Wednesday, March 30

So Fun at Six Months!


Today is Jenna's 1/2 birthday! It's been six fabulous months since our princess turned our world upside down. Jenna is such a sweet baby girl who's always smiling. She smiles for just about anybody, but she reserves her biggest smiles for her big brother. She's always on the move, and it won't be long before she can keep with Collin.

Jenna had her first taste of real food yesterday, and she LOVED it! We had no problems with gagging, spitting, crying, etc. She's such an angel baby!

See that little bit of food around her mouth? Yup, that's as big as the mess got! I love her! Of course, how could I not with a face that adorable?!?

Tuesday, March 29

Cake, Candy, and Cousins

On Saturday, we drove to NJ to help our niece celebrate being 3. Matt and I were at the hospital when Arianna was born, and it's hard to believe three years have gone by already.


Just about everything that comes with birthday parties was new to Collin so it was fun to watch him experience it all for the first time.His first new thing was Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Even with his eyes uncovered, he pinned the tail on the donkey's back instead of the backside. Somebody else had put their tail there, and Collin tends to be a follower.


The pinata was new to him as well. He really didn't understand why he had to hit anything in order to get candy.


He was excited once the candy came out, but the poor short-sighted little boy did not understand the "get as much candy as you can" part. He picked up one "lolly", asked us to open it, and decided he didn't need any more candy.


Birthday hats were a new thing, too. He wasn't crazy about it, but who is? Maybe someday birthday hats will be comfy......


The cake part of the party was one part Collin understood perfectly. He knew it was Arianna's cake, but he also knew she was supposed to share with everyone. When asked what kind of cake he wanted, he asked for a "cake muffin".




Jenna is too little to participate in the birthday activities, but she did have fun. batting a balloon around and playing with her cousin Carson.







Saturday, March 26

Winnie-the-Pooh Cake

When my sister asked me to make a Winnie-the-Pooh cake for my niece's birthday party, I said, "Sure, no problem." Then I started to panic a little bit. I love to decorate cakes, but nobody had never asked me to make a cake for them. I have no artistic ability (Seriously, on a good day, I can draw stick figures), so the task of drawing a Pooh with frosting was overwhelming to say the least. I would not have been able to make Arianna's cake without looking at Pooh cakes that other people had made, and now I am passing on the steps to this cake to maybe help out somebody else. This is the cake that I attempted to replicate.

The first thing I had to figure out was how to cook a cake that was half chocolate and half white. (When Sarah asked me if I could do that, I said, "Of course!" but I really had no idea how to go about it). I copied the lady in this video on the "rolled-up towel method" and successfully made one cake with two flavors. I used one chocolate cake mix and one white cake mix in an 11x15 pan. The line in the middle was not exactly straight, but it didn't seem bad for a first try.When the cake was cool, the fun really started - keeping Collin's fingers out of the icing while I decorated the cake! I frosted the entire cake with white frosting and let it harden just a little bit.

My original thought for drawing Pooh was that I could place a picture of Pooh on the cake and use a toothpick to poke holes around the edges into the cake. Instead, I poked holes all around Pooh before I placed the picture on the cake. When I put it on the cake, the backs of the holes actually left a decent outline for me, and I just sort of guesstimated the rest.

I bought a tube of black frosting, because I've never succeeded in making my own. (If you have ever had any success with making black or red frosting, please let me know how). I used a #2 tip to outline Pooh in black.

I used a mix of ivory and yellow food coloring to get the right color for Pooh. I filled in his body with stars using the #16 tip. I built up his hand, cheeks, and snout by putting on a few more layers of stars.

I bought a tube of red frosting as well and filled in his shirt with red stars. I used red frosting for his tongue and just kind of smeared it around with a toothpick until it looked like a tongue. :-)
I used chocolate frosting for his nose and the inside of his mouth.

I used green and yellow frosting to make balloons and strings and wrote my niece's name on the balloons with red frosting using the #2 tip. I used green frosting and the #16 tip to do the edges.
Because I always worry about not having enough food during parties, I also made a batch of cupcakes to go with the cake. All in all, I was happy with the result. I hope the birthday girl was, too!!
She looks happy, don't you think?

Friday, March 25

Could Life Get Any Better?

9:30 am.

Sitting on the counter in his favorite choo-choo jammies.

Licking cake batter off the beater.

Could life possibly get any better for this two year old??

Why, yes. YES it could!!

He could have TWO beaters (and a spatula and two bowls)!!
Sometimes you just need to spoil your little ones a little bit. :-)


Wednesday, March 23

New Look

As you may have noticed, I've made some changes to the look of my blog. The new background seemed to fit the season, so this is will be the look until something else strikes my fancy.

Unfortunately, I'm not as blog-savvy as some of the rest of you, so I do have a couple of questions:
  • I would like to put a picture of my family at the top of the blog. How do I do that?
  • How do I make tabs at the top that a reader can click on to find posts about a certain topic? I know I can put labels on them that show up on the side, but I wanted something on the top.
Thanks for your help!!

Tuesday, March 22

Recipe Review: Chicken Salsa Pizza

I stumbled upon this recipe this morning and decided to try it for dinner.

Ingredients:
  • 1 prebaked 12-inch pizza crust
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  • 1-1/3 cups salsa
  • 1 cup cubed cooked chicken

Directions:

  • Place bread shell on an ungreased 12-in. pizza pan. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of cheese. Top with the salsa, chicken and remaining cheese. Bake at 450° for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.
I made a few modifications to the recipe, but I didn't make any major changes:
  • To add a little extra kick, I put green chiles on 1/2 of both pizzas. I would have put them on the whole pizza, but that didn't really seem like it would be fair to the two year old who was going to be eating it.
  • On one of the pizzas, I used a mixture of sour cream and salsa instead of straight salsa. That was good, too. Neither Matt nor I could decide which version we liked better.
The conclusion? We loved it! It was SOOOOO easy to make, and it was delicious! At the request of Matt, this recipe will definitely become a regular on our menu.

Friday, March 18

Lucky Enough To Be Irish

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough!"

Big smile. Fat chin. :-)
Irish Princess



How handsome is he?!?

Lucky in love :-)




Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Monday, March 14

Happy Pi Day!

Being a math nerd, I love Pi Day. I think if more people knew that Pi Day can be celebrated with actual pie, they would definitely jump on the "math nerd" bandwagon for at least a day. (That's how I persuade Matt into pretending he cares about it). This year I made three pies - a pumpkin, a lemon, and a banana cream.
Tomorrow is a big day for English nerds. Unfortunately, I don't know of any baked goods that go along with the Ides of March, so it will go by unnoticed by most people.

Sunday, March 13

Dog or No Dog?

I'd like to get a dog. Collin would like a dog. Jenna could go either way. Matt (aka The Boss) is not 100% sold on the idea yet. If we get a dog, we are planning on adopting a dog from a shelter. We want a little dog, because we feel like it would not be fair to get a big dog when we don't have a lot of space for it to get exercise. I'd also prefer one that gets haircuts instead of one that sheds to I know dogs can be a lot of work, but I hear they can also be a great addition to a family. We're just trying to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. So please share with me your dog experiences. Do you have a dog? What kind? Did/does it bring more happiness than work? If you had to do it over again, would you still get a dog?

I'll leave you with pictures of a couple of dogs that we're looking at: