Checkmate

Isaac learned to play chess at Montessori last year.
One of the instructors there is a Grand Chess Master (or whatever the Super-Chess-Guys-Who-Win-Major-Tournaments are called).
They have a team and really wanted Isaac to join but it cost extra money and since we were already paying out the wazoo for tuition, we decided not to join.
But Isaac still got to go play sometimes during school hours (which was super nice of the Chess Master).

The other night, Olivia was spending the night at a friends house and so they boys chose to have a game night.
Isaac chose chess.

I don't play (I know the rules, for the most part), but Chad does.

Isaac didn't win, but he had fun.
And honed his skills.

Homemade Caramels

(Sorry for the bad picture, it's the only one I have because my battery died right after taking this.)

The kids received some caramels in their Halloween loot, and I've been craving them ever since.
I saw these on Giver's Log (packed full of amazingly fun DIY stuff!) and had to make them.

I'm not going to repost her recipe because it's long and involved, and I changed nothing.
Followed it precisely.
But I will add a few little notes.

•This makes a lot of caramels.  With a single batch I made 212 little bitesize pieces.  This fills a gallon size ziplock bag.
•To make this many caramels take a lot of time.  The actual cooking didn't take that long, but the cutting and wrapping really did take what felt like forever.  I think 2 1/2 hours or thereabout.  So, if you try this make sure you plan for that time.  And pre-cut your wax paper wrappers ahead of time (while the caramel is cooling).
•Your fingers and everything will be sticky in the end.
•The caramels are fantastic and addictive!  I made Chad take some to work so I wouldn't have as many to tempt me.

Clearing Out

Chad went to San Diego a couple months back, and ever since then has been complaining about a clogginess in his ears. He had finally had enough about two weeks ago and saw a doctor who prescribed some meds for him.
They helped but the clogginess was still there.

So, the other day, Chad visited the pharmacy up the road and talked to the pharmacist.
He recommended trying the Neti Pot.
He came home with this crazy thing, and I was pretty skeptical as I had never heard of a Neti Pot.
Checking Youtube provided some hilarious videos.
OK.  You go right ahead and try this Chad.  I'll stand back and watch (and take pictures).

Crazy teapot looking thing, isn't it?!

You stick it in your nose and pour water through your sinuses.
It's supposed to clear everything out.

Cheeto kept walking back and forth watching Chad.

I felt a little bad because I was cracking up throughout the whole ordeal.
Taking pictures and laughing seems to make people self-conscious.
Chad kicked me out of the room.
But, in the end, all's well, and his ears are much less cloggy!

Stamptastic

I wanted to share something that I think many people don't know about. Or maybe they do and I'm completely off.
So, if you know about this, just disregard it.

I have been buying my stamps online for quite some time.
Years, even.
It's fabulous!
You can order as many stamps as you want with only $1 shipping for your whole order (of stamps).
I know many, many people aren't using stamps any more, which is a true shame and a whole different blog post, but when mailing needs doing, why not make it fun?
Sure those Forever stamps are pretty cool with the price not changing and whatnot, but personally, I like a little pizzazz on my envelopes.

Here are a few examples of stamps you can find at The Postal Store:

Save a trip to the post office, and go order some now.
And the next time you have to mail something, have a little fun!

Carrot Pineapple Cake

I'm going to be honest.
This cake is not really my thing.
The taste was nice, but it was missing . . . something.
And the texture was a bit weird for me.
Perhaps blending the pineapple would have made the texture more my speed.

But don't get me wrong.
It was still really good.
And Chad really liked it.  Said it was the best carrot cake he'd had.
It was really moist, and the cream cheese frosting was truly amazing.
I absolutely loved the frosting -- and I'm not usually a frosting freak.
This will be my new go-to frosting.

Carrot Pineapple Cake
from Taste of Home

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup applesauce
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
2 1/2 cups shredded carrots (this wasn't actually measured, just a big pile that looked like this much)
chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting:
6 oz. Neufachâtel cheese, softened
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions
•Drain the pineapple and reserve 2 Tbsp. of juice, set aside
•Sift together dry ingredients and set aside
•Mix eggs, sugars, oil, applesauce, and 2 Tbsp. pineapple juice
•Add the dry ingredients, then fold in pineapple and carrots (and walnuts, if you want)
•Pour in prepared 9x13 or 2 round cake pans
•Bake at 350*F for 45-50 minutes

Frosting:
•Beat together the frist four ingredients
•Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time

TGIF

This is how I felt all week . . .

