Recipe InSeitz - Carmelitas Bars

Last week I bought a bag of caramels to use in a cake that I was going to make. However, when it came time to make the cake I decided it was going to be too much work and opted for an easy brownie recipe instead. So what was I to do with the bag of caramels in the pantry that I bought? I looked online for a caramel bar recipe and saw this one that looked pretty yummy.  After taste testing them tonight they are pretty tasty but wow they are rich!

Carmelitas Bars

11 oz. bag caramels (You can also use a 1/2 cup of caramel ice cream topping.)
1/2 cup heavy cream (I didn't have cream so I mixed a 1/2 cup milk and 1 Tbsp of cornstarch)
3/4 cup butter melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips

In a sauce pan combine caramels and heavy cream. Over low heat stir until smooth and fully combined. (Next time I'm going to use the caramel ice cream topping. So much easier and faster!)
Set smooth caramel aside. In a separate bowl combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, & oats. Spray 9x9 pan and pat 1/2 crust mixture in pan. Bake the crust for 10 min at 350. Once crust is done baking, sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot crust. Then spread the caramel sauce over the chocolate chips. Sprinkle remaining crust over the caramel. Bake 15 minutes at 350. Let cool. Put in the fridge to chill before cutting.

96 Years Young

Grandma Vermeer is 96 years young today! Wow, doesn't she look great! She has seen so much in her life time. I can't even imagine. And although we were not there to celebrate in person we were able to FaceTime with her yesterday for a bit. She had no idea how in the world she was able to see us in Milwaukee but overall it was a success and we were able to wish her a happy birthday. Isn't technology amazing?

Joel's comment today regarding the fact that both of my Grandmas are still living and my family's longevity genes..."we're going to have to up our retirement funding."

Father's Day

We had a nice Father's Day today! The girls even let us sleep in a little. What a great gift!
Trying to get a picture with these two crazies was not happening today or any day really that we want to try and get a decent picture with them. Here's the best one out of about 20.

Here's an example of what we were dealing with. And at one point Maya was on her head and Cora was crying because I had taken her paci away. 

And then this afternoon we found a present for Daddy that we forgot about and had put away in hiding. Maya had made a special gift at school for Daddy to open up. So it was like double the fun here! She made him a special book mark to use in his Bible and she filled out a special form for him to read. Similar to the one she did for Mother's Day only she got Daddy's age exactly right! How is it that I'm 81 but Daddy is 44?

Peony's

Peony's may be my new favorite flower. These are from our backyard and I love having them all over the house. I just wish the flowering season lasted a bit longer. They bloom and then all the sudden they are done. We are enjoying them around here while we can!

 

 

 

 

FIVE

How is it possible that this lady is five? Wow! She was up bright and early Tuesday morning ready to celebrate! I think she had most of her cards and gifts opened before 8am.

 

The cupcakes requested were funfetti with purple frosting. We celebrated her half birthday at school in December and this is what she requested then too. A favorite for sure.

Maya had a few things on her birthday wish list. One was a piggy bank. We wanted to get her one that had a "save, share, spend" concept. Believe it or not they are hard to find. We found this cute owl one and Maya was very excited about it. She couldn't get her b-day money in her bank fast enough.

Another item on her wish list was to go to Sky Zone. Sky Zone is a trampoline park that we went to once last summer and she's been asking to go back ever since. She loves it! And Miss Cora was old enough to participate this time too. They both had a blast and Maya had a great 5th birthday!

Front Door

One of the projects around here recently was to paint the front porch and front door. The porch stayed the same color but the front door received an update. It was originally forest green but I wanted to try the bold new color of chianti red. (I was going for a deep burgundy/brick red color) At first it looked like it was going to be hot pink but by the forth coat we took a deep breath and thought it turned out ok. I always like the idea of painting and think it's fun but in reality it's a lot of work. Joel ended up doing the whole porch and the majority of the front door. He gets a gold star for all his hard work!

Dress up

Cora is really into dress up lately or not being dressed at all.  It's one extreme or the other. She thinks she's really big stuff because she has learned how to take off her pants and PJ's all by herself. She still needs help with shirts though. Anyway here are a few pics from last week of her getting fancy. I think this was an old Christmas dress from cousin Emma. Too fun!

Neighborhood Festival

Last Sunday Maya and I went to a little neighborhood church festival. Daddy was painting the front porch and Cora didn't feel well so just the two of us went.

Her favorite ride was the "bouncy cars"

We also did the teacups but wow I almost had to ask to get off.

Yikes, I can't handle the spinning in circles these days. We also took a little train ride together that was much more my speed. Do I sound old or what?

Maya of course remembered from last year that she received a special flower balloon and was determined to take home something again this year. At first we could not find the "balloon man" and looked all around the festival. And just as we were getting ready to walk back home we spotted him and the balloon crisis was averted.

Maya was able to take home a special heart, flower balloon which also included a blue "Elsa" balloon in the middle of it too. Super fancy!

Last Day of 4K!

Today was Maya's last day of 4K preschool at Brookfield Christian School. She had a fantastic year and loved every minute of it. She had wonderful teachers and learned and grew so much this year. I can't believe in less than 3 months she'll be heading to Kindergarten. These preschool years seriously have flown by. I'm not saying the days aren't long but to think that Maya is turning 5 next week and she'll be in Kindergarten in the Fall just seems unbelievable to me.

Last day standing by her "hook" 

Madelyn, Maya & Taylor

Such good buddies but watch out these ladies are trouble!

 

4K pick up line. All the kiddos and their bags with papers, projects, & 4K goodies.

 

Maya and her teacher Mrs. Bylsma

We celebrated the completion of 4K with some ice cream!

One happy lady!