Vranicar Family: Party of 5

Imagine the family all cuddled up in blankets on the living room floor, flashlights in hand, curtains pulled open to see the amazing lightning show in the sky, everyone "oohing" and "awwwwing" at the streaks of light as they flash across the sky. SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! And then you wake up and what really happens... Everyone is pushing the blankets away from them because it's 80 degrees in the house. The flashlights are being fought over and in the scuffle of who gets which flashlight, someone is bonked in the head with one of them. Because only two of the flashlights actually had working batteries in them (and one of those is a BuzzLight year flashlight the size of a large marker) you also need to light a few candles, which are just irresistible to a 3 year old who is continually trying to get close enough to blow them all out.  Once you finally get everyone settled in a spot just far enough away from the next person as to make sure neither little boy is withi...

Before becoming a mom there were many things I swore I'd never...   Let my children play in that "germ ridden" play area in fast food joints or malls   Bribe them with candy   Walk around during a meal   Buy my kids light up character shoes   Buy my kids character shirts   Give my baby a pacifier   Make more than one meal at dinner time to accommodate for picky appetites   Bring them "in public" with dirty clothes, faces, etc There are still things on my "I will never let them" list- I'm sure I'll be eating those words at some point as well. I thought I knew better before I actually did.

I have fond memories of coming home from school and being welcomed by some kind of delicious homemade baked goodie. Whether that be Scotcharoos, homemade bread, Pudding-wiches, banana bread or my favorite, Tootsie Roll bars! Let me know if you try them, super easy and oh so good! Tootsie Roll Bars 1 Cup brown sugar 1 3/4 Cup butter 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 3/4 Cup flour 1 3/4 Cup old fashion oatmeal 1/2 tsp salt  1 tsp baking soda Cream butter and sugar. Mix in eggs one at a time, add vanilla. Add in dry ingredients, mix just until combined. Spread half of the oatmeal mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 ungreased, pan. Melt 6oz chocolate chips with one can sweet and condensed milk. Pour over oatmeal mixture. Use the remaining oatmeal mixture to "sprinkle"  over the top. (I use the word sprinkle only because I'm not sure how else to describe taking bits of the mixture and strategically pacing it all over the top.) Bake at 350 degrees until slightly golden. T...

As parents, Kevin and I have tried a lot of activities with the boys; Children's Museum, parks, libraries, events at the Mall of America- but the one place that we can't get enough of is the Minnesota Zoo! This membership has paid for itself over and over! We go to the zoo several times a month, in the colder winter months we travel the tropic trails, penguin exhibit and semi enclosed MN trail. Now that it's "warmer" (this weather is a whole other story) we hit the outdoor trails, the farm and the boys' favorite- the fountains! This week we went to the zoo sans extra clothes, I really didn't think it would be warm enough to get completely soaked, but by the time we had spent two plus hours exploring, we were all on the verge of hot and sweaty. Even without extra clothes or a towel, I told the boys to go crazy, we live such a short distance away that it wouldn't be a big deal going home a little wet. My general philosophy in parenting is that as long as...

Once again this year, my childhood friend Mindi and I went out, bought cute running shoes, pants, tops, accessories and decided to run a race with them. How many years has it been Mindi; five? I plan on digging out each commemorative t-shirt we've earned and take a picture. Mindi has always run the 10k, two years ago I signed up for the 10k and walked the 5k with my sister and aunts with the excuse of being pregnant. I should add that Mindi did not know I wasn't going to be running with her until we showed up the night before and Cooper walked up to her with a Big Brother shirt on. Her reaction was priceless and totally worth it. (You have no idea how hard that was to keep from you!) This year's run was full of fun and like so many previous years, rain. Mindi had to improvise and fashion a homemade waterproof iPhone case moments before we started the run. Once we got going we didn't see each other until the finish- aren't I a great friend? I took off somewhere ...