. . . but now that the weekend is pending, I feel much better.

{Thanks to Cheeto for modelling my emotions.}

Miss O

I told you a while back how crazy Olivia has been lately.
And that was a lot.
She's a pretty crazy girl.
But somehow, there's still more!

What's she eating?

Can you see what that bag says?
It says "Baby Lima Beans".
Not a typo.
She's really eating lima beans straight from the bag.
Popping them like popcorn.

She's done this since she was a baby.
When she was one, she would only eat fruit and veggies.
I know, why complain?  But she needed some fat in her diet too! 
For the growing brain and whatnot.
She would eat whole tomatoes like normal people eat apples.
She would snarf down an entire jar of canned carrots (we gave her canned because they were so soft).
She could easily eat half a watermelon by herself -- at age one!

I love that she still eats limas (she loves them frozen -- lima bean ice cubes, she says).
She'll eat frozen broccoli too.

The other day she brought me a newspaper she had written.
You'll like this . . .

I still haven't gotten my silver trophy.
Not necessary though, it's just nice to be honored. :)

And no newspaper is complete without the train schedule . . .

I love how she interprets our talents --
Isaac builds Legos,
I sew,
She writes books,
Ezren plays the Wii,
and best off all, Chad doesn't talk!
Cracks me up!

In her room she has these hanging:

This picture is made with smelly markers.

Better be careful -- three meters away from the Fairy Universe is a black hole.

Wanna Play?

The kids have been tracked out of school for a few weeks. For those of you who don't know, "tracking out" is the three week break that kids who go to year-round schools get between their nine weeks.
So, nine weeks on (tracked in), three weeks off (tracked out).
It's called "track" because each student is assigned to a track (a team/group) and at any point during the year only three tracks are in school and one is out.
That's not a very good explanation . . . it sounds more complicated than it really is.
And, yes, we absolutely love year-round.

Anyhow, mine are now back in (this week, hoorah!), but last week they were out.

I was tired of the "I'm bored" speeches, so I told Isaac and Ezren to play Mancala.
It's one of our very favorite games.
And it's really easy.
Ezren is a pro because he's home with me a lot and likes to play games.
Isaac needed a refresher course so in an interesting role reversal, Ezren was his teacher!

It really is so easy to learn.
We bought this a few years ago for $5 at Target.
But you could easily make your own out of things around the house and then look up the directions online.
It's a great thinking, learning game for kids! (and grown ups too)

The Red Headed Baker

Olivia and I baked!
And mostly, Olivia did it by herself with my supervision and guidance.
We made Granola Bars.
Well, they're called Granola Bars, but really, I think they are more of a cookie -- a thick, chewy, healthy cookie.

Frightened though she was, she even took it out of the oven when they were finished baking!

Mmmmm . . . these smell yummy!

We followed the recipe very carefully. 
The only things we changed were instead of chocolate chips, we added almonds and used applesauce instead of canola oil.
Mostly because we didn't have any chocolate chips, but also because I really wanted it to be uber healthy and chocolate chips would detract from that a bit.

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
•Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
•In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, mini chocolate chips, and salt.
•Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, applesauce and vanilla.
•Mix well using a wooden spoon.
•Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
•Bake for 30 in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges.
•Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm.

**Note: I followed the tip of using the plastic knife and not a single crumb did I find!

Tipi

About a month-ish ago, my friend Lindsay built her kiddos a tent in their backyard.
It looked like such fun!
Then she mentioned that she also wanted to build them a wigwam.
Hot dog! That's one rockin' idea! {putting it in back pocket for later . . .}

So, last weekend Chad and I were deforesting our yard.
Now, I don't like to cut down trees. Like ever. They're good for the earth, why take them out?
But a huge branch from the front tree broke, and we had to redistribute the weight so it wouldn't fall over (it's on a slight slope).
Plus, we (and when I say we, I really mean he) took out another tree that was getting too big for it's britches.
It was starting to run into the holly tree right next to it.

That's when I pulled out the tipi idea from my back pocket!
Yes! This is perfect!
We trimmed up all the big branches and set them off to the side in the back yard.
Later that evening, we set it up and made a really crude looking tipi.
It doesn't have any buffalo hide or even any fabric around it, but the kids think it's super cool.

Zelda hung out with her friend, Jewels, from next door.

And she made sure the tipi was structurally sound.

We even had a picnic dinner in there!

I think we'll leave the tipi up for a long time!