Chocolate Cherry Bars

It's Monday yet again. Do the weeks seem to fly by to anyone else? We had a really busy weekend and it's kind of nice to get back to normal again. My family came up to visit us and since we haven't seen them since Christmas, that was lots of fun. The boys even got to go swimming for the first time in their hotel pool. I wasn't sure if Superman would even try it, and he was very nervous about it at first, but he did let us take him in the water and had some fun too! The little boys were okay with it but Spiderman would not let go of me for anything. 

We had the big birthday party for all three boys on Saturday. That was a lot of work and it turned out pretty good. I'll post pictures of it later this week, we had a Curious George theme. And of course the boys got lots of new toys to play with, so our living room has been a mess ever since! (It's pretty much always a mess of toys anyways...)

I usually post a recipe every Monday and this week I made some Chocolate Cherry Bars! Yet another dessert, we eat too many sweets around here I think! But these bars were so easy to make and they were delicious. Here's the recipe if you want to make some too! 

Chocolate Cherry Bars (adapted from Julie's Eats & Treats)

• 1 package Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 1 can Cherry Pie Filling
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 
  
• Frosting:
• 2 cups Sugar
• 8 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 15x11 inch jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Mix the cake mix, cherry pie filling, vanilla and eggs together. Pour into the pan. 

3. Bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4. Boil the sugar, butter and milk for one minute. Stir in the chocolate chips until melted. Pour this frosting over the bars when they are still warm. 

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Sunday Social

1. What was your college major? Did you ever change majors?

I have a degree in Criminal Justice. Yes I changed majors a couple of times. I was originally going for Graphic Design (and I still minored in Art).

My parents at my graduation all the way back in 2009

2. Best purchase you’ve made lately?

One of those covered insulated cups that you see everywhere. With the straw. Now my kitty can't knock over my water glass or try to share with me.

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3. Something silly we don’t know about you and go…

We've lived in our house for two years now and I finally put photos in the empty frames I had on the walls this past week.

4. Favorite Holiday?

Christmas. I love how it seems to last the entire month. Christmas songs are awesome. And I love decorating for it and the lights everywhere are so pretty. 

5. The first thing you do when you wake up?

Well I usually get up when I hear the babies on the monitor. So the first thing I do is quickly make them bottles so they don't get too crabby about it. I have such a routine in the mornings with everyone, it can get quite monotonous at times.

Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

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We Survived the First Year!

At times it didn't seem like we would make it but we have actually survived the first year with our twins! They are now 12 months old. I think this next year might actually be harder than the first year. They are so much work to keep up with right now! They also like to get into trouble constantly and fight with each other all the time. Some days I feel like I'm literally going crazy and they haven't even started walking yet! 

They seem to be extra mischievous little boys, but maybe that's just because there is two of them plotting together. It's so much fun though, even with the craziness. They really are quite hilarious and even when they are naughty they are so cute I can't help but laugh. (This does not help the issue at all!) They are both little hams and love to have an audience. They crack me up every day but I am also very thankful for nap time and bed time!

As far as development, they seem to be right on track with everything. They aren't walking unassisted yet, but they prefer to cruise the furniture and walls and walk while pushing objects rather than crawling. They both crawl extremely fast. Nowadays when they follow me into a room they aren't supposed to be in, I have to bring one out and then hurry back to get he second one but even then the first one is usually back in the room again by that time. Usually I just have to sneak into the back rooms or run really fast and close the door or I have three little visitors in with me! 

Their favorite toys are pretend dishes and food which they really love, or anything their big brother is playing with at the time. They've learned how to throw toys through the stair railings so we usually end up with a lot fewer toys upstairs by the end of the day. They also enjoy this game during nap times when they throw their pacifiers and blankets out of the bed and then cry when they can't reach them anymore. 

They are starting to use sippy cups more often, but they still have their milk in a bottle for now because they don't seem to drink it otherwise. They are on regular whole milk and have refused to eat pureed baby food for awhile now. They pretty much eat whatever we are eating for three meals a day with one or two snacks in between. It's funny because there are some foods where one of them likes it and the other won't eat it. Batman is a bit more picky than his brother most of the time. When I feed them things like yogurt or apple sauce my oldest usually wants some too so I end up feeding all three from the same bowl. (We've always shared spoons and bowls with the twins, it's easier that way).

