Eeeeeewwww Gross!

My husband is a lot more adventurous than I am. As in, sky-diving, high-adventure, has eaten funny things like escargot, adventurous. I am not, but I like my husband. So when his sister told him about a show he would like called Man vs. Wild (I know, it has not only been out for a while, but has already been canceled. We are a little behind the times.), I started getting ideas for a fun, if not absolutely disgusting date night. I got an episode (Season 4: Guatemala) from Amazon, and projected it onto a wall in our room while eating much tastier bugs than the ones Bear Gylis was enjoying. One of my sisters is still in shock that I would even contemplate such an idea.
(Want to know the secret? There are benefits to wearing glasses- I can take them off when things get too gross and not see a thing. It has come in handy many times to not have perfect vision.)

Strawberry-filled, chocolate spiders

Rumor has it, one of my grandmas was an amazing chocolate dipper- to the point that she was being invited to teach other women the fine art. Unfortunately, I didn't ever get to benefit from her amazing knowledge in that regard (she taught me many other things, but by the time I came along she had moved on to healthier hobbies). Thanks to the internet, I have now made my first filled-chocolates. I used a Wilton Halloween candy mold (it contained spiders and ghosts). I melted some Wilton Dark Chocolate flavored melts according to the package directions, and painted the chocolate into my molds. For the filling, I started with a recipe found here that I adapted slightly. I cut the recipe in half, used strawberry extract (because that was what I had on hand), and added a tablespoon of milk (I needed my cream to be a little more flowing). After I added the filling to my chocolate painted mold, I topped with more chocolate to cover the tops. A little time consuming, but very easy. Either that or chocolate-dipping genes are coming through.

-some of these spiders became peanut butter filled. I just took equal amounts of peanut butter and powdered sugar and combined it together with a drop of vanilla to make the filling. I don't like peanut butter, but I liked those spiders.

Bug Crackers
The inspiration for these probably came from here (I don't remember exactly where, but this is the idea). I cheated and just bought chive and onion cream cheese. These actually weren't my favorite- I made them a couple hours ahead of time because that is when I could, but they were slightly mushy by the time we ate them. You would have to make these at the very last moment if you don't want them soggy).
Gummy Worms
(No prep required- I just picked up a bag from the store. If you would like to make some more realistic ones, a tutorial can be found here.)

Fruit Dip
This was some tasty stuff. I found the recipe here. I even ended up making more the next morning when we shared the leftovers with the kids. The graham crackers are Keebler's Bug Bites. I only found them in a variety pack at Walmart that also came with Scooby Snacks and Rice Krispie Treats.

Pina Colada
I tried to find a more exciting glass to put these in, but decided it wasn't worth buying glasses that I would only use occasionally. The recipe for these came from here, the non-alcoholic version of course.

The lazy way to do a cake

Tiger had a birthday a little bit ago. I confess, with all the pack meeting planning I had been doing (basically, I think being Cubmaster means hosting a party every month), I was not looking to put on a production like last year. So I asked Tiger if he would rather have a party with friends or just go to Chuck-E-Cheese. I was not disappointed when he said Chuck-E-Cheese. Since I was taking the day off, I really went all out. As in, I ran into Walmart half an hour before we were leaving to go Chuck-E-Cheese to see if I could find something that would do for a cake. I found some cupcakes on the day old rack that were just the right shade of blue (would you believe that these started out with what I think were Twilight character rings). I tossed the rings in the trash (sorry- I haven't gotten into vampire romance novels yet) and made it more fitting for a 6 year-old boy. Said boy was going for the most eclectic birthday ever. He said he wanted a Batman-Scooby Doo-Superhero birthday. 

The cake says "Freeze Tiger- it's your birthday!"

And for his school class he wanted "Earth" cupcakes.

It pays to befriend the lunch ladies- they made him cupcakes for his birthday too. (He really loves them- to the point that we were walking into Walmart one day and he was insistent that he go hug this lady that was coming out- turns out she was his lunch lady and he hugs her everyday at school).  

 I think the day went well. I got the day off, and Tiger had a great time at Chuck-E-Cheese.

 (Batman cake, Scooby tablecloth, superhero napkins- I delivered).

Kitty was actually a better driver than Tiger.

 How is that for three generations? Tiger, Dad, and Grandpa (he and Grandma drove out to celebrate the day with us. Tiger was very excited about that).

Finally Done!

Remember these chairs from Kitty's birthday party?

 I finally got around to sanding and staining them.

 Two of them became a gift for a craft swap, but I still had two left, and since I had just stained the doll bed for Kitty, I figured I should probably finish the chairs too.

 They are actually quite sturdy- I sit on them all the time, and I am not petite by any definition of the word.

So how long do you think it will take me to getting around to the table?

Mother's Day for the Little Mom

Kitty loves babies. The stuffed variety are her favorite. Her current favorite baby is a little stuffed Koala from Deseret Book that she calls "Kawana" (think 4 year-old trying to say Koala). Friday, I had a super productive cleaning morning, and by afternoon was looking for a fun non-cleaning project. It started out with a little bed made out of scraps of wood (plans here). (If I was going to make it again, I think I would add 2" to the width. It is fine as is, but I think the 2" would be nicer).

