A good deel and Z day

Last summer when we went to the zoo before we went in the gate a man stopped us and asked if we would like to buy a membership to the zoo society. It ended up costing only $10 more( for a family membership with military discount) then to just buy tickets to get in. we bought it and enjoyed our visit to the zoo that day.

then later in the summer we went to the Aquarium not far from here and got in with our NC zoo membership. That more then paid for the cost of membership. then we also went to tour a battleship and it let us in with our zoo membership.
Last week we went to the zoo again for Z day. We were not able to go on our actual z-day because it was raining and Derek had to work all night the night before.
It was a very cold and windy day but we dressed warm and had a very fun time.

Our membership will get us into most any zoo in the US and some of Canada's.
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My boy

I've been thinking maybe you would like to know how sweet my boy is.
His latest thing is learning to use scissors. He will sit at the table and cut paper for hours. but the other night I wasn't watching him close enough and he started cutting his pants. He did a very big hole in them before I stopped him.
He loves to call for Heidi but he will not say Molly. If we point at Molly and ask him who she is he says, "Heidi."
Sometimes he really needs, "dat." if I don't understand what "dat" is he will grab my hand and say, "'Mon, 'Mon," and show me what "dat" is.
He loves to sit on my "map" but it isn't very fun to share it with Heidi.
When saying, bye one must give hugs and kisses. He says bye then pokes out his lips ready for his kiss.
Sometimes I say he is left handed but Derek thinks he's right handed so we've decided he's ambi-not-dextrous since he uses his left hand for holding his fork or spoon and is very messy and he uses his right hand for throwing balls and they always go wild.
He has also shown me that boys are born liking boy things like girls are born liking girly things. He has liked the roar of our truck every time. He has always liked balls and cars and can ride trike like a pro.
He likes to sing too. He can sing, this little light of mine, I'm in the Lords army, and We will rock you.

The Doll House

Here are the pictures of the doll house finally. These are all from Christmas morning. The girls have had so much fun with it. That day Lars was pretty sure the steps were only for his guy.





Heidi is having her new doll come through the front door in this pic.






Anyway, we've had a good holiday season.



Happy 2008 to you all!

My fun fast gift

Derek decided he needed to give his sarg. a gift so I quick put this together. I was so excited about it that I came right over here to share it with you! I made some powdered hot chocolate mix: 3/4 c. sugar (divided) 1 vanilla bean 1 c cocoa powder 1 T ground cinnamon 1/3 c dry milk powder Put 2 T of sugar and vanilla bean in a blender and blend until a fine powder. Combine remaining sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon and dry milk in a bag, add vanilla sugar and mix well. transfer powder mixture to an airtight container. To serve mix 1/4 c powder with 8 oz. hot water.
I put the hot chocolate powder in a 1/2 pint jam jar and tied a red ribbon with instructions for making drink and a cinnamon stick to the top. Than I made some chocolate syrup: 1/2 c heavy cream 1 c chocolate chips 1 c light corn syrup 1 T vanilla In a sauce pan over medium heat bring cream to a boil. Add chocolate and blend until smooth. Add corn syrup and vanilla. Remove from heat. let cool than pour into jar with tight fitting lid. store in the refrigerator. to serve combine 3 T syrup with 8 oz hot milk.

Derek had found the Jack Daniels flavored coffee at the dollar spot in Target last week. I had a basket on hand that I stuck holiday tissue into. I had made some candy the other day that I wrapped up in some green serene wrap and tied with a red ribbon. I used one of the mugs we had on hand and added tissue and the coffee to it. I also wrapped up some mini marshmallows and some doughnuts I made this morning. Then added the candy cane for decor.

My Fisherman

I just wanted to tell you something about Derek. :) he really likes to go fishing but he doesn't just fish when he's out, he makes things too. the picture of my poor baby who dived off a picnic table is so you can see my necklace. Derek made it when we were on a camping fishing trip a couple of years ago. He made it from fishing line and some sort of stick he found in the north woods of MN. This summer Lars broke it and I lost the beads for it. This month Derek found some bamboo and dried it then made this new one for me. He is so cool. I like him a lot. :)

English Toffee

Here is a recipe for candy that the girls and I just made. It turned out really yummy.
1/2 lb. Butter (no substitute) 3 T. Karo syrup 1 T. cold water 1 c. sugar 1 1/2 c chopped nuts 1 lg Hershey bar ( or a bunch of choc. chips)
Place 1/2 of nuts on wax paper about the size of 13 x 9 " pan. Mix butter, sugar, syrup and water in heavy sauce pan. cook over high heat until brittle when tested in cold water( soft crack on my thermometer) . Pour hot candy over nuts. put broken chocolate over hot candy and spread. top with remaining nuts. break into pieces when cooled.
for part of mine I put chopped up pieces of candy can with the nut layers. I used the pampered chef chopper thingy.

This picture with the beautiful baby hand was because he saw me taking pictures of it and thought he should help himself to some. It's the sweetest picture.

alphbet update

Well I wanted to share some pictures of things we had and did lately.
The Pizza is our P- day pizza, it was very yummy.
The picture of my babies is our Q-day Queens. We made the crowns and Heidi's scepter.
And for today, T-day, Molly and I drank tea with our breakfast of (french) toast.
That's all for tonight. Tata. :)