Windsday

I think fall finally arrived in Minnesota. The temperature went from being a very warm (mid 70s and sunny) Saturday and Sunday morning, to cloudy, blustery and windy by Sunday afternoon/evening and carrying on into today. That's OK...I picked up pumpkins and mums on Saturday. Fall's official welcome.

Today, I made Snickers cookies. Never had a Snickers cookie? Well, it's a little slice of heaven. Peanut butter cookie dough, wrapped around bite sized Snickers candy bars (that have been unwrapped of course) and baked until the candy has melted into the dough. I originally got the recipe from a neighbor who, when she made them would use the fun sized bars, stick a wooden stick in it, wrap dough around it and make it into a cookie pop. Just as good but it was like eating 4 of the bite sized cookies and who needs to do that in one sitting, right? No, you don't have to answer that.

Lucky you. I'm going to share the recipe.

Snickers Cookies
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
36 bite sized Snickers Candy bars

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and peanut butter together, add sugars, egg and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and soda, salt. Mix well.

Using a small scoop (mine is pampered chef...1 Tbs), scoop dough and flatten out with your hand.
Place the snickers bar in the center and wrap dough around so that no part of the candy is visible.
(no comment allowed on my man-hands)
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-11 minutes, til golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cook slightly before moving to a rack to cool completely.

IF you wand to make the cookie pops, you'll need 10 fun sized bars, 10 wooden sticks. Use 1/3 cup of dough for each cookie pop and bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes. Should make exactly 36.

Because, everyone deserves a little slice of heaven.

September Wrap Up

Oh My, has September flown by. I've been meaning to post the kids' first day of school pictures, but their activities have kept me so busy I have barely had a chance to download them let alone write a cute little story about them.

And it's not really a cute story. I have a sign that I made way back when my oldest was in 2nd grade and my second oldest was starting Kindy. The same sign is in the below pictures but I change the date each year accordingly. Now, keep in mind that I have a sophomore in HS who really is NOT interested in standing before a sign for pictures. My response to his inquiry as to whether he can be done with said sign was...Nope...suck it up Buttercup. While he does not appreciate this sentiment now, I'm sure in 15-20 years when he looks back on these pictures, he'll be able to remember the disdain in which he held the whole experience, his expression being so telling.

Now, logistically this was not an easy feat. Because I have one in JR HS who rides a bus and catches it at 7am, one at the HS who walks and has to leave to walk by 730 and 2 in elementary school who have to be driven and leave at 845. I thought, this one day, I would break the cardinal rule of parenting and actually WAKE a sleeping child (or 2). My husband squashed that idea and instead I lumped the kids in individual (paired) pictures.

So, my oldest 2 at 650am:
Yes, the joy and excitement on my son's face was hard to contain.

My younger two at 830am:
So, we've barely gotten 2 weeks into the school year and my middle daughter ended up out of school (flu like symptoms) for 2 days and is now followed by my son. OY! I guess if they have to be out of school, I'd prefer them being out this first bit then when school gets going.

The kids' activities have also been running us ragged. Thank heavens the older two are on school teams which requires the school to get them to practices and games, I just need to pick them up afterwards. My youngest is playing soccer 2 nights/week and all 3 girls add dance starting this week. Add attempting to get to home soccer games, home volleyball games AND have us all sit down and eat a dinner together is really a test to my time management skills. So, we'll have a couple REALLY busy weeks with them before fall sports end and winter sports kick in. Middle daughter will be playing basketball and oldest daughter is trying out for JO volleyball.

I was so excited for school to start and now that it has, I find myself a glorified chauffeur. I need to put a tip jar in the truck.