The story of us...: A Camping We Will Go...

We set up a camp site in the basement this week and had quite the adventures! Our campground had hiking trails, a fishing pond, a campfire pit to roast marshmallows and sing campfire songs, a place to pitch our tent and even had a real bear in the woods! We worked together as a team on Monday morning setting up our tent and arranging the basement to make room for all of our amenities! Cullen was home from school and I'm so glad he could be a part if it, for a little bit at least! He had fun reading to the girls by flashlight in the tent!

We went hiking one day in search for bugs, after making toilet paper roll binoculars and paper bag hiking vests! I hid plastic bugs all around and they girls had to go find them, then used their bug encyclopedia to identity what kinds of bugs they found!

After hiking, Avery said "I am too tired for hiking, I am done with that! I am drinking my banilla iced mocha to feel me better"! Sitting by the fire, drinking Vanilla Iced Mochas sounds like my kind of camping, that's my girl!

Our campfire had to be the biggest hit! Every morning the girls would come down and "build" their fire! Kinsley had her guitar out and lead campfire songs, we told fun stories and drank "coffee" to stay warm!

We had a really fun time making pretend s'mores over our tissue paper and paper towel roll fire, using sticks with cotton balls glued to the end! We also made real s'mores for a snack over the stove top! This is always so fun! Definitely, not the same as a campfire roasted marshmallow, but in the middle of winter - it does the trick!

And as if that wasn't enough... I just had to make these delicious s'mores bars that I had over the summer at a neighborhood block party... I've been dying to make them again, and this was the perfect opportunity! THEY ARE DELICIOUS!!! So we put our aprons on and got busy in the kitchen!

S'more Cookie Bars

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 55 mins Serves: 25-30 bars

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars
1½ cups marshmallow Fluff (not melted marshmallows because they harden when they cool)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and/or line an 8-inch square baking pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Don't worry if it seems thin; the baking powder will allow it to rise.
Place chocolate bars over dough (don't layer the bars, just break them to fit if you need to), then spread the marshmallow Fluff over the chocolate bars. Finally, top the Fluff with the remaining dough by forming the dough into sheets with the palm of your hands and laying it down (as shown above). Don't worry if the dough isn't covering everything! It'll spread out as it bakes.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. If the top is browning too quickly, you can always cover it with tin foil for the remaining baking time. Cool completely before cutting into bars. If you don't allow them to cool completely, they will crumble when you try to cut them.
Makes 16-20 bars.