Easy Homemade Granola Bars

I found this granola bar recipe years ago on cooks.com and have been making them ever since.  They are SUPER easy to make and taste amazing.  I love that you can mix and match what you put in according to your likes.

These do contain corn syrup, and I have tried them with brown rice syrup and honey, but my girls won't eat them.  So, as much as I'm not a lover of the corn syrup, I justify that they are homemade with ingredients I can pronounce.




1 c. brown sugar
2/3 cup sunbutter (we have a peanut allergy, so no pb here!)
1/2 c. light corn syrup -you can sub in brown rice syrup or honey too!
1/2 c. butter-melted; I like to sub in a Tbl or 2 of coconut oil instead of the butter.  Even with that small amount, you can still taste the coconut.  I sub's all the coconut oil once, and it was a huge mistake!
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. quick cooking oats
3/4 c. mini chocolate chips- you can also use regular, I just feel that minis work the best

I mix all the wet ingredients together first and then add oatmeal and chocolate chips, place in a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

I like to wrap these up in saran wrap so the girls can grab them for school/sports.  I will often times double the batch, wrap them up and place in a freezer bag and freeze them too!

Hope you enjoy them!

Linking up with Allie today!

Ladies Who Link- Back to School Prep

I am loving all the Back to School link ups like always!  I love finding some new tips and tricks of getting back into the swing of things.

Linking up with Allie and her crew!

And Erika for Friday Favorites!

So, fall sports practices started yesterday, and I will say that I felt completely on top of my game!  I have 3 girls who have 3 different things going on at 3 different times, plus Brad is traveling most of this week.

Well that all hit the fan when I forgot to tell Emma to wear workout clothes and tennies for swimming practice.  Oops.  And last night I listened to the moans and groans of 2 very exhausted and overwhelmed teenagers for no less than 3 hours.  I contemplated opening  bottle of wine at 10:00.

So day one was a bit rocky, but we've got this!!  So here's what works for me, to keep everyone's schedules organized.

Rachel (a junior) is in volleyball, and also works part time.  Emma (a freshmen) is in swimming and Alayna right now has a summer academy class 3 days/week.

I couldn't survive without my Erin Condren planner.  I love, love, love this thing!

I color code each girl, makes it so much easier to see who's where.  I absolutely love looking at everyone's planner layouts.  I would love to get more into that, since I used to be a big scrapbooker.  However, mama ain't got time for that now...

I shared my post last week with the Workin Wednesdays ladies about how we back to school it.  My biggest tip will always be to plan, plan, plan!  Meal plan is at the top of that list.  I have my meals planned through October right now.  The night before, I do a little prepping like getting the meat together whether it's chicken that needs to thaw, or hamburger that needs to be browned.

Last night we had a school sports meeting at 6, and I don't get home from work until 5.  Creamy Sausage Tortellini was on the menu.  I had my turkey sausage browned and tortellini thawed, so all I had to do was make the sauce and let it all heat through, literally took me 10 minutes to get a yummy supper on the table!

Homemade granola bars are a must for when sports start back up!  I will post this recipe next week, but my girls devour these!

I like to post our menu on a small whiteboard I keep on the fridge so I don't get asked a million times what's for supper.  I also like to post an encouraging Bible verse every week.

Lastly, we have a blank wall on the side of our kitchen pantry that keep s a large whiteboard, bulletin board and a file holder.  

We put everyone's schedule on the calendar so everyone knows who is going where. 

I LOVE the file holder! I bought mine several years ago at the Container Store, similar one here. Each girl has a folder and when they bring home 400 sheets of paper from school, I weed them out and put the important ones in their folders.  Super easy for all of us to find their stuff!

The bulletin of course holds any and all invites or really important things we need to remember.  I would be lost without this command center!

So that's how we do back to school!

Weekend Recap

We had a wonderful weekend full of  hanging with friends and relaxing.

Friday night was pretty low key...we got together with friends and had some drinks, lots of fun, but I stayed up way too late!  I'm such a sally when it comes to staying out late.  I'm more of a have a few drinks at happy hour and be home and in bed by 10, HA!

Saturday Rachel and I ran some errands and got groceries.  Love the times when I get my girls one on one!!

This picture makes me laugh, Emma (who is 14) is about 5'7" (I'm 5'4" on a good day!) but look at how much longer her legs are!!!

Saturday afternoon we had a wedding in town.  It was at this gorgeous farm that they turned into a wedding venue.  SO beautiful, and the weather was perfect!