We are having a birthday party this weekend for all three boys! It's going to be Curious George themed and I'm very excited to put it all together. Next week I'll share some pictures of how it turned out! Our first year has been difficult and at times seemed completely insane, but we made it and I wouldn't trade any of it. I love these boys so much and I am so thankful every day that we get to experience this crazy adventure!

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(This post might also be linked up to some of these lovely parties.)

Two Very Different C-Section Experiences

 Since tomorrow is my twins' first birthday (how did that happen so quickly?!?) today is the perfect time to share their birth story. It's actually quite uneventful and not very exciting at all. Basically I went in on my scheduled c-section day and had a great surgery. Nothing went wrong, I barely even felt like I had one. The boys ended up in the NICU for 17 days after they were born. Since they were sharing a placenta, towards the end all of the blood started going to one of the babies (Batman) and our other baby wasn't getting any. 

I am so thankful we moved our c-section date up one week because we had no idea this was going on. So Batman was our little reddish baby and Spiderman was anemic and pale for a few months. They thought he might need a blood transfusion but he ended up being okay without one. Our poor babies were poked and prodded and stuck full of needles for those 17 long days but we finally got to take them both home together with no major complications. They were born about one month early at 36 weeks and 3 days. 

I've had two c-sections in the last two years and they were completely opposite experiences. I thought I would share a little comparison of the two. Maybe it will give some idea of what kind of things you might expect if you are facing a scheduled c-section.

My First (Emergency) C-Section vs. My Second (Scheduled) C-Section

1. During my first I was having contractions of course, so I had an epidural put in during this time. During the surgery I was shaking so much I couldn't pay attention to anything else. My second, I had a spinal in the operating room right before the surgery. No shakes. I was able to pay attention and watch everything going on. 

2. The first one I was freezing the whole time and they kept putting warm blankets on my arms to warm me up. The second one, I didn't notice anything like that. It seemed like a normal temperature in the room.

3. With both of them I could feel lots and lots of tugging and pulling as they got the babies out. It doesn't hurt or anything, it just feels weird. And then you feel empty once they pull them out. 

4. With my first, we didn't have a camera and I didn't get to hold him before they took him away. With the twins, my husband took pictures of them being cleaned up and weighed and they let me hold the first one while they were still getting the second one out. With little Spiderman they had to put oxygen on him right away so I didn't get to hold him, but I was able to watch what was going on. I don't remember any of this with my first one. 

5. You can read more about it here, but with my first I had a major ileus afterwards and with my second I had nothing like that. Sure there's always some gas, but I was on top of that with stool softeners and gas-x that I asked for right away. I took these a few days before my surgery as well. I didn't eat for a couple of days because I was afraid of what happened the first time, but when I finally did, everything was perfect. 

6. With the first one, a few days after the surgery, the scar got infected and started leaking pus and blood everywhere. They had to open part of it back up again and stuff gauze inside it. I had to do this for a few weeks afterwards. With the second, the scar healed up very nicely. I think she even cut out some of the extra scar tissue because it's much flatter and smoother than it was after the first one.

7. I used an abdominal binder both times. The first time I couldn't put it on until I got home 9 days later because of the ileus and my swollen stomach, but with the second one I used it right away. It helps with the pain and to pull everything back together. The second day after my surgery (the second one) I felt pretty much back to normal and could walk and move around with no problems. 

8. With my first son I was able to start breastfeeding right away even with all the complications. I did that for two months until I had other complications and ended up with another surgery. I didn't know much about pumping at the time, so my milk pretty much dried up while I was there. With the twins they were in the NICU of course so I started pumping with the hospital pump as soon as possible. I kept pumping every two hours the whole time I was there and my milk came in just fine so they were able to have breastmilk. We tried to breastfeed but they were too sleepy and it tired them out. They never did figure that out. I exclusively pumped for them for the first six months and had an excess of milk, which I am thankful for. It was so much work though!

