Valentines Marshmallow Pops

My girls and I had some fun making these Valentines Pops recently.   They had seen these for sale in Anthropology for $4.00 a piece.  Inspiration was born; they thought "we can make these easily". And then they inspired me as well. We shopped for  the ingredients we wanted and went to work, and let me tell you they were very quick and simple to make. They made delightful Valentines presents for several of the get-togethers we had, and they also made the cutest  Valentines Bouquet in our dining room. This is something that young and old alike will enjoy making.  You will have to be patient to let the kids have their turn... because other wise you might be tempted to do it all yourself.

Valentines Marshmallow Pops

Ingredients:

Lollipop Sticks (found at craft stores or baking supply stores).

Clear Plastic bags (for wrapping each finished Marshmallow).

Ribbon (to secure plastic bags around lollipop stick).

1 bag Marshmallows: Large and extra large Marshmallows are what we used(in the picture above, Elizabeth is holding the extra large Marshmallows)

1 bag Melting wafers or melting chocolate of choice (we used 1 each of chocolate and pink melting wafers).

Assorted Sprinkles, Shredded Coconut or Nuts

Instructions:

1. Prepare a work surface, by placing Lollipop sticks and Marshmallows neatly within grasp, various sprinkles in separate bowls, 2 or 3 mugs or cups to place dipped Marshmallows in for drying, and bags and ribbons for wrapping once dry.
2. Heat melting wafers or chocolate in a double boiler and heat slowly and stir until melted and smooth.
3. Form an assembly line with melted chocolate, Marshmallows, sticks and sprinkles with in grasp.
4. Place a popsicle stick into the middle of a Marshmallow and dip halfway into the melted chocolate. Use a knife to help remove excess chocolate.
5. Use one hand to hold the marshmallow, and the other hand to sprinkle the coconut or sprinkles onto the melted chocolate covered marshmallow.
6. Set Marshmallow "stick side" down into a mug or glass, and allow to dry completely.
7. Once dry, cover with plastic and tie a pretty bowl around the plastic to seal.
8. Display or carry in a cute Valentines bucket.  We had some Florist Foam, that we put into a bucket and covered with confetti type filler.  Then each pop could be stuck into the foam and made to look like a cute bouquet; you could also use this as a way to dry your pops.

Have fun!

Owls for Tea: A Fall Tea Party

My daughters and I are fond of the word "Cozy".  There is something about that word that makes us feel safe, content, relaxed and happy.  We are also very fond of the words "Tea Time", and have found that these three words do very well together as we often like to  have a "Cozy Tea Time" together.  It turns out that my grandsons are fond of tea time as well, and when they take a break from playing war, riding four wheelers, and digging in dirt and wrestling, being cozy suits them fine just as it does us.  So we are often in pursuit of a tea party with whatever member of the family we can include. You will find many varieties of tea parties on this blog, and this particular tea party, is a Wonderful Cozy Fall Tea Party, with an Owl theme, because 3 of my grandchildren were working on a little "Owl" Study in their work this week, and Owl seem the perfect accompaniment to the theme of this Fall Tea Party.  Here are a few pictures of our fun... and a couple recipes will follow; so, put the kettle on and enjoy with us.

We put up banners and decorated.

Himilce (my daughter in law), bought us these owl mugs from "Family Dollar".

So, so cute don't you think?

There were many owls at our party.  This one, and the little owl rocks that we painted (as seen at the base of the table arrangement in the first picture).  Himilce also checked out Owl books at the library;

..... I made an Owl Cheese ball;

....Sugar Bug wore her little Owl dress;

....and we painted some owl faces.

Despite her serious face, Little Sugar Bug loved her owl paint.

We used the Cowboy tea and coffee set, which seemed appropriate because of it being decorated in  "Fall type" colors, and because they were a tad more "boyish" for the boys.

Elon requested Pumpkin scones, so that is what we had.

There were also tea sandwiches, quiche and muffins.

I made up a batch of our favorite Fall Party Mix.....

.... and we drank cup,

...after cup....

...after cup of tea.

We read owl stories (love their sweet faces... such good listeners).

....and laughed and played and ate some more.

