Homemade Peanut Buttery Goodness

My boys are not the biggest fans of peanut butter.  They tolerate it enough on sandwiches to get what they really want: jelly. I on the other hand LOVE it. Like eat it out of the jar with a spoon kind of love. So I decided to try my hand at making my own peanut butter. I searched the WWW for a good recipe as my starting point but of course I had to make it my own. I used this recipe and added 2 additional tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
And let me tell you, like everything else store bought has nothing on homemade. It was lishish as Bubby likes to say. He was eating peanut butter out of a bowl with only a spoon to accompany it.

Then we decided to make homemade granola bars for Red Headed Techie with 6 simple ingredients: homemade peanut butter, peanuts, oats, honey, flax seeds, and for extra lishishness we added dark chocolate chunks. I popped them in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Just long enough for the granola to turn golden brown and the dark chocolate chunks to melt slightly. Yummy!

Building With the Boys

My new workbench in my semi clean garage

I've been trying to get to this project for over a week now and finally I found some time yesterday to get my workbench for the garage done. It's not the prettiest but it will keep my miter saw and me off the floor. Bubby and Bubba helped out so it took longer than it should have (about 6 hours including nursing breaks for Boobaloo).
I also threw in a couple of lessons about numbers and measuring with the tape measure while we were building. Bubby measured everything once he learned how and now I know exactly how long all the odds and ends in our backyard are.

And who knew that safety goggles could look anyone look so darn cute? Bubba decided to help out by keeping himself busy playing in and eating dirt. Boys!

Our Legoland Adventure

So this past week, Red Headed Techie and I decided to take the boys to Legoland Discovery Center here in Grapevine. It's nothing like the huge parks in California and Florida but it's the boys' own little slice of heaven here in Texas.
With 3 boys of different ages and abilities (or lack there of for Boobaloo) it was not the smoothest of trips but definitely fun. And of course I forgot my camera but luckily I had just cleared some space on my phone to snap a couple of pics and short videos.
RHT, Bubby, and Bubba got to ride a short little coaster and enjoy a 4-D movie while Boobaloo and I walked around. Then the boys enjoyed some karaoke time. It was a pretty short and sweet trip as none of the boys really had a nap and it was nearing dinner time. So we headed to the Rainforest Cafe and enjoyed a delicious Volcano. Yum!!

Bubba loved everything about that dog. He so needs a real one.

Bubba and Bubby singing Y.M.C.A.

Bubba enjoying the Volcano

Look at that hand shoveling it all in

Only have eaten

Making Homemade Cleaners

Okay, is it weird to LOVE to make homemade cleaners? I feel like a chemist mixing everything together, plus the scent of lavender and tea tree oil wafting through the air just screams clean.

That's why I love the homemade cleaning recipes I found over at Macheesmo. I have been using his recipes for a few months now and it has saved us a great deal of money because as we all know organic and natural cleaners aren't cheap. The all purpose cleaner is my favorite. I use it for just about anything I need to clean: kitchen, bathroom (it's great for little boy sprinkles around the toilet), windows, and even that gunky pile of who knows what that seems to collect in the car. It makes our whole house look and smell fabulous for at least 5 minutes until they boys decide to destroy it again.  Oh well, we can't have it all.

It's Been A While

Okay, so it's been quite a while since I've had a chance to write. That's very bad of me. But I have been busy with 3, yes 3 classes this summer and 3, yes 3 kids. Plus Bubby is out of school now so our schedule is just off.

But I've made a new schedule and things are only going to get better from here (I hope). I penciled in time for blogging with reminders to try and write something every day even if it's just to say it's been a busy day. It seems like I have to set up reminders for everything these days otherwise they don't get done. Gotta love Apple and the Cloud because if it was up to me to sync my Mac, iPhone, and iPad each individually, well let's just say I'd be up $@%^ creek without a paddle.

Anyway, much has happened in the last 2 months so here's a very quick recap.

We had a great time for Memorial Day. I made the boys a walk through "kid wash" that they played with for about 2 minutes before they were done. Sigh. But I had fun running through it so that's all that matters. I made the boys matching tie dyed soldier shirts which RHT had no problem pointing out to me were contradictory. We spent the day out in the Texas heat, ate BBQ, and I got to enjoy some very tasty but virgin margaritas.

Kid Wash- quick & easy to make

Boobaloo turned 2 months and then 3 months. He's getting to be such a big boy. The time is just flying by.

Bubba turned 2 and we celebrated with a big bash.

Bubba enjoying his cake

Bubby & cousin Morgan with their photo props from Oh Happy Day

The birthday boy with grandpa

Cake & cupcake toppers by CakesAndKids

Candy Bar

Buddy graduated from preschool.

Bubby at his pre-k performance & graduation

We celebrated Father's Day but for some reason I cannot find the pictures I took. Grrr

Then Red Head Techie turned 49. That's right, one year left before the big 5-0. We had a great dance party. It's been a tradition for the last 3 years. On RHT's 46th birthday we were still grieving over the loss of Olivia and I hadn't planned anything for his birthday. RHT decided to crank up the stereo and break out the glow sticks we had. It was the first time we had smiled in weeks. So now we have a dance party every year.

DJ InZane

Headphone applique pattern from Soubelle. She has tons of cute patterns.

DJ A Bro & Roark E. Roarke

The boys destroying all my hard work

And then there was the 4th of July. We went to RHT's sister's house and had a great time hanging out with family on the lake. I made red, white, and blue cupcakes that RHT ruined when he turned on the toaster oven. It's my fault. I should have known that the one day I need to put something up there to keep out of the reach of the boys, he would want to turn on the toaster oven that hasn't been used in almost a month.

Good thing I took a picture before half were ruined

The buttercream test taster

Well I guess that's it. Looks like we are all caught up. Now I need to go study for a test on Tuesday.