It's just so crazy to me how different the two of them were. I was so nervous for the second one after my first awful surgery but I didn't need to be, it all went very smoothly. If you have had a c-section, what kind of experience did you have?

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photo credit: Julie70 via photopin cc

Cookie Monster Dessert Bars

If you have little children that are fans of Sesame Street or Cookie Monster they will love these bars! Perfect to make for a Sesame Street birthday party. My little boy loves Elmo and Cookie Monster the best, although we don't watch the show all that often. I made these delicious bars based on a recipe from Gal on a Mission. Of course you can make them with a different colored cake mix and call them something else, but I liked how the blue velvet turned out. 

They were super easy to make which is a huge plus in my book, it only takes four ingredients! They taste great too! It's always fun to have brightly colored food. Here's the recipe:

Cookie Monster Dessert Bars 

• Blue Velvet Cake Mix (or any other cake mix will work too)
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, butter and egg. Mix until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Press the dough into the baking dish. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until the top starts to brown. Allow to cool completely before cutting. 

See what I mean, it's super easy! Enjoy your yummy bars!

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Sunday Social

1. What’s your favorite scary movie?
I don't really like scary movies. I've seen all the Scream movies, they weren't too bad. I guess I'll go with those. Are those even considered scary movies? They seemed pretty goofy.

2. What is your favorite weird TV show you think no one else watches?
Pushing Daisies! That was a great show, I really wish they had more than nine episodes. Such an odd show but I loved it. Has anyone else watched this show?

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3. What is the song you can sing all the words to without any music?
Too many songs. Most Disney songs, is that weird?

4. What is your favorite book to re read?
Robin McKinley's Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown...I've read them so many times.

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5. The one website you visit more times a day than others?
Ugh, Facebook. Also Pinterest on some days. I wish I could say it was something else... 

 (source)

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Five for Friday

 1. Our garage sale is tomorrow! I really hope we make enough to make it worthwhile because it's been an awful lot of work this week trying to get ready for it. I still have a lot to do today. Ugh. What are your fun plans for the weekend?

2. Since it was Superman's birthday this past week I made cake and let all the little boys have some. 
They had fun making a huge mess. 
I am only making cupcakes for the birthday party and those aren't quite as exciting as a big piece of cake. 

3. I found something else I need to get for meal times. How cute is that?!

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4. If you were wondering what my Superman's favorite book is this week, it is this one. 
He's been picking it every single night to read before bed!

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5. My boys are slowly starting to grow a little more! They are going to be one year next week and they are finally wearing 9 and 12 month clothes. Mostly 9 month. They still have to wear 6 month pants and shorts though. They are starting to get too short but the 9 month pants are way too big. They are kind of in-between sizes I guess. 

That's all I have today! We are going to be pretty busy these next couple of weeks! 
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Two Years Ago on Father's Day...

My oldest was born! Happy Birthday to my Superman! My favorite little two year old. We are going to visit the zoo today and then have some special birthday cake. The birthday party is not until next week because we are celebrating all three boys together this year. In honor of this special day, I've decided to share his birth story with you. It didn't turn out quite the way I had imagined it would...

It all started on Father's Day morning. We were already almost a week past the due date, so obviously we were expecting (hoping) for something to happen at any time. My husband was sleeping, I was up playing video games on the computer. I've always been a morning person, otherwise I'm sure I would have been sleeping too. I had just finished up a dungeon and killed the final boss when I felt my water break. Such perfect timing, I didn't even have to leave in the middle of the dungeon!

As you can imagine, I was pretty excited and nervous. I woke up my husband and called the hospital. Then took a shower and got my bags in the care and we were off to the hospital! I wasn't having any contractions at all yet. When we got there they checked to make sure it was actually my water breaking, and we also found out that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid as well. Still nothing was happening so they started me on Pitocin. 

It took awhile but contractions finally started. We walked around. We waited and waited and walked the hallways some more. They gave even more Pitocin. Nothing was progressing much. I got an epidural eventually but we were only at 4cm and still getting nowhere. The doctor came in because our baby was starting to be in distress and his heartbeat was dropping. She told me it would be best to do a c-section. I was really scared of course. This was the last thing I wanted. But I agreed to it and they took me back right away.

