Kindergarten Musical

On Tuesday Caden had his first musical!  It was so cute!  They sang about 4 songs and danced to all of them.
Here he is getting down!!  Way to go Caden!  You did good bud!

Caden's Birthday Party

We were in Austin for Caden's Birthday so we decided to just celebrate at the hotel.  We got an ice cream cake from Marble Slab (not nearly as good as Cold Stone...they don't have them in Austin;(  and then we had pizza and opened presents.
What a cutie!  I can't believe he is already 6 years old!  It seems like yesterday that I was prego with him!  Time flies by so quickly!

After the little party, we still had some time to kill before they kiddoes went to bed, so we decided to head on over to Chuck E. Cheese so they could play some games.
I think Ben had more fun then Noah on this one...he looks a little annoyed:)

Happy Birthday Caden!  Hope you had a fun day!  We love you!

Austin Trip...Day 2 and an Apology

Saturday, April 11....Caden's Birthday:)

I need to apologize to the cute little, old man at HEB grocery store in Austin, TX for the way that Noah ran down the isle, spanked you on the bum and then laughed hysterically.  I don't know what got into him. 

We started the day at the LBJ Park.  We love going there!  They have lots of animals there and a living Farm there you can visit.  This deer came right up to the boys and they fed the deer some pretzels...is that wrong??
This calf was at the farm and was letting everyone pet him.  So cute!
The boys in the barn.
Noah was able to get an egg out of the chicken coop.
He was so careful with it!  He got to take it to the kitchen so they can color it later!

The family in front of the barn.
Climbing a big tree.  If you notice in the top left corner, there is some poison oak.  Some man came by telling us that it was there, after the pictures!  Luckily we never touched it!!
After LBJ Park we went to another park for lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt.  
Caden aquired most of the eggs...we had to divey them all up to be fair:)  They loved it!!

Austin Trip...Day 1

Friday, April 10

As of the past 4 years we have made a tradition of going to Austin, TX for Easter.  I don't know how it got started, but every year we make the trek!  Its something we always look forward to.  We may have to change things up a bit...we are getting to the point where we have seen pretty much everything!  Maybe San Antonio next year???  Who knows!!  Anyway, this year my cousin, Jennie, and her family came with us.  We started the trip by going to the Waco Zoo.  Yes, they have a zoo and yes, it is a pretty good one! This is a picture of the boys playing on the playground.
Between my cousin and I there are 4 boys: Nathan (2), Noah (3), Landen (5), Caden (6).  Did I mention that we are both having our 3rd boy???  Yea...there will be 6 boys when we hang out.  That's going to be fun!!!  They are all by the little aqurium.  
Spring was definitely in the air...the animals were so active!  This Elephant was drinking water, playing peek-a-boo, and posing.  The kids loved it!
This Lion is quite the entertainer.  He started off in a little corner, away from everyone, then he walked around in a circle, turned his booty to everyone and pooed.  Nice.  Then he came right up to Noah and started to roar.  I mean ROAR!!  Loud.  They loved it!
You can see him just staring at the boys...kinda creepy.  You just don't see that.  When we go to the zoo, the lion is ALWAYS sleeping!
All the beautiful flowers, or as my mom would say...foilage:) and the boys.
After the Zoo, we went on to Austin.  We ate at a yummy place called Z'Tejas.  This is the Gee's favorite place.  We loved it!  Then we went to the Arboritum and had to take the annual cow  pictures:)
The family picture.  Yes, the tummy is hidden and will be the rest of the pregnancy.  Its just not cute anymore!!  This is Caden's last day to be 5!!!  His b-day was on Saturday!! 
After the park, we went to see the bats at the Congress Bridge.  We have always meant to see them, but never had the opportunity to go!  My cousin found this on the website...I liked what it said and am copying her:)

"The Congress Avenue Bridge spans Town Lake in downtown Austin and is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America.  The colony is estimated at 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats.  Each night from mid-March to November, the bats emerge from under the bridge at dusk to blanket the sky as they head out to forage for food." 

It is one of those things you just have to see.  Very cool!

