I Think I'm Nesting??

Over the last couple of weeks I have been out of control.  I think it is due to Nesting...Or maybe they finally figured out what was wrong with me (dizzy, passing out all the time, can't breathe, etc) was I had low iron (what makes me mad is that I had this with the other 2 boys and they never figured that one out?  I mean come on!!  I have had to quit driving towards the end of my pregnancies...all I had to do was take a simple iron pill??  OK...I'm off my soap box).   So, since I have had so much energy, I have been sewing, painting, cleaning, organizing etc.  So here's a sampling of what I have been up to:

Some burp cloths and binky clips.  There is a tutorial on how to do the binky clips on Little Birdie Secrets (I love them:)
Bibs, burp cloths and diaper/wipee holders.  I just LOVE this fabric.  
More cuteness...
Burp cloths, bibs and tagee blanket.
Framing the amazing pics my friend Ambyr took of the boys.
A sneek peek of the babies room.  Tonight we are getting the chair rail up.  When that's done, I get to hang everything on the walls, like these guys:
I got the idea from the Nesting Place.  For some reason the link she gives is taking me some random something...Anyway.  They have been fun to make, I have 3 more that I am making.  Can't wait to get them hung...if only I could figure that out.  It's made out of styrofoam.  Should be interesting, but I WILL figure it out:)  

Anyway.  That's what I have been up to.  Thankfully the boys get really excited when I make anything for their brother and not mad at me.  I did have to make them a cute blanket made out of the rockstar/flame fabric above.  That made them excited.  I think we are all ready for this little guy to come.  I have 12 weeks left.  Ugh.  It's going to be a long 12 weeks.  It is already 92 degrees outside and it is April.  That can't be a good sign.  At least I'm not in Colorado where it is still snowing!!

Go Rough Riders!!

Last night we went to the Rough Riders Game (minor league baseball team in Frisco) with some of Ben's family: Jon, Wendy, Chris, Ashley, Logan and his friend.  We got there at 6 pm...right when they open.  We were able to meet the mascot, Deuce...the boys loved that!!
We also were able to get several of the players autographs.  As we were walking to get our tickets a man who worked at the stadium tossed Caden a ball that had already been played with.  He was able to use that ball to get lots of signatures:)  
The boys with one of the players.
At the ball park they have a really cool playground and bounce house that the kids could play on.  From now on, when we go, we will always come right when they open the doors!  So much fun there!  Did I mention that with the seats we got, we had all you can eat food??  Yeah, I stuffed my face.  I had a stomach ache the rest of the night.
The boys by the field.
Logan's friend, Brayden, Logan, Caden and Noah.  Its always nice when Logan is around...the boys worship him and love to be by him.  Thanks for watching them Logan!!

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