My Mary Kay Weekend!

Wow, what a fabulous weekend we had at Myrtle Beach! It was our Mary Kay Fall Retreat and I'm so glad I made the decision to attend. It was a weekend of learning, fellowship, worship, the BEACH...it was just fantastic!

before our beach relay Saturday morning!

One of the main things I took away from this weekend is how Mary Kay isn't for me. It's for everyone that we are able to reach with it. Don't think I'm crazy - I saw it with my own eyes. :) During our worship service Sunday morning, several directors shared poster board testimonies of what God has done through their businesses. Women that had dealt with abuse, depression, family problems, you name it - so many incredible stories of finding the Lord and realizing their gifts through their sisters in MK!

Joining Mary Kay is a $100 decision. Think about the last thing you spent $100 on - maybe you were at Walmart. How long did your purchase last you? Did you make wonderful new friends from it? Were you encouraged by Walmart daily after you spent your money there? Were you able to go back to Walmart anytime after that and receive a $50 discount on everything you bought? Did they offer you jewelry and bags and other wonderful prizes just for shopping with them?

I didn't think so. :)

lovely unit ladies!

I started my Mary Kay business in February. Since then, I've recruited four great ladies and through sales and recruits have been able to supplement our incomes and take some pressure off of college loans. The extra money and 50% discount on great products has been wonderful, but Mary Kay is so much more than that!

After moving to Wilkesboro, I was having trouble finding new friends. As I got more involved in Mary Kay, I plugged more and more numbers into my cell phone and now I truly enjoy talking to these new friends on a daily basis. If you don't have Godly women encouraging you daily and friends that are excited about being part of your life, we need to talk!

up on stage, winning some prizes for being a Red Jacket!

I've been blessed to always have fabulous coworkers and to never have workplace drama. I think I fall into a minority there, however, as I've talked to many people (women, especially) that just don't get along with their coworkers. Did you know that Mary Kay allows you to pick your own coworkers? It's also incredible to be in a room full of women that are genuinely supportive of each other.

My sales director, Lesley, and National Sales Director, Somer!

A teammate of mine told me recently that joining Mary Kay was an answered prayer in her life. I didn't answer her prayer - God did. He used my MK business as a way to reach out to her and I'm loving watching her grow, both in her faith and in her business! She's doing incredible things for her family!

I want you to think about a couple things. Do you enjoy your life as it is right this second? Do you ever find yourself with more month than money? Do you need to surround yourself with sisters in Christ? Are you making an impact on other women that need an incredible opportunity in their lives?

Could you see yourself driving a free car? (That's just a bonus, hehe!)

I'd love to sit down and talk with you even more about the Mary Kay opportunity. But first, one last question...

What do you have to lose?

An Ode to the Commode

I realize that an ode is a song, and I have not written a song. So, I apologize for the misleading title.

If you have been to our little house, you've witnessed the 70's-chic bathrooms that we have. The hallway bathroom is very yellow. Bathtub, counter, toilet, all covered in mustard. The master bathroom is yellow/green/brown/orange and...beautiful...? Such are the joys of a rental house! They function (now!) and do what they need to do, but don't quite compliment the pretty blue and brown towels that we registered for and were graciously given as wedding gifts.

The hallway bathroom's toilet hasn't worked correctly since we moved in. Odds are good that it was the original toilet installed when the house was built. It was a very temperamental toilet and seemed to have a mind of its own - "What? A piece of toilet paper? Let's overflow." Seriously. Every flush was a risk. It didn't just overflow a little, either.

It was also mustard yellow with a wooden lid/seat. Pretty.

But! It completely bit the dust a couple days ago. Jared tried everything he could, but just couldn't make it work right. We called the realty company, they called the landlord, the landlord called the plumber, and said they would come Monday. I was sitting on the couch busying myself on Pinterest and a couple of guys walked up on the back deck. My mind flashed to the P90x cardio workout where you punch and block and kick (I could easily defend myself against any weak person) but I didn't need to punch anybody. Hello, plumbers!

I was standing at the sink doing dishes and watching the front yard. Jared was sitting in the living room and said, "Well, there goes the toilet." Um, what? I looked back out the window, and there was our mustard toilet. Laying down in the grass. It looked sad, and it had met its demise.

I was glad that they took the toilet with them. I wasn't excited about a new lawn decoration.

