I am back...........and cupcakes!

So I cannot believe that is has been over 2 months since I posted anything :( We found out that we are expecting again! We are very excited but it has taken such a toll this time. I am hoping that I am coming out of the 1st trimester joys. So these cupcakes were made a while ago. The first one was made for my daughter Ava's preschool class. She still has 2 years of preschool but all the other kids were graduating to kindergarten. I found them on a blog and feel bad that it has been so long and I do not remember the blog. All that is needed is cake mix, frosting, reeses peanut butter cups, Ghiradelli chocolate squares, mini M & M's and food gel. To make the cap place a reeses peanut butter cup upside down on the frosting. Place a little frosting on the top of the peanut butter cup and stick a chocolate square on top. make a dot with the food gel on the cap and place the mini M&M on top. Draw a tassle with the food gel. Super easy and they look really cute.


The next cupcakes I made for Hanna's birthday class party. I found these here and instantly fell in love with them. According to Hanna they were a hit! I don't have ANYTHING from Hanna's 6th birthday party :( The day of her birthday was probably the worst day I have felt throughout this pregnancy so no SheRa pictures.....yes she wanted a SheRa party!

Cupcakes for dinner!!

I love April Fools! My husband always forgets so I am able to fool him! This year I filled his lunch full of candy and a soda. (made him a real lunch too) then I stuffed his car full of air fresheners..........still stinks oops! He is a good sport so he makes it fun. This year for dinner I made cupcakes for dinner! Well they were meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting and red salt sprinkles. The girls thought it was fun I even tricked my 3 year old to eating mashed potatoes for the first time. She was very disappointed though that it was not a cupcake. Here is how I did it: I took my meatloaf recipe which sorry I just eyeball so I do not know the exact measurements. Bake if a cupcake pan, I used paper liners but I think foil liners would work better. I filled the liner about 3/4 ways. While they are baking make mashed potatoes. Once meatloaf is done there will be some fat on the top, I soaked it up with a paper towel. To "frost" the cupcakes I first tried to use my cake frosting tool but it was not working properly so I just used a knife. For the "sprinkles" I took some coarse salt and put in 1 drop of food coloring and used my hands to mix. Then sprinkle on top of potatoes. I put them back in the oven for 5 mins just to make sure they are nice and warm for serving. Then my friends you have yourself cupcakes for dinner!

Helping Hands-A Teacher's Valentine Gift

I love Hanna's teacher and think she is really great with kids. So anytime we have a chance to show our appreciation I like to make her something special. I have been wanting to do this gift idea found in the Family Fun magazine for a while now.
I traced out Hanna's hands and cut them out. I wanted to find some nice lotion but ran out of time so bought some hand sanitizer. I had Hanna write:
Mrs. Rule, You deserve a hand. Love Hanna

Hope she likes it!

Valenties Day Cards

I love Valentines Day!! It is a time to get crafty and show the people we love how special they are. I love making homemade Valentines for my kids. This year I found a great Valentine idea from one of my favorite blogs made.

Teacher's Christmas Present

So I have been a little behind on blogging but ready to go for 2011. This is something I have been meaning to post but the holidays consumed me and I have had little to no time for blogging. I did get this idea from A bushel and a peck and loved it. I am all about homemade gifts and it all cost under $5. I did have the teacher's name in vinyl on the apple, just did not get a picture of it. The cirlce wreath part is a wooden embroidery hoops. I used a 10" for the outer ring and an 8" for the inner. Each embroidery hoop comes with 2 so really you could make 2 if you have 2 kids in school. I just glue gunned the crayons to each of the hoops. I also glue gunned the apple to the crayons and the ribbon to the back of the hoops. The wooden apple was from Joanns wood craft section for .50 cents. I also bought a 64 ct Crayola crayon box from Joanns and used a 40% off coupon so they were under $3. Hopefully her teacher liked it!

True Meaning of Christmas

So I just received a very inspiring email from an amazing mom and my best friend Jenny. She has been following her new favorite blog and shared a post that she read from it. I was in tears as I read it because I felt really guilty. We bought our Christmas tree late Saturday night and Hanna has been very excited to decorate it. So Saturday was too late to do anything with it. Then Sunday we had church and then company for dinner it just got too late again. Monday rolled around she went to a friends house and then again we had company from out of town stay the night and it still did not get done. She has been begging me to help decorate the tree and I have been putting it and her off because I have been too busy. I have been too busy Christmas shopping, cleaning, cooking, work, etc., etc. Thank you so much Jenny for this because I have woken up and realized that I am putting off precious memories. Christmas is about family,giving love and building memories. I will never forget this and tomorrow will change my priorities. Here is the post:

Young@Heart
By Pam Young

I was at Michael's (the craft store) in the late afternoon when I heard a conversation in the next isle between a mother and her six-year-old child.

"Oh, Mama, look at this!"

"Uh huh."

"I love this!!"

"Uh huh."

"I have one don't I!!!"

"Uh huh."

"You made it for me didn't you Mama!!!!"

"Uh huh."

As I listened to the excitement and love for her mother in the child's voice and the drone of her mother's responses, tears welled up in my eyes. I thought about how many times I'd done the same thing with my children when they were young. After all, I had a centerpiece to make, a decoration for the coffee table to think about, colors to consider, people to impress and not enough time! At that moment in Michael's I would have given anything to go back to just one time in the isle of a store, hear my child's voice and not miss what was really happening. Love, joy adoration. The stuff of Christmas!

My kids are grown now and I'll never again hear their little bell voices exclaiming their joy over something. That time is gone forever.

I had to get to the next isle and see the child! With tears streaming down my cheeks, I peeked around the corner and looked at the small girl's happy little face. She had a dress on and her hair was dark brown in shoulder-length curls. She was holding a Christmas stocking with a Santa Claus on it. She looked up and smiled at me. Then I looked at her mother. She was tired; I could see it in her eyes. But when she looked into mine she smiled seeing my love for her child and the moment.

I told her what had gone through my mind listening to their conversation. Her tears started to collect and she said, "Now you're making me cry." She dabbed her eye with the back of her wrist, "Thank you, I needed to hear this. I get so busy and it's easy to neglect her natural enthusiasm." I told the mother it was obvious that the child had not been neglected, because she was such a happy little girl, and that I understood how easy it was to get wrapped up in our own thoughts and miss these holy moments.

I left Michael's knowing I wanted to write about this. Your children adore you and they are like little joy dispensers, especially during this time of year. Since it is also an especially busy time for you, it can be so easy to miss those gifts of love and joy your children are eager to give to you. They are gifts that can't be wrapped up with festive paper or charged on American Express. Stay awake! This is a holy time.

Merry Christmas!
Pam

Parenthood

I was on the computer catching up on some of my favorite blogs and I had to share this quote from the Steve Martin movie Parenthood, posted from Little Miss Momma. (I have not watch this movie since I have become a parent so I am putting it on our Netflix que.) This is from the crazy old Grandma:

"You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.

Up, down, up, down.

Oh, what a ride!

I always wanted to go again.

You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together!

Some didn't like it.

They went on the merry-go-round.

That just goes around.

Nothing.

I like the roller coaster.

You get more out of it."

-Grandma from PARENTHOOD (The Movie)

Life is like a theme park ride.

Will you chose the roller coaster

or the merry-go-round?