The Thomasfolks »

I am good at a lot of things, but cooking is not one of them.  In fact, I have a whole pantry shelf full of various cookbooks that have never been used.  Good news… I think I’ve finally found some recipes that are easy enough for even me to follow.  Forget Southern Living and Cooking Light… my new favorite recipes come from my 8-year-old’s American Girl magazine.

This recipe had ingredients that I had actually heard of.  So hang on, because Torin and I are about to go all Pioneer Woman on you and share the recipe to create your own pudding paradise.  This is what you’ll need:

Step 1: Crush graham crackers with a rolling pin.

Step 2: Pour the crushed graham crackers on top of the pudding.

Step 3: Place a cookie stick in the cup. 

Step 4: Pay attention.  This is the tricky part.  You’re supposed to cut leaves out of green taffy, but we used red fruit roll-ups  Use a small amount of icing (or a great big blob, whatever you feel like) to attach the leaves to the top of the cookie stick.

Step 5: Place two chocolate candies in the “sand” for “coconuts.”

Finally, you can either be nice and share with a friend, or be like some people (I won’t name names) and totally renege on your promise to give your mama a bite.

They have to earn their allowance somehow, right?  ;) 

There is a summer camp for everything.  And this summer, we discovered the camp of our dreams.  Parker has been at Lego Camp all week and has loved every minute.  Personally, I think that building Legos for three hours straight would be torture, but for him, it’s just a good start.  He has a slight obsession/addiction for Legos, and since they are somewhat educational, I generally let him build as long as he wants (or until I step on a mini-fig).  Here are a few highlights from his awesome week…

The four of us got to hone our babysitting skills this afternoon, and I have to say, we run a pretty top-notch operation.  In all of the times that we have gotten to babysit Sabrina, she has never fallen off the bed…

or poked an eye out…

or choked on a grape.

She always learns the latest dance moves.

She has been taught which pony is Twilight Sparkle, which one is Rainbow Dash, and which one is Fluttershy.

And while we occasionally watch cable…

She has never been exposed to anything containing violence or adult content.

And finally, she always receives proper Jedi training in skill, dexterity, and attunement to the Force.