Zander's 4th birthday

We had Zander's first friend birthday party on Saturday! He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse right now so of course he wanted a Mickey Mouse party. There are so many kids here in the neighborhood and I didn't want to leave any out so I went ahead and invited all 17. Yep , crazy, I know but its ok cuz only 13 showed up hahaha! Good thing I had some help here.  I had it all perfect in my mind how I wanted everything to be,  I was up until  3 am. the night before and up early again the next morning but I still ran out of time!

And, I ran out of black food coloring! I thought i had plenty but it had started to dry up. Dang! So the bottom and top layer of the cake turned out gray.There were also a lot of other details that I wanted to add to the cake, but like I said...I ran out of time. But oh well its still cute right??  I also wanted to fill the front yard with helium balloons in mickey mouse colors....black and white polka dot and red and yellow ones. I figured on about 40, stuck into the ground with golf tees at varying heights. But apparantly there is a shortage of helium right now (who knew?) so Walmart would only fill 10 balloons for me. I cheated and had Baylie get 10 for me too. But still I only ended up with half as many balloons as I wanted.

My fabulous sister-in-law made Mickey and Minnie ears for all of the kids. They turned out so cute!

We also set up a backdrop and took pictures of all of the kids. Unfortunately we got all of them except my own kid! GRRRR ARRGH! Im not sure how that happaned!

We made Mickey Mouse shaped sugar cookies and let the kids decorate them, had a cake walk and played toilet paper bowling.

And we busted open a pinata! You gotta have a pinata!

All in all, I think it turned out pretty good and the kids had a blast!

MONSTER CUPCAKES

*For the Frankie cupcakes.....
-Insert a pretzel stick into a flat end of each marshmallow. Using a clean paintbrush, lightly coat marshmallows woth corn syrup. Immediately roll top and sides in green colored sugar; allow to dry for 20 min.
-Meanwhile tint vanilla frosting purple and spread over cupcakes. Toll edge of cupcakes in nonpareils; set aside. (I couldn't find any purple nonpareils so I used nerds.)
-To decorate face, press candy-coated licorice into each side. (for the bolts). Use frosting to pipe eyes, add red hots (or red nerds) for eyeballs. Pipe chocolate frosting onto faces for mouths and stitches.
-Carefully insert pretzel stick into the center of each cupcake. Tint remaining chocolate frosting black and use  to make hair.(with a pastry tip)

*Green-eyed monster
-Trim a corner from one short end of each large marshmallow. Attach the marshmallows, cut side down, on teh top of the cupcakes with a dot of frosting.
-Spoon 2 tablespoons of vanilla frosting into a small resealable bag, set aside.
-Tint the remaining vanilla frosting neon green. Soppn the neon green frosting into a resealable 2 qt. freezer bag. Snip a very small corner (1/8 in.) from bag. Pipe dots of frosting along the outer edge of the cupcake with a pipe-stop-and-pull action to create spikes of frosting. Continue piping all over the cupcakes to completely cover all but the flat side of the marshmallow.
-Snip a very small corner (1/16 in) form the bag with vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting in the center of each marshmallow and attach a junior mint. Pipe a small live to add as the sparkle in the eye.

 *ORANGE YOU SPIKY!
-Spread the tops of the cupcakes with a small mound of vanilla frosting. insert chow mein noodles into cupcakes to look like spikes. Place in the freezer for about 15 min. to firm up.
-Spoon 3 tablespoons of the vanilla frosting into a small resealable bag and set aside.
-Tint the remaining frosting bright orange and spoon into a glass microwave safe bowl. Microwave the frosting, stirring it frequently, until it is the texture of lightly whipped cream.
-Holding the liner of the partially frozen cupcake, dip the top of the cupcake up to the liner in the melted frosting to coat. Use a spoon to add more frosting if necessary. Allow the excess frosting to drip off. Invert and transfer to a cookie sheet. Insert one end of a pretzel stick into the side of a mini marsmallow. Snip a corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of frosting on one flat side of a marshmallow. Add a brown m&m candy as the pupil. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting on the brown candy for the sparkle in the eyes.
-Insert two marshmallow eyes on top of a frosted cupcake about 1 in. apart. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Halloween traditions

Wow!!! I cant believe it has been two years since my last post! Wow I am such a slacker!  I have had a few people asking for my Halloween recipes so I thought I would post it on my blog for you all.


      MUMMY CALZONES

2 loaves(one pound each) frozen bread dough, thawed
6 oz.  shredded mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce
50 slices pepperoni
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 pitted ripe olive, sliced and cut in half

*roll out each piece of dough into a rounded triangle shape, about 14-in. high by 11 in. wide at the base of the triangle. Place each on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the tip of the triangle toward you. Lightly score 4-in. wide rectangle in the center of the triangle 2-in. from the top and bottom.

