Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

Good morning! Hoping everyone had a Happy 4th! We had two fun barbecues with friends over the weekend and got to meet some great people---and get to know other great people even better! I brought these Peanut Butter S'mores Bars to one get together and they were a hit! So, what do I do when someone asks for a recipe? I say, "check out my blog on Monday and it will be there!" 

Peanut Butter S'mores Bars
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks
3 c. mini marshmallows
3 c. graham cracker cereal
1 c. sugar
1 c. corn syrup
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º. In a mixing bowl, combine first 8 ingredients until crumbly. Press firmly into a greased 13x9 pan. Bake about 12 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with marshmallows, arranging them so they cover the entire surface of the crust in one layer. Return to oven for about 2 minutes until they just start to puff up. Remove and cool on counter 10 minutes. 

Measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute---do not let it boil longer or your mixture will be too thick and will harden as it cools. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour over cereal and mix well, but quickly. Quickly add chocolate chips, give it a quick stir, and pour over marshmallow mixture. 

This works best if you put small scoops of it in different places all over until you've covered most of the marshmallows. Spread carefully and then let the whole thing cool until the bottom the pan is completely cooled. 

Linking with:
Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
The Scoop @Stone Gable
Make Bake Create @ Hope In Every Season
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Wake Up Wednesday
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
Inspire Me Wednesday @ MamaBuzz
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above
Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner
Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully
Homeacre Hop   
Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six 
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home 
Create It Thursday
Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm 
Pintastic Party
The Art of Homemaking
Inspiration Monday @ Your Homebased Mom
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Motivate Me Monday 
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 
Living Proverbs 31
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
The Scoop @Stone Gable

Our Homeschool End of Year Party with Dr Pepper #BackyardBash #shop #cbias

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are honest and are my own.

For more ideas on how to create your own #BackyardBash, check out the tumblr page at www.drpepperbash.com.

It's the end of the homeschool year here at Coller Academy---which doesn't really mean much since we homeschool year round. Still, we like to have a special party for the kids each summer to celebrate them moving up to a new skill level and to let them know how proud we are of all they've accomplished in the past year. Jamie and I planned a fun party for the kids and included some of their favorite treats. Pop is a fun part of our most special celebrations and today we chose Dr Pepper for our Homeschool Backyard Bash!

Walmart has a good selection of Dr Pepper varieties. It's one of our family's favorite sodas and I love all the fun choices: small and regular sized cans, little bottles, big bottles, Diet, vanilla, original---there's something for everyone!

It's been a great year full of many changes---moving from Oregon to Arkansas, saying goodbye to old friends and meeting wonderful new ones, and lots of character building along the way. From learning to read to entering high school, the Coller kids have had an awesome school year!

We started off our party with some recognition certificates. The five oldest kids are moving up in grade level, while the youngest were honored for things like learning to read, write, or name colors.  Each year, I fill their school boxes with new supplies, so they received those along with their certificates. We also had a gift for the kids--a DVD set of their favorite series, Liberty's Kids. 

The kids got a sneak peek at some of the resources we'll be using for math and English this coming year, as well as our favorite history study: Mystery of History.

Having Daddy hand out the certificates really made the kids feel special. Even though he can't be home for much of our lessons throughout the days, we make sure to save a lot of our presentations, book reports, etc. for evenings and weekends when Jamie is home to participate.

After awards time, we decided to do an impromptu talent show. The highlight of the performance was Avalon's funny faces.

Next came game time. The kids played bowling with a rubber ball and some Dr Pepper bottles that we'd refilled with water. Thanks to Jamie for drinking lots of Diet Dr Pepper this past week so we'd have some "pins" for our game!

We didn't get to my bottle cap bingo game, (everyone wanted to eat!) but I'm sure we'll do it sometime later---along with some of these fun bottle cap games and crafts I found. Be sure to check out my Bottle Cap Games Round up.

Treat time! The kids' favorite part of the party! Dr Pepper has such a unique flavor that it's fun to use it in all kinds of recipes. From barbecue sauce to marinating a roast, Dr Pepper is great in lots of meals and desserts. We used it to make cupcakes, as well as ice cream floats! 

Cainan helped me set up the treats table with all our fun goodies. 

I found these Cheez-It varieties at Walmart and thought they'd be perfect for our snack table. The kids love snack mixes with pretzels and other yummies added in, and the Scrabble Junior crackers were great for a school-themed party. Jamie and the kids had fun playing a spelling game while they were eating!

I know this is all about the kids and the snacks and stuff but I have to show you my favorite part of the party---our new Coleman water cooler. I was in Walmart on the 4th, looking for something for water since we were headed out to a picnic, and found this. This 2-gallon cooler is a great size for us and it's stackable. I totally love it.

There are tons of recipes out there for Dr Pepper cupcakes. I used the one on The Sweeting Spot for the cake part, and made my own buttercream frosting with cherry flavoring. Check out my cute Instagram video for a quick explanation on how these came to be!

While we were a little sugared out after having our savory treats, pop, and cupcakes, we did end up having our Dr Pepper floats after dinner tonight, complete with fun bendy straws.

I love it when the kids go to bed happy after a fun day of making memories. Today was one of those perfect days. What kinds of traditions do you have for celebrating the simple things with your kids?

#BackyardBash

#CollectiveBias

Linking with:

Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
The Scoop @Stone Gable
Make Bake Create @ Hope In Every Season
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Wake Up Wednesday
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
Inspire Me Wednesday @ MamaBuzz
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above
Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner
Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully
Homeacre Hop   
Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six 
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home 
Create It Thursday
Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm 
Pintastic Party

Bottle Cap Game Ideas for Home and School

Making bottle cap games and crafts are fun and cheap ways to recycle used stuff into something useful. When we were in Oregon, where you get five cents back for every pop bottle you recycle, (but have to take the lids off first) I had zillions of bottle caps. I wish I would have gotten real brainy and saved them so I could execute some of these great ideas!

There are lots of fun ideas for bottle cap games to be found at From Kindergarten with Love.

Here's a Snapguide on How to Make Lady Bugs Out of Bottle Caps. Super cute craft ideas!

There are several great learning game ideas here at Learn With Play At Home, including this fun Addition Game.

Beckie at Infarrantly Creative designed this awesome Checkerboard Game featuring bottle caps as the game pieces. Love this!

Here's a creative take on the memory game. Atelier de Marcellou uses things found in nature to make a great outdoorsy play set.

Danielle from Working House Mom, Wife has a cute idea for making foam stampers for kids' crafts!

What ideas do you have for reusing bottle caps?