Family News and Photos

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything here, but do you remember our parakeet, Pepe?  Well, he seemed so lonely all by himself in that cage, we finally broke down and got him a friend.  Meet Pogo!

Pepe is so happy to finally have a friend to chirp with!  These two birds have become best buddies, taking turns scratching each other's heads and chattering back and forth all day.  They are quite entertaining. We're definitely not sorry he's joined the family! 

I have to share a video with you that my kids and their friends made over spring break.  

This past weekend MSU hosted an event called Vet-A-Visit.  It was a fun, free, hands-on educational experience for people of all ages.  Here's just a sample of what we did.

We have some serious city kids.  Not one of the kids was the least bit interested in touching that cow's udder.  Ray and I both jumped at the chance to try our hand at milking, though.  Not as hard as I thought it might be.

Nelly thought it might be okay to pet the cow's cheek, though.

I learned that Hereford cows give more milk than Jersey cows.  

Bye, Bessie! 

See what I mean?  They were all pinching their noses.

The kids thought this part was pretty neat.  There were several different animals in little pens that the kids could pet or feed.

This part was definitely not for the faint of heart...or stomach!  

This is a cow with a rubber fistula which enables the students to study what goes on in the rumen (part of the digestive system).  Here, Ray is actually sticking his arm inside a living cow. 

The cow did not seem bothered by this at all.  She was calmly munching hay the whole time.  

In another building, there were several exotic animals on display.  Some could be touched, while others were just for looks.

                         These ferrets were very friendly.  

This lady had some liquid "ferret treat" that she put on the kids' fingers so the ferret would lick them.

I'm aware that tarantula's are harmless, but I was happy just to observe this guy, nonetheless.

We couldn't leave the campus without stopping by the dairy store first!  Their ice cream is delicious!  Evidently you can still tour the facility (according to signs I saw), so I think we may have to venture back there again sometime soon.  

       Thanks to Grandpa, we all enjoyed a yummy ice cream cone!

In keeping with our "animal adventures", when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we found baby bunnies that had been abandoned by their mommy.  

A grand effort to save them was launched, but as is the case with most of these things, our efforts were in vain.  On the bright side, there are two less bunnies in Grandma's yard to eat her perennials! I'm not sure the kids saw it quite the same way....and Elvis (the dog) was just sorry he wasn't going to get any bunny treats.

They really are cute like this, though.

My recipe for today is...homemade pop-tarts.  This is a terrible picture.  They were pretty tasty, though.  I found the recipe on Pinterest.  I'm not a fan of store-bought pop-tarts, but my husband and kids really like them.  I made these to see if I would like them any better.  Not that I really need to be finding more pastries to like.  Too late now.

There are several ways to do the filling.  Some others were made with strawberry jam (or any flavor you like).  In our house, the kids prefer the brown sugar and cinnamon flavor, so that's what we went with.  Here's the recipe.

Homemade Pop-Tarts

1 pie crust (either homemade or store bought)

jam for fruit flavored filling or for cinnamon filling

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

(just combine ingredients together for filling)

Preheat oven to 425*.  Roll pie crust out and cut into rectangles that are the same size (whatever size you want your pop-tarts to be).   Place one rectangle on a greased cookie sheet, spread with filling leaving a border around the edges without any filling.  Top with another crust rectangle and then seal the edges all the way around using the tines of a fork.  When all the crust is used, pop them in the oven for 7 minutes or until just beginning to brown.  Allow pop-tarts to cool slightly and then glaze.  

For Glaze:

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

milk (a few Tbsp.)

Add vanilla to powdered sugar, and then gradually add milk (1 Tbsp. at a time) and stir until desired consistency is reached.  Store in an airtight container if you have any left!  :-)