7 Homemade Stocking Stuffer-Treats

This year we had so much Halloween candy that the kids still haven't finished it.  But then again we still have some Easter candy....
A friend recently told just to let them pig out for a day or two and then they won't want anymore.  I sure don't know what to think about that philosophy! Anybody else tried it?
Now it's time to think about stockings and every year I buy special candy to go inside. And every year we still have Christmas candy come Spring.  Well not this year!
This year I am not buying ANY Christmas candy!!! I know what you're thinking; those poor mistreated kiddos. HA! Not a chance!
I am making all homemade treats and a few toys for their stockings this year.  And trust me these are simple to put together, because if they weren't, I wouldn't be doing it.

#1 - Turtles
These are the perfect combination of sweet & salty, chewy and crunchy!

Ingredients:
Small pretzels in shape of circle, square or regular
Rolos
Pecans

Place pretzels on cookie sheet- can be lined w/ parchment paper for quick cleanup.
Place a rolo on each pretzel.  Melt in over at 350* for about 3 minutes, don't go to long or you'll have a mess!
Remove from oven and quickly press 1 pecan into each slightly melted rolo.
Chill (or in my case, put it out in the garage where it's refrigerator temp already)
Enjoy!!
I will be putting these in some cute holiday bags I got from the dollar store.

These don't last long in my house; I make sure to hide a batch so that they last till Christmas!!

#2 - Hot Chocolate Stir Sticks
My kiddos LOVE marshmallows in their hot chocolate so this is bound to be a hit!

Ingredients:
Mashmallows
Chocolate chips
Candy canes or peppermints, crushed
Coffee straws or craft sticks

Here is a great tutorial on how to make these!

#3 - Popcorn Balls
These are a yearly tradition in my mom's house! She used to make these for all our friends and neighbors at Christmas time. I am hoping to carry on that tradition this year with my little ones!
Ingredients: 
Approx. 9 cups Air popped popcorn - this is my popper
1/2 cup Jello (small box) - my favorites are Lime and Cherry
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white Karo syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
In microwave safe bowl (a large one) boil to soft stage, about 7 min. Stir every couple minutes.  You may want a lid as this can sometimes bubble up over the edge.
Mix with popcorn.  Rub some butter on hands, work popcorn into balls. Be careful, mixture is hot!
Wrap in plastic or sandwich bags to store.
 
#4 - Chex Mix
I make just the regular ol Chex Mix! It is my family's all-time favorite.

Ingredients: 
3 cups each - rice, corn, wheat chex
1 cup nuts, whatever you like. I used dry roasted peanuts
1 cup bite-sized pretzels or sticks
6 T butter
2 T Worcestershire sauce 
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt (optional) I don't put this in anymore and it's still quite tasty
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Heat oven to 250*; melt butter in large roasting pan.  Stir in seasonings and sauce.  Add chex, nuts and pretzels. Stir until coated.  Heat in oven 45 min- stirring every 15min. Cool on paper towels; store in airtight container.   

Variations to this recipe are endless! Put in whatever sounds good to you! There are also recipes for sweet mixes such as Muddy Buddies and Peppermint Puppy Chow.

#5 - Peppermint Pretzels
These could be made with white or dark chocolate - I plan on doing some of both!

Dark Chocolate recipe 

White Chocolate recipe 

And these will be wrapped up in those decorative treat bags from the dollar store too!


#6 - Candy Cane Reindeer
Just a candy cane and a few crafting supplies and you've got yourself a treat that doubles as a toy! And just think how adorable these little guys will look peeking out of the stockings!

This one is super simple!
Check it out here.

#7 - Clothes Pin Airplane or Butterfly

Now, obviously this one isn't a treat but rather a fun homemade toy that kids could help make or even use as an ornament on the tree.

These may seem a little more time consuming but the look on a kids face when they receive this gift is so worth it! And they really don't take that long to make!

Airplane Tutorial

Butterfly Tutorial

And here's another one - An Ant! So many possibilities! 

Another easy idea is to double (or triple!) each recipe of these treats and fix up a little plate for friends and family!  Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!
MadCounty Mama 

This and That

Wow, it's the middle of October!!! And my favorite time of year!

        Crisp air                         Red leaves            Nutmeg
 

Steaming drinks in my cup     Yellow 

Garden harvest                       Apple picking                   Canning

Piles of Leaves       Orange   Cloves    
 Football      

Cinnamon    Brown   Piles of Leaves    Pumpkin
 *******************************************************************

Life in the Donaldson home:

Nana and PopPop came for a wonderful visit in September.  They accompanied us to the Alpaca farm. The kids got to spend some great quality time with them and we are hopeful that we can make a trip to visit them around the holidays. My parents came down for a day and there lots of "old stories" going around - one of my favorite things about family gatherings is all the reminiscing.  

While on a visit to my parents house to make "no-mato sauce" (more on that later!) my Dad showed up with a couple of his buddies and a dirty rusted snowmobile on the trailer. Turns out a few years back some crazy sled-necks were trying to ride their snowmobiles across the lake.  Clearly no one told them that sleds should only be rode on frozen water. 
A local rancher saw the sled sticking out of the lake and called up my Dad to see if he wanted it. After bringing the sled home several creatures began making an appearance! We caught 5 crawdads and got to see lots of barnacles attached to the sled. It turned into a great science day!

Last week we went on another field trip. And I forgot my camera. Again. Very sad because the kids had a wonderful time! 
We visited Summit Aviation at our local airport.  All the kids got to sit in a plane and pretend to fly.  We learned how fast and how far the small four-seater could go.  
Then we got to go visit the airport fire station and sit in the fire trucks! These fire trucks are lime green, not red! And one truck had the steering wheel in the center rather than the side; the reason for that is one fireman can drive the truck and work to put out the fire!  