To spare you the gory details...we got a new toilet! And guess what?

It's white!

I was afraid when they were working and relocated that basket that sits right above the toilet safely to our bedroom. I said, "Let me get this out of your way!" but really meant, "I don't want all of my perfume/hairspray/trusty blue hairbrush/Mary Kay" in the toilet. You know how it goes.

Welcome to the 21st century, hallway bathroom!

Disc Golf Monday

Monday is Jared's day off during the week, and yesterday was his first whole day off that he's had in the past couple of weeks! VBS ate up his day off last week, so we thought we'd do something fun together yesterday. Jared loves disc golf, so we went to the Highland Hills Disc Golf course in North Wilkesboro.

And whoa, my Rainbows were a bad choice! We had so much fun, but neither of us had on good shoes for the course. We weren't quite expecting the rough terrain and all the hills.

Every disc golf course I've been to (grand total: 1) was fairly flat, in a wide open field. It never occurred to me that disc golf would require spiked hiking boots, but perhaps I will be investing in some!

The steep hill to get to the first tee!

On the first hole, we learned that one of Jared's throws equals about 3 of mine. He might be a little stronger than me ;)

The sign says - "Hole #3 - up hill." I think they just spelled "mountain" wrong. Don't let the steps fool you - they stopped about halfway up and we were on the top of the mountain by the time it was all said and done!

There was a pretty stream on the course! I took a break on holes like this one, for fear that I would toss my disc into the stream and Jared would break a leg trying to get it out for me. Just looking out for him, of course.

Me and my hiking Rainbows on one of the bridges over the stream

A hanging basket!

Thank you, Bojangle's!

I didn't play on hole 16, either. It was conveniently located beside these huge things that were covered in "WARNING - HIGH VOLTAGE" signs. It became painfully obvious that I need disc-aiming practice, and I didn't feel like getting shocked yesterday. Or...ever.

Jared's best shot! Good job, hubby!

My best shot. Not even kidding - it lodged straight in to the log, which was easily 15 feet off course. It's okay to be impressed.

We had so much fun sweating and sliding down hills together. We were about to go to bed last night and we were discussing how fun the course was, and Jared said, "Next, we have to try the one in Ashe County!" He did that course once, and said it's not quite as intense as the Highland Hills course. Still, I think I'll be finding some hiking spikes for my flip flops :) I love taking new adventures together!

Gluten, what?

I haven't posted in forever! Or three months. Something like that.

The last month of school was crazy busy, and then we had VBS (which was FANTASTIC!) and here we are today, recovering from the awesome week we had at VBS.

I decided to write this evening as I am on a quest for advice :)

Jared and I were watching Dr. Oz the other day - great start to any story, right? - and he was discussing gluten intolerance/allergy/sensitivity. Jared said, "Sometimes I think that's what your problem is." I have had problems with my stomach for the past couple of years, and have recently started taking a medicine that has helped a LOT. I still have some minor issues, though, and we figured it must have to do with my diet...or lack thereof, if we're honest.

This is coming from the girl that should have been born Italian. As I write this, I think about the delicious bowl of pasta that I finished eating just a short time ago. What would have made that pasta better, you ask? Garlic bread, of course!

See my problem?

As I was stuffing pasta in my face, Jared and I decided that maybe doing a trial gluten-free (or low gluten, at the very least) diet for a month could help us decide if that's part of my problem. Just for kicks, we started researching (read: Googling) gluten-free diets and the foods that you should eat when trying to avoid gluten. Not even kidding, the author of the website should have just written: "Avoid the Beth Blair diet at all costs." Pasta, breads, crackers, cookies, all listed as violators...and all my favorites. No good.

So I looked at the next best thing - Pinterest! Searching "gluten-free recipes" brought up some images that closely resembled cardboard and they just made me sad.

So my question: Does anyone reading this partake in a gluten-free diet? Or have you tried any good gluten-free recipes? If anyone could point me towards a good resource for recipe ideas that don't look like packing materials, I would appreciate it a lot, and it would make our gluten-free trial diet a lot more fun!

Spring Break!

Today marks the start of spring break! We get tomorrow and alllllll of next week off. And it shall be glorious. 