I don't remember much of the surgery except the tugging and pulling and my shaking. My neck and arm muscles were in so much pain from all the shaking and shivering and I couldn't pay attention to anything else. They didn't even let me see my little boy until I was in the recovery room a little while later. The shaking was horrible. It seemed like it took forever for it to stop afterwards. But I got to hold me precious little boy and he was perfect. That was the only thing that mattered.

We were all set to go home a couple of days later but the day after my surgery I started having horrible pains and it got so bad I could not move without help. It turns out I had a bad ileus and ended up being there for nine days. I couldn't eat anything and wasn't supposed to drink water either but the pain meds made me extremely thirsty. I had to have a nasogastric tube in my nose to get all the green bile out of my stomach. 

It was awful. The worst experience of my life. My stomach was swelled up more than when I had a baby inside. They were talking about another surgery but thankfully it started to get better slowly on its own and we finally got to go home! I was able to breastfeed through all of this, which I was also very thankful for. The bad news is that I was in lots of pain and could barely walk upright for the next two months until they finally figured out what was wrong (they kept telling me it was just constipation) and I had to have another surgery to fix my intestines. This was another long week with no eating allowed. (All these issues are the reason I lost all my baby weight plus more in the first month). After that all was well and I got back to normal life. 

And that is the story of the best Father's Day gift ever. Happy Birthday my precious little boy!

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Upside-Down Pizza Bake

Everyone loves casseroles and things you can just stick in the oven to bake, right? We tried this new recipe out this past week and it was soo easy to make. Upside-Down Pizza Bake is just what it sounds like. Pizza-like toppings on the bottom of the pan covered with biscuits and cheese. My little boy wouldn't try it for some reason, but my husband and I both loved it. It's an easy and fast family dinner!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We didn't do much, some errands and then Superman hurt his foot and made it seem a lot worse than it was so I took him in and it was nothing. Silly boy! We got in and out of the clinic in like 10 minutes though so it wasn't too much of wasted time. We are having our garage sale this coming weekend finally. And this week is also my little boy's second birthday! He was born on Father's Day two years ago. My husband also has vacation the next three weeks, so that will be nice to have him around more. It will also be a little strange...hopefully we can get a lot done!

Here's the delicious recipe you've been waiting for. I found it on the Betty Crocker website.

Upside-Down Pizza Bake

• 1 pound Ground Beef
• 1/2 Tablespoon Minced Onion
• 2-14 ounce jars of Pizza Sauce
• 6 ounces of diced or small Pepperoni
• 2 cups Bisquick Mix
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef and drain. Add the minced onion, pizza sauce and pepperoni and heat until hot.

2. Pour into an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. 

3. In a medium bowl, mix the Bisquick mix, milk and eggs until blended. Pour over the meat mixture in the baking dish. 

4. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of the crust and bake for another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted. 

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My Favorite Summer Fonts!

1. My favorite Summer fonts. Here are some awesomely fun fonts to give you inspiration for your Summer projects! Check them out, they are all free. Oh and now PicMonkey lets you use your own fonts, so that's pretty much the best thing ever. There are links to download each of them under the image.

Flip Flop // KG Defying Gravity // Halo Handletter // Moon Flower // Traveling Typewriter
Foglihten No.01 // Wolf in the City // Exmouth // Giraffe // Vintage

2. I finished up my root canal this week. That was pretty awful. 
I would have to say my last c-section was more pleasant than this root canal. 

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3. Baggins Bracelet. This is a pretty sweet bracelet. Is anyone else a LOTR fan? I'm not the only nerdy one around here am I?

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4. Ceramic Ninja Mug. Because who wouldn't want one of these!? If you are using a ninja mug you are automatically a cool person. Too bad Father's Day is already on Sunday because this would make an awesome gift. If only my husband drank coffee...

5. My garden is growing so nicely! I'm so excited about it. I just planted the corn this past week because I kept forgetting about it, so hopefully that wasn't too late. I still also need to find a trellis for my beans, I guess I better hurry they are growing pretty fast! We put the chicken wire around it to keep the puppy out but apparently she can just jump over it anyways.

