No-Bake Granola Bars

My favorite things about this recipe: ease to make, availability of ingredients and delicious-ness.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats or steel cut coats
1 cup ancient-grain cereal blend (I use Cheerios + Ancient Grains or just Cheerios)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey

Once you have put together the base ingredients (up to salt) then you can get creative.  Since we have a massive amount of pecans from our pecan trees (we picked 58 pounds last year!), I put in 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup craisins.  You could do pistachios, almonds, raisins, dried fruit, shredded coconut... do what your family loves to eat! I only add in 2 extra ingredients because I try to keep the calorie count low.

Then, combine the creamy peanut butter and the honey in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook 2-3 minutes until the peanut butter melts and stir frequently.  Pour over the ingredient bowl and mix well.  Spray a 8x8 pan with Pam and put in the mix.  Pat it down and make it as flat as possible.  Put the whole pan in the freezer for 15 minutes or so and then cut it into even pieces.

Pumpkin Yarn Wreath

Happy Fall friends!  Today's blog post is a simple DIY Pumpkin Fall Wreath.

Supplies needed:
-Large bag of cotton balls
-2 spools of yarn (choose your favorite color orange)
-Hot glue gun
-Grapevine wreath
-Twigs from outside

1. Wrap the yarn around the cotton balls.  Start wrapping around semi-tightly until you cover up most of the cotton ball.  Then finish it off with a dot of glue on the end of the yarn.

2. Once you have completed a large amount of yarn cotton balls, start placing them around the grapevine wreath.  For the most part, I did 2 x 2s  around the grapevine wreath.

3. Once you have glued all of the yarn cotton balls to the wreath, break down some little twigs to make the pumpkin stems.  Add a dot of hot glue to the stem and stick it into the cotton ball.

4. Add acorns (I did this because I ran out of the yarn) and/or a bow.  Totally up to you. I think it looks splendid with no bow at all!

5. Hang up and enjoy!  I love the versatility of this wreath because I can leave it up through Thanksgiving.

I'd love to see your versions of this wreath.  You can post a comment with a picture or email me: wbthompson2004@gmail.com.

Happy Fall and Happy Crafting!  

 

Kid's Art Gallery Wall

Kid's art work.  So much to display.  So little space.

Last year I didn't have a game plan to handle the massive amount of paper that came home from school with my daughter.  Therefore, paper ended up on my counter tops, taped to my cabinets, taped to the fridge, underneath the fridge, in the pantry, you name the space and there was paper.  #paperexplosion

I decided to tackle this project to help diffuse the #paperexplosion situation.

I began by locating a blank wall in my house.

I decided on this wall because it is right next to my kid's bedrooms.  It is a long wall and as you can see, well it's pretty bleak and blank.  You can see my first attempt at just taping the artwork to the wall in the corner.  Plus my sweet daughter making more artwork at the dining room table:)

I located my inspiration image on Pinterest.  Click here to view the image.  The easy route would have been to order a vinyl decal (for $25 or so), but our wall texture doesn't allow me to take the easy route.  Therefore, I got out my level, ruler, and a pencil and went to town. 

From Head to the Heart

What's the secret to taking head knowledge and turning it into heart knowledge?  How do we take eternal truths from the Word and turn it into a transformed, daily life?

By dwelling on it.  Remembering it.  Thinking on it when I sit and rise.  When I fold clothes and do dishes.  Allowing my thoughts to be centered on Scripture.

I wanted to create an easy way to think of eternal truths/thoughts I am learning.  As I geared up to study Beth Moore's Children of the Day Study this summer, I created this "take away" sheet.  I have LOVED using this!  It's colorful, bright, portable and A GAME CHANGER.  It has helped me to recount what I have learned each week and to have it at my fingertips.  I keep it close by so I can glance over and remember things I'm learning.

As I prepare to start the school year, I created a week-by-week "take away" page to use.  Then I thought, why not share it with you guys. So here it is!  You can do the week-by-week (click on image below).

Matters of the Heart: Children

Matters of the Heart.  I love that phrase.  But so hard to actually uncover, address and redirect heart issues.  Is it pride?  Is it a wrong friendship?  Lying? Jealousy? Impatience?

Finding a verse "on the spot" is hard to do and I often miss the moment of impact... until the Child Training Bible came into my life.  A friend gave me Children's Training Bible (CTB) a while ago.  My daughter has recently started reading on her own and has started using it.

Notice the tabs?  You start with the image below and highlight the Scriptures accordingly.

So whatever heart issue is involved, you can point your child to see what the Word says about it.  My"go to your room and think about what you did" statement has changed to "go to your room think about what you did and see what the Bible says about it."  Isn't that awesome?

