Jesse's Birthday

A few weeks ago we celebrated Jesse's 4th birthday. Seriously? I still can't believe he's 4 years old! Seems like just yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting his arrival, but...well, you get the picture.

Anyway, his birthday fell on a weekday, and since he had chosen to go bowling for his birthday, we waited until the weekend to go out and celebrate.

On the night of his birthday, he got to open and play with his presents and of course have cake. I will note that I need to think twice before getting him any more legos...at times it seems like legos have TAKEN OVER OUR HOUSE! There have also been some monster fights between Meredith and Jesse over the legos and who gets to play with what...so...I'm not sure if more legos are a good or bad thing!

We had a blast going bowling. Much different than Wii bowling, but just as fun!

(I'm now a total fan of bumpers for the kids and whatever the metal guide things are called that kids can put the bowling ball on the top and then just push it a bit so the ball rolls down the middle of the lane...or at least in theory it is supposed to go down the middle of the lane!)

But of course the metal guide thing got to be too baby-ish for Meredith, and she wanted to bowl for real.

Yay! She got a spare!

Then of course if Meredith wasn't using the guide, then Jesse didn't want to use it either.

Can't wait to go bowling again.

Stay tuned for pictures from the party...hopefully it won't take me months to get them posted!

Chi Town Take II

So when we were in Chicago with Kent's family, we went to Buca di Beppo. Buca di Beppo is an awesome family-style Italian restaurant. The food was of course amazing, and we totally stuffed ourselves!
Since we were there 2 days before Kent's 32nd birthday, and since we were in Chicago for Jim's 65th birthday, we had to celebrate both birthdays at the restaurant. Yes, they brought 2 lit candelabra's while we sang Happy Birthday. And both Jim and Kent got 2 large pieces of the most delicious red velvet cake. Ever. Thankfully they shared the cake with everyone!


Lots of fun pictures from the night out.


Lots-o-fun!

Birthday fun

Wow...what a whirlwind birthday weekend we had.

It's been fun. But busy.

Meredith's tea party on Saturday morning with 4 of her best friends was a lot of fun.

It was funny to see how a few of the girls preferred to play with Jesse or help me in the kitchen instead of playing with the other girls. I'm not sure if it had to do with a pecking order amongst the girls or what. But I enjoyed the help anyway!


Meredith of course got lots of fun presents.


And all the girls enjoyed the grown up tea party complete with butterfly-shaped PB&J sandwiches, fancy dishes, and hot tea in regular china teacups and tiny china teacups.

Jesse wasn't so thrilled that he couldn't eat lunch with the girls. He also wasn't thrilled that he got the leftovers of the PB&J sandwiches after I used cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Oh yeah, and he also got a cupcake without frosting. I know, I know...what a cruel mom I am!


Fire crisis averted - her hair was dangerously close to those candles.

Note to self: put Meredith's hair up in a ponytail for her next birthday!

Sunday we had a lot of fun with my family celebrating her birthday. Once again she got a lot of fun presents - everything appealed to her girly-girl self! How well everyone knows her! :) She also had time to play with her cousins - something that she totally loves to do. And at this party Jesse had other boys to play with and older girls to dote on him. So he was happy too!

I made my first layer cake for the party - it was a really easy recipe from here, so it turned out pretty good, actually.


What is it with my kids and blowing out birthday candles that makes us laugh so much? It seems like every year they do something funny...like how it took Meredith probably 5 or 6 tries before she got all the candles out.

Yeah, now I'm glad I didn't watch the episode of Food Detectives that discovered just how many germs are passed along from blowing out birthday candles on a cake!

Anyway, we had a great time and Meredith had a pretty special birthday weekend.

Pinkalicious

Have you ever heard of the book, Pinkalicious?

It's one of Meredith's favorite books. The little girl eats so many pink cupcakes that she turns pink. In order for her to turn back to her normal color, she has to eat only green vegetables.

Anyway, Meredith's having a bit of a pinkalicious birthday. Last night I made pink cookies for her to take to school as a treat today. (The recipe was one that I blogged about earlier this year. They are the easiest cookies ever to make! I got the recipe from here.)


The cookies were a hit with the class. Seriously - who doesn't love pink cookies?

I also made pink (strawberry) cupcakes. That will be frosted with pink frosting for Meredith's tea party with her friends tomorrow.


Meredith chose a purple cake for her family party that we are having on Sunday. I think I'm going to make a lemon cake with purple frosting. She'll just have to settle for having purple frosting instead of the whole thing being purple. (Maybe she was channeling Purplicious??)


In addition to taking snack to Kindergarten today, I got to visit the class this morning, and Meredith got a birthday present from her teacher. She got to pick out a book and a pencil, and also got a birthday certificate from her teacher.


I had a great time in Kindergarten for the morning. We had Chinese class, 2 recesses (where I totally froze outside) spent time learning about the letter and sound "x" and had lunch together. The kids really impressed me. When you have 25 or 26 kindergartners in one room with one teacher, I thought it might be chaos most of the time. But they were all really well behaved and seemed to really enjoy school.

I do know, however, that I definitely would not have the patience to teach Kindergarten!

Stay tuned to see how Meredith's tea party goes tomorrow!

Meredith's turning 6

Can you believe that Meredith will turn 6 years old on Sunday?


