Hunter's Preschool Year End Program

Classic Hunter. He was so excited for his program!

The amazing teachers. Miss Carrie

Miss Jacque

Miss Jan

So cute!

I love all of these pictures of Hunter. The girls next to him was way into the picture too. I am in love with her cardigan...I'd wear it in a heart beat!

One of my favorite songs of the program, Fingers and Toes

This song was so cute. They had to stand up if they were wearing certain things and certain colors. I don't remember what this was, but Hunter was the only one to stand up.

I love all of the patriotic things that Jacque does with these kids.

Again I kept tearing up.

What a big boy!

Getting his certificate.

Hurray he is in the senior class now! He is so excited!

Mom and Dad were sure proud of our little boy.

After the program they served ice cream and cookies. Hunter thought this was pretty great. We also got to meet Hunter's BFF Parker. I didn't get a picture!

What a great year!

The Cousins Were in Town

My sister Debby's kids were in town last week. We have this cute little guy to thank for it.

Samuel Allan Miller was born last week and our family is thrilled! My brother Dave and his wife also just had a baby this past weekend and named him Jack. Our family is bursting at the seams, and that is the way we like it. I come from a family of 8 kids (loved it-and yes my mom is a rock star), and so it is only natural that we would have lots of cousins to play with.

My cute sister Heather helped my mom take care of these cute kids and we got to play with them at the Fitness Center (my boys favorite place around). Heather was so sweet to read them all a story. I couldn't resist a picture of this sweet little scene.

Heather is a new mommy herself and so cute!

My niece Chadra is the oldest of all of the grandkids (isn't she beautiful?) and she is such a huge help. I can't believe how old she is getting. How come life seems to go by so slowly when you are and it sprints by when you are an adult? I don't get it.

We sure are grateful for for wonderful cousins that don't live too far away. We really lucked out in the family department.

Lincoln's Preschool Goodbye Day

The Monday after Lincoln's graduation was his "Goodbye Day." I am so glad that they give them one more day to say goodbye to all of their friends, teachers and even the preschool itself. There is so much going on the night of graduation, it is good to have more time.

Lincoln is so excited to move on to Kindergarten, where he is under the impression Palmer will be in his class. That is the sad thing about being younger, you are always trying to catch up. I remember trying to catch up to my brother too.

He doesn't realize that this wonderful, safe preschool atmosphere is very different from what he will experience in Kindergarten. Palmer had a rude awakening and always wants to go back and see the teachers at preschool.

He won't get nearly as many hugs (or any at all) or these cute little grandma type women doting on him all day long. He will miss it, even if he doesn't believe me right now. I am so grateful that we still have Summer Camp to ease us into the Summer.

Lincoln has loved his experience at Jacque's Preschool. He has gained confidence, learn a ton, made a lot of friends and been showered with love. I will miss this experience for him.

Teacher Thank You Gifts

We have been blessed with some amazing teachers this year. Between all of the kids we have 7 teachers (Lincoln and Hunter each have 3). I wanted to make something to let them know how much we love them, but not break the bank- know what I'm sayin'?

I just made these little apples with my Cricut and some paper scraps. I think they turned out cute.

I just did the chocolate covered marshmallows again.

So easy, so good, so done! We still have a week left of school with Palmer. I am totally looking forward to Summer!

Cookie Monster's Birthday

For Cookie Monster's Birthday (it is actually celebrated twice, once in November when the actual birthday is and once in May...don't ask me why). I decided to make Cookie Monster pancakes. All I really needed was the above ingredients. I let each of the boys make their own "abstract" version of Cookie Monster.

You can't really tell in these pictures that the pancakes were blue. This is my rendition of Cookie Monster. It is REALLY abstract, doesn't look like him at all. The idea of it was fun though.

The kids thought it was so fun.

And delicious.

We also put syrup on them. Yes it was a major sugar overload.

After Palmer got home from school I gave them some coloring pages to color while I made dinner.

Hunter doesn't last too long with coloring pages.

Didn't they do a great job?

They really take their coloring seriously.

I decided to make Cookie Monster cupcakes for dessert. I didn't want to go to the store so I just used what I had. I have some good ideas for the next time we celebrate this holiday. This is another abstract version of Cookie Monster, but hey it tastes good right?

I actually thought they turned out so cute. I just made Buttercream Frosting and wiggled the frosting all over the cupcake, you can really use any frosting tip to make fur I think. The rest is chocolate chips and marshmallows. I got the chocolate chips to stick to the eyes using a dab of frosting.

One happy customer.

Delicious.

The kids get so excited when I tell them that we are going to celebrate this or that on a certain day. They have started coming up with their own "days." They other day Lincoln came up to me and said "Mom, today is Wii day. We just play the Wii all day long." It didn't happen :)

Oh what will I do when these sweet boys don't want to celebrate silly things like Cookie Monster's Birthday with me any more...I will cry that is what.

Brother's Day

May 24th is Brother's Day. I thought that would be an appropriate thing to celebrate. I started the day talking to the boys about how they were so lucky to have brothers and that we were going to try extra hard that day to be kind to each other...I don't think they have ever fought so much in a single day.

We had never taken pictures in their "Big Brother, "Little Brother" shirts, so that is what we did that night. One of them lost his so we had to do these singles and then be creative in the group shot. It was fun to see how sweet each of the boys was with McKay.

Look at those cute brothers. They are pretty lucky to have each other.

Salt Water Taffy

A week or so ago was "Taffy Day " (May 23). I thought that one would be a fun one to do with the kids and make our own homemade taffy. I went to a birthday party for a little girl when I was young and we made taffy. It was really fun and really good. I have since tried making it for different events, always with a lack of interest. Josh was a super helper this time and got the kids really excited about it.

This is what it looks like as it is cooling. It starts dark and you pull it until it gets light.

Salt water taffy
Yields approx. 50 pieces/1.5 pounds
adapted from here and here . Ms Humble also did it here
2 cups sugar
2 T. Cornstarch
1 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
2 T. margarine/butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. Flavoring oil
(I didn't have flavoring oil so I used a tablespoon or more of Mint extract)


Prepare a heat safe dish by lightly buttering it. If you are making more than one flavor, prep said amount of dishes. Also lightly butter a spatula for each flavor. And have each flavor and food color ready.

In a saucepan, sift together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in corn syrup, water, salt and margarine. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Cover pan and bring to a boil for 2 or 3 minutes. Uncover, place thermometer in pan and cook to 256 - 266 degrees F. The lower temperature will result in a chewier taffy, the higher a more brittle texture. Remove from heat and add food color and flavoring. Stir gently, pour into prepared dish/pan.

When cool enough to handle, grease hands and pull the warm candy with fingertips, pulling out to about 12 inches at first. Quickly turn candy back from fingertips of one hand to the other hand, then catch center and pull again. This will incorporate air into the candy. Continue pulling until taffy is light in color and has a satiny gloss, about twenty minutes. Pull into a long rope, cut with greased scissors and wrap in waxed paper squares, twisting ends.

Josh did the majority of the pulling since it is a little intense and the kids got tired fast. He is so great to go along with all of my schemes.

Hunter was all about eating the taffy, pulling...not so much.

Palmer did a great job with the pulling. 

Lincoln also did a great job. They kept going even though it was a little hard for them. Josh would pull it and then trade them over and over until it was done.

It turned out so pretty.

The man at work.

Didn't he do a great job?

It was fun for the kids to each have their own blog of taffy.

They really loved this activity.

The boys ate so much taffy I was worried they would get sick. I actually

We had a lot of fun on National Taffy Day