The Hangout House

You may have heard me say a few times in the past that we know very few of our neighbors. And while this is still for the most part true, we do know a lot more kids nowadays. It seems like most of the neighbors usually end up over here, so on any given beautiful day, we end up with 10 or 12 neighborhood kids. I like that our kids really enjoy themselves. I like that our house is the hangout spot, so I can keep an eye on things. It has really been fun for our kids. Not to mention they totally wear themselves out. (With this many kids, I generally don't let them inside. It's outside play only, particularly if Avery is napping.)

This was a slower day, after church on Sunday, when just a few kids were home. They begged and begged for us to turn the hose on, so we did. There were more by later in the afternoon. Also, Avery totally thinks she is a big kid. It's so sad and precious all at the same time. But the big kids are sweet to give her a turn, and clap for her (just before she gets whisked off to naptime).

Later that Sunday, after dinner at Mimi's, we all headed to the grocery store, as usual. While we were walking down the aisle, Ansley zoned in on some Pop Tarts. She said that she must try them, and she absolutely had to have them. We've never had them before, but for some reason she was really wanting some pop tarts. I picked up the box, and I swear there were like 40 ingredients listed. High fructose corn syrup was in the top three. And ya'll, I'm not a super healthy freak by any stretch of anyone's imagination, but I just couldn't do it. The thought of all that grossness just, well, grossed me out. John thought I should let her try them (my freakiness is so underappreciated) but I told Ansley that I was positive I could make her some Pop Tarts that wouldn't have xanthum gum OR polysorbitene #9 (say whaaaaat?) but that would be absolutely delicious. I wasn't absolutely positive about that last point, but I knew that I would die trying. Okay, not really, since no one ever died trying to make pop tarts, but it just seemed to fit so I went with it.

So. Behold, homemade Pop Tarts. I never know whether to capitalize that or not, so I've been going back and forth. So here, the pop Tarts --

As you can see since I'm writing this, I did not die. And they were delicious. Seriously, delicious. The kids loved them (as well as the adults) and everyone proclaimed them galaxies above the store bought kind. I don't know if that makes sense either, but my kids like to use galaxy references often. And, bonus, no gums or dyes or things I can't pronounce in them at all. They were so simple to make, I really can't believe I haven't made them before. Now we are all brainstorming different types of fillings. I just used raspberry jam in these, but next time I might try apple butter and cinnamon and sugar. And if you don't count the icing on the top, they really aren't that bad for you. They were gone from my counter in less than an hour. I had to hide one so John would be able to try them.

That story had nothing to do with the title of this post, except that maybe if I made these pop tarts even more kids would be hanging out at our house. Which reminds me that one boy periodically asks Ansley if his mom is making cookies, kinda casually. (I had brought out a plate of them last summer.) Finally one day Ansley asks him why he asks that, and he responds that that cookie (from last summer) was the best cookie he'd ever had and he was wanting some more. It made me laugh! And I have to agree - good food wins me over frequently too.

Our spring garden is planted and looks really neat. We are going with the square foot method of gardening this year, and hoping it will produce for us. Right now we have lettuce, spinach, peas, sugar snap peas, and onions. We will plant more once the weather turns warm.

I pulled out all the kids clothes to see what fit them this year, figuring at least half of the items would fit. Wrong. ALMOST NONE. Seriously, why do kids grow so fast?? I can't believe all these cute shorts and shirts from last summer, for both of them, look ridiculous on them now. I do love spring clothes shopping, though, so I guess it's not all bad.

That's my update that started out as the hangout house and then turned into lots of randomness!

Comments

[Gina]

Yum! Can you share where you got the pop tarts recipe--I think my girls would love those. :)

[Emily]

Ditto on the recipe!