DIY Fruit Snacks

Baby B might be a fruit snack.... or at least partially a fruit snack. He is totally obsessed with Welch's fruit snacks, I am sure he must be at this point partially made of fruit snack. He has been known to take many an adult by the finger and say "walk walk". Typically this walk ends up at the pantry and the next words are "fruit snack". Did I mention this happens at least 3 times a day! I have been buying these at Costco (daddy has been known to eat a few packs as well). So, I decided to take a closer look at what Baby B was ingesting multiple times a day. The first ingredient did not looks so bad. But the second ingredient is corn syrup followed by sugar, ick. And of course there is the Red, Yellow, and Blue dyes.

Okay, so I googled around, modified a few recipes and came up with this.

1/2 cup of 100% fruit Juice - I went with Cherry

2 packs of .75 of Knox Gelatin

and some molds - I found these adorable silicon Valentines Days ones at the Dollar Spot at Target.

So, pour your 1/2 of cup juice into a pot. The "sprinkle" the gelatin over it (I think they call this blooming, how fun). Let this rest for a few minutes and the put the pot on the stove on low heat. Mix around until the gelatin is dissolved, but do not boil. Carefully pour into the molds. Next, let them set-up in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Pop out of the mold. These came out of the silicon molds really easily.

Here is the finished product. The consistency is surprisingly good. The flavor is not as strong as the Welch's fruit snacks, probably because they use a concentrated flavor. I am thinking maybe I will try cranberry next time, hum?

The true test will be what Baby B thinks tomorrow....

The Birthday Party was a success!

We have awesome and generous friends and family!!!

In lieu of gifts, we asked them to bring a package of diapers to be donated to The Julian Center, an agency serving women and children who are the victims of domestic violence or assault. Many times, these families arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs. Diapers are on the agency's wish list of needed items. You can learn more athttp://www.juliancenter.org/.

We collected 1463 diapers!!! Thank you

The Cat in the Hat theme for the party was so much fun. I got the banner below made for under $15. I have not had the heart to take it down yet.
I made cupcakes to match our theme. They are supposed to be Thing1,2, and 3 cupcakes.

The triplets liked them too. Here they are patiently waiting for their cake in the Thing1,2 and 3 shirts.

Happy Birthday sweet babies, I cannot believe you are 2 years-old!!!

Birthday Prep- goody bags

I cannot believe my little peanuts are turning 2 in just 3 days. And this Birthday party is creeping up on me fast. Since my brother has been visiting this week I have had an extra set of hands around which has been nice. So I went ahead and started to get the goody bags together. I had these circular labels leftover from a previous project, so i used them for the bag sticker. I just used the free Avery software and upload the image I had saved from the t-shirts I made.

As for the contents of the goody bags, I found some great after Christmas sales online. I got the pencils and the mini-books from Birthday Express online. And for some reason the Dr. Seuss stuff qualified as Christmas items and I got an extra 25% off, sweet.
Lastly, had (bribed) my little bro to stuff and put stickers on 30 bags (again red bags after Christmas = sweet deal). Here is the finished product.