Super Bowl XLVIII

For the third year in a row, we had a wonderful Super Bowl party!  The Yanceys and the Bashores came over to eat, watch, laugh, and play!  When we started there were only five kids, and now there are eight!!!

 Josh and Joe built an awesome box fort, and our plan played out perfectly as the kids wanted to play down there the whole time!  

 There were all sorts of windows and doors!

I wish I had taken a picture of all of the delicious food we had!  Rachel and Jake made spinach dip, cheesy jalapeno poppers and Reese's cookie dough dip.  They were all YUMMY!  We made Crack Pretzels, Ham and Cheese Biscuit Roll-Ups, Bacon Cheese Crackers, Fat Dip (2 rolls of sausage, 2 cans of Rotel, 2 blocks of cream cheese and 2 blocks of chive and onion cream cheese all combined in the Crock Pot) and Nutella Brownies.

Obviously, the game was not awesome, and we were a little disappointed in the commercials, although there were some good laughs.  We all had a great time, though!

 Jackson was thrilled to score a Seahawks cookie at Wegmans today!

Graham enjoyed his Snickerdoodle (most importantly frosting-less) cookie!

American Flag Cake

I love a great theme for a party, but there has to be a good cake option!  I've been a cupcake fan until now.  I saw a pretty awesome cake on Pinterest, and I decided to tackle it!  You put a cake together in a certain way so that each slice looks like a little American flag!!!

Here is Jackson's cake after I finished frosting and decorating it.  Looks great, right?

Here is Jackson's cake about two hours before the party was supposed to start :(  The back just started to sink!  This was in addition to a huge chunk that kept falling off of the front no matter how much frosting I added.

More collapse :(

To make the cake, you bake four different cakes: two red ones, one blue one and one white one.  You slice them in halves and then assemble them in such a way that each slice looks like a flag.  This site gives the step-by-step instructions: http://ww.duncanhines.com/recipes/cakes/gunawanfamily/the-hidden-american-flag-cake/

I kept adding frosting to keep things in place, and to make the outside look neat, so the cake was super heavy!

I am SOOO lucky to have Hallie living down the street.  I called her pretty upset, and she came right over to perform emergency cake surgery!  She worked a miracle!  She fixed it up a bit, then we stuck it in the freezer until the party.  Right at the start of the party, she got it looking amazing with, that's right, more frosting!  ;)

American flag cake complete with tiny American flag decorations and "JACKSON" candles

It did work beautifully!  Each slice looked just like this!

Each slice was larger than my hand!  I ended up touching each piece while plating it so it didn't fall apart! We all got a good laugh out of the whole thing.  It definitely wasn't funny while it was happening, though!

Jackson LOVED the cake, and that really IS all that matters!

Cars and Trucks on St. Patrick's Day

Graham loves pretty much everything about life, but I'm always looking for what will keep him busy and happy for a few minutes while I do X, Y, or Z.  He was having fun with some small trucks in Jackson's room (these small Chuck the Truck trucks that are a great gift, especially paired with something like this), so when we came downstairs, I pulled this car ramp toy out of the playroom for the boys to play together.  (We LOVE all of the Wheelie cars that go with this toy and a couple others we have.)  They LOVED it and played so happily together :)  It made my heart SOOO happy!!!

Graham really liked the little spinny party ;)

Checking out some new-to-him trucks.  These are one of my favorite gifts to give to little boys--perfect for little hands discovering the wonderful world of things with wheels :)

Such a big boy...

Making a move...

LOVE this sweet little face!

Brothers and their trucks :) :) :)

While this fabulous playing was going on, this AMAZING corned beef brisket was cooking away in the Crock Pot.  It was SOOO yummy!  I cannot wait to make it again!!!

Grandma Cullen's Irish Soda Bread and Cinnamon Jell-o rounded out dinner.

Grandma Cullen's Irish Soda Bread

Makes 2 loaves

4C Flour

1/2 Sugar

1T Baking powder

1tsp Baking soda

1tsp Salt

1/3C Butter

1 1/2C Buttermilk

(1 1/4C milk + 1/4c vinegar or just buy reg buttermilk)

1 Egg

2C Raisins

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. Add buttermilk, egg, and raisins and mix well with a wooden spoon. Knead for a minute or two to fully incorporate. Separate into 2 balls. Place in greased round pans and smash down to fit. Slice deep crosses into each loaf. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy!!