School was a lot of fun today! We had a normal morning and had a party after lunch. My class and the fifth graders went to the Light House to play games, eat snacks, and to not do history. They loved it. We made s'mores using peeps in the place of typical marshmallows. Something about watching peeps semi-explode was strangely satisfying. Anyways, they were delicious and very springy! 

We've been talking about skeletons and joints, and did a fun science activity today.

They traced the outline of hand bones onto a glove, and a lot of them wore the gloves for the remainder of the day. They loved it, and I quote: "If I had to get a mechanical hand, it would look like this!"

I really enjoy cooking, but cooking with Jared is 10 times more fun than cooking by myself! By the time we are both home from work, it's easier and quicker if we work together. We tried a new dish tonight - I found the recipe here. It's called "Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo" and it was delicious! It was so much lighter than typical Alfredo pasta. Chicken Alfredo is always too rich for me, but this was great, thanks to the Greek yogurt that took the place of heavy cream. We highly recommend it if you like that kind of dish!

I hope all of you have a blessed Easter weekend. Remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross and enjoy your time spent with family! :)

St. Patrick's Day

Ready for a good history lesson?

Jared shared with me the story of St. Patrick last week and I did some of my own research on why we celebrate this day. Here is a summary of the story!

Saint Patrick was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped slavery eventually and went back home to Britain. He later returned to Ireland in the year 432 to serve as a missionary. Saint Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to the pagan and polytheistic people of Ireland. Why is St. Patrick's day symbolized by a shamrock? St. Patrick used the clover as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity: Father, Spirit, and Son. Patrick died on March 17 in 461 after 30 years of ministry in Ireland and was recognized later as a Saint by the Catholic church.

I was surprised! Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but I don't know that I've ever actually heard the background of St. Patrick's Day.

I started thinking about the history behind this holiday and really just became sad - I don't know how else to put it. I got on Facebook last night and my news feed was full of pictures of green beer, people posting about bar crawls...

In memory of a missionary, drink green beer. Evangelist...green beer?

Is that weird to anybody else?

I am obviously not telling anyone how to or how not to celebrate Saint Patrick's day. That choice is left up to you. My only point is that, after really learning why we celebrate Saint Patrick's day, America's choice of celebrations ("copious consumption of alcohol," as Wikipedia puts it) just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Then I started thinking about it even more...watch out!...and started considering Christmas and Easter. Again, everyone celebrates differently. I grew up with Santa and the Easter Bunny and would argue that I've turned out completely fine! They are fun traditions to hold to as a family chooses to, as long as they don't overshadow the true holiday. But as a society, how far have we come from the true meaning of these Christian holidays? Easter was the one that really got me. "Look kids, Easter! When you go to bed tonight, a 6-foot bunny is going to come put eggs in a basket for you!" Because, obviously, rabbits lay eggs. And a giant rabbit break and entering into your house isn't creepy at all (I had nightmares as a kid thanks to big brother Danny's stories of Easter...no joke!). And what exactly does that have to do with Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of a fallen world?

I'll be stepping off my soapbox now - for the six of you that will see this, thanks for listening! I simply felt lead to share my new understanding of St. Patrick's day, and perhaps a reminder to celebrate these holidays for what they are worth.

Culinary Treats

We got home a bit ago from worship band practice. Our electric guitar player was sharing with us what his six-year old grandson said to him while they were on a hike. The grandfather offered his grandson some trail mix as they took a break. The grandson held out his bag of marshmallows and said, "No thank you, but would you like one of my culinary treats?" Too funny!

I thought I would share a new "culinary treat" with you! Thanks to Pinterest, of course.

Do you like Reese's Cups?

Wait. Does anybody not like Reese's Cups?

This recipe was super easy, and I already had most of the ingredients at home (considering there are only a few, that's not a huge accomplishment). Click here to find the recipe!

The quick version: mix peanut butter, confectioner's sugar, butter (lots...and lots...of butter!), and graham cracker crumbs together. Put it in a pan, melt chocolate chips and more peanut butter together, spread that on top and bam. Done. We put it in the refrigerator before dinner, went to practice, and cut in to it as a healthy (ha) snack around 9:30. Nothing wrong with that, right? Of course!

It doesn't taste 100% like a Reese's Cup, but you obviously can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.