DIY Gallery Picture Wall

We live in our Family Room.  It's well loved, and well used. It's also the entryway to the house from the driveway.  So in addition to the loads-o-play that happens in there, it's also the place where we stomp off feet, leave muddy/wet shoes and generally unload of all personal belongings.

Couch | Rug | Ottomans | Pillows

Today, I'm sharing how I make the DIY Gallery Wall.  This is a GREAT project to tackle and takes minimal supplies to make it happen.

Supplies Needed:
-Wood (we used 1.5" wide by 1" deep)
-Nails/Hammer (or wood glue)
-Black paint
-Picture Frames
-Black craft paint (for words)
-Command Picture hanging strips

Potty Training: The Highs and Lows

This post is not a "how to" for potty training.  It's about the emotional highs and lows that go along with potty training.

(note: for the purpose of this article, I will only be using #1 and #2 to refer to body functions)

Step back and think about this with me.  All your child knows is going #1 and #2 in their diaper.  Up to this point, you have been happy to change it many, MANY times every day without complaint.  Now all of a sudden you tell them to use the potty instead.  You really don't ask, you demand it's time to change.  You rip the "security blanket" of a diaper out from under them.  CONFUSING times to say the least!

So before you decide to start potty training, think through the emotional highs and lows that you and your child will experience.

1) Your child's unique personality.  Is your child easily upset?  Likes change? Doesn't like change? Happy to please you? Wants their own way?

All of these personality traits need to be taken into consideration as you plan out your potty training process.  If your child will be upset easily, how will you react when they have an accident?  How will you encourage and affirm your child when they do well?

2) Personal failures and triumphs.   This is a monumental moment in your child's life.  It's really the first time you are asking them to cooperate where you are not controlling the outcome.  If you say, "put down the toy" and your child does not obey, you can walk over and put it down for them and give an appropriate consequence.

In this situation, your child has WAY more control.  If they don't want to put #1 or #2 in the potty, they won't.  There is really nothing you can do about this.  You must teach, encourage, demonstrate and ask them to do it, but the decision is really up to them.  Your child will feel failure when they have accidents and huge triumphs when they make it to the potty in time.  The unique personality traits of your child will come into play here.  How will he/she handle the disappointments?  How do you need to encourage and love your child through it? How will you show disappointments in the failures while showing unchanging love to your child?  These are not things you can think of "on the spot."  THINK ABOUT IT NOW before you begin.

3) Have a phrase. One of my daughter's favorite phrases was "I don't need no stinkin' diaper."  Besides the awful grammar errors with that statement, I love the empowerment that it provided.  You could see the confidence in her eyes as she said it.

Creative Corner

We all work best with a functional, organized space designed for the task at hand. So where is the best place for your to child create works of art?  In their own creative corner! 

All of these items are purchased from Ikea.  Yes, IKEA. 

Blue Utility Cart from IKEA for $29.99

White Children's Stool from IKEA for $7.99

Artist Easel from IKEA for $14.99

Voila, now you have your a place for your child to paint/draw/color to their heart's content.  My daughter loves that the cart can travel around the house with her.  You just never know when inspiration is going to strike! 

Total cost for this creative corner set-up is $53.  Can't beat that in my opinion!

 

Linen Closet Organization

Linen closets.  They can be a thorn in your side or a super useful space.  Mine has been the former  because I have not organized it properly at all.  It's a really great space that is original to the house.  It's located downstairs in the main hallway leading to the original 2 bedrooms (now they are the kid's bedrooms).  

Enough about the problem.  Onto the solution!

The biggest thing I have learned with organizing is that you really have to spend time thinking through the space/area and determine what you want the outcome to be.  In this case, I wanted the outcome to be a functional, usable space for kid's and guest linens.  The bottom drawers will be used for household supplies (lightbulbs, indoor toolkit, batteries, sewing kit).  

The before pictures.  Would it be possible to cram anything else in here?  SERIOUSLY!

I cleaned out all the items and made 3 piles:

1. Give away/donate
2. Put back in
3. Put somewhere else

Since we were snowed in or rather I didn't want to venture out in the snow, I did this on a $0 budget.  I found the storage baskets, scrapbook paper, and stackable storage items around the house.

Linen Closet contents:

• kid's sheets and mattress pads
• yucky towels (i.e. everything but nice towels)
• guest linens 
• extra blankets
• toilet paper

Top drawer

Bottom drawer

That, my friends, is a total transformation of this space!  It went from a crammed, unusable space to a lovely, organized and functional space.  My husband's favorite part were the drawers.  Organizing all of that chaos even speaks to a man's heart:) 

Next project: upstairs linen closet space...

 

Linen Closet Preview

This is what I have been up to today...

Pretty drastic, right?  Budget: $0.

I love how this one turned out!  Details coming on the blog later this week.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!