 For dessert, we had Shamrock Protein Shakes.  Josh loved them--they were more like the shamrock shake that hooked him years ago.  He felt the ones last year and this year were not living up to the original standard...  I think we are on the right track, but I think I would like regular vanilla yogurt better rather than the Greek yogurt.  Plus, the mint extract is REALLY strong--beware!

Overall we had a great St. Patrick's Day!  Jackson was full of fun facts about leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, and all things green thanks to school :)  I LOVE all of the facts that he is packing into that head of his!

Welcome Baby Mary!

 We got to meet Miss Mary Eloise Bascom when she was just NINE days old!!!

Unfortunately, she was born during the yucky cold and flu season, so visitors were restricted at the hospital :(  But, that just meant we all got to go for one of our favorite Bascom/Smith Family Playdates!!!

 The boys and I drove out and hung out for a bit before David went to pick up Josh who took the bus out from the city.  The guys picked up pizza to go with the salad and fruit I brought for dinner.  Dinner was YUMMY!  Sarah and I escaped after dinner to run a couple of "errands" to Carters and Osh Kosh while the guys held down the fort. 

I made this DELICIOUS Salted Caramel Cheesecake for dessert, but I scarfed down my piece, so I could get in a few snuggles with this sweet little girl!  I can't wait to get back there to her :)

Three babies down, at least four to go! 

Super Bowl Weekend!

 We had SUCH a busy and fun weekend!!!  On Friday night the Bashores came over for dinner, and that is always a good time :)  I tried a new recipe: Pretzel Honey Mustard Chicken, and it was a hit!  We also had homemade macaroni and cheese and Rachel brought cookie dough over to make cookies for dessert.  The kids played so well and everyone made it until about 10!  Jackson did fall asleep while sitting on the island leaning on me.  I wish we had a picture of that!  

On Saturday, Josh finished up a crazy busy work week by working from home :(  I took Jackson to his first birthday party at a "place."  By that I mean not at someone's house.  We went to his good buddy, Cole's, party at Kids in Motion.  It really was fun, albeit a little tricky to navigate with an infant...  Jackson had a great time jumping on the inflatables, but I want to take him back some time when Josh can come with us.  They had some really neat (but scary) looking inflatables that had huge slides and obstacle courses!  I couldn't get up there and climb with him since I had Graham, but I think Josh and Jackson would have a blast!  It was so cute watching all the little kids lined up at the tables for cake and juice--Jackson had a BLAST!  

From the party, we rushed home so we could go on a double date with Susie and Joe!!!  We got one babysitter at our house, and she watched all three kids.  We had a glorious evening!  We tried out the new steakhouse that just opened down the road, The All American Steakhouse, and it was SO good!  The food was all really yummy, the service was great, and the atmosphere was cozy.  All good dates end at Dairy Queen, right?  A lovely evening!

To finish out the weekend: SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

 

The Bashores and Yanceys both came over and we had such a good time!  We made Pizza Bites, Cheesy Bread, and Banana Pudding.  Rachel and Jake brought Oreo Truffles, Buckeyes and Fat Dip.  Susie and Joe brought wings and a huge platter of fruit and fruit dip.  LOTS of yummy food is really what I am in this event for :)  Graham went to sleep not long after kick-off, and then I was able to just relax and enjoy our friends, food and commercials :)  The big kids played so nicely together--we even sent them upstairs so it would be less chaotic downstairs, and they had everything all cleaned up by the end of the game!

"The Polar Express" Party!

