templates, shemplates...

I'm not a big fan of the new templates...

and I'm having problems getting my favorite cut and paste backgrounds to work here, so hopefully I'll be able to get it looking okay again soon... sorry for the messy look right now.

A month has gone by...

Summer has been so busy with playing at the pool, having family come and visit, going and visiting family, and more playing.  Once school starts I'll probably blog here more, but for now I'm having fun with the kids and enjoying the summer. :)

I wish I hadn't...

I wish I hadn't...

...waited so long to learn how to make crepes!
...eaten that cupcake last night.
...ditched college in the middle of a semester (13 years ago).
...put off doing laundry for half the week.
...forgotten to put sunscreen on yesterday.


I'm glad that I...

...was able to share some fun time with friends at the pool
...learned to make crepes and now I know how easy it is
...have leftover crepe batter- yum!
...was able to pull off two birthday parties, two birthday family celebrations, and family (2 parents, 4 kids) visiting- all in a week without the house being completely destroyed.
...can sleep in without the kids making disastrous messes.
...totally cleaned my car... it's so nice when it's clean on the inside!

One more cake...

I just wanted to put up the cake I did for my 10 year old.

One of these days I'll take the Wilton classes or something else and learn how to really decorate cake and use the tips and make flowers and all that fun stuff.  For now, I'll just settle for figuring things out on my own and making things that have a definite "homemade" feel to them. :)

What I've been up to...

I've been playing with food...

Baking cakes, and making cookies.

Snickerdoodles III

Submitted By: Sue W
Servings: 24
"Soft sugar cookie with a cinnamon-sugar topping."

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
3. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

And I discovered that while my kids won't touch bbq chicken breasts whole-  when I cut the chicken up into smaller pieces and put them on a skewer... they fight over who has more pieces...

A kid funny

Yesterday the kids were all giving hubby his Fathers Day cards.  I slipped my card to him in as well.  He opened them all up, gave the child it was from a hug and thanked them for their cards.  He opened mine up, read it and told me thank you.  Then leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.  Our five year old looked at us funny and in a giggly voice said "Daddy!  that was on the lips!"

Guess the kids don't see us kiss often enough. lol!

Menu Planning

When the kids were little, and not in school.  I was a menu planner.  I would sit down and plan out two weeks of meals and make one shopping list and go and spend 3 hours at the grocery store and stock up for the next two weeks and only have to stop by to pick up milk, bread, and bananna's in between those big trips.

The kids are older, they are busier with school and playdates and other stuff and I haven't consistently menu planned in a long time.

I'm trying to get back into the habit though.  I don't know if I can get organized enough to shop only once every two weeks again, but I can at least get organized so I know what is for dinner each day and what cooking/baking I'm planning on doing each day of the week.

Here's this week's menu:

Monday: Lasagna (leftover from Sunday night), salad, corn, and garlic bread.
Tuesday: Bake cakes for birthday parties later in the week and freeze them.  Dinner- grilled chicken, rolls, corn on the cob, baked beans.
Wednesday: Decorate cake for Angela's party.  Dinner- mac and cheese and chicken nuggets for kids.  Sandwich for me. (have an early YW activity I'll be leaving the house at 5pm for)
Thursday: Fajita's, and cheese Quesadilla's
Friday: Decorate cake for Ashley's party. Make Bread with Cami.  Dinner:  Hamburgers and Hot Dogs.  Potato Salad.
Saturday: Ashley's party- Party Food and Pizza.