Happy memories. That is one thing that life can’t take away. As time goes by, things change. Interests, friends, hobbies, work and even your family can all change. No matter how much planning we do, there is no guarantee that life is going to turn out a certain way. The one guarantee we do have: this moment. Right now. And right now is the time to make those happy memories that will last us through all the changing times ahead.
That is one reason you will see our family traveling a lot. I always think people might be inwardly criticizing us for spending what little hard earned money I am making now on vacation with my family. But in my perspective life is all about enjoying the moment and making the most of the now. We are still planning and saving for the future. But God forbid life does not go as planned, I would hate to look back and say that we spent 4-8 years of our life waiting for Kris to finish school, before doing the things we really wanted to do.
We love traveling, but making the most of the moment is less about extravagant trips – and more about the small moments that happen every day. Think back to your childhood – what is your favorite memory? The first thing that comes to my mind is climbing trees with my siblings in our backyard. No expensive toys or extensive planning involved. Just me and my siblings and the trees. Another thing I remember is Saturday morning breakfasts. Every Saturday my dad had work off and would make us the most delicious breakfasts! I can still smell the pancakes… mmmmm.
It is not hard to make kids happy, they find joy easily. I think that is part of the beauty of being a child. Everything in life is new and exciting. They see life with energy and optimism, and most importantly they see the beauty in the small things that we often miss. Usually when I ask Zoey what her favorite part of the day was it is something so simple. Like the day we went to Disney World and her favorite moment was catching a fly in her little hands all by herself. Not the rides. The fly.
One of the things that makes Zoey the most happy right now is ‘rainbow marshmallows’ (Lucky Charms cereal). Since Saturday morning breakfast with my dad is one of my favorite childhood memories, I wanted to continue that tradition with Zoey and her dad. Kris is gone a lot for school and Zoey really misses him. So every Saturday she has a special breakfast with him, EVERY Saturday she asks for “the rainbow marshmallows”. Almost every morning one of the first things Zoey asks me is if it is Saturday yet, so she can have rainbow marshmallows with daddy. Whenever I go to Walmart I grab a box to make sure I am stocked for Saturdays.
The Saturday breakfast tradition is starting to create fun memories with me and Zoey – not just Zoey and her dad. Every time Zoey and I go to Walmart we head to the cereal aisle and she helps me choose a box. I think the important thing is that she is having so much fun trying to find a box, and having that special breakfast with her daddy.
We have so many extra Lucky Charms that we have been making fun recipes with them. Did you know you can make Lucky Charms squares with marshmallows, butter and Lucky Charms? We dipped ours in vanilla coating and put ‘rainbow marshmallows’ on top. Also if you have the patience to pick out just marshmallows from the cereal (Zoey totally does, but half of them go in her stomach so it takes awhile) you can mix equal amount of marshmallows and vanilla coating and drop it into bite sizes pieces on parchment and let it harden. SOOOOOOOOO good. Too good. Don’t make more than you want to eat in one sitting, because you will eat it all. Zoey was obsessed with the ‘rainbow marshmallow cookies’. I will include directions for both further down in the post!
Zander is even easier to make happy. All he needs to do is blow spit bubbles and eat rice puffs and he is completely content. He also loves it when we sing to him and play peek-a-boo. I love the simple beauty in the day to day moments. I wish my kids could always find true joy in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and a bowl of ‘rainbow marshmallow cereal’…
But since that likely won’t happen, today I wanted to share some of the small, seemingly insignificant moments from our daily life. Usually I blog about the big ‘exciting’ things. But today I wanted to remind myself that it is the time with the people we love that matters most.
What are your favorite childhood memories? What do you think will be your kids favorite memories?
Keep scrolling for the recipes or…
5 Minute Lucky Charm White Chocolate Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 Box Lucky Charms
- 1 half cup white vanilla coating
Directions
- Sort out about 1 1/2 cups of Lucky Charms marshmallows. Set aside.
- Melt the white vanilla coating in the microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between each time, until it is completely melted.
- Mix the vanilla coating and marshmallows and scoop onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet to harden. Takes about 3 minutes if you put them in the freezer!
5 Minute Lucky Charm Crispy Marshmallow Squares Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Lucky Charms Cereal
- 2 cups of Marshmallows
- 3 tbsp of Butter
- Optional: White Vanilla Coating for dipping
Directions:
- Melt the butter in a pot on medium heat.
- Add in the cereal and marshmallows and mix constantly until everything is melted.
- Pour mixture into a greased cake pan and let harden
- If desired melt the vanilla coating (directions in above recipe step 2), cut the crispy marshmallow into bars and dip into the vanilla coating. Decorate with Lucky Charms marshmallows.
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