New Idea in the works - Please help!

I haven't blogged in a little bit so I thought I would tonight. I wanted to share with you my new(est) idea on how I can earn some money from home. Pastor has preached a few times on the Spiritual side of the economy and what we can do as Christians practically if things get worse. When he said that there are ways to make money from home, I just kept saying over and over - "I have no skills, I have no talents, I have nothing to offer!" If I could make money for loving my kids and caring for them that would be one thing, but other than that how is a Mom with a active 18 month old and a so severely disabled 30 month old who requires 8 hours of non-stop therapy going to make any money from home?!?! Our parents are helping us with the costs of hiring people to do Dillon's therapy (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!).

Well, God started a seed of a thought and it is starting to really take off. I want to share it with you, ask for any advice if you have done something similar and anything else you can suggest about it.

My idea? We are in an area full of teens! They get out of school and hang around the streets all afternoon/evening. What does every teen want as soon as they get home from school? FOOD! Hot, fresh baked cookies, muffins, breads, brownies, and candy. And maybe some hot chocolate since it is so cold out. My mom and my in-laws have given me lots of ideas and I have talked it over with a teen girl who has been coming every afternoon to help with Dillon's program. The teen girl thinks it would be a great hit!  

Here are the specifics that I am thinking right now...

• Only be "open" from 3-4, if it is a big hit maybe from 3-5 
• Each day of the week would be a specific thing (Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, banana bread, blueberry muffins, and ?? Not sure on the 5th one yet - any suggestions? If I can find soft pretzels to warm up maybe that, if not I don't know yet.)
• Everyday I could have hot chocolate and/or mochas (adding instant coffee to hot chocolate - I do this often in the mornings and it is good!)
• Everyday I could have chocolate dipped pretzel rods
• Everyday I could have other molded chocolates (example: bite size chocolate with fresh ground coffee on top - I have made these before and they are good! and chocolate in the shapes of the seasonal holidays)
• My mom suggested maybe carmel apples

I have to price each thing but friends of my mom are doing the candy part of this and they say it is easy and they are making a decent amount. They sell two pretzel rods for .50. I could decorate some with a different color chocolate drizzled over them or sprinkles or mini chocolate chips or, or, or the possibilities are endless!

Okay - so please let me know if you think this is something that is a good idea considering the area we live in. Many of the teens don't go home after school b/c no parent is home - so no mom home to make them hot baked goodies. Some of the kids at the high school have to eat lunch at 10am in order to get everybody in so they are hungry when they get out at 3pm!

Please leave any suggestions for me. Any advice, warnings, precautions, etc. I need some input!!

You can email me at tiffanykuenzi@gmail.com

Thanks!

Meeting Mrs. McCain!

This morning Josiah got an email saying that Cindy McCain was making a secret trip to the office Blue Bell. It was not advertised except to the volunteers. So of course we had to go! There were only about 150 people there, so it was pretty neat.


Here is Jay walking around while we waited.



















Miss Robin feeding Dillon



















Here she comes in the motorcade...






































It was a little dark because my flash isn't good enough, I am sure I can brighten it up - but I just want to get the pictures on right now.























Here Mrs. McCain is talking to Dillon. We gave her a copy of Dillon's Story and asked her to give on to Gov. Palin! She used to be a special needs teacher so you can tell she is comfortable talking to the special children. It was a once in a life time meeting that's for sure!



























Some of her "crew" took these pictures for us. Our Nurse, Robin, stayed late so we could go. It was very sweet of her (plus she didn't mind getting the opportunity to shake hands with Mrs. McCain either!)

Sarah Palin Rally

Sarah meeting another Down's child today. This was not our video as we weren't able to get as close with the wheel chair.

We went to a Sarah Palin rally today in Lancaster with the boys. The line was like a mile long and when we were near the end someone told us there was a different line for people with disabilities. So we walked back and got in that line. There were over 10,000 tickets given out and they had even more people than that as many including ourselves were able to get in without tickets. It was really warm out in the sun, but where we were standing it was very cold. The boys did great though and Jay even fell asleep in my arms!

This is the sign I made, it has a front and back and it on two broom handles so we could hold it nice and high!

Here is Sarah walking out - of course she is holding Trig in her arms!
Giving Trig to his Daddy...
Josiah held the sign the whole time since Jay was strapped in the baby carrier to me and eventually fell asleep.

Lots and lots and LOTS of people!


It was fun, probably the only time we will get to see her in person, even if that was from far away. We wanted to go on the field but they weren't letting wheel chairs down there.

P.S. If you are visiting my blog and were at the rally today - please leave me a comment and let me know! Thanks!!!

3rd Annual Pumpkin Patch!

It's that time of year again! I can't believe we have been going to the pumpkin patch for three years now! The weather was GREAT , so nice Dillon and I even got a little sunburned.

Before the Hayride

Grandma Y and Miss Bev (one of the nurses)

Mommy and daughter time!

Grandma Y with her REAL grandchild! ;-)

The kids get to burn a lot of energy here

Jay was not in a good mood, I think it was a bit overwhelming

Me and my boys! Sorry it's sideways

I love my two little men

Jay on the hay

He wouldn't go through the tunnel but thought it was funny when I did

Jay would not stand away from me so I wasn't able to get a good picture

Well, we tried at least....

There's my Dillon Boy

He growing up so fast!

On the Hayride

More Hayride pics

Aren't they cute?

It was quite a fun time

Dillon got to ride right behind the tractor

I didn't know Grandma Y took so many pictures of us ;o)

Mrs Michelle and Dillon riding side by side

Picking out our pumpkins

We went to their bigger pumpkin field this year

The ramp Josiah bought came in handy this year. This is Dillon being put into the wagon

Mrs Michelle coming out of the wagon. Thank you to Corey and Wayne for helping get Dillon in and out for me!!!

Back at the barn

Milking a cow (a fake one of course)

Lunch time! Thank you everyone for bringing food, it is such a nice time together

Jay swinging after lunch (he was in a much better mood after lunch)

We had a great time again this year, can't wait till next October to do it again! Thank you Abbi and Katina for planning it and Mrs K for cooking a lot of the food!!!
It's that time of year again! I can't believe we have been going to the pumpkin patch for three years now! The weather was GREAT, so nice Dillon and I even got a little sunburned.