Children's Museum

How much fun is the children's museum??! They have a kids' sized grocery store, veterinarian's office, body shop, construction sight complete with an architect's room, and an old antique fire station plus many more rooms. Lot's of fun. I cracked up watching Luke and Ashley grocery shop. Luke ran around like he was on a shopping spree throwing as much in his cart as fast as he could. At one point he was running around the store with a rotisserie chicken under his arm like a football. Ashley just kind of hung out by the produce checking it out and watching other kids. Hilarious. She jumped right in at the veterinarians office though. taking a cat's temperature and even got in the pet cage! Luke liked the x-rays. I encourage anyone with small children to find a children's museum near you and check it out. The only "bad" part about it, is the parent's have to clean up the mess before you leave. I never knew Luke liked lamb chops so much..... He had way too many in his grocery cart, and I couldn't figure out where he found them to put them back!!



I am thankful to have such fun places to go nearby.

Homemade Fruit Roll-ups

I happened to post a picture of us making fruit roll-ups on facebook and got such a huge response for the recipe, that I thought I would share it here. It is a very easy recipe. However, they take a LONG time to bake. Luke and Ashley love to cook with me and this is a fun one because we use a blender! They only tried to start it one time with the lid off. Can you imagine the mess if I didn't stop them in time? OH! and beware of sticky little hands!



STRAWBERRY FRUIT ROLL-UPS:

4lbs. strawberries

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3/4 cup of sugar (optional)

Blend strawberries in blender until smooth. Add to a heavy saucepan and add sugar
if desired. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Reduce heat and skim
foam from top with a spoon. Simmer over low/medium heat for 30 to 45 minutes,
stirring frequently; continue simmering/stirring until mixture has properly reduced to
the consistency of thick applesauce (running a rubber spatula across the bottom of the
pan the mixture should stay separated/pan should still be visible once you reach the
other side). ----This is the most important step, make sure you reduce it enough, it may take longer than 45 minutes.---- Pour mixture onto a parchment on a cookie sheet, spread evenly and bake at 145 for 8 to 10 hours. Can take longer depending on how much you reduced the strawberries. Cut into strips and roll up with parchment paper…

Here are some more pictures of the twins making the fruit roll-ups. They had a blast!

I am thankful my children love healthy foods! (and junk too....)

Running... Running... Running...

Climbing...
Running...
Running...
Learning how to stand still and observe a bumble bee...
Running back to the car in the rain...

We had so much fun this morning at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We drove by an observation deck that looks out over the park and the water. The twins said they wanted to go up there, so we did. They just enjoyed the beautiful weather by running all the way up to the deck. It wasn't easy. The deck was kind of far and there were lots of stairs, but it was a blast, until it started raining on us and we had to run back to the car! The only embarrassing part was Ashley asking me, "What did that man just say?" talking about the female park ranger. haha! Oh well.

I am thankful to live where I do. The weather is almost always nice out which gives us the opportunity to spend a lot of time outside. Running.....

Easter Weekend 2010 (hit play below on the blogger bar for a video)

I am so thankful for all the sweet children in my family.