Smarshmallow Making

We've been talking about making smarshmallows for months now, so we finally found time today to try it out. (Note that Rudy doesn't actually call them Smarshmallows anymore, but James and I still insist on doing so...)

It is surprisingly easy and the kids loved the chemistry experiment aspects of boiling the sugar and watching the mixture fluff up from a gooey liquid to the poofy product. Of course, that product might have been even fluffier had I read the instructions correctly and not added only a third of the recommended amount of gelatin...

Sticky faces after licking the beaters:

Boiling the sugar:

Mixing in the sugar: (Rudy thought it smelled bad, hence the funny face.)

Sugar mixture, boiling away:

Mixing in the gelatin and watching the mixture "poof up". That's the scientific term.

The almost final product:

Story Time

I love these two, especially when they love each other!

Mad Skills

Brady had his first basketball game of the season today. I think it's fairly obvious that he's been practicing a lot - he played really well! I love his facial expressions and enthusiasm!

Beach Movie

Ahh - it looks so relaxing. And seems like so long ago!

Snow day

More snow here last week! We love it - if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow!

Poor Charlie - stuck at home:

Trudging up that hill is exhausting!

Snow pup. She does have eyes, really.

Brady and Rudy built a snowman by themselves (first one!):

Mornings with Rudy

[From James]

I got a call on my cell phone as I was driving up the street a few weeks ago from Rudy. He was very upset because he “never gets to say good bye to me” in the mornings. I promised him I would say goodbye if he promised he would go back to sleep. I stopped in the next morning and gave him a kiss. He woke up and rolled over.

(I should preface this by pointing out that Rudy is getting to be infamous for his stall tactics. He likes to ask hard questions as we are putting him to bed. “How did animals get here?” “How do they make pillowcases? They are so skinny!”)

R- Do you have to work?
J-Yeah, and you have to go back to sleep.
R-I know.
J- OK, I love you.
R- Um, people at Wal-Mart get up early.
J- They do?
R- Yeah, the people at Wal-Mart get up really early, like in the middle of the night.
J-Huh, OK.
R- ‘cause that’s when they have really good prices on toys.
J- Oh, yeah, you’re right. OK, I love you, bye.
R-And phone chargers.

The subject the following morning continued along the Christmas gift theme:

R: I thought of something about Christmas.
J: OK
R: If we’re opening presents on Christmas and it’s somebody’s turn to open a present and your turn is next, you shouldn’t just open your present.
J: You should wait for the other person to open theirs?
R: Yeah.

Disembarkation

Such a sad day - off the ship and time to head back to the cold, real world :(

I think these were our cabins on the ship.

Day 7 - At sea

Today was beautiful food day, apparently. It actually started late last night, at the dessert extravaganza. Brady wanted to take pictures of the amazing food (which, in all honesty, looked much better than it tasted...)

One of the servers was kind enough to give Brady his own bread turtle!

Today, we went to the food carving presentation. We didn't get to try our hand at this, but we might have to give it a shot when we get home. These roses are about the only good use for turnips anyway!

Frustration and/or anger at the pool...

All better now...

The boys went to the towel folding workshop with James. (I took the kitchen tour.) They made this dinosaur and penguin themselves. And, we bought a towel folding book, so they can practice at home!

Back to the pool again, but it was cold this time!

The (weird) parade of the baked Alaska. Special music, clapping, singing, and all. Very strange.