This morning started earlier than it should have. It seems like once every 2 weeks or so Gideon decides so wake up for the day before 4 am. It is exhausting! I get a lot done in those early morning hours, but by early afternoon I'm so tired! I had planned today's activity for quite some times, but I was seriously reconsidering given how early my day started.
To make the best of things we got started on our advent activity earlier than usual. We read from Matthew 5:2-16 which is a portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Not only do we learn what Jesus wants us to do, but this shows Him as a teacher, and a great one at that.
For our activity we had planned to make homemade candy canes. I decided to go for it and got everything together. Lily helped with adding the ingredients to the pan.
Charlotte preferred to stir.
And Gideon sat next to me looking cute.
Seriously, look at those big eyes, he's so cute I could seriously devour this kid.
Well...I stepped away for a minute, and as anyone who makes candy knows, that is a bad idea. I swear that the thermometer was at 250 degrees when I walked away and when I got back it was at 320 degrees, That's a problem when you are supposed to remove them from heat at 280. So, I poured the burnt sugar into an old jam jar that I could just throw away, because seriously, what else was I going to do with it, and then started over. Whoops.
The second time I watched the thermometer like a hawk and boy was it BORING! It took ages. But eventually we got there, I poured it out and added the coloring and flavoring. I had intended to make a green stripe too, but I grabbed the red food coloring because I wasn't paying attention so I had 2 batches of red instead of one. Whoops. I tell you, I need sleep.
I worked it all together and low and behold, it eventually looked like candy cane material. I started putting it all together a bit too early though. If I make them again, which I probably will, I will wait until it is a little cooler.
I cut it into strips and the girls ran with them from the counter to the kitchen table and shaped them into all sorts of things.
They were pretty proud of all of their candy canes.
They turned out pretty well, not too bad for the first go around, even with a burnt batch.
If you'd like the recipe and tutorial I found this one here.
How cool is that?!
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