Ode to the Rice Krispie Treat

About six months ago I started getting this Parenting magazine in the mail. It is called Parenting the Elementary Years... or something like that. At first I though t it was just a free sample designed to make me order it. However, it showed up again the next month and the next. I have been getting on for about six months straight. It has become my running question to my family, which one of you thought I needed the parenting magazine? Because it is pretty good. I mean I wouldn't PAY for it, but it is entertaining reading at bedtime. None of them have owned up to it. Friday night I was reading it and came across this recipe using Rice Krispie treats. I should back up and tell you that two Thanksgivings ago I was visiting my friend Jason in Philly. We were waiting for things to cook and then digesting afterwards and we must have watched about ten episodes of The Cake Boss. This was the first (and only) time I have ever watched the show. I don't have cable or satellite dish and since my one and only TV is about twelve inches across I rarely watch anything. At any rate I was fascinated by the cakes that this guy could put together. It was amazing. I was even more amazed to learn that a lot of the shapes were Rice Krispie treats. The guy built and airplane out of them! I was extremely impressed. I have always thought of Rice Krispie Treats as a fixture at school bake sales not suitable for much more than thier rectangular shape stuffed in a zip lock baggie. So when I came across the recipe this weekend. I though I am so doing this, the kids will love it. So today I made these...

Cute huh? They were amazingly easy. I learned that the treats stay soft for quite a while so you can shape them into the balls. Which is handy because otherwise things would have the pesky charred flesh taste. I had a couple extra so I made two look like ice cream sundaes. The kids were pretty excited and I may be making these to send in to school on birthdays instead of cupcakes!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day dad!

We miss you lots.

Art Opening

Chloe had an art opening Friday, June 3 at Frog Hollow on Church Street. It would have been stunning if I had remembered my camera. Unfortunately it was after work and I didn't remember to take it with me to work so no camera. Luckily it is hanging for awhile so we got back down there this weekend WITH the camera. So here it is...

hanging right in the front of the store. An artist from Frog Hollow came to work with Chloe's class on this amazing piece. It is made of clay and mounted on wood. Chloe is responsible for the wonderful looking turtle in the middle and the painting of the leaves (the dark ones) on the tree.Pretty cool huh?

Alexa's Recital

Today was Alexa's dance recital. She was very excited. The were a lot of rules about not taking pictures or video taping during the show. I did take this one of her back stage before I had to leave her.

She is one nervous ballerina. She did amazing though. I was nervous about leaving her all on her own backstage with a crowd of other dancers, but she sat right down with her teacher and her group and waited her turn. I think I was most nervous about her getting herself into her tap outfit and shoes with out my help. As with most things it worked out, she got help from her teacher to make sure she was all put together and her shoes were tied nice and tight before they went out.

I took these pictures of her in her tap outfit on last Wednesday at the dress rehearsal where we were allowed to take pictures. She had a great time and can't wait for dance classes to start again in the fall.

Alexa's Planting

Alexa could not wait to get started planting. She raced upstairs to put on her swimsuit (so she could play in the hose after planting) as soon as we got home. I told her we would just do the transplanting of the plants we had and save the seeds for tomorrow.

She dug right in.

So far we have lots of tomatoes, four strawberry plants, some lettuce, and about five watermelon sprouts. She was determined to try watermelon this year. I am not sure how they will do but we started them a few months ago. She was over joyed to see her tomato plant blossom and to find five green strawberries.

Gardening Season

Alexa wanted to grow vegetables this year. Not just tomatoes but lots of vegetables. This sounds like a simple enough request, just put in a garden. It isn''t so easy though if you live in an old neighborhood in Burlington. In a house with a nice big backyard that has seen years of use. I took some soil samples last year and sent them to the UVM (University of Vermont) agriculture department for analysis. The results came back much as I had suspected they would... high lead levels. You see, my house was built in 1894. Lots of years of lead paint and lead paint removal over those years has led to contaminated soil. So for us to have a garden puts all of us at risk of lead exposure. I decided not to risk it and opted to build a raised bed garden so that I could bring in good soil. Fortunately, I, myself, did not do the actual building. Instead I hired my friend Jason who has moved back to Vermont and is starting his own handyman business. He built me this...great huh? It of course was lacking on key thing. Dirt. For about two weeks now it has made a lovely smelling (made from cedar) lawn ornament. Suitable for small dogs to run around in.

Well, today I received my delivery of two cubic yards of dirt. Nice compost from the Intervale made for raised bed gardens. The nice man in the dump truck arrived this afternoon and dumped it right here...
at the end of the drive way. Which is a very long way from where I had the garden built. So I had to make friends with Mr. Shovel and Mrs. Wheel barrel.

It was a a nice bonding session as we hadn't spoken much over the last few years. It was also nice that my friend Jason decided to stop by and pick up his plants off my deck that I had been storing for him today. He felt compelled to help my shovel dirt. Now the garden looks like this...

Which is good because I noticed that one of Alexa's tomato plants already has a blossom.

She is going to need to start her planting this weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend

OK, so we are about two days past the weekend, but I am a bit behind. Here I will recap it for you.

#1 The girls ran the YAM Scram. Here are the before pictures...
Here is Alexa running during the race.

Chloe wouldn't be seen with her parents and wanted to run herself. Here are the after pictures.

#2 COMPANY!!! We had Aunt Cherie, Uncle Micheal, Annabel, and Sam come to visit. It was lots of fun and warm weather. So we dug out the slip and slide. Everyone had their own way down.
Then we had the pool out for a pool party.

Good times. I, personally, am extremely grateful that even though I forgot my camera out on the deck and it rained on it; it still seems to be working... more or less.