Making Pretzels

11.21.2006

I am finally up and running again. I still have lots of software to reinstall and we have not recovered the info from our old hard drive. It'll cost several hundred dollars to get it off so we are going to wait awhile. I have learned my backup the hard drive lesson.

Aside from computer stuff lots has been going on around here. I have been finishing off orders from the craft show and have decided not to make an attempt at doing this as a business. Between my job and the girls there was really not enough time and I ended up shipping Dan and the girls off on the weekends so I could sew and that just did not make for good family time. So maybe I'll sell a few things here and there but marytree and co. is officially on hold.

Now on to the fun stuff.

Last week the girls and I made homemade pretzels. They were pretty easy and quite yummy. I used a recipe from Martha Stewart Kids Fall 2004. The recipe is not online but here is a different one.


As usual, our pretzels were not all nicely shaped twists but crazy shapes like M's for Madison and Tinkerbell hair buns. It is much easier to just go with the flow on these things then insit we have knotted pretzels. Give it a try.

This morning we were playing with out Breyer horses (one of my favorite toys from my childhood) and decided we needed a barn, so out came the cardboard box and mat knife. I then taped down the backside of some wrapping paper so we could make the pasture and a riding trail. Here is the result.






The girls loved it, especially Annie. I often pull out the craft or wrapping paper for Annie to make her own "play rugs" we have made train tracks and roads, villages for little people and and entire zoo. We can use them for a few days and either roll them up for later or recycle them. It really is a great way to bring an added level to imaginative play and cheap to boot!

And here are a few pics from when the computer was down.

Annie as Alice, Maddie as a bride and the Mad Hatter.



Annie modeling a hat I knitted for my nephew.



The girls with their pumpkins. I gave them scraps of paper and they nailed them on with a hammer. It was very easy for them to nail into the pumpkin and lots of fun. We added pipe cleaners and other bits.



Have a great day and I'll be posting more soon!