My Star of the Week

     Every student in Liam's class gets to pick a week where they will become the Star of the Week.  This includes bringing in pictures of your family, special hobbies or activities that you can share with the class on the board, making an All About Me book with your favorite food, toys, colors, etc., and doing fun events during the week.

Here's Liam's pictures

His awesome book

Since, I chose his birthday week, on Tuesday I brought some Skylanders 

Chocolate Cupcakes topped with Whipped Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting & Cookies 'n Cream Sprinkles 

for the class.

Silly boy!

On Wednesday, I read one of Liam's favorite books, The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein 

(also one of my favorites, as you can tell by the binding) to his class at story time.

On Thursday, the hubby, Kinley, and I planned on going to Liam's school to have lunch with him.

But, unfortunately Wednesday night, Liam had another Croup attack and daddy brought him to the ER, which they admitted him over night.  Needless to say, Liam didn't go to school on Thursday, but

we still enjoyed some lunch together at home.  Oh yeah, it was McDonalds, Liam's choice! 

On Friday, Liam was much better, so we kept to the craft I had scheduled with Liam's teacher.

With the 100th Day of School on the 29th, I thought it would be fun to do a craft.

I found these cute 100th Day of School Crowns and some fun jewels that I brought to the class for craft time.

All the kiddos had a great time decorating their crowns!

Look at all the creativity!

Kinley came with us too, she loved being with the class.

Even colored a little too!

Overall, it was a great week, well except for the Croup attack.   I hope he had a great time! So proud of my Kindergartener!

Fried Honey Cinnamon Bananas

     The other day for Liam's birthday I made him some Birthday Waffles, for the adults I used the same base for the batter, omitting the sprinkles.  To make them more adult friendly, I toasted up some walnuts, fried up some bacon, and made some of these Honey Cinnamon Bananas.  I loaded up the Belgium Waffle with everything and even a little real maple syrup.  Oh it was A-MAZ-ING!

Recipe from Rachel Schultz

What you need:

1 slightly under-ripened banana (sliced)

1 TBsp honey

Cinnamon

Olive oil or coconut oil

How to make them:

Lightly drizzle the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Arrange banana slices in pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, whisk together honey and 1 Tbsp of water.

Remove pan from heat and pour the honey mixture over the bananas.

Allow to cool and sprinkle with cinnamon then ENJOY!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting & Cookies 'n Cream Sprinkles

Cupcake recipe from Posed Perfection

Frosting recipe from Audrey's

What you need:

Cupcakes-

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup white sugar

2/3 brown sugar (packed)

1 egg (room temperature)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 TBsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting-

1 tub mascarpone cheese

1/5 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)

2 1/2 cups whipping cream 

How to make them:

Cupcakes-

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Prepare muffin tins with liners.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a bowl of an electric mixer, until light and fluffy.

Beat the egg and add to the butter mixture.

Stir 1/2 tsp baking soda into the buttermilk.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder together in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately to the butter/sugar mixture.

Stir in vanilla extract.

Scoop into prepared muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool on wire rack completely before frosting.

Frosting-

In a bowl sift together the cocoa powder and powdered sugar.

Combine the mascarpone and sugar mixture in a bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

Add whipping cream and whip at medium-high speed until cream turns to a whipped cream consistency.

DO NOT over whip the mixture.

Frost cooled cupcakes, top with sprinkles then ENJOY!

Liam's 6th Birthday

     The night before Liam's 6th birthday my mom and I set up a little surprise for Liam when he woke up!  He was pretty surprised!

I made some special Birthday Waffles for Liam and we all sang him Happy Birthday!

After breakfast, he got to open some more presents!

More Skylanders, of course!

After lunch we headed out to Chuck E. Cheese for some fun!

It was even more special since my parents,

 MeeMaw & PapPaw, were in town to celebrate his birthday with us!

After a long and fun day, we all enjoyed some leftover Skylanders Portal Cupcakes!

Happy Happy Birthday my sweet little Liam! 

I can't believe you are 6!

Wishing you many more fun filled years Big Boy!

We love you oh so very much!

Birthday Waffles

Recipe from Chef in You

What you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour (sifted)

1 TBsp sugar

1 TBsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups 2%milk

4 egg whites

2 TBsp vegetable oil

rainbow sprinkles

How to make them:

Warm up waffle maker.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites for a few seconds until frothy.

Add milk and oil to the eggs and mix until blended.

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Mix until well combined.

Stir in rainbow sprinkles (Jimmies work the best, less coloring bleeding).

Prepare the waffles as per the instructions of your waffle maker.

And cook until done.

Serve with syrup, fruit, whipped cream, or more sprinkles.

ENJOY!

Skylanders Portal Cupcakes

Found recipe on Everyday Occasions by Jenny Steffens

What you need:

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (sifted)

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs (room temperature)

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Food coloring gels

Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperate, softened)

6-8 cups confectioner's sugar (sifted)

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Food coloring gels

How to make them:

Cupcakes-

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a small bowl, sift together the flours, set aside.

In a large bowl on an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.

With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat.

Using a spatula scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure ingredients are well blended.

Optional: Add any food coloring gels to the batter and mix well.

Carefully scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling them 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool in tins for 3 minutes then let cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting-

Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer.

Add 4 cups of the confectioner's sugar, mix.

Then add at the milk and vanilla.

On medium speed, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until frosting is thick enough to spread.

If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix throughly.

Frost cupcakes then ENJOY!

Skylanders Birthday Party

    In December, I asked Liam what he wanted to do for his birthday in January.  He said he wanted it to be Star Wars and have a bounce house.  I was so excited to plan a Star Wars party, so I was a little sad when it came closer to his birthday that he decided to change his mind.  Instead of Star Wars he wanted a Skylanders party.  And being the awesome mom I am, I said alrighty!  Maybe next year we will do Star Wars.  However, I do have to say a Skylanders Birthday Party was quite easy to plan! Here's the food table complete with Skylanders "Happy Birthday" sign, tablecloth, and color coordinated balloons.  I found everything at Target!

Liam's Skylanders figures came in handy for decorating the table!

I found some Skylanders Plates, Napkins, and Cups at Target too!

I made these Skylanders themed cards that I posted by the food items.

We had Power Up Pizza,

Eruptor's Cheese Balls,

Prism Break's Pretzels,

Chop Chop's Carrots,

Bouncer's Broccoli,

Sypro's Strawberries,

Grilla Drilla's Grapes,

Terrafin's Sharks,

Portal Cupcakes,

and Swarm's Juice.

And of course the bounce house we rented had to be the Angry Bird one!

The kiddos had a lot of fun bouncing the day away!

When everyone arrived we all had some yummy lunch.

Then Cupcakes!

Happy 6th Birthday Liam!

Kinley enjoyed the cupcakes too!

Who's ready for presents??

Look at all those presents!

Liam gave all his guests one of these Skylanders cups filled with all his favorite things...

Skylanders Rings

Glow Sticks

Angry Bird Stickers

Star Wars Markers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Erasers

Chocolate Coins

Gold Fish Cookies

After everyone had left Liam tried out all his new Skylanders

 figures on his new Skylanders Giants video game.

Another great birthday! Him and all his friends had a great time!