*On each long side, cut 1-in. wide strips at an angle up to the score line, leaving a triangle in the top center of the wide end for the head.

*Inside the scored rectangle in the center layer the pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni and green pepper. Shape the top center triangle into a head. Starting at the head fold alternating strips of dough at an angle across filling, stopping at the last strip on each side. fold the bottom dough tip up over the filling, than fold the remaining two strips over the top; press down firmly.

*Brush dough with egg. Cover and let rise for 15 min. For eyes, press 1 olive slice into each head.

*Bake at 350 for 25-28 min. or until golden brown. Let stand for 5 min. before slicing.

** You can put whatever you want inside the calzone. It doesn't really matter. I also add red onions, olives and mushrooms. Its super yummy.

Today was the first day of school for Baylie and Kylie. Kylie will be going to middle school and Baylie will be going to high school. I can't believe how fast they have grown. They looked so beautiful! I am a proud momma!

So tired of my kids being sick!!

I am soo frustrated and starting to feel like I am just a horrible mom! It seems like my kids are always sick! Especially Zander! Ever since August it seems like he constantly has a cold. He will have about two weeks of feeling better and than he is sick again! I do not know what I am doing wrong... I make sure he eats either fruits or vegetables with every meal and he definitely gets plenty to eat. I always dress him warm and when we go out he always wears a coat and hat. When he gets over a cold I wash all of his bedding, sanitize all of his toys and everything he may have touched and still he gets sick over and over again! This last time he was better for 5 days and now his nose is way yucky again. Any one have any advice?? It's so weird.. for the first 10 months of his life he was hardly ever sick and now he spends more time sick than healthy. Thank goodness he is not prone to ear infections or we would really be in trouble!

Baylie's first competition

Saturday Baylie had her first competition. They did so awesome! They took first place in their division!! I was so proud of her and the rest of the angels!!

It's been awhile!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted!!! Here are some updated on the Fam... Zander turned one on the 6th of this month (can you believe it?) He has been walking since September and has become a real pro at it. He is still as cute as ever and has such a funny little personality. Baylie was made cheer captian and is pretty excited about that. She just got her performance outfit and it only cost us $320.00 (gag, choke!!) Kylie is getting pretty excited for Halloween and is going to be a fairy princess, Zander is going to be a turtle :) I will post some pictures! Not much else exciting going on around here, sorry we are pretty boring.

Crawling!!!

Well, Zander is now mobile! He started crawling last week. He was pretty spastic there for a couple of days but now he has the hang of it and is zooming around the house. His favorite thing to do is chase his big bouncy ball around the kitchen floor, it is so cute. He is alot more self-entertaining now too since he no longer has to depend on us to get him from point A to point B. He sure is growing fast, he will be 8 months old on Saturday. And best news of all..... He is sleeping through the night consistently....we are on 11 nights in a row now. He has woken up a couple times in the night but we just leave him and with 5 min. or less he is back to sleep. It has been heaven!!

So boring!

I have been a terrible blogger lately! There just isn't anything exciting going on these days. We had a little set back with Zander and the sleeping through the night thing. He did so good for about 2 weeks then he started waking up around 1 or 2 and would NOT go back to sleep. We would get him out and rock him and he would just fight us the whole time so we would tell him night, night and put him back in his crib and walk out and he would scream for 1-2 hours. So I decided that I wasn't even going to get him out of his bed, I was just going to walk in, pat him on the back and say "Go back to sleep, I love you." and walk back out. The first time I did this he cried for 15 min. and went back to sleep until 6:45, (yeah! I have to say I did not expect that) and the next night he slept through the night. Than last night he woke up at 5, I patted his back and walked out and he cried for 40 min, than fell asleep until 8. I hate letting him cry! But I know that if I keep giving in I will never get any sleep. I hope one of these days he will start sleeping through the night consistantly, I never know what to expect from him when I go to bed at night. Baylie was really sick all last week, she had a really bad cough and would cough through the night. Every time she coughed I would just cringe and hope that Zander didn't get woken up. She is all better now thank goodness. She missed a whole week of school and wouldn't you know it was the week they did core testing so now she has lots to make up! Poor kid.

Cinco de Mayo

It was five years ago today that my dad passed away. I can't believe it has been that long! It still seems so weird that he isn't here with us anymore, I still miss him so much. I love you Dad!

Great fettuccini recipe!

I found the best fettuccini recipe, it is so so yummy! And the best part about this recipe..... you make it in your crock pot! And it is super easy!