In other news, I slept through my alarm this morning. Again. It's becoming a weekly thing for me - the pretty little song on my iPhone that used to wake me up has not quite been doing its job as of late. I'm afraid I'm going to have to upgrade to my grown-up alarm clock, lovingly known as the "honk clock." Seriously, this thing is gross. Pray for me and my morning tomorrow. :P

Strawwwwberries

One of my wonderful teacher friends pulled out a Tupperware container at lunch yesterday that was filled with delicious-looking strawberries and blueberries. She was sharing with me how both were on sale at Food Lion this week and how tasty they were for February strawberries. I told her we had actually bought some (at Walmart on Saturday...we just can't stay away from that place, sadly) and we started discussing Valentine's week and fruit. I've never thought about it, but it is pretty strange that fresh fruit goes in to hiding all winter and magically appears just for Valentine's Day. Conspiracy? Probably. :)

Conspiracy or not, we have a beautiful container of strawberries and Jared mentioned how much he loves strawberry cake...it's one of his favorites! My best friend Pinterest and I searched for strawberry cake recipes, and we teamed up with Paula Deen to make a tasty strawberry cake, and the icing to go on it!

We had a short time frame to bake the cake. I got home from school and the grocery store, and we were headed out to dinner and praise band practice in the next hour and a half or so. Jared helped by cracking the eggs (confession: egg-cracking scares me) and measuring out a lot of the ingredients to make it go quicker.

My kids asked what I did after school yesterday and I said, "we baked a cake!" They asked if Jared helped and I said he did help, by doing most of the measuring. A girl said, "What? But you taught us how to measure - you're a teacher!" True story. I did. :)

We stuck the icing in the refrigerator and I iced the cake after practice. We had a healthy (I mean...it's fruit, right?) 9:00 strawberry cake snack. And it was awesome.

Find the recipe here!

Strawberry cream cheese icing goodness :)
Pictured in back, Yoplait yogurt is on sale at Food Lion right now - I bought orange cream for the first time ever.  Life-changing.

The cooling cake!

The recipe wanted you to buy everything sugar free, such as the jam and the gelatin. I couldn't find any sugar free anything (read: I didn't look very hard for sugar free ingredients) so we loaded it up with sugary ingredients. It wasn't that bad...until the 24 pounds of powdered sugar we put in the icing. All in good taste, of course!

The Sucker-dog Saga

What is a sucker-dog, you ask?

Something that only a very creative fourth grade class would invent!

We have a set of magnetic bars and balls that my kids like to play with during free time in our classroom. Way back in the fall, one of the girls put together several of these magnets in a shape that somewhat resembles a dog, and "sucker-dog" was born. Sucker-dog's nose is a magnet and he often finds himself in precarious predicaments involving magnetic objects, thus the species' name.

We had our indoor recess today after lunch and Sucker-dog made his usual appearance. She brought him over to my desk as I was working on papers and started telling me a story. It was so cute, I had to document it!

Sucker-dog wasn't really trying to come to my desk, but my binder caught him, naturally.

He left my binder, tragically losing his head in the process, but all was made right again and sucker dog made his way across the front of my desk, where he found my teacher's Bible manual.

Other student - "Wait, let me add a backdrop!"

Note the beautiful background scenery.

Sucker-dog survived the Bible book and needed some dog treats, of course!

And then he found my ID badge and key.

And then mean Mrs. Blair said, "Your half an hour is over!" and we did science. Us teachers - such kill-joys. 

My class this year cracks me up. We did science and then had a practice spelling bee. As we were getting ready to start the spelling bee, a student asked what I was doing after school. I said, "Zumba!" and that started us on the topic of Zumba stretches. We spent a good five minutes flailing about, "stretching," as one student all but rolled on the floor laughing. 

A teacher after school today was bragging on my class. She said, "you're so blessed to have such a wonderful class for your first year here!" So true - God is good!

2-Hour Delays and Dolphins

I woke up this morning to a 2-hour delay phone call! I'll take an extra couple hours of sleep anytime I can ;) It made the day fly by, too. I told the kids to pack up and they said, "I thought it was still morning!" Perhaps an exaggeration, but I understood.

Jared and I have been married 6 months as of today! I really feel like we got married last week. We've learned so much and grown so much over the past half year. I know 6 months is nothing compared to people that have been married 50 or 60 years, but to newlyweds, it's forever! :) I came home and Jared had assembled an over the toilet shelf thing that we bought for "my" bathroom yesterday. How romantic.