Seriously. How is it that in just a few days I will have a 6 year old daughter?


Like, wasn't it just yesterday that she was born?

Now, I know that I'm not old enough to have a child that will be in 1st grade next year.


It must be some fluke.

Because there's no way she's that old.


Is there some way to keep her in this cuddly, so excited with life (and her parents) stage?


I guess I'm OK with her growing up. (Or rather, I guess I have to be OK with her growing up.)


I just don't want it to happen quite so fast!

Birthday fun and recipes

Last Saturday night we had a great joint birthday party. My niece Grace turned 11 on January 17,and Jesse turned 2 on January 19.

At the party, we ate a lot, talked a lot, played a lot of Wii...in short, we had a great time! Kent recently fixed up our unfinished basement so the kids could play there while the adults were on the main level of the house. It made for a much more enjoyable time for both adults and kids!

This was Jesse talking to Grandma Bev on the phone - he loved it even if she was sitting just a few feet away from him!

And of course there had to be at least one present that was either Notre Dame or Yankee paraphernalia!

When everyone gathered around to sing happy birthday to Jesse, he got this really funny, embarrassed look on his face. I've never seen the look before - it was hilarious!

Thanks to everyone who came and made the evening special. And especially thanks to Jim and Bev for driving 6 hours and spending time with us this weekend.


And here by popular demand, the recipes for the cinnamon sugar sticks and red velvet whoopie pies, courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens. (I'm clueless as to why the links aren't working in the previous post - they work just fine here...)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (which are really just chocolate whoopie pies with food coloring - is that what red velvet cake really is??)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1-oz. bottle red food coloring (2 Tbsp.)
• 1 recipe Whoopie Pie Filling, recipe below

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment; set aside. In medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating after each addition just until combined. Stir in food coloring.

3. Spoon batter in 1- or 2-inch diameter rounds, about 1/2-inch high on prepared baking sheets, allowing 1 inch between each round.

4. Bake 7 to 9 minutes for 1-inch cookies or 9 to 11 minutes for 2-inch cookies, or until tops are set. Cool completely on baking sheets on rack. Remove cooled cookies from baking sheets.

5. To fill, dollop Whoopie Pie Filling on flat sides of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, flat sides down. Makes 60 one-inch or 42 two-inch cookies.

6. Whoopie Pie Filling: In medium mixing bowl beat 1/4 cup softened butter and half an 8-ounce package softened cream cheese until smooth. Fold in one 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme.

7. To store: Refrigerate in airtight container up to 4 days. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar Sticks

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-3/4 cups slivered almonds, toasted and ground (about 7 oz.)
• 3 oz. white chocolate, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. shortening
• 1/3 cup red cinnamon candies, crushed
• 1/3 cup coarse decorating sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In mixing bowl beat butter on high 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until combined. Beat in baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. In medium bowl combine flour and almonds. Beat as much flour mixture as you can into butter mixture. Stir in remaining flour mixture.

4. On lightly floured surface roll or pat dough to 14x7-inch rectangle, about 1/2-inch thick. Cut in half, making two, 14x3 1/2-inch rectangles. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch wide sticks. Use a metal spatula to transfer to baking sheets, placing 1 inch apart. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until firm and edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Transfer cookies to rack to cool completely.

5. In small heavy saucepan melt chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. In wide shallow bowl combine crushed candies and sugar. Dip sticks in chocolate then in candy mixture. Place on waxed paper to set. Makes 56 sticks.

6. To store: Place cookies, separated between waxed paper, in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Do you have a sweet tooth?

T-minus 4 days until Jesse turns 2.

Can you believe it?

T-minus 2 days until my niece Grace turns 11.

We are going to have a rip-roaring birthday party for Grace and Jesse on Saturday night.

(Don't I sound about 80 years old? I do remember that when my family would visit my grandparents in Florida in the winter, we would come home talking like we were 80. Maybe I'm channeling what my parents are hearing in Florida...but enough of that tangent!)

By now you are wondering what exactly my title has to do with the post.

Some of you know that I hate giving each post a title - maybe I'm rebelling.


Really though, do you have a sweet tooth?

Because if you do, and you are coming to the birthday party on Saturday night, you will get to try my two latest attempts at cookies.

I don't like to make cookies. It has something to do with my impatience, my distractibility, my inability to get them just right. The cookies that I make are usually either over- or under-done. Never just right. But I found two recipes in my January issue of Better Homes & Gardens and I just had to try them. The first is Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. I totally love whoopie pies and figured I should try the red velvet kind. Turns out they are not as good as ones from Golden Delight Bakery outside Kalona, but they aren't bad at all. They are actually pretty good. (Doesn't my description just make your mouth water?)

The second recipe is for a biscotti-like cookie called Cinnamon-Sugar Sticks. As usual, I didn't have exactly what the recipe called for, so I had to make-do with the ingredients in my pantry, but they turned out really good. And you dip the top of the cookie in melted white chocolate and put crushed red hots and sugar on the top. Seriously, how can you go wrong with that combination?

Anyway, Meredith and I had fun spending yesterday afternoon in the kitchen making these.

(You'll notice that she had finally changed out of her pajamas, and I had finally combed her hair. She got tired of her pajamas before lunch, and I wouldn't let her help me in the kitchen until her hair was put back and out of her face.)