Jackson LOVES the movie "The Polar Express!"  He watches it year round.  I thought it would be fun to host a viewing party for the kids in our neighborhood as we approached Christmas.  I sent out an evite and asked the kids to come in their pjs and bring a pillow and blanket (and covered cup since I was NOT letting these 2-13 year-olds drink hot chocolate in open cups on my carpeting!).  Jackson and I spent the day beforehand making cookies--five kinds!  It was SUCH a fun day!  We listened to Christmas music, and just hung out at home.  We worked around Graham's naps, and it was just a really nice day.  Good timing for a day like that :)

The cookies were actually for the mommies.  We hung out in the dining room and ate cookies and chatted while the kids watched the movie in the family room.  I popped popcorn for the kids and served it in paper bags.  They each also got to add toppings to their hot chocolate: caramel syrup, blue sprinkles, candy canes, whipped cream and marshmallows!  They had a ball with that!  (Note the boxes of tea piled in the background: I thought this would be a great way to get through some of the tea in the cabinet.  But, the moms all wanted the AMAZING Polar Express Hot Chocolate too!)

We made White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread, Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark, Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies, Puppy Chow Cookies and No Bake Chocolate Hazelnut Bites.  The Pretzel Bark was definitely my favorite!

The kids seemed to have SUCH a good time!  They looked so cozy in their jammies and relaxing with their sleeping bags, blanket, pillows, stuffed animals, etc.  

I think we might have to make this an annual tradition!

Josh's Early Birthday Dinner

We had the Yanceys over for dinner to celebrate Josh's birthday...early!  We wanted to get together, but between work schedules, days out of town, and life, December 5th was the day!

The menu:

Pork Wellington

Mini Potatoes Au Gratin

Salad

Cinnamon Jello

Mix one box of Cherry Jello with a cup of boiling water.  Once dissolved add 1/4 cup of hard, cinnamon candies.  Remove from heat and add 12 oz of applesauce.  Refrigerate, and that's it!

Peanut Butter Pie

The birthday boy's plate :)

Silly faces!

And a normal one :)  Graham's shirt says "Hug Magnet"--LOVE it!

Rachel and Jackson really got into the dress-up while we were finishing dinner as grown-ups!

 

Happy early birthday, Josh!  It's always good to start celebrating a couple weeks early :)

Apple Pie in a Crescent

There isn't much of a recipe for this one, but I got the idea from this pin on Pinterest!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray

Step 1: Lay out one crescent roll

Step 2: Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture on to crescent

Step 3: Look extra serious while doing this :)

Step 4: Gently spread out cinnamon-sugar

Step 5: Place apple slice on crescent roll and roll up

Jackson rolled up almost all of our apple pie crescents!

The finished product!

Jackson wanted to take a picture of his finished product :)

Showing off his treats!

 

This was a wonderful activity for us to do!  Jackson was excited and engaged the whole time, but it was simple enough that I didn't feel the urge to take over and finish it up faster ;)  We will definitely make these again!

Octoberfest Milkshakes!

 The ingredients above are all that you need for an AMAZING dessert experience!  I came across an article highlighting the Sam Adams Octoberfest milkshakes Red Robin was featuring this fall, and decided to try to make our own.  I found a recipe for a shake using chocolate stout (which I'm anxious to try too), and I just switched out the beers.

 

Makes TWO milkshakes:

2 cups vanilla ice cream

6oz of Sam Adams Octoberfest (DO NOT add extra beer--you will be tempted to, but DON'T!)

2T chocolate syrup

1 large drizzle of caramel syrup

 

Blend all ingredients together and enjoy :)

Apple Picking

This was our first year to go apple picking!  It was fun to do something that was a first for not only Graham, but also Josh, Jackson and me!  We headed to Stribling Orchard about an hour away, and it was beautiful!  It was definitely a good pick (no pun intended)!

Jackson getting to pick his first apples!

Two good apples!

The orchard ran out of pickers so we were limited to the apples that were low enough to reach by Josh picking up Jackson--they were a good team!

The big boys

This view is pretty good, but it got even better!

And, some apples we reached by Jackson STANDING on Josh's shoulders!

Apple Picking 2012

We came home with a HUGE bag of apples that included about six types of apples!  I immediately set about baking my first ever pie with homemade crust, no less!  It was a rather chaotic feeling process, but the result was worth it (at 11:30pm on Sunday night because the pie had to rest for FOUR hours)!!!

Before cutting into the deliciousness,,,

The inside of my project :)