Busy Busy Busy

Spencer made this book trough shelf for me.  I saw one in a catalog and he made the plans, cut it out, sanded and stained it.  It is perfect for putting our library and seasonal books on.

I am so excited to have a cricut. I have so many projects in mind.  So far I have made these dish towels as gifts.  I cut out the patterns and then painted over them to make the designs.

I read about making these sun catchers in a magazine and made them for Boston's room.  They look great when the sun is shining through them and cast fun multi-colored shadows.

This is one of Boston's favorite things to spot when we are out and about.  "Look!  There's an EXIT sign."  I found this one in a shop at SLC and had to get it.  We hung it from his ceiling light so when the light is on it is lit up like they usually are.  He loves it.  Now I need to find a stop sign... "S T O P, stop!"

Caterpillars

The lady at our post office asked us to hurry up and come pick up the mail because we had a box that said "Live Insects -Open Immediately".  She wanted it out of there as soon as possible.  We were happy to get as we have been waiting for days to get this package.

Our caterpillars:

getting bigger

"Did our caterpillars turn into butterflies yet?"  Boston asks this question at least 8 times a day.  We are very excited!

Oops! and a Request at the End

Lesson #1 Never put your cook book on the stove top while using it.
#2 Double check that you have turned the right burner on.
#3 Never try to do five things at once while cooking.
Unfortunately I learned this lesson the hard way.  I was cooking and turned what I thought was the rear burner on and left the cookbook on the stove top.  I turned around and began chopping vegetables.  Next thing I know I can smell something burning and turn around to see my cook book smoking.  I immediately took it off the stove and turned the burner on.  There was a lot of melted plastic left on the stove top which smoked  for quite awhile.  This is my favorite/best cookbook.  It has all my family recipes and I have typed up my favorites from my cookbook collection.  I am still in the process of fixing the damage.

On the subject of cooking.  I recently saw a recipe for carrot cake pancakes.  I love trying different pancake recipes and the carrot cake part reminded me of my Grandma Heslop's carrot cake (which is the BEST.)  I made a few changes to make it more like my Grandma's.

• 
  
• Carrot Cake Pancakes
• 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Dash nutmeg
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup packed brown or granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups finely grated carrots (I chopped them and then put them in my Magic Bullet)
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• 
  
  In a bowl, combine flour, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
  In a separate bowl, combine egg, brown sugar, milk, carrots, and vanilla; mix well.
  Place chopped carrots in food processor/blender/Magic Bullet and process until finely chopped add coconut and crushed pineapple. Process until everything is processed to the texture you like.  (Spencer hates anything with texture in his pancakes so I pretty much liquefied it).
  Stir carrot mixture into dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on the top of pancake; flip and cook until golden brown.
  Special Note:  I am collecting recipes/ food memories that are from or remind you of Grandma Heslop.  Please email me anything you can think of.  I have come across quite a few recipes and fun things that I think you will enjoy but I would like everyone to have a chance to contibute before I finish it.  I think it will be great and unique piece of family history to add to our collections. I would like to have everything compiled by about Mother's Day so spend a little while and see what comes to mind.  Pass the information along to people who did not get my email or do not read my blog.  (of course I am sure everyone religiously follows all of my adventures!!)

A Hat

My mom has had this hat for as long as I can remember.  Of course V and I were never allowed to play with it.  But who can say no to this ...

Baseball

Boston discovered playing bat.  We had to pitch over and over.  Luckily he was pretty fair and made sure we all had a turn.  He did better than I thought and hit it quite a few times.

Buddies

These two have a great time together.  Ever since Rick, Lisa and Hayden came to visit Boston has asked when he gets to see Hayden again.  We spent an evening with them on are trip to SLC.  Immediately the two were giggling and goofing off.  Hayden was really excite that they had "matching" jammies.  It is great to have friends like these.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Boston colored on a few eggs with his crayons before we dipped them.

We wrapped masking tape around a few. (it mostly fell off but where it stuck it created white spaces.)

The finished product.

I think we spent more time making the dye than Boston spent making the eggs.

Egg Hunt #2

Then it was off to the work party. Boston has been talking since last year about how he is firends with the East Bunny and how they will walk together and hold hands. This year becuase it was SO cold the egg hunt was held in the maintenance building and the bunny rode on a golf cart. Boston was still so excited to see and talk to the Easter Bunny.

Boston liked counting and watching the chicks better than touching them.

Checking out their haul.

This is definitely one of our favorite traditions. Now we just have to wait for the Easter Bunny to come to our house tonight. He may even make an appearance hopping past our house tonight before bed time.

Egg Hunt #1

My parents came to visit and the Easter Bunny got a little mixed up and accidentally hid eggs in their hotel room. When Boston walked in the door and saw the empty basket he was a little concerned that the Easter Bunny had brought an empty basket.

Hamburgers and Sushi

I decided to make some special treats for my family.

These are the same as the hamburgers I made last year. 2 vanilla wafers, green tinted coconut, orangish frosting, and a grasshopper cookie. This year I used some corn syrup and stuck on some sesame seeds.

The sushi was a lot of fun. It is a little more involved. Rice Kripies with fruit roll up around the edge and then anything you want to top them with. I used mini gummy bears, Swedish fish, jelly fruit slices and gummy worms. Bos can't have any because of the rice, maybe next year I'll use Twinkie, or cake slices.

These are mini gummy bears. Aren't they adorable!?

This post is dedicated to Justin, (wish this was an April Fool's joke). Hope you feel better soon, and enjoy your time off. We are praying for you.

I wish ..

I wish the snow covering my spring flowers was some elaborate April Fool's Joke. Unfortunately it looks like we'll be hunting for Easter eggs in the snow.