it's a recipe!

THE PERFECT RICE KRISPIE TREAT!

I have played around with the rice krispie treat for years & I finally have the perfect recipe!  I've been making it this way for a couple of years now & my family loves them so much that one batch is gone in a day!  I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as ours!

INGREDIENTS:  

1 STICK LAND O LAKES SALTED BUTTER

1 BAG KROGER BRAND MARSHMALLOWS

6 CUPS RICE KRISPIES

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot over medium/low heat slowly melt the stick of butter.  Use a rubber spatula to stir the butter constantly until melted.  Stir for one minute after the butter is melted.

Once the butter is melted add the whole bag of marshmallows.  Again stir constantly until the marshmallows are completely melted.  Stir for one minute after completely melted.

Once the marshmallows are melted, turn the fire off and add 6 cups of rice krispies.  Fold the cereal into the mixture until completely coated.

Place one sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan.  Poor the mixture into the cake pan.   Use the rubber spatula to spread the mixture.  Place the 2nd piece of parchment paper over the mixture and use your hand to even the mixture out.

Grab the bottom parchment paper and pull the mixture out of the cake pan.  Take the top piece of parchment paper off & use your hands to push all four sides together.  Making it a large rectangular shape.  Let set for 5 minutes and turn over to set another five minutes uncovered.  

Cut the treats into squares & enjoy!!  

Hanging out with Madden

So,  when my youngest son decided he wanted to have a 

spider-man/minion party for his 4th birthday I immediately

 went on Pinterest!  I searched and pinned everything spider-man

 & minion.  When I saw the cutest target ad I knew I had to recreate it with 

Madden & so I did it, my way of course!

For less than $25 (including the costume) I created the target ad

with my little man Madden! It was so much fun & so easy to do!  

I love making my pins come to life! =)  

Supplies:

1 Roll of white paper (cut and tape three pieces together)

pencil

black paint

paint brush

a handsome spider-man

&& a camera

black ribbon 

Once I had my paper to the size I wanted, I cut three pieces 

and taped them together.  

I used a pencil to sketch the buildings, clouds and sun, freehand!

I used Tempera Paint (BLACK) & with a wide paint brush &

I started painting over my sketch.

Once it was dry Madden was excited to lay on the backdrop 

and pretend he was hanging!  My oldest son held the ribbon 

tight for me so it looked like madden was really hanging from it!  

I went to the top of my stairs and took several pictures from the 

balcony, I tried taking the picture from different angles to make 

Madden look like he was hanging and not just laying on the backdrop!  

Have fun & please share your photos!!  

it's a 40 thing!

I'm gonna wash those grey's right out of my hair!

If you are in your 40's or up then you remember that jingle & those commercials & you probably sang the title!  The women in the commercials always looked so happy to be washing the grey's away!  It does feel good to leave the salon with no grey hair but after three weeks when they all start coming back I do not feel like singing & dancing!  Thank goodness for root touch-up but that only lasts a week or less!  I swear, if I wanted a head full of grey hair I would have zero on my head!  I've always been told that it runs in the family.  Well, unfortunately the elders got that one right! I have a ton of grey hair and it started when I was twenty!  

I recently colored my own hair and I'm not sure if because it was a home coloring or not but after leaving the color on ten minutes longer than the directions said, I still saw a ton of grey hairs!  I know it's not a bad thing & I am so blessed to have a head full of hair but those grey's make me feel old!  I'm not in a mid-life crisis & I don't want to be twenty again (this is a lie) I'm happy being forty something.....BUT I DO NOT WANT GREY HAIR!  

I've thought about going blonde (hoping I would look like Jordan) but I have never in my life been a blonde & I am not that type of spontaneous that I can just go blonde so I will forever have to see grey hair & every time I wash them away I will forever hear that jingle & remember those commercials (which are very deceiving)!  -paula

Dealing with Homesickness

I absolutely love where I am and have always dreamed of being in a small town and being independent... but I, like most people, get super homesick! I am very close with my family and people think I am absolutely c r a z y for moving so far away.. which I definitely am. Have you seen how cute my baby brothers are? And the amazing parties my mom throws? Ugh! I am having one of those nights where I am so homesick and would just love to be home, even if my parents are in bed doing nothing by 8pm (which is probably the case tonight, like most nights) I could still walk a couple paces to their room and bother them and get the babies all hyped up causing a ruckus if I wanted to! There really is nothing that can compare! So when I first came to college, I fell in love with Ohio and Wittenberg, but I had nights like these almost every night still. The way I started to feel more at home was to turn on Disney Junior every morning and keep it on even if Im not watching it, just to listen. It sounds so silly and corny but it really made me feel happy and more at home because it was on ALLLLL day at my house when the babies were actually babies and not the little boys they have so sadly grown into so fast!  This could be a reason my freshman year roommate transferred schools.. but none the less it made me feel better :)  Thank goodness Sophia the First and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are on Netflix because now I can put it on when I'm feeling homesick at 9pm!! And I actually really like the shows l o l. I love Sophia the first and find myself singing with the octonauts at times lol but it makes me feel so at home and it is so much better than looking through old photos and videos listening to taylor swift like I am mourning an ex lover (which Ill admit I also find myself doing sometimes) How do you deal with being homesick and what are some ways you can easily bring your family into your dorm room or tiny apartment?? Thanks for reading my random thoughts and missing my family with me.. Until next random thought. - JC21