A Fall Tea Party Menu

Quiche

Tea Sandwiches, including Cucumber Sandwiches, and Humus Sandwiches

Owl Cheese Ball with crackers

Pumpkin Scones

Pumpkin Muffins

Fall Party Mix

English Breakfast Tea, Peach Tea, and Herbal Teas

Have a lovely Week Everyone!

Golden Autumn Days

The golden Autumn days are going by quickly.  It seems to me that this  restful time of year,  should linger slowly, but it has not.  It is clipping along in the same fast pace that raced through spring and then summer. Thanksgiving is a little less than three weeks away, and I am thinking we should still be in September.  We have had more than usual happening at our home, which must explain it for me. Nathan and his family here with us,  have filled our lives with activity, joy and laughter.  We are also busy with projects that have needed doing and are getting ready to go to Phoenix for our son Russell's wedding, which is  two weeks away.  I have a few recipes to share soon, but am still editing pictures.  I sometimes find the brainstorm of recipes or crafty ideas fills up my thoughts and sets me off on a creating spree.  I end up with quite a few things in progress,  many messes, a huge amount of pictures that need to be edited, and a large bulging "draft box" that nags me.  So today, on this lovely peaceful, golden day, I am enjoying a bit of lazy rest, and blogging work that is long past due. 

The grandchildren are enjoying Colorado, and Steve and I are thoroughly loving how they are right at home.  They have been playing outside in the grass, the dirt, the canyon, feeding cows with Grampa, riding the four wheelers, helping me cook and paint, doing school with their Mama,  and completely blessing our lives with their sweetness.

This picture makes me laugh, as it it evidence of their lives in the midst of everything.  My pantry has never been so happy, as it is now, bulging with Nathan and Himilce's groceries, and Elon, Asher and Elyse's little friends.  This "under the stair" pantry is their hideaway, and private office.  It has reminded me that our first four played similarly in this pantry when they were the same ages as our grandchildren. Steve's grandparents owned this house when our children were small, another generation has grown up and now it is our grandchildren playing in here, hunting for crackers and snacks and filling the walls with joy.

Marie and Elizabeth  sent out a wonderful box last week for all of us here.  It was like Christmas when we received it; full of chocolate, nuts, tea, and some Asian treats they had gotten at the local Asian market.  Their boys also picked out some treasures to send to their cousins which brought a loud hoot of happiness from the three here. 

Included in the box was a beautiful crocheted cake, made for Elyse by Auntie Elizabeth. Elyse hoarded this cake quite passionately, but soon was enticed to share with the boys, who had a longing to get a hold of a piece of that crocheted cake for themselves.(Click here to see Marie and Elizabeth's Pattycake Crochet shop on Instagram)

We had a little tea party last week, to celebrate fall.  Elon had wanted to have one, (and he was particularly craving some scones)  and all of us agreed that there was no reason in the world why we couldn't enjoy a tea party with the boys as well  as the girls, any day, so we had fun working on some fall tea party decorating.  We also did a little owl unit study, which opened up our imaginations to add a little bit of a theme to our tea party.  Himilce's old friend Jennifer came by with her children that afternoon, so it turned into a full fledged tea party.

I do love decorating with the things of the season; since we had such beautiful leaves on the trees, it seemed appropriate to use them to decorate in the house.

Himilce and I made some yummy treats for our little tea party, a couple of which I will share in the next week or two.

Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Essential Oils.....

......and Mr. Owl Cheese Ball are a couple of the recipes I will share soon.

Nathan took a few of these beautiful outdoor pictures.  I love his Photography, and couldn't resist using them in this post. The days are getting cooler here. It has finally begun to freeze at night.  The cold weather has been slow to come along.  We have had some fires in the wood stove this week, and have brought in the Pumpkins from the front door step.  I have some pumpkin recipes I have been working on (such as the scones above) and perhaps a couple of pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving will come out of those pumpkins.

Tonight we get to babysit the  3 precious dumplings, while their Mama and Daddy go off on a "long over due" date, and so we will have a cozy, happy, lazy Autumn evening with the grandkids, which is my reward.

For those of you that read this blog regularly, I would like to ask you to keep Steve's Mama in your prayers, as she is struggling again with cancer.  We found this out after Steve took her to Phoenix to stay with his sister last month.  I know some of you are wonderful prayer warriors, and we are so grateful for your prayers.

Be sure to enjoy the Golden Autumn days.  I hope they will softly linger, 

 and have a blessed weekend.