 5 minutes trying her hardest to think of something she liked about her sister. She finally looked at me and said, "That she's a weirdo." I couldn't believe it.  I told her that it had to be something nice, and if she couldn't think of one nice thing then maybe she needed to work on that. My younger daughter looked at me and said, "It's because she doesn't like me." So then I proceeded to tell all off the things that I liked about each of them.
Then I, again, asked my oldest daughter, "What do you think makes a good sister." She said, "That they share, are helpful, are nice..." I asked her, "According to what you just said, do you think YOU'RE a good sister?" She sat there for a minute and then said, "Um, sometimes?" I looked at her with wide eyes and said, "Maybe you need to work on that too."
Holy crap!  I can't believe that my own daughter could be so mean to her younger sister. This conversation jar has definitely opened my eyes.  I am glad that my oldest is only 8 and maybe I still have a chance to help this situation.  I LOVE my sisters, and I would HATE to think that my own children didn't grow up feeling the way I do about my siblings.  It really makes me sad.  I guess I need to "work on that."

Here are some ideas I've found:

~Do something nice for the person they are being mean to.
~The two of them spending one on one time with each other and me.
~Write a note to each other
~Draw the other person a picture of them together
~Make a craft together
~Make a treat together and take some to a neighbor

I found this poem that I am going to print off and laminate and give to my oldest daughter.  I really want her to know that she is setting the example of how to be a good sister.  I want her to know that her younger sisters really do look up to her and want to be like her and around her.

I think I'm going to do her's two sided and put this on the back.  Then print one off and give this one to my other daughter. I hope any of this will help.  If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment!  I could use all the help I can get on this one!

     

Christmas Light Tradition

Some of my days get so "busy" {whatever that means} that I forget to take time out for the kids. Everyday I think to myself, "oh, when this is done, things will settle down." It never does. Yesterday morning my daughter was looking for the keys to the car so she could get her coat out to take to school.  We searched everywhere and luckily, instead of her coat being in the car, it was in her room.  Later, Mr. {that's what we're calling my honey from now on} called and told me that the keys were in his pocket. Yesterday was Mr.'s work Christmas party and between trying to get me ready for that and the kids in my mother in laws car I'm not sure I even hugged my kids when they came in from school.  I did however give them all kisses when I dropped them off at my Mom's house while Mr. and I went to the party.
I don't know if anyone else gets feeling this way, but when ever I spend a few hours away from my kids, I miss them terribly, and can't wait to get back to them.  When I picked them up, I told them we were going to get Dad and go look at the Christmas lights through town.  This is one of our family's favorite traditions, and one of my favorite things about Christmas. The kids really look forward to it every year.  By the time we got home it was almost 10 o'clock.  Way to late for little ones to be awake, but the time spent together listening to them ooh and aaw over the lights makes it all worth it. I need to remember this, even when life it busy, I still have time to let my loved ones know I love and appreciate them.