Nostalgia

When I was in sixth grade I had a sucker business. I would make homemade suckers and sell them to kids at school for 25 cents. They were a hit and I had all sorts of shapes and flavors to choose from. My little business provided a bit of spending money and my mom was a good sport about providing all the ingredients and allowing me to make the suckers at least once a week.

When I was at home in July, I ran onto the old sucker molds and asked my mom if I could have them. I thought that Jeremy might like to give cute homemade suckers to his 5th graders at Christmas, Valentines, etc. My mom told me to take the molds and Jeremy and I went on the hunt for oil based flavoring (not an easy thing to find these days).

Yesterday, we made a trial batch. It has been a long time since I was in sixth grade and I wasn't sure if I still had "the touch". They turned out pretty well for my first batch in more than twenty years. A little tweaking and we should be all set for those Christmas suckers.

Dallin had a great time making, and eating, them. I don't think he ever dreamed you could actually make your own suckers. Pretty exciting stuff when you are five years old.

One of Those Days!

Do you ever have those days when you have obligations that keep you from your normal routine, and on top of that, you feel rotten, tired, and like you are in slow-motion? For me, yesterday was one of those days. By the time evening rolled around, I decided to just ignore the house and go to bed. So, this is what greeted me this morning.
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Ugh!!! I hate waking up to a messy house and dirty dishes. Thank goodness it only took about 45 minutes to get things a little bit more under control. Now we are looking like this.
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Much better. Not sparkling - but much better. I can function again!!!

Albuquerque

We took a little trip to Albuquerque last week. We went to the Zoo, Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and Dinosaur Museum.

The boys at the zoo.

This was one of the two trains at the zoo. Riding these trains was definitely the highlight of the trip for Thomas.

The boys in front of the shark tank at the aquarium.



Jack in front of the coral reef at the aquarium.

Dallin at the hotel pool. He loved being able to go swimming every day.

Thomas at the pool.

Jack on the way home. We wore him out. I love this picture because on this trip he absolutely refused to drink from his sippy cup if there was anyone with a drink that had a straw in it. Before he feel asleep here he was mad as a hornet until we gave him this cup with a straw and then he was as happy as can be. He took a few sips and went right to sleep.

It was a fun few days!

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break. Here are a few of the things we did while we had Jeremy home.

A little "chillin' " in front of the TV

Flying the kites Grandma Teichert brought us from China. These were really cool!!

Taking care of Jeremy's new chicks in his classroom.

Dallin learned to ride with no training wheels. It only took two attempts and he was riding like an old pro.

We went on a couple of picnics and visited the fish hatchery outside of Payson.

We had a good week and it was a little hard to return to reality today - - especially when it started snowing this morning. Ugh!

Suddenly, My Baby is Gone!

I always have such a hard time breaking down and allowing my boys to have their first haircut. It seems like they are suddenly transformed from baby to little boy in 10 minutes and my baby is gone forever. On Saturday, I finally had to admit that Jack was in desperate need of a trim - so we went over to Jeremy's parents house and his mom did the honors. He makes a cute little boy - as much as I hate to admit it. Here are a few pictures from the big event.

Before the cut.

During the cut. He was sooo good.


After. The little boy has emerged.

Budding Photographers.

Our boys were always begging to take pictures with the digital camera. When we upgraded, we just gave them the old one to play with. Yesterday, I was looking through their shots and had to share a few of my favorites.


Isn't this almost like art? Soft focus and all!

Gotta love a kids perspective.

I'm not sure why this is interesting to them. Maybe they were trying to take a picture of whatever was on the TV??????

I think he actually got right down on his tummy to take this little beauty.

I'm not sure how they pulled this one off.

Love 'em boys. I think you have a real future!!

Oreo Pop Instructions

I have had a couple of requests for instructions on how to make the Oreo Pops that I made for Dallin's preschool class. So, here goes . . .

You will need the following:

1 package of Wilton Candy Melts (they have lots of fun colors)

1 package of long lollipop sticks

1 package of lollipop covers

(I got all of the above ingredients in the cake decorating section at WalMart.)

1 package of double-stuf Oreos

sprinkles

To make the pops:

1. Pour the candy melts into a microwave safe dish and microwave until slightly melted. Stir and place back in the microwave and repeat process until the melts are just melted. Set aside and let cool for about 5 minutes.

2. Insert lollipop sticks into the filling of the oreos.

3. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.

4. Place the cookie in the chocolate and gently cover with chocolate using a spoon. Pull out of the chocolate and let some of the chocolate drip off.

5. Place on waxed paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with sprinkles.

6. Repeat with remaining oreos.

7. Place in refrigerator to cool and then put in lollipop covers and tie with a ribbon. Very cute!!

**If you find that your cookies are falling apart when you dip them, you probably just need to let the chocolate cool a bit more. It the chocolate becomes too cool and hard to work with, then simply put it back in the microwave and melt it down again.

These are fun. Enjoy!