Let's craft!

Spiderman Party Table Backdrop!

I made this adorable Spidercity for Madden's Spiderman party!  It is going to be perfect for the party table backdrop!  

Supplies:  1 Tri-fold foam display board

                   exacto knife

                   pencil

                   glue stick

                   yellow paper

                   ruler

First, decide what you want your skyline to look like!  Then use the ruler and pencil to draw it out at the top of the board.   Use the knife to cut out the skyline.  

To make the buildings, score the front and back of the board with the knife, rotating from front to back so the board folds like an accordion.  I made the buildings different widths to make it look more realistic.  

On a word document I created different sizes of squares to use as the windows.  I chose to print it on yellow cardstock.  After I cut them out (using all of my patience) I arranged them on the buildings before gluing them down because I knew I would rearrange them several times before being happy!  Once they are glued to the board, THAT'S IT!   

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS ON MADDEN'S PARTY TABLE!!

MOMMY MOMENT

"No use crying over spilt milk"....literally!

The BIG RED CHAIR is one of my favorite things!  My husband bought it for me as a college graduation present.  It to is on its second time around.  The boys love it and when Jordan and Matthew were younger we snuggled in this chair every night!  It got demoted from family room chair to bedroom chair when we moved to Vegas but still every night I get cuddles from my little ones in this chair!  I often wonder why I chose red & then I look around my house and THANK GOD I did because if it weren't for the big red chair my house would have NO COLOR! 

Last night Max's chocolate milk cup poured out all over the chair.  I wasn't happy because Max has been told several times to put his big boy cup on the table!  Anyway, when I started cleaning the milk, I was so grateful that the cushion covers were removable and I could wash the milk right off!  This is a mother's dream & this chair has to be one of the greatest pieces in our home!  So Max was crying hysterically because he felt bad & I finally got to use the saying "no use crying over spilt milk", like literally this was true!!!  -paula

it's a party!

Maximus turns five!

My son Maximus turned five on Feb. 4th && since he is CrAzY about dinosaurs we had the most amazing dinosaur party!  I had so much fun planning this party & it was his first non-family party so I wanted to make sure it lasted more than 30 minutes like our usual family parties!!  I took Max to the desert behind our house and used a TPW Dinos app to take the picture above.  

 Pictures with the birthday boy!!!

THE FAMOUS CHALKBOARD!!

food....

Fun with the birthday boy!!

Max's five year pictures!  I decided to take these myself & since going to the photo studio is so stressful!  I like them a lot better than the studio photos & they are so fun!! 

Dinosaur BINGO was a hit!  I made the BINGO cards, as soon as I figure out how to add the pdf to the blog, I will share the fun!!

We decided to have the dinosaurs wear party hats so I made little hats for a few of his toy dinosaurs and used them for decorations & cake toppers.  The three pictures hanging above the party table were downloads I purchased from Etsy & I had them printed at Costco.  I used the t-rex for the invitaion & thank you cards!  I made the cookies using my favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Perfect cookies everytime!!  All of my children love chocolate suckers so I made dinosaur suckers for the party!  I ordered the cake and cupcakes and added my own decorations, keeping them very simple & fun!!   I made a small backdrop with wrapping paper and a simple banner that I made to take photos with the birthday boy! I served Max's favorite foods like veggies and dip, dino chicken on a stick and yummy mini BLT's.  The strawberry's were a recipe I found IN A MAGAZINE in 2000  when my oldest son was one. They  were just as good the second time around ;)  I also made the best spinach dip ever (mostly for the moms) but some of the children enjoyed as well!  I made cute labels for the water bottles (my first time doing this & I thought they looked so cute I will do it from now on).  I have a chalkboard hanging in my kitchen (we call it the famous chalkboard) I tried to make it look like the invitation, I think it turned out pretty good!  

 Let me know your thoughts & if you want any recipes or instrucitons for anything I made!  I'm just a mom having fun the second time around!!  -paula