Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved a pumpkin. Paul liked playing with the pumpkin's "lid". We all guessed how many seeds were in the pumpkin. The total amount of seeds was 627. Paul had guessed 999 or 10,000. ;) We roasted the seeds with salt on half and cinnamon and sugar on the other half. To do this, we preheated the oven to 325 degrees and roasted the seeds for ten minutes. Then, we took them out and stirred them and put the seeds back in the oven for 15 minutes. While these were roasting, we carved our pumpkin. The. boys designed the face. ;) we were able to stick a lantern in the pumpkin so it would glow. The boys were so excited! We celebrated with some yummy pumpkin seeds!

Curious George

  The latest project was a HUGE success! These little monkeys are the cutest EVER!!! Paul is SOOOO excited! It was really simple to make these. We stuck mini M&M's in the sides of the cake pops for ears. We then cover the cake pop, ears and all, in brown candy coating. I mixed brown and white candy coating with butterscotch chips for the face. We dipped the end of a cake pop stick in white candy coating and shaped two ovals on the hardened face. I used Wilton black decorating icing for the pupils, nose, and mouth. And when you are done, you have an adorable "bunch" of banana lovers! :)

Cake Pops

I made the "fall" cake pops, so I thought I might share them. I haven't been able to make my candy coating smooth, but I do know how to make them taste great! My next project is Curious George pops...we'll see how that goes! :)

Creation Museum Trip

     This week we took a trip with some people from our church to the creation museum. We woke up at 2:30 in the morning to get ready to meet up at the charter bus that would carry us to our destinations throughout our trip. The boys did really well, considering that we were traveling 12 hours to get to north Kentucky. Once we arrived, we unloaded our luggage and settled in at our hotel. Then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Thomas had what he called "the best ribs on earth". The next day, we left for the Creation Museum around nine (eastern time). When we arrived and they had opened,we saw the show they presented in their planetarium "Created Cosmos". It really made us realize how tiny we are on earth, compared to our vast universe. God created all the stars in one day, and that just goes to show how powerful He is! We first came to a room that showed how man lived with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs actually moved, which was neat to Thomas and I, but was considered "creepy" to Paul. Next, we cam to the indoor "dig site", where we learned about how different conclusions on the age of the fossils depend on the starting point. You could start with the Bible, a very strong foundation, and come to the conclusion that the earth and fossils are only thousands of years, not millions. Some people, go by what
scientists believe in such as, man not living with dinosaurs, the big bang, and a millions-of-years old earth. Then, we started a walk through the Bible. First, we saw the beginning of the Bible, and how it was tested and when the Bible was even burned in many cities.

We saw the need for each new generation to know Jesus, for one day they may lead a generation, and they need to lead them to Christ. Soon, we went "back in time" to when God created everything, and when he created man and woman. We saw how important it was for Adam to name the animals. Then Satan deceived Eve into eating from the one tree God had forbid Adam and Eve to eat from. Sin was brought into the world. Death, pain, hunger, hard work, sacrifice and suffering were now a part of earth. Before the fall, animals had eaten only vegetation, after, many were carnivorous.

The next stop was at the building of the ark. Noah and his family were the only people on earth who still followed God. God told Noah to make an ark out of gopher wood and gave him measurements. God told him that he was going to send a giant flood to cover the whole earth, because of the sin that filled it.It took years to build this massive boat, but Noah and his sons finally finished it. It had never rained, and so not a single person on earth besides Noah's sons, their wives, and Noah's wife believed Noah.

  When they finished the ark, God sent two of each unclean creature to the ark, and seven of every clean creature. This was so they could fill the earth after the flood, and Noah's family could use the clean animals for sacrifices to God. The flood came after each creature was aboard, and Noah's family as well. It rained for forty days and nights, and even the highest mountain was covered. A while later, Noah sent a dove to look for land. It returned soon empty. Noah sent it out again, and it returned with a dry twig, a sign of life! The ark soon rested on what is believed is modern Mt. Ararat, and Noah's family presented sacrifices to God. God  promised to never send a worldwide flood again, and as a sign of the covenant, he sends a rainbow after a rainfall. All this was represented in the "Ark" room.We soon cam to a room representing the Tower of Babel, and how God confused the people's language, and sent the on their ways throughout the earth. We came to the point where Christ was born, and died, the ultimate sacrifice. Finishing our walk through the Bible, we came to a room all about dinosaurs that the boys really loved. We ate lunch at Noah's Cafe and went outside to the botanical gardens and the petting zoo. The flowers were beautiful, and we even saw an albino peacock! At the petting zoo, there was a camel, wallaby, goats,sheep, and a cow. Paul and Thomas and I petted the wallaby while it was resting. It was so soft and didn't mind a bit! We, of course, went to the gift shop, and bought a 25ft detailed timeline of history, stuffed animals, and Paul got some little rubber animals. :) All in all, it was a great trip!

Cake Pops

I plan on make cake pops similar to these for October.

  As of tomorrow night, I hope to start my cake pop business. The money I make will be going to children in Guatemala whose school can't feed them but a few days out of the week. This small amount of food is sometimes the only food a child will get that week. I plan on making monthly themed cake pops that fit with: a holiday in the month or the season of the month. Maybe each month I will sell enough cake pops to feed them throughout each week. Have you not ever heard of cake pops? I learned about how to make them and what they were at bakerella.com . I use a simple cake pop maker from JCPenney;http://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/gifts/for-the-home/kitchen-electrics/bella-cake-pop-maker/prod.jump?ppId=1c061ac .
Have a really cute idea for November's cake pop? Tell me your idea in a comment below!