 Then came a mattress,

 and a fitted sheet and pillow,

 and a semi-fitted flat sheet,

 and a blanket. Of course, Kawana then needed a nightgown to wear to bed.

 Sleep well, little marsupial.

 Today, the little mother got a diaper bag from Butterick pattern 5304 (view F). I have had way too much fun. And I got a very big hug and "thank you" from a sweet little girl (I am sure that Kawana is happy too)!

A Spontaneous Pinterest Moment

Do you ever have those moments when looking at Pinterest when you have to do a project right then? I had one of those moments when I saw this pin. I (It might be that I had already been thinking about making hooded towels, but the cuteness of these were irresistible). I let each of the kids pick which pattern they liked best, and off to the store we went. The website where they originated from is here.

 The second half of this project was a place to hang them. While we were at the store I picked up some hooks. Then I went to the garage and grabbed a scrap of wood, sanded, painted, attached hooks, and hung it up. The hope is that now that they each have their own personal towel, I won't end up with miscellaneous towels all over the place that no one will claim ownership of and just end up cycling through the wash over and over and over and over.... 

Movie Night: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

 We like pirates around here (in case you hadn't noticed) so when I saw that the public library was having a pirate party (dressing up encouraged) we had to go. That is, after we had a good swim first of course. Do you like how the boat is as big as the pool?

At the library we made P is for Parrot letters and heard some pirate stories.

Then we came home to watch the movie The Pirates! Band of Misfits (I had planned on watching Rise of the Guardians, because I heard the Easter bunny was in it, but was vetoed in favor of a pirate movie).

For dinner, I made pizza breadsticks. Lousy picture, I know, but sometimes I can only find my phone and it is not the greatest. The breadsticks, however, are. In the interest of preserving favorite family recipes, I shall share. When I make pizza or breadsticks, I always start with the same base- a breadstick recipe from one of those ward cookbooks that I have adapted slightly. I like it because I don't have to wait for it to rise. Yay for quick and easy!

Breadsticks:

1 T yeast

1 1/2 C warm water

2 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3+ C flour

Preheat oven to 415F-425F (depending on how hot your oven runs) Dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar and salt. Mix in the flour until it is only slightly sticky and rollable(add flour slowly- it is better the less flour you are able to use, but generally ends up taking closer to 4 or 5 cups). If I am making pizza, I roll out the dough in a circle and top with my favorite toppings (generally ranch dressing, mozzarella cheese, chicken, bacon bits, onions if I have them, and more mozzarella- I like a thick crust extra cheesy pizza). For breadsticks, I roll the dough out in a rectangle (about the size of a large cookie sheet). I spread the surface with garlic butter. Thinking back to elementary school when they were teaching paper folding- mentally divide the dough the hotdog way and put lots and lots of mozzarella cheese on the bottom half (you can add slices of pepperoni or other pizza toppings at this point if you would like- pepperonis are in the ones pictured above). Fold the top half over. Use your pizza cutter to cut strips about 1-1.5". Twist them as you lay them on a greased cookie sheet. Cover with more cheese (did I mention that I like mozzarella?) Bake. I'm not sure on the exact time, because I have a tendency to just put the pizza or breadsticks in the oven and pull them out when they are nice and golden brown. It is probably around 20 minutes.

 Since it was almost Easter, I jazzed up the popcorn a little bit. I made it up as I went along.

 First I popped some corn with my air popper. Then I laid it out on a couple of cookie sheets and drizzled with the most Easter-esque candy melts I had (the red looked a little more pink in real life, but not as much as it should have). I added Mini Whopper Robin Eggs and drizzled more candy melts. After a stint in the fridge to harden, I broke it up and put it in bags. It was tasty enough.

I might try it again with Kettle corn as the base, although that might make it too sweet. The kids all liked it- much better than the movie. Once was enough of that one. We should have gone with the Rise of the Guardians- we watched that one the next night and like it better.

Movie Night: Wreck-It Ralph

About a month ago, my husband decided that he was interested in getting a projector (to be perfectly honest, it might have had something to do with his scouts coming over to watch a movie that he wanted to show outside- no complaints here). We were able to find a used one on a good deal and thus began the Friday Fun Family Movie Night. The first movie we chose was Wreck-It Ralph. Having never seen the movie before, I did some online research and found this fun website where I found some printables and crafts.

placemats

I used my circle punch to cut out the movie logo from the printable sheets for extra decor

 I used a plastic tablecloth I already had, and added some black circles purely for more visual interest

 My children had fun playing with the playset while they were waiting for their pizzas to cook (we made individual homemade pizza for dinner)

 A few websites I found showed pictures of blue heart cookies, so I made some for a movie snack- to go with the popcorn of course.

We had a fun time. Everyone loved the movie. My loving husband did politely ask if I planned to go overboard every week, and where I planned to store everything. :) I did refrain- do you know how hard it was not to have a Sugar Rush candy bar? I shall try harder to refrain more next time.