A great weekend!

We just got back from church & I have tons to do! I sat down to start bows, but I decided I had the best weekend I had to write about it really quick first! My parents (well 1 set of my parents) and my nephew came up on Thursday to visit & we were so happy to see them! You never have enough time to visit it seems and I think we made the most of it! :)

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T TAKE PICTURES, UGH...BUT...we had so much fun! When I was a kid, I have so many fun memories of family time the great, the bad, and the ugly, but one of the great was making salt water taffy! As I remembered it, we were so excited until that hot candy hit our hands and we were trying to play hot potato instead of pulling, lol!

I wanted my kiddos to experience this too, so I asked Hal for a little pantry inventory so I didn't have to stand on a chair, lol. He soon discovered I had about 2 gallons of corn syrup, why, I have no idea, but...I am sure I had a great idea for it at some point which obviously never came to fruition, but hey, it came in handy this time! Haliee & Grandma went shopping for the other ingredients we needed and a candy thermometer! Well, they were out of thermometer's but Grandma thought we could manage as we never used one when we were little.

Well, it turns out, we kind of did need one, but I am glad it worked out this way as the kids have the best memories and it was even more fun for them...

Round 1: Grandpa is making caramel for Hal, and Grandma is on the taffy...the caramel comes out almost right, just a bit too soft, but YUM!!! Grandma is suddenly yelling, "GET READY, GET READY NOW!!!" We successfully made several flavors of Hard Candy!! LOL!!

Round 2: We decided to make sure we monitored the time a little closer this time, everyone is in place, hands buttered, ready to pull, I am yelling the time every 2 minutes, Grandma & Grandpa are bickering back and forth about whose candy checking method is most efficient the water method or...the Grandpa method, I whom have deemed myself candy making expert since I made it once or twice as a child decide it was finished and ready to pull, by the way without even entering the kitchen, yes, I am that great, so maybe not...

We have outstanding tasting, colored, GOOO!!!! The kids are in LOVE they are stringing this stuff up with both hands over their plates, and I am trying really trying to be calm and not freak I can see it on my walls, carpet, ceiling, couch, table, but really it is just on their hands and they didn't make a mess, my OCD was over the top and my head was ready to explode...my parents are thoroughly enjoying watching me try and remain calm so my kids could play, lol~ Ok, we decide after about 45 minutes, I wouldn't set no matter how hard my Stubborn self & Dad tried to prove Mom wrong, lol~!

ROUND 3:
We go get a candy thermometer at a different store and remake the caramel and some taffy! YEAH! It is so yummy and the kids had a blast! We were also wanting to make Root Beer, we couldn't get any dry ice so we opted for the other method until we get together again this summer, but the kids LOVED it too! We had so much fun with many laughs and several other funny moments but as a novelist, I believe bows are waiting, lol!

I will just end with saying Thanks to my family for a great weekend! Drew also played so great in his basketball game on Saturday, I was so proud of him!
Here's to a great week, and some Valentine's bows if it kills me!
HUGS, Tabitha :0)