Rainbow Jello revisited

Sometimes, when the occasion warrants, I make this rainbow layered jello. (Most recently, we had it for our Longest-Day-of-the-Year Party.) It's one of the prettiest foods I know how to make. I posted the recipe here, but I'm going to post it again because these pictures are better (blue layer!).* I did make it once with purple too, but this time I ran out of time and pan space.

I had the idea that I could make this in plastic cups, then pop it out upside-down and have sort of individual jello volcanos. It worked, sort of (very wiggly, precarious volcanos), though I think it would work better with very small cups---but what I really liked was the way it looked while still inside this clear cup. I'd like to do this for a picnic sometime: little individual rainbow jello cups for everyone. Fun!

Usually I only go up through green, but I really like the blue layer on top---it looks like water, doesn't it? I love the watery reflections you can see through the jello, and on the plate, in this picture.

Of course certain people prefer to eat it like this ^^^

Rainbow Layered Jello

1 6-oz. package red jello, any flavor

1 6-oz. package orange jello

1 6-oz. package yellow jello

1 6-oz package green jello

1 6-oz. package blue jello

5 c. plain yogurt or sour cream

Remember to start making this early. If you want it done by dinnertime, you should start it in the morning. Or make it the day before.

Mix red jello with two cups boiling water until all the jello powder is dissolved. Take out ½ cup of this jello mixture and, in a separate bowl, combine it with 1 cup yogurt. This is your creamy layer. Pour it into a 9x13 glass pan and refrigerate until set, about ½ hour–45 minutes. 

Once creamy layer is set, pour remaining 1 ½ cups (or so) of red jello over the top of it and refrigerate that until set. (The clear layer usually sets faster.) I "break the fall"of the jello with a spoon as I pour it, so the force of it won't poke a hole in the creamy layer.

Repeat process with orange, yellow, green, and blue jello, alternating clear and creamy layers.

You can half the recipe (using small 3-oz. jello packages) and use a smaller casserole pan, if desired.

*The ISFAJ would be pleased.

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Laugher

I love her tiny hands

Marigold is so cute, and she has such a round head, and she smiles and laughs so funnily. How can we help but love her?

This is a funny, smarmy smile

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Bright (Mari)Gold

This is a story about my family, and how we became. . . a bigger family. And about their strength, and how some of them risked certain death for me, and others asked to be paid in cheese. In short, it is a story about Gratitude.

I hadn't gone past my due date in any of my pregnancies since Abraham (who was a day late) (and a dollar short) (ha ha), and as much as I told myself I was prepared for whatever happened, I wasn't expecting that. We had our last day of school, Sam went back to work after his time off, I had one last YW presidency meeting, and as the days passed, I suddenly found myself with less and less going on. I'd tried to be vague about the due date, even in my own mind (it doesn't ever help to be firm about such things), but, people being what they are, I'd been pinned down by the Compassionate Service leader, who sounded slightly put-out that I wasn't planning to be induced ("We like to be able to plan ahead!"). I thus found myself in that awkward state known to anyone who's run into a neighbor in the grocery store, had a pleasant conversation, said goodbye---and then crossed paths with her again! Everyone had already said goodbye to me, and yet here I was, rearing my head again every time someone turned around. I felt defensive and apologetic at the same time.

I turned my mind, and my children's arms, to cleaning instead. (I don't know if this was "nesting," or sheer desperation to find anything else to think about.) They were so good and helpful. Abe and Seb, especially, had been great painters' assistants the week before, and now they were just as industrious with cleaning. We cleared out drawers that hadn't seen the light of day for years. I had someone come wash our windows, which proceedings Seb watched with great and abiding interest. By the time the guy was done, Seb had found our squeegee, made a holster for a squirt bottle around his waist, and was ranging around the house with an eagle-eye out for any wipe-able surface. He and Abe played "Window Washer" for the next several days. A person couldn't lay a finger on our back door window without Abe or Seb running over to wipe off the prints (with an accompanying reprimand: "Can't you see I just cleaned that?!"). We vacuumed and dusted, and I made everyone follow me around the house wiping doors, light switches, and walls with cleaner and the Magic Eraser, until everything shone.

5

Little girls

We love these little red-dressed, ponytailed girls.

And we love this tiny Marigold! She is the sweetest.

Does she look like the others? I don't know. This calm face reminds me of Junie as a baby, but I don't really think they look that much alike.

Small smile

Big smile

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Daisies and Cuties

I just love this time of year. We haven't been out much (or I should say, I haven't---the kids play outside all the time) so every time I do go out, I'm just amazed at how beautiful everything is. I think I'm still stuck back in the chilly-not-quite-Spring mindset. As the temperature is now in the 90's, I need to get with it!

 These dancing birds were so lovely. What are they? Cormorants?

 You can tell he's about to burst out laughing

2

Some pictures

Kenneth and Jack and Grandma came to visit!

Bright rainbows

Marigold gets cuter and cuter! Here she is chortling with Daddy.

I like the way her tiny fists just float around in the air

Talking

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Fragmented

I'm not even attempting, at this point, to see the larger picture. I'm just letting life wash me along, happy enough to have fragments of thought every so often. I'm reading book after book. I don't often know what day it is. I keep remembering things I need to do and then, immediately, forgetting them. I don't really mind. Anything important will drift into my brain again, eventually, right? Meanwhile I snuggle this tiny one, and laugh when her wet mouth turns and bites me as I kiss her cheek.

A few pictures I've been meaning to post:

What I like about this picture is Junie's pure, open-mouthed delight as she hangs from the bar. She didn't even care about the slide except as a means to get down so she could get up again and hang from the bar. I guess all her practice hanging from Malachi's bunk bed is paying off.

Pretty rainbows.

Two girls saying "hi"

Some game Seb made up called "Monkey Monkey Posy." What I like is how Junie is clearly a full participant. She thinks she's one of the big kids. Is she?

Oh, this handsome Sebby-boy. Getting so big.

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