Turned Creative

Jason’s parents were in town this weekend to celebrate Paige’s birthday. After the soccer game we headed to Alfonso’s to play an obscene amount of ski-ball and other arcade games, just to win a few pieces of candy, some smallish toys, and a green hair piece for Paige. Paige ordered her favorite (toasted ravioli) and got to meet some high school soccer players (pictured at the table behind her) Mmmmm – ravioli And, the above-stated green hair piece

Tomorrow afternoon, Paige turns seven – today we celebrated. J was a big help – he cooked, he cleaned, and he half-way followed the directions I provided. P’s favorite color is blue. She loves it. She loves helium balloons – she goes nuts. I mean, nuts. J hit the store this morning to get a few more things and I asked him to bring back 3 helium balloons (1 dark blue, 1 yellow, and one white. Here’s what we got.   A bouquet of twelve pastel balloons. My Mom said it looked like a baby shower. It did.   Look at all the curls. I LOVE curls. If I would have thought of incorporating curled ribbon and no balloons into the decor’ I would have. (Maybe for Cady’s birthday in October). J also picked up a birthday tiara for her. It hurt her head and she didn’t want to keep it on. She humored me and allowed one shot.   The kitchen was hot and the icing on half of my cupcakes melted – hence the lack of cupcake shots. We made the rainbow sprinkle cupcakes – most of which w...

Paige started first grade today, sans meds. She’s been so excited for so many reasons. Some of her friends from daycare are a year older than her. Last year she didn’t get to have recess with them – this year she does. Recess time will be awesome. This year Paige is in Mrs. M’s class. She is Riley’s old teacher – Paige has been hoping to be in that class – she’s ecstatic. :) We met Mrs. M last night at the Back to School Event and Paige was bashful. It was adorable. Despite my fears that Paige will not survive first grade without meds, I’m optimistic. Cadence was inconsolable this morning when she found out that she doesn’t get to go to school every day like Paige. Her boyfriend friend Steven starts Kindergarten today so I think she feels left out. Cady starts speech with Mrs. K again next week. She’ll get to go to the Primary for that so I think she’ll perk up a bit then. Gymastics ended last week and I think she feels like she has nothing to do. The pouting ended when she arrive...

And here are some of the grown-ups. There was a lot of Bocce playing going on. They’re a competitive bunch. Which one’s closer? A second opinion is needed Dad checking out the bocce match   Paige and Brock tried to entertain him after a while    Cheryl recorded her grandbabies for a while   My Mom, looking beautiful as always   Monica, who I’m sure will be miffed that I posted a picture of her. She was having a good time though Jason and Zack, probably talking about something lame like WoW Jason threatening to take my camera away The pond Ok, now my Uncle Dennis is usually a pretty smart guy. He offered to give the kids a ride around the pond. Josh mentioned that there’s usually a lot of standing water around the back there. The standing water is visible from a few feet away. The initial reaction should have been to throw it in reverse when you see the standing water a few feet in front of you. Didn’t happen. D drove right into the wat...

Here are some pics from Josh & Jessica’s BBQ last weekend. The kids are so stinkin’ cute! Austin was at his Dad’s house and Brock and Bella moved too fast for me to snap any of them. I need to get my hands on those two one of these days. Cadence loves Adrienne and always looks forward to seeing her. Li’l K was content to sit in her swing for the longest time. The she moved on to her playhouse. See the tree bark in her hand? That’s compliments of Paige. P kept peeling bark off of the trees and was very proud of herself. Sorry Josh! P & C joined her at the playhouse And because I can’t stand not showing off my girls some more…       THIS angel is about to turn 7. Unbelievable.

My cousin Josh had a party Saturday night and I felt ambitious enough to bake something I’d never tried before. Grasshopper cupcakes, mmmmm. I started with German Chocolate cupcakes – way better than regular chocolate cupcakes. I used applesauce instead of oil and egg whites instead of the whole egg. I think I cooked them for a minute or two too long. They were good, but a little dry.     I mixed vanilla and cream cheese icing with mint extract and green Wilton coloring. I’ve been watching DC cupcakes and wanted to recreate their swirl…like it’s THAT hard. I love the show, but had to make fun when the blond sister made such a big deal about getting the swirl right. So I fought with the icing and finally got it into the bag without making a huge mess.   The result I bought some grasshopper cookies and cut them in half to top a dozen of them Then crushed more cookies to top the other dozen.   I think they were good, but I’ve decided I don’t like the mi...