We started homeschool in September.  Bug is working at a 1st grade level.  I had planned to My Father's World for his curriculum but it is not challenging enough for him.  I've come up with a program for him that is working quite well!
Cowboy is at the preschool level.  He is learning to write his name and other pre-writing activities.  He is also working on the phonetic alphabet and some pre-reading skills.
I plan to post more on school and our schedule.

AWANA is underway and going well.  The boys are enjoying time with friends and get so excited to memorize scripture for which they earn patches on their vests. 

We helped decorate and then rode on the AWANA float for the local Fall Festival parade. 
We will also be participating in Operation Christmas Child - something I used to do with my mother every year.  A great family tradition to carry on with my little ones!

What we are gearing up for:

Field trip to Museum of the Rockies - Yay!
 
Harvest Festival at our church - Fun!

Field Trip to a local Donut Shop - yum! 

Packing our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child - more info here

Making Apple Cider - even more delish!
 
Building a "Thankful tree" for November

Happy Harvest!
MadCounty Mama 
 

Field Trip!! MT Alpacas

Let's pet some alpacas!

Turns out, they like to touch noses...

And eat treats

"Mom, it tickles!"

Cookie, 1 of 2 GIANT guard dogs

Princess not one bit afraid

asking for a kiss

Walking with Pop-pop

We took a short field trip out to the Alpacas of MT farm. Nana and Pop-pop were visiting so they came along as well! We learned all about the history of the breed and what their fleece is used for.  We also got to feed the alpacas, pet some babies and hear stories about them.
 On the farm they have a couple llamas to protect the herd as well as 2 very large guard dogs. These dogs fought off cougars and bears this summer! The llamas are just as impressive as they will take down strange dogs, coyotes or any other perceived threat.
We had a great time learning something new!
Thanks for Alpacas of MT for allowing us to come to their farm and to Little Explorer Tours from the Parks & Rec Dept in Bozeman for setting up these field trips!
Next week we will be going to Summit Aviation to learning all about airplanes and the world of flight.
MadCounty Mama

Weekly Pics

Funny faces... :)

The mighty wasp killers...

Gunner claiming the slide

What Princess does during school....

Backyard "camping"

Cooking dinner

Hoodie-girl!

PreK

MadCounty Mama

Whirlwind

To say the last few weeks have been busy would be somewhat of an understatement! I am working on so many different projects and need to just focus on one and finish! I plan to post September's monthly menu on the 1st but forgive me if I don't get it done!
I've really been enjoying the weekly photo posts and b/c I posted on Saturday last week, I only managed to take 1 picture this week. That's right just 1!!
But it has a great little story behind it and a couple yummy recipes.

Wylie was soooo bored yesterday so I invited him to help make dinner.  He helped peel carrots, cut up kielbasa, gather ingredients, open a can of beans and stir our soup.  We made Kielbasa and Kale soup.  

And for a side dish, we cooked up a batch of Roasted Brussel Sprouts, served with a delicious Garlic Aioli. 

The big surprise here? Well it wasn't that the younger two in the family didn't even try the soup (they ended up with PB&J instead). And it wasn't that even Wylie liked it.  

No, the BIG,

 GIANT 

surprise is that not only did PreacherMan eat the soup AND the Brussel Sprouts - 

HE LIKED IT!!!!

1 point for Mama - 0 points for veggie haters

MadCounty Mama

Wordless Wednesday

Three Forks Fly-in

Grandpa's plane

'rasslin the laundry

MadCounty Mama

Homemade Granola Bars

These homemade granola bars are so yummy! Kids and adults love 'em! You can easily change the recipe to try different flavors. So far we've tried crispy chocolate and chocolate peanut butter. Next I want to try oatmeal raisin; I also have ideas for an orange/cranberry or a white chocolate/cranberry.

The original recipe came from here - she has lots of other great recipes as well.

I changed up my version slightly, combining two recipes, to satisfy our family's tastes.  

Chocolate PB Granola Bars
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup local honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rice Krispies
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla


Melt peanut butter, honey and coconut oil in saucepan over medium heat.  Heat till slightly bubbly, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; let cool 2-3 minutes. Stir in vanilla.

Combine oats and rice Krispies in large bowl; pour melted mixture over and mix thoroughly.  (Here you can throw some chocolate chips in or wait and put all on top.) 


Press into foil line 8x8 pan; press down firmly to pack it in.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and press down again. Let cool (I toss mine in the fridge for an hour or so) 


Turn pan upside onto cutting area, it should fall out.  Then cut into bars. Store in airtight container.  These don't last more than 2 days around here!

Notes - 
Some of the bar recipes on Marathon Mom  call for butter, I have found that butter seems to make the bars extra crumbly and oily so I prefer the coconut oil.

I never seem to have wheat germ or flax seed on hand so I leave those out (in original recipes from Marathon Mom)

I get 8-10 bars out of a pan depending on how you cut them.  With 3 little ones that is at least 3 snacks per child. 

Add-ins:  M&Ms, peanuts, coconut, sunflower seeds, Craisins

Enjoy!

MadCounty Mama

Wordless Wednesday

Shelling peas

Caught his first grasshopper

Backyard campfire

Shucking corn

Lots of corn for the freezer

Dancing to Journey

Cowboy

"Busy Bag" Activities

MadCounty Mama

Pictures of the Week

Rockin' some pigtails!

"Baby-Wonder Woman" named by Cowboy

Superheros!

Homemade waterslide!

Splash!

Weeeeeeeeee!

Wylie's Lemonade Stand

1st time - Ice cream truck stopped at our house!

Headed out for a walk

MadCounty Mama