This! Just 6 months ago!

In other news, the internet strikes again. Our reading story today compared and contrasted different types of animals that we often think of as exactly the same, for example: ducks and geese, monkeys and chimps, toads and frogs. The lesson of the story was that God created each of us to be different, even if we may be very similar to one of our friends. 

The last comparison in the text was dolphins and porpoises (correct plural form of porpoise?). It mentioned how their snouts are different lengths, but the book only pictured a dolphin. I did a Google search - with the projector on "hidden" mode for safety purposes, of course - and brought up some porpoise pictures so that we could compare. Then just for kicks, I searched for dolphin pictures because several of my students really like dolphins. On ask.com, this was the second result listed, after a fetching 90's-era screen-printed denim shirt:

Because I searched dolphin.

Right.

We died laughing. It came from this website, a very clever advertisement telling you that if you saw anything other than two dolphins in the picture, you didn't pass the stress test and you needed to go stay in their tropical resort in Puerto Rico. I said, "I guess we failed the stress test," and another student said, "Do we get to stay for free?"

I wish! :)

Snow days, Saturdays, and Craft Fails

I got the phone call Friday morning at 5:30 that school had been called off, and I was pretty surprised! I fell back asleep, and as Jared was leaving, he woke me up to say "bye" and told me that it was already snowing. Considering that things were already icing over, it was for the best that school was cancelled. I'll never complain about a snow day :)

I had a productive morning, doing stuff around the house, and then I got to work on finishing a crochet project yesterday afternoon. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out! However, it is a gift, so I can't quite share it yet. ;) I decided after dinner last night to find and start an easier crochet project, knowing that today was going to be a lazy Saturday and that I would need something to keep me occupied.

I found a pattern for a simple and cute hat, and thought it looked easy enough to try. Jared started up "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" - see how much he loves me? - and we watched the movie as I crocheted along, not really paying attention to what I was doing. The movie ended and I started to think my hat was looking strangely big, but I figured I may as well finish it anyways.

I finished up my hat earlier today after Jared made us a tasty breakfast and we got some more stuff done around the house (side note: I have learned, as a homeowner/renter, there is always "stuff" to be done). I put it on, and all I could do was laugh. Perhaps I was distracted by the movie last night and followed the pattern wrong, or maybe I just made a mistake somewhere along the way...

But I think it's a little big! Hahaha Jared laughed too, and said it could be my Russian hat.

Oh well. I tried. And I have a big head, so this hat is really big!

That being said, if anybody has a really really big head, this hat is yours for the taking. Or perhaps you could turn it upside down and allow your small children or pets to sit in it. Ohhh goodness. I'm glad we can laugh at mistakes...what else are they good for? :)

Has anyone made a hat that ended up being more human-sized and less dinosaur head-sized? If you have a tried and true good old crocheted hat pattern that you can share with me, I would be forever grateful! If not, that's okay too, you can just laugh at the picture of me in my pink, blue, and purple Russian hat. :)

for the love of all that is lemon.

If you love lemon-flavored things, please. Pay attention.

I found this recipe on (surprise of all surprises) Pinterest! Jared and I love lemon - our wedding cake was even lemon! So when I saw this, I knew I had to try it out!

The part that caught my eye was the fact that it was a copycat recipe for Starbucks Lemon Loaf. I've had their lemon dessert more than once and I just love it. I'm not positive that it is 100% exactly like the Starbucks Lemon Loaf, but it's still pretty tasty!

Here's the website!
http://www.familycampingchat.com/forum/index.php?topic=623.0

And if you don't feel like going there, here's the copied and pasted recipe, courtesy of the above website:

LOAF
1 1/2 cup(s) FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING SODA
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING POWDER
1/2 teaspoon(s) SALT
3 EGGS
1 cup(s) SUGAR
2 tablespoon(s) BUTTER; Softened.
1 teaspoon(s) VANILLA
1 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT
1/3 cup(s) LEMON JUICE
1/2 cup(s) OIL
 
LEMON ICING
1 cup(s) POWDERED SUGAR; Plus 1 Tablespoon.
2 tablespoon(s) WHOLE MILK; I Used 2%.
1/2 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT
_____
 

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Use a mixer to blend together the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
Pour wet ingredient into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
Add oil and mix well.
Pour batter into a well greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into center of the cake comes out clean.
Make the lemon icing by combining all the icing ingredients in a small bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.
When the loaf is cool, remove it from pan and frost the top with the icing.
Let the icing set up before slicing

See how I set up a nice picnic for us on this toasty 28 degree evening? Kidding kidding - this is from the website, too! :)

Thanks, Internet!

