Smorgasbord

I feel like this has been a loooooooong week.  Most likely because I've been taking care of sick kids while being sick myself, and also because Jane has decided to start waking up in the night again and keeping me up with her.  Boo.  She's been doing so good {relatively speaking} since we got back from Indiana at Christmas time that I was REALLY hoping she had finally outgrown her night-waking tendencies.  Apparently she has not.  

But anyway, the beginning of the week saw a brief fever and sickness for Alex along with a cough and runny nose that left him out of the running for anything fun.  Tuesday was the worst of it and unfortunately it was also the night that the Pinewood Derby was FINALLY able to take place.  Seriously, the poor leaders had to reschedule this event two different times thanks to the lovely wintry weather we are experiencing these days.  Ethan was really hoping that his final run in the Pinewood Derby would have him coming out on top for once, but sadly that was not to be.  Scott ended up taking the 4 older kids to the church for the race while I stayed home with Alex to try and get him to bed on time. 

 Pre-race -- So full of hope.

 Can you spot Ethan's?  I'll give you a hint -- its colors are an accidental nod to our barely there Swedish roots.

I think his face says it all.  Don't you?

On a completely different note,  I thought I'd feature a few goodies for you tonight in a Recipe Round-up of sorts for the blog.  First up, are the Gooey S'mores Bars I made for the cancelled Pinewood Derby from 2 weeks ago.  I pinned the recipe a while ago from my good friend Karissa over at her food blog, Dish Up Delish, and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make them once No Junk January was over.  They did NOT disappoint.  Unfortunately for my waistline, I cannot have these bars lying around the house ever again!  And while the kids were SUPER happy we didn't end up having to take them to share at the Derby, I was really, really torn.  Because when it comes to delicious baked goods hanging around the house, I have absolutely no self-control.  Like at all.  So, really -- it would have been for the best if they would have made their way over to the church that night like they were supposed to!  :)

Gooey S'mores Bars

{picture taken from website.  sorry karissa!}

You can click here for the link.  I didn't manage to take any pictures, but Karissa's are much better anyway, so go ahead and drool over that deliciousness above and make them as soon as you dare.  Hahaha.  The only changes I made to the recipe were due to what I did (or didn't) have on hand.  So for instance, you'll need a jar and a half of marshmallow fluff when putting the bars all together, but I didn't read the fine print before going to the store and only bought one.  They were still really good, but I would have liked that little bit of extra oomph from the marshmallow if I would have had it.  Also, I forgot to buy chocolate bars and figured I'd just use chocolate chips instead, but lo and behold I discovered we were all out after I had already starting making the dough.  Luckily, I discovered some leftover Dove chocolates from the kids' teacher gifts for Christmas and they were the PERFECT addition to the bars.  In fact, I think I will always use them in the future.  But then again, I really love those milk chocolate Dove pieces.

Next recipe is also a dessert and is one that I discovered via Pinterest on Sunday when I was trying to decide what to bring to our friends' house who had invited us over for dinner.  As I was looking through various cookie recipes, these basically had me at "brown butter."  I'm a huge fan in case you didn't know. 

brown butter + sea salt chocolate chip cookies

{not my picture either.  sorry!  but don't they look to die for???}

These were SOOOOO good.  I think Ethan swiped half a dozen himself, and everyone else seemed to love them as well.  I followed this recipe to a "T" except that I didn't have sea salt, so that crucial component is missing, and I was still out of milk chocolate chips, so I used a combo of semi-sweet choco chips, butterscotch chips, and white chocolate chips in the hopes that there was a little something for everyone.  Hahaha.  I'm probably an anomaly, but I usually prefer more cookie to chips and in the future, I will most likely reduce the total amount that go into them.  However, I do want to try the ACTUAL recipe's call for milk chocolate and semi-sweet chips before I decide exactly what to do with them after that.  Either way, these are REALLY good.  And what I like the most about them (other than the brown butter, obviously) is that the recipe uses whole wheat flour which tricks you into thinking that they're not that unhealthy.  For a cookie.  Hahahahaha.  Again, these are some more baked goods that I can NOT have lying around the house.  

With Valentine's Day today, I resisted the urge to bake anything more, and instead spent the day being a "fun mom" {at least for the morning} and trying to minimize the fights.  Because for some inexplicable reason, the kids have a scheduled 4-day weekend EVEN THOUGH they've had 8 snow days so far this winter.  I think today is a teacher in-service day and Monday is President's day, but seriously!  Couldn't they just eliminate holidays for the rest of the year so that we don't end up going to school until the middle of July????  Oh well.  What can you do?  

My Valentine morning was started off today with a sweet surprise from Ethan!  Okay, scratch that.  My Valentine's day was actually started EXTRA early this morning with a wake-up call from Jane who had wet the bed and came into our room around 3:30 AM.  Unfortunately, after I changed her and tried to get her back in HER bed, she would have none of it.  For the next couple of hours she kept us awake as she laid on the floor in our room next to our bed {I had to kick her out because she was twitching and itching all around and driving me insane!}, and kept trying to convince me that it was time to get up for the day.  Finally, around 5:30, I managed to convince her to go back to her own bed and there she she stayed and slept while I went back to sleep in my own bed for another hour or two until Ethan came in with some breakfast-in-bed and woke me up.  It was really very sweet.  He brought me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, along with a giant card and a tall glass of milk. 

The love fest continued as I went downstairs and was rewarded with more cards from Sophie and cheerful moods from everyone.  As the morning wore on, I decided what we all needed the most was a chance to get out of the house and do something fun!  Knowing that Scott could probably use some peace and quiet since he was working from home, I took the kids to a giant indoor playground and let them run around until lunch/nap time then headed home and put Alex down to sleep.  An added bonus for the kiddies was a stop for ice cream and treats on the way home, and an added bonus for ME was an almost empty house for the rest of the afternoon as the 3 older ones went to play at a friend's house in the neighborhood as they practiced for an upcoming talent show at the school.  

 Ethan's art work that he created last night.

 The card that the kids picked out for Scott when we were at Target the other day.

All in all, it was a good day.  :)  The only real downfall is that yet another snowstorm has come through and Scott and I had to cancel our plans to go out for the evening thanks to the roads being bad once again.  This winter is SERIOUSLY never going to end!  And on that note I'll leave you.  

Happy Valentine's Day!