Fakin' and Eggs

We don't really get into April Fool's Day much around here, but I DID make a fun dessert that Aidan really enjoyed. It's called (of course) Fakin' and Eggs!

The best part? It's super easy!

For the eggs, I just took vanilla candy melts (large white chocolate drop, typically used in candy molds - can be found at Hobby Lobby or in the Wilton cake section at Wal Mart), spread them out on a piece of waxed paper, and microwaved them for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes in 30 second increments. Then, I stuck a yellow M&M in each "egg white" with the "m" facing down. They need about 20 minutes to harden, and then they pop right off the waxed paper.

The "bacon" took a little more time but was still very easy. Microwave one Tootsie Roll midgee and one caramel square for about 8 seconds. They will be soft enough to smash down, then stack on top of each other. From there, cut the wad in half and stack it again so you have 4 layers of alternating candy. Cut this whole stack into thirds, and stretch each piece of candy. The colors will blend to look bacon-y. This will make 3 long pieces of "bacon," and you cut each piece in half to be a proportionate size to the eggs. You can add ripples to make the bacon look more realistic.

They are very tiny - the ones in the picture are shown on a plate from Aidan's toy dishes set. But he knew right away what they were supposed to be, and he loved that they were really candy!

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone! Did you play any good tricks?

Painting

Inspired by my friend Jessica (we taught together, she is now a mom also, and she posts all the fun projects she does with her kids, which is great fun for me to read about), I thought I'd share a fun painting project that Aidan and I did this week.

Put down some scrap paper (we used a junk mail catalog, which was perfect).

Lay a paper towel on the paper.

Using markers, color and draw fun designs on the paper towel.

Dip a paintbrush in water and paint over the designs. Watch the markers bleed!

Aidan was fascinated by it, and the best part was that it was virtually no mess! (Just a little marker smudges on the hands!)

Happenings

So what's going on here?

Mike is in Las Vegas for a week-long conference. Day one was mighty rough, but now that Aidan and I have found our Mike-less routine, we're doing much better. Except that Aidan is in bed sobbing right now. But otherwise we're great!

I'm still LOVING my calling as Primary chorister. In fact, I am going to make some beanbags tonight to use in Sunday's singing time.

Piano lessons are so fun! Not only is it exciting for me to be teaching them, but Aidan loves my students, too. He often will ask about them, and on lesson days he starts looking out the window, watching for them to arrive.

Trying hard to stay healthy with help from my sister Emily! (We're tracking together.) Mike, Aidan, and I passed around a pretty nasty cold last week, from which we are now finally recovering, so gym time is getting back to normal.

Finally getting around to maybe thinking about decorating our house. It's only been six months - that's not very long, right?!

We're getting temps in the 30-50 degree range! That means that the snow is melting! We can actually see patches of bare grass! I LOVE SPRING!!! :)

That's life here in Rochester! What's going on in your town?

New Baby

Sorry about the long absence. Someone pointed out that I only blog about Aidan, which is true. (In my defense, I do spend all day every day with the little guy!) So it took me a while to come up with other things to tell everyone about.

But, here's something awesome!

I got a new baby! This is my new piano that we had been saving for over the last 5 years. It is so nice! In fact, it's nice enough that I've started teaching piano lessons, which I have really enjoyed.

As a stay-at-home mom in a new town, obviously my social contacts basically all come through the Church. So you would figure that all of my students would be LDS, right? Ironically enough, not a single one of my students is. Also, they come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds.

I have 2 Australian kids, 2 kids from Costa Rica, one student from England, 2 students from Nigeria, and a former student from Korea (he moved back already). Pretty unusual, isn't it?

Anyway, all of us have certainly enjoyed the new piano. Mike has even taken a few lessons!

He's certainly showing great progress, isn't he? :)

Toothpaste, Anyone?

My son loves to brush his teeth. As you can see from the video below.

In fact, it is not unusual for him to go into my bathroom and root through my drawer to find my toothpaste, or for him to climb up onto the toilet in his bathroom, and then up onto the sink in order to get his special tube of fluoride-free toothpaste.

So one day when I was doing dishes and noticed that it was just a little too quiet, I searched for my son. I found him in the bathroom holding something. At first glance, I just thought he had grabbed a tube of toothpaste. But then I realized that he was holding a large tube, which we only keep downstairs, and he hadn't had enough time to go downstairs and bring a large tube upstairs. So I looked closer.

And it turns out that my son was trying to brush his teeth with this:

Yes, that is diaper rash cream.

:)

My Little Artist

My little guy wants to be like his Grandpa Steele, too! (Tim Steele is an artist and art professor at South Dakota State University.)

(Don't worry - it's non-toxic and easily washable paint!)

Little Man also asks to color multiple times every day, including at every bath time!

New Hairdo

I decided it was time for a change. And voila!