Blog Makeover

I love finding and using helpful tutorials online - what did we do before Google and Pinterest?

I decided to use part of my snow day (term used lightly) to update my blog. I wanted to change my header to a picture collage, and I found a super helpful tutorial that made it so simple. Check it out if you are a blogger and are interested in making a picture header!

http://www.memoriesoncloverlane.com/2009/08/tutorial-on-how-to-make-blog-banner.html

Christmas...in January!

I'm also a big fan of making Christmas presents. I wanted to post this back when I was making them, but that obviously defeats the purpose of a present! I found this idea on Pinterest in another very helpful tutorial.
http://twogirlsbeingcrafty.blogspot.com/2011/02/ramseys-finally-have-coasters.html

Here are some that I made!

I bought plain white bathroom tiles at Lowes for a whopping $0.16 a piece. I cut a tile template out of a file folder, and traced the square on to pretty Christmasy/wintery scrapbook paper.

Ah, Mod Podge. My best craft friend. Cover the tile in Mod Podge...

Then add the picture! I found it was helpful to Mod Podge the corners/edges down after this step. The first round of coasters that I made had issues with the corners popping up.

Let that set for a couple minutes, then cover the top of the tile in Mod Podge, too. I love Mod Podge because it dries so fast!

At this point, I put my camera away for whatever reason and stopped taking pictures of my steps. Oops. The rest is easy, though. I glued felt pieces on the bottom corners of the coasters to keep them from sliding. I used E-600 glue, which is waterproof and super strong! It also smells really weird and has cancer warnings on the back...um, maybe keep your use of it to a minimum. Jared advised me to not eat it. I'll probably be fine. ;)

Then I used spray Mod Podge (also a great invention!) to further seal the coaster and make it more waterproof. I would advise doing that outside...just not on a windy day!

Once they were dry, I tied them up in a ribbon and that was that! They were pretty easy to make, and have heard that they work well. It would be fun to make them for different seasons and holidays!

2 Thumbs Up!

Jared laughed at my thumbs at dinner tonight, because they curve back when I do a thumbs-up sign. His go straight up in the air...what a weirdo ;) Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I recall a biology lesson about thumbs and genetics. But let's be honest, that was high school.

Anyways, I was doing a thumbs-up because I was enjoying my dessert. I wanted to share with you a couple of quick and easy recipes that I tried this afternoon!

First, I made pretzel (just had to spell that word three times...seriously) s'mores!
http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/2011/07/21/pretzel-smores/

I'll be honest and say mine turned out nowhere near as pretty as the talented blog lady's look (pictured below). But they were pretty tasty, and I highly recommend them if you're a fan of the salty/sweet combo like I am! They were super easy to make...put a marshmallow and chocolate piece (I used Hershey's, of course!) on one pretzel, microwave it and make it melty, and then add the other pretzel to make a s'more! I put them in the freezer for a few minutes while I melted baking chocolate, and dipped it in there once they had firmed up a little.

They're also Jared-approved!

The second thing I made was homemade fruit gummy snacks.

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/06/homemade-jello-fruit-snacks-recipe.html

I might be 24 years old, but I have a snack diet that closely resembles that of a nine-year old.

I know this because I snack with nine-year old kids every day...I don't mind if you judge me.

They were super easy to make, too! You just heat 2 packs of unflavored gelatin and a Jello mix (I picked grape, of course!) and a little water over medium heat and stir it all until it dissolves. Then you pour it into a form of some sort and let it sit for a while. They ended up super gummy and pretty tasty, I thought! I don't have any cutesy candy forms, so I just partially filled up an ice-cube tray. The candy forms would definitely make the snacks more cute compared to my rectangular ones. If you (or your children) like fruit snacks, I would highly recommend these. They are surely less expensive than buying name brand gummies from the grocery store. Just a recipe for you to tuck away if you have a few minutes to try something new!

In case you're wondering, these were Jared-approved, too. Thus, the two-thumbs up! I hope everyone enjoyed their rainy Monday! :)