My beauties all dressed up...

It was such a fun wedding!  And even though we didn't know anybody else there, we had such a blast!

Sunday was glorious.  It was rainy and thunderstorming all day long and we just chilled. I was up early and made cinnamon rolls.  Oh my word, the recipe was SO good!  They really are the best cinnamon rolls ever!

Brad made chili in the crockpot for supper and we literally laid around all day.  I finished this book...

SO good!  Just a good ole chick lit book.

I can't even tell you how many times Brad and I commented on how amazing yesterday was, I think we all needed that.  This week is going to be insane with Brad traveling a lot and the girls start their school fall sports.  I was wide awake at 4:30 this morning thinking about how crazy this week will be.  Thankfully I got my meals all planned out and prepped, outfits put together and everything's on the calendar so everyone knows who is going where, lol!!

Have a great week!

Workin It Wednesdays

It's time for another Workin' It Wednesdays with Shay and Erika!
Today we're talking all about Back to School, let's be honest, it's one of my favorite times of the year!




I love back to school for many reasons.

1. It forces my kids to have a schedule again.  Amen.
2.  It means fall is on it's way!
3. It makes me re organize and purge alllll the things!

I always feel like September is the "new" January.  I like to have my house cleaned from top to bottom and closets gone through.  It's just my thing.

Here's how we do back to school!

Give me all the decor.  I love decorating for back to school, but I make sure to not put it up until a week before, or the natives get cranky.






The night before school starts, we have Spa LaZimm.  I would make them a big bubble bath, and do facials, manis and pedis.  Now that they're older, they don't want to do the bubble bath, but we still crank the music, do our nails and eat cinnamon sugar sandwiches (why do they love those so??)



When I stayed at home, I always made sure to make a special treat for when they came home on the first day.  I still make a special treat, but not quite as elaborate, haha!





The first morning I either make pancakes in the shape of their initial, or monkey bread.  Love the excitement they used to have!!






Sometimes we would make a welcome gift for our teachers!




And of course, nothing is better than school supply shopping!  Alayna declared our school shopping day the best day of her life!!



Now, this year I will have 3 kids in 3 separate sports.  I may be freaking out slightly, but we'll get through it.  My main tip is to plan, plan, plan!
I LOVE my Erin Condren planner and couldn't imagine life without it.  I get everyones schedules and meals plans down.  I have my meals planned though the end of October which helps SO much!



I also have a large whiteboard calendar that I write all of our activities/appointments on.  Above that I have a paper organizer that holds folders for each of the girls, so I can put any important papers in there.  Makes it much easier so I don't lose things!

I also have a smaller white board on our fridge that has our weekly meal plan so I don't gt asked a million times what we're eating for supper!  Here's a post I did a couple years back about meal planning.

So there ya have it, we super organized and have it all together....at least for the first week, then it's all down hill, HA!!

Friday Favorites

Oh sweet Jezebel, it's Friday!!!  It's been one of those weeks at work, that I'm SO happy it's done!

Linking up with Erika for Friday Favorites!

I am recapping last weekend, since our internet was down most of the week.  *side eye*

Friday night we hung out at home, grilled burgers and had a campfire.  My sister in law and her husband were out of town so William stayed with us Thursday-Sunday.  He is our 4th child and we love having him!  His sister Maddie came out after work and hung with us too, we had such a fun night!!

Saturday was busy busy, as we had my mom, her husband and all the siblings and families over.  My step sister and her family were home from Oregon and I organized family pics to be taken at our house.  My friend Jeremy does photography on the side, he did an amazing job!

After pics the kids all changed into suits and went swimming...

Rachel got some great setting tips from Mike who used to play in college, he's incredible!

It was so much fun to see everyone enjoying themselves, kids in the pool, some playing volleyball, bean bags, and just enjoying the patio.

Brad smoked ribs and turkey breasts and mom brought potato salad, coleslaw and calico beans.  So much good food!  We ended the night with a bonfire and I stayed up WAY too late, haha!

Sunday we said goodbye to everyone and cleaned up the house quick.  It was a gorgeous day, so Brad talked me into going out to the lake for some tubing and relaxing.  I'll be honest, I was SO tired and had no desire, but I went and we had a blast!

I went tubing with Alayna and Rachel (I am too old to be whipped around like that!), and then we just hung out at the sandbar and relaxed.  So fun.

It was another perfect family weekend! 

 I'll leave you with some shots from our photo shoot, have a great weekend!!