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5 Tips for Dealing with a Picky Eater

My little boy was a really good eater for the first year and half or so. He pretty much ate everything I gave him. He liked trying new things and even loved spicy foods. Nothing could faze him. In the last couple of months he has started eating a lot less. He won't eat some of the foods he used to love. Except some days he will. Some days he will eat a ton of food. The next day he barely will touch anything and I'm sure he must be starving. My other little boys aren't too picky yet. They will throw it off their tray if they don't want to eat it though! I'm sure our puppy must love cleaning up after meal times around here. Here are some of the things I've learned over the last few months.

1. Don't let your child snack too often. Some days I have realized that this is probably why he's not eating his dinner. I try to have three meals and two snacks each day. If you try to keep everything at a set time it's easier not to get too many snacks in. 

2. Try to include at least one thing that you know your toddler will eat during each meal. Of course something he was eating the day before he might not touch today, so this doesn't always help!

My oldest one year ago. He has changed so much!

3. Minimize distractions. This is a huge problem in our house. There is always somthing else going on that is more interesting. The best idea is probably to try to have everyone eat together at the same time. This doesn't usually happen here because the babies are hungry by 4pm. Then our oldest wants to eat something because they are, which usually turns into dinner because it's so close to dinner time anyways. And it's pretty much impossible to eat dinner at the same time as feeding 3 little boys theirs anyways. 

4. A lot of times if I show him that I like it by taking a bite first, he will be more likely to give a new food a chance. Even if he's had a food before, sometimes he doens't recognized what it is and will refuse to try it even though I know he likes it! And of course once I get him to take one bite, he usually remembers how good it is and will eat more. Be a good example of healthy eating because they will probably want to eat whatever they see you eating. 

5. Keep trying. Even if they don't like it the first time you give it to them, keep trying every so often. There are many foods that my boys wouldn't eat at first and now they enjoy. Try to avoid only serving them foods that they like. This is something I need to work on. We tend to eat a lot of the same foods because I know they will eat it. We need to keep trying new foods!

What are some other ways that you have found to help with a picky eater?

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Hawaiian Ham & Swiss Sandwiches

These Hawaiian Ham & Swiss sandwiches are very easy to make and delicious as well! I was looking for something new to make the other day and found this recipe on the King's Hawaiian website. It turned out great! The sandwiches are very messy to eat but it's worth it. We are definitely making these again. The recipe has them on the smaller buns, but I used the large sandwich buns and it was perfect. I could fit 6 just right into a 9x13 inch baking dish. 

 These yummy sandwiches are perfect for a quick dinner if you need one. You could even make them ahead of time, put them in the fridge and then bake them later. This is what I usually try to do because dinner time seems to be so hectic and all the kids are getting so fussy at that time of day. I try to make the dinner in the afternoon before it all gets crazy and then I can just stick it in the oven. So much easier for everyone!

Hawaiian Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

• 1 pound Deli Ham
• 1 package Sliced Swiss Cheese
• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 cup Butter, melted
• 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 packages King's Hawaiian Sandwich Bun

1. Spread mayonnaise on both sides of the bun. Divide your ham and cheese between the 6 sandwiches. Place them in the 9x13 inch baking dish. 

2. In a medium bowl, mix the poppy seeds, mustard, butter, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce together. Pour the sauce over the buns, covering the tops of them. Cover the dish with foil and let it sit for 10 minutes. 

3. Bake at 350 degrees or 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Uncover and cook another 2 minutes. 

Have a great week everyone!

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Sunday Social

1. When do you take time for you?

In the evenings after the babies have all gone to bed.

2. What do you find to be your biggest weakness?

My perfectionism. Everything must be perfect or I usually have to start over, depending on what the project is of course. If not it will just keep bothering me.

3. What is your biggest attribute?

I am also very empathetic. I feel like this is a good thing. I have lots of compassion, sympathy and understanding for everyone. 

4. What is your favorite place to shop online?

Well if you go by where we order things the most, it's Walmart.com. If you go by where I look at things and wish I could buy them the most, it's Etsy.com

5. What is your favorite place to kill time?  

The library! Or any bookstore. I could spend hours in any of those places and not realize it. 

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photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML via photopin cc