Free Slurpee Day- 7/11

Pumpkin enjoying her Slurpee!

Take a ride to a 7-11 today and get a free Slurpee.  They have a new flavor Lemon Creme that is so yummy!  This is a fun summer tradition.  I sure love the cool treat on a hot summer day.

Homemade Granola Bars the kids will love

cooked peanut butter granola bars

Dry Ingredients

Granola Bars at the store are so convenient but overpriced and I'm not so sure of what is in them is what we really need or want.  So I really like to make my own granola Bars and wrap them up individually in saran wrap and it's an easy snack for kids.  Here is two recipes I really like.  What I love about granola and granola bars is you really vary it to your own tastes and add other nuts, seeds, fruits to make it your own.  I like to experiment with it and get my kids input and help on the creations.  It's fun!

Honey Fruit Granola Bars
4 cups oats (I like traditional but you can use Quick also)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 nuts (you pick your fav)
1 cup fruit (raisins, apricots, cranberry, dates)
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt
Combine oats, nuts and raisins in a large bowl; mix well and set aside. Combine honey, butter, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in a saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat and boil 1 minute.Pour honey mixture over oat mixture; toss until well blended.  Spread Granola onto Parchment lined 8 1/2 X 11 cake pan.  Compact down by spreading wax paper over and pressing with hands on wax paper.  Remove wax paper and  Bake at 350°F 20 minutes or until lightly browned;  Cool.  Once cooled to room temperature cut and wrap in saran wrap.  Stays good for about 2 weeks.




Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
3 cups oats
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup nuts (my favorite is almonds)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (divided)


Mix the oats, nuts, coconut, seeds and 1 cup of chips together in a bowl.  Heat the oil, maple syrup, and honey until warm then pour over the nut mixture and toss to coat.  Line 8 1/2 X 11 Cake pan with Parchment paper.  Spread 1/2 cup of Chocolate Chips on the bottom and portion butter on top top of chips.  Spread Granola onto Parchment lined 8 1/2 X 11 cake pan.  Compact down by spreading wax paper over and pressing with hands on wax paper.  Remove wax paper and  Bake at 350°F 20 minutes or until lightly browned;  Cool.  Once cooled to room temperature cut and wrap in saran wrap.  Stays good for about 2 weeks.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
3 cups oats
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup peanuts
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (separated)
1 cup peanut butter
Mix the oats, wheat germ, nuts, 1 cup of chocolate chips in bowl together.  Heat up oil, maple syrup, and honey until warm then add vanilla and peanut butter.  Pour mixture  and toss to coat. Line 8 1/2 X 11 Cake pan with Parchment paper.  Spread Granola onto Parchment lined 8 1/2 X 11 cake pan.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top and compact down by spreading wax paper over and pressing with hands on wax paper.  Remove wax paper and  Bake at 350°F 20 minutes or until lightly browned;  Cool.  Once cooled to room temperature cut and wrap in saran wrap.  Stays good for about 2 weeks. 

