Super Yummy Cookies...

Since it is snowing and blowing outside today we spent the morning making volcanoes in the kitchen with the little kids. Then, once the big boys got home I asked who would like to make cookies and what kind to make.

Lesson for the day - NEVER ask 3 different kids what kind of cookies to make. Ty & Friends wanted chocolate chip, Nick & Kurt wanted Oatmeal and Eric and friends wanted peanut butter. So, I went online and found this amazing recipe that combines all three!! Easy to make and even easier to eat. And the most amazing part - every single child (including my husband) in our house during cookie making time was happy with the flavor choice!! Now that doesn't happen very often.

Here is the recipe in case you want to try it:

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix until combined. Then add eggs and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

2. In another bowl, whisk together oats, flour, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture and mix until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned but still soft in the center.

Question of the day...

IS WINTER EVER GOING TO END??

It is snowing again. We are under a storm warning. Even the kids aren't excited about snow anymore!!

Spring where are you?????

Winter fun in the sun

How many boys can you fit on one sled?? And more importantly - how many of these boys will stay on the sled for the entire trip down the hill?

Only in Northern Minnesota could you go from freezing cold temps that keep you inside one day to sliding in your t-shirt outside the next day. The weather finally warmed up one weekend and the kids and I and a bunch of their friends went sliding at the golf course. We started out small on the "little dutch" hill (have no clue where the names came from) and then moved on to "big dutch" the grand-daddy hill of them all.

Ty still smiling even after climbing up the hill hundreds of times.

Eric posing in his pterodactyl t-shirt he made at school.

Nick carrying the fast sled (the one everyone fights over)

Just in case you can't see everyone piled/stacked/stuffed on this tube to go down the monster hill here is the list...

Nick, Eric, Kyle, Anthony, Angel, Keisha, Sydney, Deacon, Sydney's dad, & 3 other girls who I didn't know.

All that weight on the tube made it FLY down the hill!!

Ty saw them do down once, bouncing and flying off the tube and decided against riding the crazy thing down the hill.

Grab your balls we're going bowling!!

Whenever I take the boys bowling the polka song "grab your balls we're going bowling" plays in my head the entire time. Now, why would I know a polka song? From Polka Pal Don of course!! Every Saturday morning from 8-12 this sweet guy plays polka music on our local radio station. And since the radio is always on in my kitchen I have become pretty familiar with the songs.

Ok, that's not what this post about. Sorry, kind of got side tracked with polka music.

The boys and I spent one FREEZING cold afternoon at the local bowling alley that finally opened up again. We brought along a couple of friends to play with too.

Kyle showing perfect bowling form!!

Eric helping Ely

Eric using the run and throw technique

Nick's windup

Ty using the throw the ball on the floor method

And, you will never believe who won!! We played two games and Ty beat everyone both times with scores of 129 & 132. Needless to say he showed up his older brothers and cousin Kyle and was very proud of himself.

Future eye specialist??

Ty loves cleaning fish with Papa. Or rather dissecting fish while Papa cleans them.

Last weekend Papa and Nick caught 2 crappies. Ty wanted to help clean them. After asking Papa to find the heart (we usually do this with bigger fish. You can sprinkle salt on the cut out heart and the kids can watch it beat again. very cool!!) and not being able to get it because it was too small, Ty decided that he wanted to play with fish eyeballs instead. So he contentedly stood at the kitchen counter dissecting fish eyeballs until it was time to go home.


Maybe we have a little surgeon in the making?!

Finally got pictures off of my camera from the last month. I only did it so that I would have room to take more pictures on our mini vacation this past week. So, be prepared - a bunch of posts coming up this weekend with picture updates.

A melt your heart moment

Ty came up to me tonight with his keke (blanket) and a bottle of my perfume and the following conversation occurred...

Ty: "Mom can I spray some of this stuff on my keke?"

Mom: "Why do you want to spray that on it?"

Ty: "Because I want my keke to smell like you."

How sweet is that?! So of course we sprayed the keke so it smelled like mommy.

Ty: "Now I'll sleep the bestest mom."

You gotta love those boys!!

Words every mother dreads hearing...

"Mom, something happened and I didn't do it!" Yelled by a 4 year old as he runs upstairs to his room at lightening speed.

Hmmmmm, do I even want to look??

