Warning...you cannot stop eating these!! There...you have been warned:) Seriously, these are so yummy. I had to send them with Ben to work because I kept eating them! I made them small so I kept justifying...oh, they are so small, I can eat another one;) Try these, you won't be sad! My Sisters' Cucina posted this recipe. Thanks!!

Frosted Banana Cookies
WorldWide Ward Cookbook / Minda Kjar

Cookies:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup ripe bananas, mashed (about 3)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk + 1 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/4 cups flour

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Cream the butter and shortening. Add sugar, then bananas. Mix well. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-beat. It will be a sticky batter. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Cool completely.

Cream the butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until fluffy. Spread on cookies.

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Diapers

Hello All!!

I just wanted to post this deal on diapers! If you want to spend $3.70 for a pack of Luvs Diapers, then just follow what Frugal Coupon Living tells us to do (I am just copying and pasting them)! I just bough mine and wanted to share the love:)

Kathy found a great deal on Diapers.com for Luvs diapers. This is for NEW customers so if you have been a customer before, ask the parents/grandparents if they are interested in helping you out (bascially ordering and shipping to their house – this will work as well if they watch your child from time to time – diapers are already there!) If you don’t have kids, imagine how nice it would be to gift this at a shower – you would make some mama happy! These are also good for diaper cakes!

The deal below is for size 2 diapers. I have priced them below, however, per diaper size – just don’t done the scenario for you.

Deal Idea:

1.) Place 7 packs Luvs Jumbo Diapers $6.99 each in your cart for a total of $48.93

2.) Your total needs to be $49 (for FREE Shipping and the code), so get a filler item as well – Pampers travel wipes are $1.99. Your new total will be $50.92

3.) Time to check out - Use code DIAPERSV (this diaper save) to get $10 off. You will pay $40.92. Shipping is free for oders over $49 and they arrive in 1 – 2 days!

4.) In addition, first time customers also get a $14.97 rebate or a FREE subscription to Parenting Magazine. (This rebate takes ages to come but it will come, I promise – get the form and more details HERE.) If you have questions about the rebate at ANYTIME, call Diapers.com. This company is actually the sweetest company I have ever dealt with. They are so curtious and helpful when it comes to questions and price matching!

Your Final Cost after MIR: $25.95 for 7 packs of diapers and travel wipes!

This equates to $3.70 per pack and $.06 for a size 2 diaper!!!

Below is the breakdown on cost per diaper:

Size 2 = $.06 each

Size 3 = $.07 each

Size 4 = $.08 each

Get started on Diapers.com.

Thanks, $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge

Carseat Canopy

Hello All! So I am attempting my first tutorial...we will see if I can do this:) Considering I am a newby at the whole sewing thing, hopefully I can use the right terms!! My sweet Aunt made one of these for me when Connor was born and I LOVE it! I never ever take it off! It's so nice when it is windy or rainy or if you have a new born and you don't want people breathing on baby when you are at the grocery store...solution...carseat canopy!!

First...I bought 1 1/2 yards of 2 different fabrics. This is what it looks like cut out...the top fabric measures 39" x 43 1/2". The bottom is 41" x 45 1/2". So the bottom fabric is 2" bigger all around. The angels are 13" long.

What I did was cut rectangles and then fold it in half and in half again and then cut the corners so they were all equal.
Pin the whole thing together. Make sure wrong sides are together.
Get your iron out and get it hot!! You are going to iron the whole thing. So fold the bottom fabric in half, iron, then go back and fold it in half again...You will end up with a 1/2" binding for the front. Iron it really well. When its all ironed, sew it together! Easy peasy.
Next up...the handles. They measure out to be 7" x 4". You can always go bigger depending on your carseat. I did 3 sets of the velcro so that way you can make sure it will fit. Fold the blanket part in half and attach them right in the middle. From the outside to the first handle is 13", then 6 1/2" space, then the next handle, then 13" to the other end...does that make sense?
The final product! This is great...instead of a blanket falling on your baby, this will never fall on them!

This is how it looks when you don't need baby covered. I made this for a friend...hence the girl cover on the boy car seat:) Let me know if you have any questions!

Disney Service Project

Just wanted to post our 1st step in going to DisneyWorld in a few months...May 1 to be exact:) My cousin, Jennie and her family and our family decided we wanted to take advantage of the offer Disney is making...do service for different charities and you get free tickets to Disney!! What's not to love about that? So we went together to Garland and we were dropping off flyers to a neighborhood for the Garland Fire Department. We talked to a handful of people and let them know about some dangers to look for. We spent 2 hours going door to door putting flyers on peoples doors.

We loved that our boys had to work and earn their ticket to Disney. They are now working hard for the second day...Animal Kingdom. They are doing lots of chores and saving their money:) We can't wait!!

Ben and Caden at someones door.
Jennie and her boys taking their turn with the flyers.
Noah...showing them off.
The boys taking a little break...I don't know why...but Noah loves the Hook 'em Horns sign. Love that!!!
My sweet Connor...he was so good the whole time! Thankfully it wasn't too cold and didn't rain like it was supposed to!!
Of course we had to end the day with CiCi's...Yum:)

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

This is so amazing I can't even describe it! It tastes just like the real thing! If you have ever been to La Madeleine, you know what I'm talking about. I got the recipe off of the blog Skip To My Lou, and she got it from the Dallas Morning News several years ago. Love it! She posted the fat grams and calories...but why ruin it for you? Don't even look, just enjoy and savor every bite!