Encompass Family Camp-Camp Bartlett

Canoeing on Family Night

Dad in his uniform with his girls

We just had the most incredible family experience!  Have you ever heard of Encompass Family Camp?  I hadn't before this year but it was amazing.  My hubby did the scout training, Woodbadge.  You can do woodbadge at many different camps but we decided to all go up to camp with him.  He was busy with classes for the majority of the days and nights but we ate most meals with him and he slept every night in our tent but one night he had with his woodbadge fellows.  Camp started Monday Morning and ended Saturday Afternoon.  This was a long time to be away from home and it felt like we left the world for a while and now we are trying to catch up with the swirling world around us.
While he was being trained on being a good leader all of us were busy with our own groups.  They had age appropriate activities with several leaders for each age group.  As a spouse, I even had my own group and we got to participate as well.  Some of the fun things we did was:
Horseback riding, Rappelling at the Paris Ice Caves, Shot gun shooting, Rifile Shooting, Archery, River Rafting, Several arts and crafts projects, games, singing, Angry Bird shooting, Hiking, Face painting, movie night, swimming, canoeing, boating and more.
All my kids want to go back next year because they enjoyed it so much.  What I loved is meals were provided so I didn't have to worry about bringing 7 days of meals, clean up, and prep work.  I made some incredible friends with other moms and dads who were in the spouse group because we had so much in common.  Because all my kids were with their groups having experiences it allowed me the freedom to also enjoy the experiences with the spouces group.  The Camp Bartlett Staff was amazing.  These teenagers know how to work hard, be leaders, interact with other people, and have tons of fun without electronics.  My boys want to go back again as staff someday.  I would be totally supportive of it.  You don't get a ton of money but it's the character building you come back that is the payoff.
Peanut loved her leaders, they were so sweet to her and every time she saw them around camp she ran up to say hi.  Pumpkins favorite experience was seeing a squirrel being chased by a deer on the trail.  Pickles favorite experience was shooting the bow and arrow.  Popcorn wants to do NYLT when he is a little older.  Both of my scouts passed off numerous (months worth) of scout requirements!  The family memories and friends we made will stay with us forever!  Someday I'll have to have my hubby tell about his amazing experience in Woodbadge.

Random Thought

This is just a random thought I had recently.  It's been over a year now since we have had no TV.  At first it was a devastation because we could always get at least some local stations from our little antenna and then our large antenna we put on our house.  But at our new house get got nothing.  I think we have a black hole for TV here so we decided not to pursue it after a couple attempts.  I have not really missed it and the kids have stopped complaining about it have have found other things to do with their spare time.  I haven't missed...
1.  Commercials, especially at Christmas time.  It seems like the kids would change their Christmas wish lists after every Saturday because they saw a new toy they just had to have.
2.  I don't miss having to watch a show at a certain time of the day
One draw back is when the kids go to Grandma's house they are so excited to watch TV. But I'm not sure if that really changed from before.
Well I got to go because I really want to watch a movie on Hulu.  Hey isn't that really TV?  I guess we really haven't been without TV have we.  Hummmmmm??

Ipad for Education Only

I have been enjoying my new I pad that my hubby got me for mother's day.  The rule on my I pad is only educational apps can be added to it.  If a game was on their that wasn't educational, then guess what game the kids would be playing when you asked them to practice their spelling.
So we really didn't get to use it all that much before school got out but the time we did was amazing.  It made spelling test practice so much easier.  I have some really fun Apps that I researched before purchasing and I have really enjoyed.  I would also appreciate anyone who finds other great apps (that is educational of course) and could share.

Math:  Math Ninja-Great game!  Free but we bought the upgrade because it was so great.  The kids love to play it and it quizzes them on math facts before they can go to the next level.  Does subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division.  My 11 year old has got past level 19 and he said it was too easy but it has been great for my 9 and 6 year old.

Spelling:  Spellosaur-  $3.99--Worth every penny!  I can't say enough about this app.  I love it!  You can enter in your spelling lists, record your voice or use the programmers voice.  We use this for phonograms for our Kindergartner as well. It helped all our kids get so much better grades in spelling for the last month of school.  I'm excited to use it all year next year.

Music:  My Note Games-  OK this was the most expensive app I have bought so far.  It has also been worth every penny.  I got this game because our flute teacher highly recommended it.  It has been so good for all our kids' note reading.  You can play different instruments and set up multiple students on it.  It tracks their progress and tests them according to their level.  You can even do voice.  It has been amazing!  I would recommend getting all the entire game package.

Flashnote Derby- This is another note reading game.  You can select as many notes as the student can do.  It's fun and challenging.  Horse racing--I think it's just cute!

If you are interested in other music games check out Rebecca's App Reviews at:  http://musicianswithapps.com/  She does a great job at reviewing music games.

If you are interested in more educational games:  Check out http://appsforhomeschooling.com/