Wyatt's Creepy Crawley 5th Birthday Party!

 Wyatt had one request for his 5th birthday party and that was to play with snakes. What?! Are we related? I hate snakes but I had to figure something out to make his dreams come true.  There was no snake guy for hire so we settled for the Museum of Nature and Science where they let the kids pet some snakes. Michele helped me with these invitations which Wyatt loved!

 We had a great time coming up with reptile related food.

Slithering Sandwiches

Turkey and Cheese and PB&J. Olives for eyes. Carrot for tongue.

 Frog eyes-black olives, Pond Scum-ranch dip, Snake Skin-cucumber slices, Lizard Tongues-Carrots

 Snake Eggs-white M&M's (I picked out all the white ones from a Valentines bag.)

 I copied this from a picture I saw online.  I used mini cupcakes instead.

 I made a few regular size cupcakes for the kids too. I used the grass tip and tip 9 for the snake.

Happy Birthday my sweet Wyatt!

Wyatt's birthday cookie

 Wyatt wanted to take a cookie cake instead of cupcakes to share with his preschool buddies. Turns out his teacher said they liked this much better than cupcakes.  I'll have to remember that since this was easier.

Wyatt and his best buddy licking the frosting remains after school. Happy Birthday Wyatt!

I'm a sucker for you, Valentine!

 This was the tray of snacks Ethan chose to take for his class snack this month.

 We used different size cookie cutters to get the most heart shapes out of the pre sliced cheese. 

 

This year the 4th grade students all lost their privilege to have parties or even a chance to hand out Valentines because a boy and girl were caught kissing and doing other things inappropriate :( so we decided to bring his Valentine suckers along with the snack today.

 We made extra ones for Wyatt's class but bagged them because he was able to pass them out as Valentine's. They are really easy to make.  I used some left over colored candy canes from Christmas, laid them on a sheet of wax paper in a heart shape, and added white and blue chocolate, sprinkles, and a sucker stick.

 I found the tag on this blog.

This was Wyatt's Valentine box he helped Jared create.  For the box we used the Kleenex disposable hand towels.  I think his muncher turned out pretty cute and it only took a few minutes!

 I had to include this pic of my sweet girl and I wearing our matching heart scarves we found at Dollar Tree. We love dressing alike.  I love my girl! Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Pretzel French Fries

 These were for my kids teachers and the ladies I visit teach at church.

 I got these french fry boxes on Pick Your Plum.com awhile ago and have been trying to figure out what to use them for.  I thought caramel pretzels would be fun and french fryish.  They have other colors too. I added twine to the boxes that I got from there website as well and some foam stickers from Target.

 I make these pretzels in 2 steps. First I make the caramel using this recipe: 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup karo syrup, 1 cup whipping cream, 1/4 cup of butter, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Add sugar, 1/2 cup of the cream and karo to heavy pan over low heat. Wash sides with hot water and don't let boil until sugar dissolves. Once sugar is dissolved turn heat up to medium. Add other half of cream slowly then add butter. Cook to 242 degrees. Add vanilla. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

Step 2: Break the pretzel rod in half so they will fit in the box better.  Then take the caramel out of pan and place it on a cutting board and cut small strips. Wrap it around the pretzel starting with the broken off end first.  I then cover it with chocolate right away and set it on wax paper and either cover with sprinkles, crushed peppermint (looks prettier than it tastes,) or let dry and drizzle colored chocolate over them.

I was able to fit 6 half pretzels in each regular size cellophane bag.  They fit perfectly into the boxes.
Happy Valentine's Day!