Who Authorized This?

How can my baby boy be 6 already?  Who let that happen?

The morning began with a few snuggles & a selfie.

Because it was a school day, we started with presents!

That night we had Lego cake.....

And then that weekend, we headed to The City for some family fun.  

His favorite part was Go Karts!  

At 6, Justin lights up a room.  He has a large vocabulary, enjoys reading, wakes up happy every morning, and is enthusiastic about almost everything except vegetables.  He loves to run and jump, is a Mario master, can ride a 2-wheeler, is learning to swim.  His favorite colors are red, orange, and green, he has requested high tops for his next pair of shoes, and would probably live very happily on just string cheese.    

January (and a little February) 2014

January was a heck of a month.

Although our weather is normally fairly mild in the winter, Mother Nature seems determined to show us who is really in charge around here.

We've had 9 snow days in January.

9!

In a normal year, we may have one or two.  We have also had many of the oh-so-frustrating two hour delay.  Although I'd much rather have my children be safe & warm at home than travelling over icy country roads or in a classroom that can't keep up with the sub-zero temperatures, I can't tell you how ready I am for sunshine and spring.... although according to Groundhog Day, that won't come before April.  I'm also thinking that there will have to be a warm weather getaway planned for next January.  Let's call it a necessity.  For my sanity.

This day we got around 8" total. 

January also brought us the beginning of Birthday Season, where we celebrated this dude:  

And then Birthday #10 for this Girl:

Per her request, she wanted a fluffy cake with fluffy icing.  So I made an angel food cake & topped it with a chocolate whipped cream frosting.  It was quite delicious. 

This weekend we did run away for a little family fun at the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky.  

Other friends had said good things about it, and an indoor waterpark at a constant 84 degrees seemed like just the thing to thaw us out.  

It was VERY fun!  Great Wolf & Kalahari are very close to each other in Sandusky, and I chose Great Wolf because it seemed to be geared for younger kids.  And it was perfect for us!  There were a few larger water slides for my daredevil 10 year old, and plenty to do for my dog paddler.  

I found everything to be very clean.  The rooms were spacious, the resort was much quieter than I expected, and there was plenty to do - most of which we didn't have a chance to explore.  Unfortunately, M came down with a cold on Thursday, and although he came with us, he didn't have a chance to enjoy the resort as much as we did.  

I can't speak to the restaurants or food there - Sandusky has lots of restaurants, and we ate out for all our meals.  The prices looked high, but on par with what I expected for a "resort".  We also did not experience the arcade (but it looked fun), or the other games/ activities there.  BUT, I would highly recommend Great Wolf for families with kids under 12.  We only spent one night there, and due to the length of the drive, I would definitely spend 2 nights next time.    

The rest of February is going to be focusing on M's job hunt, prepping classroom Valentines and slogging through a No Spend month.   Wish us luck.  

  

Birthday "Cake"

This year's birthday was a mixed bag of meh, ugh, and YES.

The meh: It was mostly "just another day".  I worked, M worked late, I didn't sleep well, and I made my own cake.

The ugh: The kids fought most of the day.  There was some yelling, a few tears, and a couple of time outs.

The YES: I didn't cook, I bought new jeans, I received a number of birthday texts and emails, we had pizza for dinner (and for a change, I ordered the kind I wanted), and the "cake" was awesome.

So let's talk about cake.

Technically, it wasn't a cake, but a dessert.   I made a recipe that I had Pinned over a year ago.  It's titled Brownie-bottom Coconut Chocolate Cream Cake.  I've been on a coconut kick lately, so this sounded amazing.... and it lived up to its delicious title. I won't include the recipe, because it is not mine to share.  I will say this is probably one of the most complex recipe I've ever attempted.  It wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming.  I made the brownies one day, the coconut & chocolate layers another (about 6 hours apart), and the whipped cream the day it was served.

Layer 1: Brownie.  Any recipe will do.  I used the Hershey's Ultimate Brownie Recipe.  Of all the fancy brownie recipes I've tried, it's my favorite.  Next time I would omit the chocolate chips.... it just seemed like a bit much.  

Layer 2: Coconut cream.  Y.U.M.  I went the extra mile and ground down the coconut in the food processor.  It makes it a little more fine and less stringy.  Worth the extra 3 minutes.  Sprinkled between the brownie & the coconut cream are bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  A-mazing. 

Layer 3: Chocolate cream (it's a mousse).  Essentially this is a ganache with whipped cream folded into it.  I never knew that was how you made chocolate mousse.  This may be very dangerous knowledge.  

Layer 4: Whipped cream topped with toasted coconut.  The one thing I did not like about this recipe was using gelatin to "stabilize" the whipped cream.  I think it was too warm when it was time to add it to the partially whipped cream, and I ended up with bits of unflavored gelatin floating in the whipped cream.  Not horrible, but it randomly ruined the mouthfeel of the dessert.  

Pros: Amazing taste, not too chocolate-y or coconut-y, looks fancy. 

Cons: Takes a long time to make, gelatin bits in the whipped cream, and the brownie layer was pretty heavy.  

Verdict: I would absolutely make this again.  Next time I would leave out the chocolate chips in the brownie, halve the amount of brownie in the bottom layer, and possibly leave out the gelatin from the whipped cream.  

5!

My baby boy is 5!  

He had a big birthday to celebrate, and we started at 6 am to open presents before Daddy headed to work.  

After school, a nap, first day of soccer practice, and dinner at Panera, we headed home to FINALLY have cake.  

Yep, he's 5!

Saturday brought his PARTY.  He's been talking about it for 2 months.  

Of course it was a MARIO theme.  

Thank you Pinterest, for giving me lots of fun ideas. 

I made Mario "hats" with red foam visors and a sheet of white foam. 

They also decorated wooden race cars. 

Went home with a Mystery Box filled with stickers, Mario fruit snacks, a kazoo, and a gold coin. 

And enjoyed Mario cupcakes! 

They did a little coloring.....

The #1 party request was for a pinata.  

Amazingly, it took about 20 minutes to beat it open.  

Diving for candy...

One of his pals brought chocolate moustaches for everyone - so cool!

The boys played "Pin the Moustache on Mario" (and their interest lasted exactly 1.5 seconds). 

We ended the day with "Stomp the Chomps".

The balloons were crazy strong, and it took them ages to pop!

Happy Birthday J!

A Belated 9th Birthday

After last year's mega-party, I swore that my girl would not get another party until she turned 12.  Possibly 16.  Yes, it was that much work.  And yet I somehow allowed myself to be roped into hosting a few of her friends for a Spa Party.  

I know, I am a sucker. 

We invited 4 friends, and 2 came, so it was actually very manageable.  

We made invitations in the shape of a sleep mask, and filled in the details with glittery pen.  

As party favors, we put together a personalized "spa kit" with a dollar store container, flip flops, a wash cloth, face scrubber, nailpolish, combs, head bands, hair elastics, and a manicure kit.  I bought everything at the Dollar Tree, so even though it seems like a lot of "stuff" it was totally reasonable.  

I personalized each container with the girls' names - I love how they turned out!  

We decorated the buffet in party style with a banner, tissue paper flowers, 

personalized art, and yummy treats.  

It was an afternoon party, so we had root beer and candy popcorn for treats, and of course cupcakes & ice cream.  

Flower cupcake papers were the perfect girly touch!

With a spa party theme we decorated flip flops with ribbon & tulle, played musical manicure, enjoyed an all-natural face mask, and then painted toenails.  

And then enjoyed those delicious cupcakes!  This year's secret: Nutella frosting.  I was dying.  

Happy Birthday, baby girl!  9 going on 19!