The hospitalized garden baptized the succulent trolley, or Muffin Tin Monday.

(pecans, mini chocolate chips, peanut butter M & M's, shredded coconut, mini marshmallows, Nilla wafers)

Today's Muffin Tin Monday theme is "Copy Cat," so we copied the dessert tin from Her Cup Overfloweth. The boys deemed it the best muffin tin ever. Here they are:



For more muffin tins, go to Her Cup Overfloweth.

The corrupt dieter enabled the creepy activist, or Ice Cream Sunday #1.

Following is the first of a 12ish-part series investigating the ice creameries of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Someday we'll take a world tour, but for now I'll start with Pokey O's, home of the Pokey O ice cream sandwich.



Pokey O's serves ice cream sandwiches with your choice of 15 Blue Bell flavors and 13 varieties of fresh-baked cookies, which are also sold separately. Here were our choices (top--fudge nut brownie cookies and chocolate peanut butter ice cream; bottom--1 fudge nut brownie cookie, 1 vanilla sugar cookie and blackberry cobbler ice cream):





We're on vacation next week, but we'll be back the following Sunday with another look at a local ice creamery. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment with your favorite place to eat ice cream, and I'll add it to my world tour list.

The incredulous chef refrigerated the snacking mugger, or Play dough stress ball.

To make, cut off tip of first balloon, fill with play dough, cut off tip of second balloon, cover first balloon with second balloon, cover second balloon with third balloon, and tie. And squeeze:

The cautious dinosaur swooned over the peculiar souffle, or Banana pudding.

Banana pudding, from a recipe at Mac & Cheese:

1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package Nilla Wafers
3-5 bananas, sliced

First we combined the flour and the sugar in a saucepan and stirred in the milk:



Then we added egg yolks and salt:





While we cooked and stirred over medium heat, the boys sliced the bananas:



After the pudding thickened (about 10 minutes), we removed the pot from the heat and stirred in the vanilla:



And then we layered (wafers, bananas, pudding, repeat):







And finally, one last layer of wafers:



And we ate:





For more kid-friendly recipes, check out Kids in the Kitchen Thursdays at A Little Fun With Me and Lu.

The mellow lips scoffed at the savory artichoke, or Bubbles.

Today we created bubbles using 1/2 cup dish soap, 1 1/2 cups water, a yogurt container with two holes in the lid, and a straw.







Check out more ways to create at Mom's Marbles.

The unpredictable thorax triumphed over the entertaining dinner, or What the boys are reading.

This Is New York, by Miroslav Sasek and reviewed by Zachary, age 6

This is about New York. There's skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty. There's so many things to do there. There's water things at the tops of the buildings.

My favorite part is when they speak different languages. I liked this book because it's funny, it's good, it's nice.





Seen Art?, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith and reviewed by Corey, age 3

Me: What is this book about?
C: He finds art and he didn't.
Me: Anything else?
C: In this book is pictures--special art.
Me: What was your favorite part?
C: My favorite part was OOF.
Me: Why did you like this book?
C: I liked this book because it's like Dinner at Magritte's.

New York City at Night, by Zachary (instructions):



New York City at Night, by Corey:



OOF, by Corey:



OOF, by Edward Ruscha:



Other books we're reading about New York:







To see what other kids are reading this week, check out The Well-Read Child.

The fire-breathing waiter stepped on the malevolent antlers, or Muffin Tin Monday.

(in honor of our upcoming trip to New York: cheese and bagel taxi cab, egg cream and a big apple)

The boys didn't like the seltzer in the egg cream, but they had fun with it anyway:





For more muffin tins, check out Her Cup Overfloweth.

The malodorous peacoat slowly backed away from the deceased cheesecake, or What the boys are reading.

The Adventures of Polo, by Regis Faller and reviewed by Zachary, age 6

The book is about a dog named Polo, and he meets a polar bear, but then the polar bear slips. Then he finds a hole. Then they go through it. Then they find a snowman. They climb up a ladder and then they find a house on the moon. And then there's a hole in the moon, and they go through it. And they find peas and big mushrooms. All the friends come together.

My favorite part is when the fly snips the balloon. I liked this book because it's pretty, it's nice, it's the best.

Polo: The Runaway Book, by Regis Faller and reviewed by Corey, age 3

Polo gives a piggy a question. He climbs up the ladder and falls on the statue. He goes to the genie. He stops the cloudmen from fighting.

My favorite part was when the bunny picks out the book. I liked it because it's funny. The pictures were scabbering.

Definition of scabbering, according to Corey:



Zachary's first attempt at a graphic novel, titled Cowboy Deluxe:



Zachary's interpretation

Panel 1: Floating dragon
Panel 2: Dragon in spaceship touching Uranus
Panel 3: Mourning dove saying, "Coo, coo..."
Panel 4: Frog sock for the mourning dove
Panel 5: Robot trying to turn cheese into people
Panel 6: Weird frog guy that wants to get out of the wall, but he's stuck there, and the bad guy did it
Panel 7: Frog guy eats cheese and turns into a Texas cowboy

Corey's graphic novel, titled By Lois Ehlert



Corey's interpretation

Panel 1: Polo falls on the piggy's head
Panel 2: Polo falls on the genie's head
Panel 3: He falls on the pea guy's head
Panel 4: He falls on the scribble
Panel 5: He goes to his mommy and then cries to his brother

The exotic corpuscle chopped up the bullet-ridden sword, or Lazy arts & crafts.

Today's Picnic Table Talk is about arts & crafts. Since my blog is mostly about our arts & crafts projects, I thought I'd show you what we do when we don't feel like doing much of anything. Here are two things we can leave out and come back to whenever we feel like it.

Here we are putting things on contact paper:





A finished piece:



And here's our family sketchbook, which we leave on a table in the living room: