Happy Mother's Day

     

     Earlier in the week Liam presented me with with a very thoughtful Mother's Day gift he made in school, the very first one he has made for me.  I will treasure it forever!

     I also received these A-MAZ-ING chocolate covered strawberries by Shari's Berries from my wonderful sister.  I've never had them before and let me just tell you they were so delish!

     This morning I woke to find some beautiful red roses waiting for me from the hubby.  He has been working night shifts again, so it was a nice surprise.

     Since it was just the kiddos and I celebrating the day together, (hubby working again) Liam helped me make some yummy Red Velvet Heart Pancakes for my Mother's Day Breakfast!  We made them extra special with whipped cream, heart sprinkles, and chocolate chips.

     It was a pretty low key Mother's Day this year, but I got to spend it with my two special kiddos that I am so blessed to be their mommy.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies, Nanas, Grandmothers, MeeMaws, and soon to be Mommas out there!

Hope your day was special!

Playing Dress Up

     In the spirit of Mother's Day, I thought it would be fun to dress Kinley up and let her play with some of my jewelry, scarfs, shoes, and make-up.  She is such a little fashionista!

BEST Brownies I've EVER Made!!

     The other day I was in the mood for something chocolatey, so I searched Pinterest and found this A-MAZ-ING recipe for Milk Chocolate Brownies from the Passionate About Baking blog.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft

9 oz milk chocolate, finely chopped (I used Hersey's Milk Chocolate Chips)

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 TBsp cocoa powder (I used Hersey's unsweetened)

pinch salt

Preparations

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, Line a 9inch square baking pan with parchment paper.

Melt butter gently in microwave safe bowl, add the finely chopped chocolate and let it stand for a minute.  Stir well, then leave to cool slightly.

Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla and whisk briskly until mixed well.  

Add flour, cocoa, and salt, stir until smooth.  

Spread evenly into prepared baking pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  

Leave on cooling rack till cool completely.

Remove and cut into squares.

Enjoy!!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

     With this week being Teacher Appreciation week, Liam's school put together a pot luck lunch for all the teachers.  I brought some of my Margarita Cookies and these little gifts I made for Liam's teachers.  These were very easy to make and I found everything at the dollar store, so also very budget friendly.

  You just need some water bottles, pencils, ribbon, and pencil tags.

First fill the water bottle with the pencils.

Put the top on, then tie a ribbon around and attach the pencil tag.

There ya go, quick, easy, inexpensive Teacher Appreciation Gifts!

Thank you to all the Teachers out there!

Margarita Cookies

     Hola!   Inspired by this past Sunday's Cinco de Mayo holiday I made some, what I'm calling, Margarita Cookies.  I had this box of Pillsbury Key Lime Cookie Mix in the pantry, so thought it would be a great time to bake some up.  I did put a little spin on them to make them special.

I pretty much just followed the directions on the back of the box.  Then I split the dough in half and used Wilton's Green Color Gel to dye one portion a darker green.  Next, I rolled out the dough and placed the darker green dough on top of the light green and rolled it all up like a sandwich wrap.  I found some green sprinkles in the pantry, placed those on a plate and rolled the outside of the wrapped dough in them.  Next, I wrapped the sprinkled rolled dough into some plastic wrap and chilled in the fridge for about 20 minutes to harden up a little.  When I got them out, I unwrapped the dough and using a knife cut some slices.  Then I baked them according to the box.

Serve them with some Tequila and there ya go! Ole! 

Summer Bucket List 2013

     With May right around the corner and school almost out it can only be one thing......It's almost time to start our Summer Bucket List!  Last summer I came across this fun idea of a Summer Bucket List from this great blog Little Wonders' Days.  Liam and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for our own Summer Bucket List last year, so I wanted to do it again this summer.   If you haven't done this before here's how it works.....

** I pretty much got the basic outline from Kelly's blog and adapted the master list to what our family wanted to do for the summer, special events around our area, and fun local places to visit **

• First, make a master list of all the things your family will enjoy doing this summer.
• Then break it down into how much time each activity will take and color code them by that.
• Write each activity on the corresponding colored coded paper.
• Take a simple sand bucket and decorate it with sticker letters, then place the papers inside.
• Each day or evening, depending on your already scheduled activities, someone pulls out one piece of paper. (So, if you have  busy day, then you would pick out a color coded paper for an activity for an hour or less, if you have a full day open, then you would pick out a color coded paper for an all day activity).

I've broke down our activities into 4 time categories with corresponding colors:

• All Day Activities
• Half Day Activities
• 2 Hour Activities
• 1 Hour or Less Activities

 Here's what I came up with for our 2013 Summer Bucket List (I'm starting it June 17th, since we will be in Texas the last part of May into early June).

All Day Activities:

• Go to the El Paso Zoo
• Go on the Wyler Ariel Tramway
• Go to Bob-O's Family Fun Center
• Visit White Sands National Monument 
• Visit Jungle Jacks
• Go to Wet 'n Wild
• Go to Western Playland Amusement Park
• Go to Carlsbad Caverns

Half Day Activities:

• Go to the Farmer's Market
• Visit the Train Museum
• Visit the Art Museum
• Have a play date
• Go to the Aquatic Center
• Go to Alameda Zoo
• Pony Rides at New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum
• Go see the Electric Light Parade
• Go to the Museum of Space History
• Visit the Sunland Park Race Track
• Go to FunTrackers
• Piñata 

2 Hour Activities:

• Go to Story Time
• Visit a Bookstore
• Go to Chuck E. Cheese
• Go to the Bounce House
• Visit the Nature & Science Museum
• Have a picnic 
• Feed the ducks
• Play at the playground
• Go Bowling
• Make a volcano
• Go to Peter Piper Pizza
• Visit the flea market
• Visit the Space Museum 
• See a BMX Race
• Go to the park

1 Hour or Less Activities:

• Make Gak
• Go for a cupcake
• Water balloon toss
• Go on a Shape Hunt
• Ride bikes
• Blow bubbles
• Make ice cream
• Draw with sidewalk chalk
• Make a craft
• Fly kites
• Water gun fight
• Go for donuts
• Go to the library
• Go for a hike
• Play board games
• Make balloon rockets
• Make a fort
• Paint a self portrait 

     We have so many fun things planned this summer, can't wait to get started!!  If you have never done a Summer Bucket List, I suggest you do!  It's a great way to spend some fun family time together over the summer.  

Upside Down Plum Cake

     I love finding new recipes to try out.  This one I found on Pinterest, man I love that site, from a great blog Red Star to Lone Star.  It was pretty simple and turned out great!  I think we ate it for dessert and for breakfast the next day.  It's not too sweet and plums make is so special.

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 TSpn honey

8 plums, cut into segments

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract (I didn't add this)

1/2 cup milk

Preparations

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch pan with 2-inch sides.

In a skillet melt HALF the butter with honey and sugar over medium heat, stirring until smooth sauce forms.  Pour sauce into prepared cake pan, arrange plum segments on top.

Mix flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt in medium bowl, set aside.  With a mixer, whip remaining butter and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and both extracts (or one if you prefer) and whip until white and fluffy.  Add 1/3 flour mixture, mix until just blended.  Add 1/2 milk, then 1/3 flour, then rest of milk and flour, mixing until just combined.

Pour batter over plums, bake until golden brown, about 1 hour.  Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, run a knife around the edges and carefully invert onto a serving platter.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.  Enjoy!

Little Artists

     I found this really cool paint that only shows up on special paper made by Crayola, I thought it would be fun to see if Kinley liked it.  At first she did, then she just wanted to eat the paper, so we ended her painting session early to play while Liam continued to paint monster trucks.

Kinley loves her Liam, he makes her giggle all the time.  

It's so cute watching them play together.

My Lovely Lady

My Beautiful Boy

Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries & Pecans

     I know I mentioned this recipe in my Easter post, but it is just so good I thought it deserved it very own post.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from a yummy blog by Rachel Schultz.  It was so easy and DELISH!

Ingredients

1 pound brussels sprouts, de-stemed and halved

2/3 cup fresh cranberries

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1/3 pecans, toasted

2 cups barley, cooked

1 TBsp maple syrup

1 TBsp balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Preparations

Heat skillet with drizzling of olive oil over medium heat.  

Season brussels sprouts with salt & pepper and combine with cranberries in skillet.  

Cook sprouts and cranberries for 8-10 minutes, until berries begin to burst and sprouts become tender.  Add balsamic vinegar and maple syrup.  

Stir to coat and remove from heat.  

Toss barley, sprouts, cranberries, and pecans in a large bowl.  

Top with gorgonzola and serve.  Enjoy!

7 Months and Counting....

  Well today marks Kinley at 7 Months! Whoa! My little lady is growing up so fast and is as beautiful as ever!