Sunday, February 27, 2011

Homemade Pop Tarts

I got a lot of questions about the homemade the homemade pop tarts at Haylee's party!!  They were SO yummy....and better yet EASY!!


  


Homemade Pop Tart Recipe
1 c. pureed fruit  
3 T. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. water
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 pkg. prepared pie crusts

1.) Heat the fruit, sugar, cornstarch, water, and almond extract on the stove until thick.  It takes a while, but it will get thick and gooey!!  
2.) Cut out whatever size or shape of the pie crust.  I did tiny little rectangles for Haylee's party but you could do regular size pop tart size or fun shapes!!
3.) Put a spoonful of fruit goo on a shape to fill it up then put another shape on top
4.) Seal it with a fork all around the edges.  
5.) Bake in a pre-heated oven 400 degrees for 8-10 mins or until brown (mine took about 10 minutes but they might need a little more time if they're bigger)
5.) Let cool


Yummy Frosting you can Color ANY color!!
We made this recipe of frosting but it was WAY too much so I halved it (hence the HALF of a 1/3 cup of milk :)

1/4 stick of melted butter
1 1/2 cups of powered sugar
HALF of 1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix that until smooth...it will be runny.  You can color it whatever color you want.  We just took the cool pop tart and dipped the top of the pop-tart in the frosting then put the pop tart on a cookie sheet or wax paper.  You can also paint the frosting on if you want make a cool design....the frosting recipe is from a sugar recipe!!
The frosting will dry when the butter solidifies...you can speed this process up by putting the pop tarts in the refrigerator.  

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Haylee

Haylee was born TWO years ago.  That just seems too hard to believe!!  Part of me can't remember life without her but the other part of me feels like she was born yesterday.  I remember cuddling her little 6lb body...now I cuddle her big 26lb body!!  :)  
Thursday was her actual birthday and today we had her birthday party!!  
On Thursday the kids and I had fun!!  We went out to lunch with a friend (Haylee did NOT like the restaurant singing Happy Birthday to her in the LEAST!!!) and then that night our good friends Aric, Kristin and their baby Noah came to eat Haylee's favorite....HOTDOGS!!  We opened presents and had ice cream sundae's for dessert!!
She was so concentrated on opening those presents!!  Grandma Jackson, you got her the Cinderella doll (she's smiling and holding it at the top) and Grandma Joan you got her a Little People Cinderella horse coach (she's opening it up on the far top but it's hard to see it).
 "I'm TWO"

"Happy Birthday HayHay"

Today we had a "tiny" birthday party for Haylee!!  All our friends came and we had so much fun!!  It was "tiny" pink and orange themed!!  I got the idea from this AMAZING blog lullaby lubbock
We had a tiny cake, tiny cupcakes, tiny m&m guess, tiny Jello, tiny pop-tarts, tiny treat bags, tiny hot dogs, tiny tacos, tiny hamburgers, and much more!!!
Happy Birthday, Haylee!!!
We also had a tiny little village!!  Josh and Aric had a blast getting ready for the party the night before!!  They were fluffing masters!!!
The kids having a ball!!



Shrink-a-Dinks
Before

After
I got this paper from Michaels!!  You can color on, print it, cut it, or whatever else you want to do....it starts off big....you put it in the oven for 5 mins. and it shrinks!!!


"Happy Birthday to you!"

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Catching Up....

So yes we made it make to Oregon safe and sound.  It was a close one and a trying one but we made it back.  We are still catching up though.  I had to go back to work the day after we returned and now I'm busy getting everything ready for Haylee's 2nd birthday party!!  Can you believe she'll be two!!!  Well I decided I should probably get the rest of our Arkansas pictures up....because if I don't soon, they won't get up!!  :)
Haylee giving kisses to "Pappy"  It was getting confusing with all the Grandma and Grandpa's so we gave "Pappy" and  "Grammy" a new name!!


Sweet GREAT Grand Babies
Grandma trying to get Haylee to pet Angel (the dog)
"Haylee this is how it's done...."
".....oh I can do that!"

Haylee throwing a fit.....AND watching herself in the mirror throwing the fit!!
This is my good friend Adina.  Adina and I became good friends in 6th grade in Germany.  After talking and getting to know each better we discovered that her dad who taught my 9th grade science class (in Germany) taught my dad's 8th grade science class (in Arkansas)!!!  Small world huh?  Adina now lives in Siloam Springs, where her parents are from and is married to a great guy.  We had the privilege of meeting him this visit!  

Super Bowl XLV!!  While the Packers were playing the Steelers I was dealing with a 2 year old getting in red paint!!  The crazy thing is it didn't get on ANYTHING!!
Until next time!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stuck in Winter Wonderland

We are scheduled to leave tomorrow and do you know what happens.....the BIGGEST storm this part of the country decides to blow in!!!  When we went to bed last night the snow was just about all melted from the last snow storm....this is what we woke up to!!  We are SUPPOSE to leave in the morning on a 6:25am flight to go back home, but I'm not sure that's going to happen!!  Currently the airport is CLOSED!  
My mom getting snow to make snow ice cream!!  
....and of course Garrett couldn't have to be by herself but can't even walk the snow is so deep!!!

Everyone ready to go play?  Each the kids had tights on (don't tell Garrett), then socks, then pj pants on, then another pair of socks, then their jeans.  Their under turtleneck shirt was tucked in their underwear, then a fleece pj shirt tucked into their pj pants, then a heavy sweater, then their coats!!  They could barely even walk....but they were WARM!! 

That's the SHALLOW part!!























Please pray for our safety back home.  We have had a good time here but we are ready to get back home to daddy!!  When I told Garrett we might now be able to go home tomorrow he instantly started crying with big tears and saying he missed his Daddy!!

PS:  I have a ton more pictures to post, but they'll have wait!!