Candy Sushi

It must be great fun being a grandparent. They get to spoil their grandkids rotten, and not have to worry about it. It is up to me as a mother to teach my children that "yes" is not always the answer in life. Sometimes, it's a hard lesson, especially in the grocery store, going down the candy isle....

I don't know what it is, but whenever my mom takes the twins to the grocery store, Ashley always comes home with a bag of marshmallows. I guess she's a creature of habit. Well, both my kids are, but when it comes to picking out something sweet at the store, Luke gets something different every time. But with Ashley, it's marshmallows. And they take up A LOT of room. So I decided to use them up. I thought, well.... I could make Rice Krispie Treats. I could make s'mores. I could make fudge. I could make Candy Sushi!

Brent and I eat sushi a lot. Well, I do, Brent will only eat the cooked stuff, like California Rolls. Not sure if that's REALLY considered sushi, but the kids know what it is anyway. So when I told them we were making sushi, they got excited. Little did they know it was going to be candy sushi. Here's how we did it.

First, you have to make Rice Krispie Treats. We started out by counting the marshmallows. (I used 48)
And of course got to eat a few.


I followed the recipe on the box. I added a few extra marshmallows to the recipe to ensure that they wouldn't be crunchy (that and I had SO MANY!!!). After they cooled, I cut them into neat rectangles to make them easier to roll, and placed them on parchment paper.

Once cut, I arranged the candy (twizzlers and gummy worms) on the edge of the rectangle and rolled, tightly, one complete turn.


Cut off the excess. Be sure not to roll too much or it will be too thick.

Tighten the roll, then wrap with a fruit roll-up and squeeze. I couldn't find green fruit roll-ups, which would have looked better, so I used the multi-colored ones. Guess I could have made green, I just didn't have the time. They were still just as cute.

Cut into bite size sushi rolls. Use the extra pieces of Rice Krispie trimmings to make Nigiri style sushi. Here I used Swedish fish and strips of fruit roll-ups.
If you want your kids to REALLY get geeked up on sugar, melt a little chocolate to look like wasabi and soy sauce. ha!
Then eat and enjoy. I didn't try them, they looked WAY TOO SWEET for me. But Luke and Ashley loved them! They're already asking to make more.


I am thankful for teaching moments like these. I'd much rather teach them counting and cooking then "no".

Cousins

Cousins, is there anything really like them? I have 25 first cousins. If you think of some of your best memories growing up, did they include your cousins? Mine did. There is just something special about them, they are your blood. I can not imagine my life without my cousins, I am very grateful to have them in my life.

This past weekend, we took Luke and Ashley up to my parents house in Nashville. They got to spend the entire weekend with their cousins, and I got to spend some time with my brother and sister. It was so fun to watch how they played together, laughing, running, hiding, laughing some more. It reminded me of the times we all played at my Grandparent's house. My ears were ringing by the time we left, but I would much rather hear the sound of children running, laughing and screaming over crying any day. 5 kids sure can make a lot of noise. (4 of which were under the age of 5). But, boy did they have fun. None of them wanted to leave, and there were even tears when they said their goodbyes. I remember that feeling of sadness saying goodbye to my cousins when we would leave to go back home to TN.

One of my favorite memories as a child was taking a bath with my cousins in my Aunt Mary's GINORMOUS bathtub. I swear they had a Jacuzzi in there bathroom. Well, the little kids got to do that this weekend. Although my parent's bathtub isn't as big as the one I remember in Aunt Mary's house, this one did just fine for the kids. The only problem was (well for the adults at least), I put in too much "no more tears" into a jetted tub. Whoops.....

NOT SURE WHO THIS IS.......
Next time, I'll only put in a drop...

Early in the morning, it was cold! So, Jacob would lead all the little kids in a morning warm up routine. The funniest part was the music. The CD my mom happened to have in the CD player was the "Mama Mia" soundtrack, from when She, Beth and I went to the play. So here are 5 kids dancing, screaming and running to songs by ABBA out on the deck. Hysterical. (Good thing the neighbors were out of town! It would not have been pleasant to wake up to "Mama Mia, here I go again, My My, how can I resist you?" Or "Dancing Queen".)


of course the workout included a little musical chairs...



And with Labor Day weekend, comes College Football!!!!! WAR EAGLE! We all got dressed in our Auburn clothes, well except for Luke, he's into that other school for the time being..... And went for a walk on the trails behind my parents house. It was so beautiful and peaceful out there.



We tried getting their picture, but it was just too hard to get all of them to look at the lens at the same time. We tried everything, even bribing them with lollipops. I think this was the quietest they were all weekend!



All in all, it was a great weekend. I enjoyed my time with my family. It stinks that we all live so far apart. I wish I could have spent some time with my cousins as well. Seeing my kids play with their's makes me really miss mine. Luckily, I got to hang out with my brother and sister.



I am thankful to have wonderful cousins and even more thankful that my kids get to experience the bond that cousins share.