J is for Jellyfish

Another craft! Another kids' pick! You see, if I picked, it would probably have been something winter themed, or lent themed, or even ABC themed, or maybe even Valentines Day themed. Jellyfish just seemed so random. But, it was actually really fun.

So ours are basically a tinfoil individual pie crust pan with a bunch of random ribbons and yarn glued on the inside. Googly eyes are a must. Daniel wanted his to have a happy face which was really cute. Jacob said jellyfish don't really have mouths but that his was sad.

We took the jellyfish for a walk/bounce/jump around the house. 

Then hung them up by their spots at the kitchen table. What a weird lenten decoration.

The best part of the morning. I decided to ignore the mess the boys were making and let them have fun running around each with a ball of yarn. They got themselves and everything else all tangled up.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate

... One of my favourite dessert combinations! I remember as a kid going to "Ice Cream Galore" and having a hard time choosing between chocolate peanut butter ice cream and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Uh-oh. Now I want ice cream!
Anyways, I made another version of the homemade Reese's peanut butter cup. Less hurt-your-teeth-sweet than the original, and they turned out pretty too!

Melt 1/4cup butter with 3/4cup peanut butter in microwave for 45 seconds. Stir until smooth. Add 3/4cup graham cracker crumbs and 1/4cup sugar. Spoon into muffin tray (with liners). Makes 1 dozen.
Chill in fridge for 10 minutes to set.
Melt together in microwave 1cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup milk. Spoon over peanut butter layer. Let chill for 30 minutes in the fridge before eating them.
Don't eat too many!

I don't know why the picture is sideways, but they still look tasty.

Wouldn't one of these be good with a scoop of chocolate ice cream?

Hello Jello!

So I saw a picture on Pinterest of Jello Cookies, and they were so pretty looking! But when I clicked on the link the recipe was for jello play dough that you could then bake into cookies if you wanted. Something seemed wrong about that to me... But the idea just stuck with me. Anyways, I had this box of raspberry jello sitting around from when I made coloured popcorn and decided the boys and I needed to make cookies. Here is MY recipe:

1 cup softened stick margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used part brown sugar, but I think the colour would be stronger with all white)
cream together butter and sugars
Add
1 egg
2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 small pkg instant jello powder

Roll into 1 inch balls and bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Makes 5 dozen.

These taste so good!

So I then wanted blue jello because it is delicious, and also because I needed to make cookies for a couple of church events. These tasted good too! (But I did like the pink better)

And I don't know if Pink & Blue make you think of anything specific...

They sure make me wonder...

...

...

Yup. This is my Blue Kitchen BABY #3 announcement!

Feel free to leave a comment and choose Pink OR Blue!!!!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2013! I am looking forward to this year. New adventures await, I am sure... but I also haven't posted in a while so I am going to backtrack and show you some of what we got up to at Christmas. Here we go:

The boys had a blast pushing each other around in their "snowmobiles"...  I told them they can get a real one when they move out, they scare me (snowmobiles)!

 I LOVE doing this activity, even if it is messy and I have to do laundry after. I filled several containers with warm soapy water and a little food colouring and they just do whatever. In this case, Daniel took off his pants (but not his diaper) and climbed right in. It was great.

This weird "play dough" is like a bunch of tiny balls that somehow stick together. It is sort of like playing with rice krispie squares. I actually find it easier to sculpt than playdough which is useful because I frequently get asked to make creatures more complicated than a snake. Also good to note: it is safe to eat.

And since it was a hit last year, we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. I told the boys they could each pick a bulk candy at the store for decorating, and despite my attempts to control the choices we ended up with DinoSours and Blue Whales. I did like the green dinosaur right on top of Jacob's house, it made me think of Godzilla.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without a great family shot in front of the tree. What?!? Jacob is hugging Daniel? Totally not planned, he just bearhugged him right when the camera went off. I love it.

And one of the best memories we made was having a New Years countdown with the boys after supper. I don't know why but they loved it so much we must have done it four or five times. This is Daniel jumping and cheering at the "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" part.