Not Me Monday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Kurt did not decide this week to officially put his application in for the head high school football coaching position for next year. I did not encourage him to do so while in my mind screaming WHY??????. Don't get me wrong, I love that he is involved with the youth programs in the community, it just gets hard at home with our three sometimes when he is off coaching so much.

Our boys got up, ate and got dressed perfectly this past week even with day light savings time. No one complained a bit. Ha ha ha!!

Ty did not ask the nurse at the clinic "Hey Lady, why do you have a screw in your head?" when he saw her eyebrow piercing.

Eric did not wow me with his neocortex this past week. (see older post from the week for a better understanding)

I was not totally overwhelmed one day last week when I had a total of 9 BOYS running like banshees around my house. Where do they get their energy?

What I learned today...

If you put a giant pool of red food coloring on the top of the frosting in the bowl and turn the mixer on high it will splatter EVERYWHERE and make your kitchen look like someone got shot in it.

Red food coloring does not come off of countertops and cupboard doors very well.

Eric's Neocortex

Here is a conversation that I had with Eric this evening as we were finishing up his homework:

Mom: Eric you are so smart!! Look how fast you are reading now?!

Eric: It's because I am using my neocortex

Mom: Your what??

Eric: My neocortex.

Mom: What is that? (truly I didn't know)

Eric: (pointing to his forhead) It's the part of my brain that helps me figure things out and understand things.

Mom: Wow

(Eric at this point walks away I am sure thinking that his mom does not know how to use her neocortex)

I had to go online and look it up. Never thought that you studied your neocortex in 1st grade!! Way to go Mrs. Fink!!

Hey lady......

I took Ty to the doctor today and we had an interesting time with the nurse. It just amazes me what comes out of this boy's mouth some times.

The nurse was taking his pulse and Ty was studying her quietly. All of a sudden he pipes up and says to her, "Hey lady, why do you have a screw in your head?" (The nurse had a post earring in her eyebrow)

Once again, out of the mouths of babes!!

Not Me Monday!!

Well, we had a fairly unevenful week last week. But, none the less we do have not me's...
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Nick has not skated everyday this week and the weekend. Soaking up as much hockey as he can before the ice melts at the arena.

I did not skate at Eric's end of the year popsicle vs parent hockey game. I was not terrified of falling with all of the little 4 and 5 year olds zipping around me like pro skaters while I was just happy to be standing!!

I am not cranky at all that this coming week we are supposed to have a snowstorm and get up to 12-15 inches. IT'S SPRING PEOPLE!! Come on - where is the nice weather already??

I did not spend 4 hours at the laundry mat this past weekend catching up on washing. I could have done this at home, but did not use the amount of clothes needed to be washed to have a mommy break with peace and quiet at the laundry mat. How silly would that be?!

And I most certainly have not put off posting our final hockey weekends and pictures of the tournaments. Just because there are TONS of pictures on my camera that I need to go through to do this doesn't mean that I have been too lazy to take the time.

I did not get a new papasan chair this past week. (thanks dad for picking it up!!) My boys have not totally hogged said chair and I have yet to sit in my favorite chair!! Tyler did not get out of his bed in the middle of the night and come down and sleep in the chair the rest of the night. I did not just about have a heart attack when he wasn't in his bed in the morning.

Lesson for the day...

If you drop your cell phone in a pot of boiling chicken noodle soup it will not work anymore!!

Oh, how I love Mondays!!

Not Me Monday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not start cooking dinner at 7am on Thursday. A super terrific crock pot recipe. I did not turn on the crock pot but neglect to plug it in. I did not realize my mistake until 4 in the afternoon!! We did not end up going to Subway!!

I am not sad that hockey season is done. Even though I am kind of burned out with hockey, it was sad to see Nick play his last game on Sunday.

Now that hockey is done, I am not ready for winter to end. I do not want the snow to melt and warm sunny summer days to come. I am not waiting to hit the beach!!

Kurt is not thinking of coaching a mite team in a special teams tournament in April. Why would our family quit hockey when the season is done?! Nick is not super excited that he could play hockey again this spring.

Eric did not clean the ENTIRE upstairs by himself!! He did not completely spring clean walls and everything. What a sweetheart!!

Well, that's about it from here. Will be posting more updates today or tomorrow.