Milkyway Brownie Crunch

Yum.

I baked a box mix of 

brownies 

in an 8 x 11 pan and about 

10 minutes before they

were done I sprinkled on 

Milkyway bites 

and finished baking.

Then I melted 6 ounces of 

chocolate chips

with 6 ounces of 

butterscotch chips,

stirred in a bunch of 

Rice Krispies 

and poured it over the hot brownies.

Um, Yum.

The only thing that might have

made them better would have been some

drizzles of caramel along with the

Milkyways.

I have done this before with Reeses bites

and added some dollops of

peanut butter. 

With all the bite size candy they are coming

out with, I am wondering what

other combinations might be good.

Kit Kat?

Maddie And The Pool

 Papa took the afternoon off for Maddieday.

 Besties :)

 Her Eliana, let me help you with that.

Trust me, it's better this way.

For Mom and Big

 Peek-A-Boo!!

Watermelon Dispenser

But it doesn't dispense watermelon.

 And in all honesty, it didn't dispense the 

white sangria I filled it with very well either, 

but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. 

Here are the parts it took.

To the guy at Home Depot's credit, he didn't

even flinch when he asked what I needed the 

spigot for and I replied a watermelon. 

The spigot was in plumbing, the 

hose washers in garden,

the flat nut kind of thing in electrical, 

and the reducing washer in hardware.

 Enjoy your day at The Depot.

Here's the order,

spigot and rubber washer,

watermelon,

reducing washer and nut.

I set the watermelon in a bowl to make it sit up

and it appears that was a good thing

because at the end of the night

the bowl was full of sangria.

Not quite sure where that came from.

Also, I had the fruit in a bowl on the side 

so you could add it to you glass

but it wasn't in the watermelon getting

in the way of the opening.

I chilled the melon in the fridge for a few

hours, it helped keep the sangria cold.

Next time I would save the top that I cut

off and place it back on to keep

it cooler and keep out any flying friends.

Oh, and PS, I 

pre-washed all those parts in 

really hot soapy water.

Pretty sure none of it was intended to go

into a watermelon.

Salt Painting

It's a bucket list item.

You make a design on paper using 

Elmer's glue.

We found it best to draw a design with

pencil then go over it with glue.

Then sprinkle liberally with salt.

Let it set up a bit and then shake off the excess salt.

The salt kind of stuck to the paper a bit

on the ones we didn't shake off. 

We did that yesterday so that

today it was all dry and ready for

the water colors.

 The more wet your brush is, the better. 

All you have to do is touch it to the salt.

It spreads on it's own.

 Happy Ava.

Here is one that I shook off while the glue

was still wet. 

It's hard to see in the pictures but the salt

left a crisper line here.

It was a fun project, 

we just might do it again. 

Ava wants to make them for 

"all the elderlys."

Watch out Carriage Oaks, 

I think she means you!

S'Mores In A Jar

I quite possibly have done this before, 

but never, I am quite sure,

with toasted marshmallows on top!

It's a layer of 

coarsely crumbled graham crackers

followed by

brownie,

fluff,

fudge sauce,

brownie,

graham crackers,

and finally,

toasted marshmallows!

Happy Independence Day!

UPDATE:
It was pretty unanimous that
the graham cracker layer needed a
moisture maker, so a layer
of the hot fudge sauce over each
graham cracker layer would probably
be a good thing :)

Whittling Down The Bucket List

Playdough.

Homemade.

We've made it before but really

wanted to do it again with

neon food coloring as opposed

to the regular.

This is regular.

THIS:

is neon!

Oh yeah!

Much better.

Here's the recipe:

3 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

6 tsp. cream of tartar

3 Tbsp. oil

3 cups water

Combine it all in a large pot and put over

medium heat. 

Start stirring!

Keep it up till it forms a ball and 

pulls away from the sides.

Ava asked how we would know

 when that happens, 

trust me, you'll know.

Then take it off the heat and divide for 

your different colors, add the color and 

start kneading. 

WaLa!