I could not bring myself to cook one more thing, so I found a house kit and we did it this way. I kept my hands out of it and let the kids to it this year.
Mmmmm....looks yummy.......(
I say with a crinkled nose)
I made some homemade granola and yum oh yum!! I thought I'd share the recipe.
6 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried (and cut up) apricots
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix all together then;
melt 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter and 1/2 cup honey in microwave and whisk together.
Add to oat mixture and mix. Just use your hands...so much easier.
Lay mixture on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350. Stir after 10 minutes and then stir every 5 minutes until desired doneness and sugars start to caramelize. It took me about 20 minutes of total cook time. Be careful to not let the fruit burn (like I did on the first batch). Then move cookie sheet to cooling rack and let it cool all the way. If you want flakey granola for sprinkles or cereal, then stir while it cools. If you want more like a granola bar, then don't touch it (hard to do) and then break into desired size.
Mmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmmm. Add other stuff too like different fruits or nuts. Or get rid of stuff, but overall, it makes about 15 cups when it's done. Store in an airtight container.
Finally, we took our kids to the zoo.
Petting zoo area.....turtle.
Lots of cute baby goats.
This was a dizzy time for me....
Kaleb got to feed the giraffe. He had just moved his hand here. This was a fun day. The kids were wiped out on the drive home. We also got to pet the sting rays and reindeer.....and lots of hand washing.
Dex got a new toy.
Kaleb got a new puzzle dinosaur that I was being goofy with.
Kaleb got a toy kit.
Clif got a sweater.
Klara got princess stuff. We also have had a chance to see Granny. We will stay here until the New Year. Sadly, dad had to leave on a trip, but at least he got to hang out with us for a bit. We also got to see The Princess and the Frog. We will be buying that when it comes out. Very cute. Both kids loved it.....well, all of us did.
The morning of the 25th, we (the dog too) headed south to see Clif's side of the family. We spent a lovely day and had great food. Later that night we all piled into Grandpa's truck and sang carols while looking at lights. We remembered to get all the cousins in once place for a group shot. Man how they are growing....and you would think we planned the clothes....jeans and red shirts, but no. Left to right; Ryne, Jonathan, Kaleb, Klara, Mackenna, Weston, Mikayla and Grayson.
Getting the kids to shovel. This was yesterdays storm that came in. 10" yesterday
The downside of having kids help shovel.....snow inside the garage.
Sledding time in the driveway.
This mornings surprise. Our backyard.
I would guess we got at least 14" of snow....so a white Christmas for us!! 
Our little monkey.
Our xmas gift to us this year...Wii. We bought a big package on ebay this year for 4 people. I love this pic...check out Klara's hair. She was really into this game.
And now she's out. The game is worth every penny!! 
I could not bring myself to cook one more thing, so I found a house kit and we did it this way. I kept my hands out of it and let the kids to it this year.
Mmmmm....looks yummy.......(I say with a crinkled nose)
I made some homemade granola and yum oh yum!! I thought I'd share the recipe.