Boy's Photo Shoot

For those of you in the DFW area and need some Family/Kid pictures...look no further!!  My friend Ambyr took these pictures of the boys and all I can say is I'm in love!  I have had the hardest time  picking out my favorites!  I can't wait to get these framed and hung up!!  I love, LOVE, love the blue background and how it turned out to be the perfect spot for them!   Hope you enjoy them!  Thanks Ambyr...your amazing!

These are all copyrighted by Ambyr...so no theiving:)  I don't know how to put that on each pic or I would:)

Getting Crafty...

Since I am going to be having 3 boys and no girls...I don't get to make all the cute things that I was planning on making.  Therefore, I decided to make the cuteness for friends.  Here is what I have been up to the last few days:

I have been addicted to etsy.com and keep running into these adorable onsies.  I thought I would give them a try and see if I could put it together and actually sew around...it can be done!  I added ribbon to the burp clothes because I can't sew straight!

Sorry...no matter what I did, this would not got the right way...just tilt your head:)  I added tutu's to my list of things I would want if I were having a girl...so put it with the onsie and voila!  Also, I had to make wipee cases...
Here is the onsie with the tutu.  Stay tuned for boy versions of everything!  Except the tutu's of course:)

All the Pretty Horses

On Sunday we went to Heath to visit Ben's parents.  They took us to see all these beautiful horses and feed them carrots.  
The boys stood in the back of Grandpa's truck and tried their best to feed them.  They were trying so hard to be brave...but they were a bit scared:)  Caden had me hold his ring pop...so that was on one hand and then I was trying to take pictures.  Well, we ran out of carrots and the horses started to swarm me!  There were at least 3 horses smelling me and in my face.  I was a little creeped out.  When I was able to free myself from them Noah was yelling, "The horsies are eating my mom!"  He thought I was in a little trouble.  He just kept hugging on me:)  Funny kid.  Thanks for the fun time!!

YW Birthdays

I needed to come up with something cheap for my Laurels for their Birthdays.  They said they wanted me to make them cupcakes and then we sing, "Happy Birthday".  But things get too busy and thats alot of cupcakes to make:)  So, I thought and thought and came up with this.  I got a BIG Mason jar, put the cakemix in that and then typed up the recipe for them.  Then of course just made the jar look cute.  I also got them some frosting and wraped paper around that as well.
This is the final product.  I just wraped the two in some cellaphane and tied it up with a bow.  This whole thing probably cost about $2.  Not too shabby!  The girls were pretty excited about them!  Just a thought for all you YW leaders out there, or even good for VT or for a friend.  You could even add cupcake liners, candles, put it in a cute basket with that crimpy stringy paper on the bottom.  Just a thought!!

Marshmallow Brownies

I don't know what my problem is...all I do is bake as of late.  I have had nothing exciting to blog about...except food.  So, there are several new postings today.  Hopefully you will find something new to try!!

Today I needed to make something for the families Ben hometeaches...the fun thing is trying to find a recipe with all the ingredients on hand since it is Sunday.  Of course it was tricky this time because I had no brown sugar.  BUT...I did have marshmallows:)  I forgot how much I love these.  I mean LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these.  My mom used to make these all the time when I was little.  It has been awhile since I have had them.  They are so ooey and gooey.  Marshmallow is just all over the place and when they are warm, they are even better.  You can't even see the marshmallow in the picture because the frosting melted all over.  Hope you enjoy!!

Marshmallow Brownies

2 sticks margarine

1/3 c. cocoa

2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. nuts (opt.)

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg. small marshmallows

Blend all ingredients except for marshmallows and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Then cover the brownies with a package of small marshmallows.  Put back in the oven to soften the marshmallows.  Frost when cooled.

Frosting:

1 stick margarine

cocoa

1 3/4-2 c. powdered sugar

1-2 TBS milk

Oreo Cupcakes

I had to make some cupcakes for the RS Birthday and decided on these badboys. I got the recipe off of my new favorite blog...My Baking Addiction. This girl is creative!! The frosting is so amazing. Just know that if you pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, make sure the tip you use is fat...otherwise an Oreo chunk will clog it and you will have to keep starting over...trust me, I know. I had to keep taking frosting out of my bag TWICE before I finally took a hint:) The cake was soooo good. It has over 1000 5 stars on allrecipes.com. Yes, you read the recipe correctly...it is the large box of pudding. Also, I just used 1 c. of mini chocolate chips.