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients

4 cups tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice
12 - 14 washed fresh basil leaves, plus additional for garnish, chopped or 1 TBS dried (fresh is better though)
1 cup whipping cream or half and half (again, whipping cream is better)
1/2 cup sweet, unsalted butter, softened
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Crusty bread (optional)

Directions

Combine tomatoes and juice in saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes over
medium-low heat. Cool slightly, then place in a blender or food
processor. Add basil and process to puree; this will have to be done in
batches.

Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and butter. Stir over low heat
until butter and cream are incorporated. Stir in salt and pepper before
serving. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve with fresh, crusty
bread. Makes 8 servings.

Homemade Gummi Candy

Noah and I made some Gummi Candy today...so easy and so fun. It is something a 4 year old could do, no problem. Not to mention that they taste so yummy! I got the recipe from Skip to My Lou...she has so many fun ideas!!We used a medicine dropper to make it easier for Noah to get the mixture into the candy molds.

My little helper:)
The end result. We used Blue Raspberry flavored jello...not too shabby:) And yes...these candy molds are pumpkins and ghosts...thats all I had:) All that matters is the taste, right? Also, we had extra mixture so we turned them into suckers...these are Noah's favorites.

Homemade Gummi Candy

from: Skip to My Lou

All we needed was 1 -3 oz box of flavored gelatin and 2 - 1/4 oz packages of unflavored gelatin, water and candy molds. (we used two candy molds)

Place 1/3 cup water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the Jello and unflavored gelatin over the water. Let sit 5 - 10 minutes. (If you like chewier gummi candy add in another packet of unflavored gelatin.)

Place sauce pan over medium heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved, about 2-5 minutes. When mixture is liquid and all gelatin has dissolved, remove from heat. Let cool a minute and then pour into a container that is easy to pour from. I use a small ceramic creamer pitcher.

Fill molds.

Allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes. They may be placed in a refrigerator for about 10 minutes if the kids are eager.

Once cool, the backs can be lightly dusted with corn starch, if desired.

Peel the gummi candy out of the molds. Don't be shy, you won't hurt them when peeling them from the molds. No need to oil the molds!

Noah's Soccer Party

The long wait for the Trophy has FINALLY come to pass. This little guy has been waiting for awhile to get it! With the holidays and what not...the soccer party was just put on the back burner for a bit!! Noah's soccer team...the Screaming Fleas...had their soccer party at Spring Creek BBQ. Good food!! So...here he is, being all shy...don't know what that's all about!

Ok, there's the smile I love!! Congrats Noah! We are proud of you!!

Family Art Night

Every Friday Night we try and do some fun activity with the boys. On this Friday we had Family Art Night. The boys painted, Ben drew a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, I took pictures and Connor rolled all over the place:)

Here is Noah hard at work. Both boys were painting Volcanoes.
Caden with his Volcano.
Noah's final masterpiece.

Keep on Reading...

Just so you know...I have added tons of posts today;) Just keep scrolling down...I put the date that it actually happened so that it is in order. So if you have been looking at Christmas Crunch for awhile, don't leave just yet!!

(Insert a Holiday) Crunch

This stuff is so incredibly ADDICTING!! It is so simple to make...thank goodness because you will be making ALOT. I got the recipe from Bakerella...of course:) You can substitute any M&M color for all the various holidays. Or you could skip the M&M's and add Reeses Pieces, marshmallows would be yummy also.

Christmas Crunch
1 24 oz. pkg. white bark coating (we use Kroger candy coating, but you can also use white chocolate)
1 box of corn chex
1 large bag of mini pretzels
1 large jar of salted dry roasted peanuts
1 package of plain M&Ms (you can use holiday varieties at any time of year
to make it holiday themed – Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.)

You can really use any size packages you want. It depends on how much of each you want in your mix.
Just have fun!

Cover a fairly large area of your counter space with wax paper and tape down.

In a very large bowl, combine the chex, pretzels, peanuts and M&Ms. You might have to work in smaller batches if you can’t fit everything in one bowl with room to mix. Dump the peanuts and M&Ms in last so they don’t all sink to the bottom.

In a smaller bowl, melt your bark coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals and stir in between. Don’t let it go for too long at once or it will scald and you will have to toss it out and start over.

When the bark coating is melted, gently pour into the larger bowl and toss with the dry ingredients. You can adjust the amount of coating you use based on your preference. I usually stir a little bit in, toss, stir some more in, toss again, etc. to make sure everything gets a little bark coating on it so it will stick together.

Working quickly, dump the mixture out on your wax paper and spread out in a thin layer to dry. Once it’s dry, break it apart into pieces and store in an airtight container or divide into decorative cello bags to give away.

Note: If you half your mix ingredients and bark coating, it will be a little easier to work with in two batches. Otherwise you will need a really large bowl and workspace to spread out on the counter.

Apothacary Jars

This is a really bad picture and you probably can't really tell what they are...but they are Apothacary Jars that I made for my mom and Ben's mom for Christmas. These were so fun and easy to do. All I have to say is that Gorilla Glue is your friend. That stuff is A-MAZING! Anyway, this idea came from the girls at Shanty 2 Chic. Click on them to get the how to and what you need.