Deliciousness

Last week I made my microwave caramel popcorn to share at Tim's parents' house on Mother's Day, and I promised my nieces I would post the recipe for them. Hopefully you will all enjoy as well. Kudos to my friend Rachel who gave me this a few years ago. It makes nice crunchy Cracker Jack-like popcorn in about 10- minutes. I've also been trying to use more of my wheat, so here is a recipe for pancakes that my kids even like and you don't need a wheat grinder to make. Enjoy and happy baking!

Magic Microwave Popcorn:

1/2 popcorn kernels, popped
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Put popped popcorn in large brown paper grocery bag. Put brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in Pyrex bowl and microwave on high for 3 minutes (it should be boiling). Stir and microwave 2 more minutes. Stir in baking soda and mix well til really foamy. Pour over popcorn in bag. Fold over bag a couple times and shake WELL. Microwave 1 minute; shake well. Microwave another minute; shake well. Microwave 45 seconds more, then pour out and spread on counter-top to cool. Break into pieces and enjoy!

Blender Wheat Pancakes:

1 cup milk
1 cup wheat kernels, whole and uncooked
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. oil
2 Tbs. honey or sugar

Blend milk and wheat kernels on high for 5 minutes or until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend on low til combined. Cook on hot griddle like regular-old pancakes. Yum-O!

Pinewood Derby Champ!!!

Well, he did it! Last week, Ryan won his Pinewood Derby! The secret: the "wedge." We had very little time to cut out the car, so Tim just made ONE cut 2 nights before the race, and that proved to be a secret weapon. Either that or the fact that we painted it like the Texas flag. That must be good luck, right??

Ryan was pretty excited when he kept on winning--he only lost one race out of ten or twelve. The top 3 boys were really close all night, but Ryan came out on top. Tim was SOOOO excited. Ryan was sort-of excited, but nothing compared to Tim, haha! In the end, I have come to the realization that winning is much more fun than losing. :)

Zoo Field Trip

On Monday, Sydney's kindergarten class took a field trip to the Boise Zoo. Jake and I went along for the fun. It was a little cold, but we had a great time. Once again, there are a lot of "Jake-in-a-stroller" pictures, haha!! Love them!!
Sydney and her best friend, Jessalynn.
Mom and Bubba :)

Sydney feeling the "spray" from the elephant's trunk...too bad they don't have any REAL elephants...

Our little group we were in charge of.

Sydney and her friend Mallory on the little boat ride that costs $1.00. It was pretty much a rip-off--they just rode around in a circle for about 5 minutes--too bad Jake couldn't go on!

Always posing for the camera!

Sydney and Mallory on a lion statue...

Mallory's mom offered to take a Jake and Cathy picture for me.

Jake posing on the tiger against his own will. :)

"I don't know, Mom...this seems a little risky."

Sydney the Turtle

More Sydney and Mallory

Sydney the Komodo Dragon--Ninja.

Sydney and Dillon...Dillon was quite a handful that day!

The cool slide by the monkeys

One of her favorite things--feeding the goats and sheep.

Blond Hair, Blue Eyes: Take 2

I've been wanting to do this for a while now--compare Baby Ryan pictures with Baby Jake pictures side by side. They are a little over 8 years apart and sometimes memory fails, but I'm always calling Jake "Ry-Ry" because he so reminds me of Ryan as a baby. And people who didn't know me when Ryan was little (and still blond) ask how Jake could have blond hair, and I say, "It's just a repeat of baby Ryan..."

They do look distinctly different, but yet so much alike. I sometimes think of them as twins separated by 8 years...what do you think???

Sydney's Easter Dress

Well, FINALLY, here are some pics of Syd's Easter dress (and her hair) from this year. This is actually from the week after Easter, since we didn't have to wear church clothes on Easter due to Conference. She looked super-cute (in my opinion). I especially love that she is missing two teeth.

Who knows how much longer I'll be able to tell her what to wear and dress her how I want...hopefully forever, right?

Mad Hatter

Sometimes Jakey just makes me smile...o.k...he almost ALWAYS makes me smile. But these pictures here are just too much.

He found Sydney's dog ears from her Littlest Pet Shop party and loved wearing them. Thank goodness I thought to grab the camera!

Then the other day when Tim was getting his hunting things together, he found this camo hat and thought he was HOT STUFF! He was right! The picture in the center is my favorite--I think it's the eyes...and the fact that he didn't quite get his hat on just right...

I was just thinking today how fun it has been to have our "what's one more" baby, as I usually refer to him. To once again get to go through all the fun stages that were just memories before he came along. He is definitely a handful and I rarely accomplish much during my days with him around, but it's just as it should be and I'm so glad I listened to those feelings a couple years ago. After all, what's one more? :)

Easter Sunday

In Bryson family tradition, the Easter Bunny left baskets full of presents for the kiddos. Brandon got a new MP3 player since his old one won't turn on anymore. Sydney got lots of Littlest Pet Shop pets. Ryan has really been wanting a new alarm clock so he can wake himself up in the mornings, and his wish was granted. And Jake got some toy balls and a new book. Mostly he just wanted the Tootsie Pops. :) They had a lot of fun finding all the candy, too.
After the 2nd session of conference, we went out to Grandma's house for dinner and the annual egg hunt. Again, it was pretty cold, but not nearly as bad as the morning before. Again, Jake got like 5 eggs and thought that was fine. Sydney and Ryan, on the other hand, filled their buckets to the top and had a ball! Brandon decided this year to help hide. It's funny to see him older and no longer egg-hunting. Sydney was thrilled to find the "silver egg" that Grandma always provides. It had a $2 bill inside, which she has already spent at the school book fair.

After the hunt, Grandpa brought out 2 lab puppies that they were watching for Uncle Kip. Sydney immediately fell in love with the black one! She begged for the rest of the night for us to let her keep him. She kept saying, "But he loves me!!" She was really trying to work it, but no luck. Hopefully we can breed Molly soon and then she can have her puppy fix for a while.