Chicken and Mushroom Fettuccini Alfredo

Ingredients
1 1⁄2 pounds chicken breast tenders
2 packages (8 ounces each) mushrooms, cut into thirds (i used canned mushrooms and they were just as good.)
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, cut into chunks
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces
1 1⁄2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for garnish
1 1⁄2 cups whole milk
1 package (1 pound) fettuccini


Directions

Spray inside of 5-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange chicken in single layer in bottom of CROCK-POT® slow cooker. Top with mushrooms. Sprinkle salt, black pepper and garlic powder over mushrooms.
Stir together cream cheese, butter, Parmesan cheese and milk in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until smooth and heated through. Pour over mushrooms, pushing down any that float to surface. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 5 hours or on HIGH 2 to 2 1⁄2 hours. Serve over fettuccini noodles.

Crying it out (Warning: long post.)

So I finally got up the nerve to let Zander just cry it out in his crib, in hopes that he would finally start sleeping better! He has been the worlds worst sleeper lately! We would put him to bed at 9 and by 10 he was awake again, and no matter how many times we got him back to sleep he would always wake right up the minute I tried to put him back in his crib. So I would always end up putting him in bed with me and nursing him to sleep. (I know bad idea, but I was too exhausted to keep fighting him.) Than he would wake up at least every 2 hrs, and usually more. Last Saturday night there was a 2 hr. period when he was waking up every 20 min. and the rest of the night he was up every hour. By Sunday morning I was ready to jump off a cliff, I had had it! So when I put him down for his nap and he woke right up, I just left him in there. He cried for an hour and finally fell asleep. I decided to just keep with it and see what happaned. So Sunday night I gave him a bottle instead of nursing him and he actually slept til midnight. Weird huh? Than Mark got him back to sleep ( I told him if he didn't start getting up and helping me he was going to have to call the little white wagon to come haul me away) Of course when Mark put Zander in his crib, he woke up so Mark just told him night, night and walked out. Zander cried for one hour and than fell asleep (1:30) and slept until 7. YEAH! Monday night he woke up at 11:00 and we did the same thing. He cried for 18 min, fell asleep and slept until 8!! This was the first time in months that I have had 8 straight hours of sleep, I can't tell you how alive I felt!! Than Tuesday night he slept from 9-6:30! Victory!! Since than he has done so good, and he hasn't been in my bed for an entire week!

Cutting teeth

Zander is cutting his first tooth! What fun we are having... Staying up half the night, getting bit because he is constantly wanting to gnaw on something (usually me),carrying him around all day cuz he is super grumpy and doesn't want to be set down.(Those of you that have held my fat baby know that this is no simple feat, my back is breaking!) This morning I caught a glimpse of the little pearly white poking through. So hopefully the end is near. Only a mouthful more to go. Bring it on! :((

Amber Alert

My mom sent this text to me this morning. It may not do much good to post it on my blog but I know that if one of my children was taken, I would want the help of anybody and everybody.

AMBER ALERT:
7yr old girl was taken by a man driving a newer silver truck in Idaho Falls. The license plate reads 72B381.

I believe this happaned just this morning, so everyone pass this on to everyone you know, and keep your eyes open. I can't imagine the pain and anguish those parents are going through. And that poor little girl!

WAY EASY Recipe

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe to try. I know it sounds a little strange but it is seriously good and it takes less than 15 min. from start to finish. Even my picky little Baylie loves it. The tortillas end up tasting like soft yummy noodles(which is what Mark thought they were the first time I made this.) This makes enough for four people so if your family is larger you may want to double it.

BEEF TACO SKILLET

1 lb ground beef
1/4 onion (diced)
1 cup salsa
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup water
3 lg. tortillas (cut into 1 in. peices) I stack them on top of each other and cut them up with my pizza cutter.
1/2 cup shredded colby/jack cheese

Cook beef and onions together, drain grease. Stir in soup, salsa,water and tortillas, heat to boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 min. Stir and top with cheese.

From the mouth of Kylie

Kylie's birthday is coming up soon and she has been planning her party for months. This morning she says to me.....
Kylie: Mom, you need to call Brooke's parents so they can get to know you so that they will let Brooke sleep over.
Me: How are they going to get to know me from one phone call I could be a serial killer and they couldn't tell over the phone.
Kylie: That's just dumb mom, why would you want to kill the cereal?

KISSES!

Fun Weekend!

Last weekend my mom came up and stayed with us. We love when she comes for a visit, we always have so much fun. We went shopping, out to dinner, to the park (twice) out to lunch, got Zander's pictures taken (they turned out soooo dang cute!) watched Twilight and just hung out. I love you mom!!!! Thanks for all you do for us. I can't wait to see you again next friday!

Fun at the park