Too Much Chocolate Cake from allrecipes

Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used miniature)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

*Note: I made cupcakes with this recipe. I ended up with 28 cupcakes that were baked at 350 degrees F for about 21 minutes.

Buttercream Dream Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick salted butter - room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter - room temperature

1 cup shortening

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla extract

2 pounds confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)

4-6 tablespoons very cold milk (I used 5 TBS)

8 crushed Oreo cookies with the cream removed before crushing

Directions

Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk... one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency. Fold in the Oreo cookie crumbs. Top cooled cupcakes with the buttercream frosting and garnish with 1/2 an Oreo.

St. Paddy's Day Breakfast

So, it is several days late, but this was our breakfast for St. Paddy's Day.  You may be wondering what's so special about these pancakes?  Well...of course we all love pancakes, but in this case, I am blogging about the syrup.  I happened to run out of syrup and didn't realize till the batter was made, so I was on the hunt for a recipe.  The girls at The Sister's Cafe didn't let me down.  They have a recipe for some Coconut Syrup.  She talked it up so much I had to try.  WOW!!  Amazing!  If your not a fan of coconut, I'm sure you could use Almond extract or Vanilla, whatever.  As for my house...we loved the coconut!!

Coconut Syrup

7-8 TBS butter

3/4 c. buttermilk***

1 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coconut extract

Put butter, milk and sugar in saucepan.  Put on medium heat and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Bring to boil and boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add soda and coconut extract.  It will bubble up; just continue to stir and give it a few minutes for the fizz to reduce before serving.

***I didn't have any buttermilk on hand, so I put 1 tsp. of lemon juice in a 1c. measuring cup and add milk the rest of the way.  Wait for 5 minutes and BAM...buttermilk

Seriously??? This is Just WRONG!!

The last 3 days were 85 degrees.  Today...45 degrees.  This should not be allowed.  

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

The last few weeks have been full of all sorts of fun...in regards to raising my boys.  I just thought I would share a few of them:)

THE GOOD:

We are making room for Boy #3 and had to bunk up Caden and Noah.  The transition has been interesting.  Sometimes they fight, sometimes they chit chat...its different every night.  But a few nights ago it made me realize what good brothers they are and that they really do love each other.  At about 3:00 in the morning Noah came running into our room saying he had to go potty.  So I was taking into the bathroom and Caden was in there.  I asked him what he was doing and he told me that Noah was scared to come get us to go potty, so he came here with him so he wouldn't be so scared of the dark.  Then I took them back to bed and they told each other good night and that they love each other.  Noah just told him, "Good night buddy, thanks for helping me".  How sweet is that???

THE BAD:

These are Noah's fingers...how gross are they??  When he was at pre-school he got his fingers slammed in the door.  Poor guy...he didn't even cry, until I picked him up from school and then he let the tears start.  Luckily they were not broken, just really bruised.  It looks like there is a blood blister forming, can't wait to deal with that:(  

Now for THE UGLY:

I guess when it comes to raising boys, there are a few things I am going to have to remember...they can be gross.  They pick up on all the grossness and go with it.  I usually have NO idea where they learned it (it certainly wasn't from me!  Maybe Ben??  jk, not him either)...I can just hope and pray that the grossness stops and most importantly it is done done in public.  

The last 3 days Noah has been doing the FART AND RUN.  That's right...the fart and run.  He picks his victim (one day Ben, then me and then Caden), smiles a sweet little smile, turns around, puts his bum on you, farts, laughs and runs as fast and as far away as he can get.  

If my child has done this to you...I am completely apologetic and hope it wasn't too horrific for you.  I think he has learned his lesson and will never do this again...I can only pray.

One thing is for certain...I will never have a dull moment in my life.