Happy Birthday Karli!

Happy Birthday to my sweet (and super silly) Karli!

We celebrated with her soccer and school friends at Walls of Clay in downtown McKinney. Each guest got to paint a 6" x 6" ceramic tile that will be fired. The kids loved painting! I can't wait to see the final outcome of the tiles! It is so nice to not have to worry about having the party at our house! The noise level was insane! Twelve girls can make a lot of noise!!!!

Tangled Rapunzel Cake

Jovie

The grand finale gift....

Groovy Cupcakes

My sweet daughter, Karli, turns 7 this weekend and what better way to celebrate her birthday at school than with these fun, colorful, groovy, tye dye cupcakes! I made these last weekend for my sister-in-law's birthday and they were very delicious and FUN! I thought that a bunch of 1st graders would enjoy these!

I have had a few people ask me how to make these so I documented my experience this time with pictures. It is super simple but it does take a little bit more time than if you were making regular cupcakes.

Step 1: Recipe - Tye Dye Cupcakes

1 package white cake mix (I have used Pillsbury and Duncan Hines)

3 egg whites

1 1/3 cups water

2 Tbs. Canola oil

Preheat the oven at 325 degrees (for dark metal or nonstick pans) or 350 degrees (for glass and shiny metal pans). Line cupcake pans with white liners. Beat the egg whites on high for one minute or until frothy. Add cake mix, water, and oil and mix on medium speed for two mintues. Divide batter into small bowls according to how many different colors you want. In this case I used five different colors.

I prefer to use AmeriColor food coloring which can be found at Hobby Lobby and Williams & Sonoma. I also use Wilton but I have found that AmeriColor gives brighter, bolder colors! Only use gel food coloring. Liquid food coloring (in the droppers) will change the consistency.

After coloring the batter, add a small amount of each color of batter into each cupcake liner. Sometimes you you will not have enough of each color to go into each liner and that's ok! Each cupcake will be unique. Here is a picture of what this step will look like:

Next, using a toothpick, slightly swirl the batter. DO NOT over swirl the batter or the colors will combine and make an awful grayish brown color! A figure eight motion usually works well. This step can also be skipped if you don't want a swirly appearance.

Bake the cupcakes for 18-23 minutes, using a toothpick to check for doneness. If a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean then the cupcakes are ready to be taken out of the oven. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes and then move them to a cooling rack. Here is what the cupcakes will look like after baking:

Making sure you allow the cupcakes to cool completely, prepare the buttercream frosting.

The Best Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup shortening (allows for easy decorating texture)

3 pounds powdered sugar

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract (OPTIONAL - but I always use it)

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup milk

Food coloring

Beat butter and shortening together. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk. Beat until smooth. Add more milk if frosting is too thick, add powered sugar if frosting is too thin. This recipe makes a TON of frosting. You can easily half it and you will still have plenty OR you can freeze what ever you have left over.

Divide frosting and color with food coloring using your color(s) of choice. For these cupcakes I used a bright pink and blue. I added them together in a frosting bag and the result I got was a beautiful swirl...

And there you go...now you know how to make fun, groovy, tye dye cupcakes. Here is a picture of the ones I made last weekend so you can see what the inside looks like...

If you have questions, just ask! I'm off to fold one load of laundry, make lunches and then go to bed and it's 1:12am. There's never enough time! Oh, well!

No more paci....

The paci fairy came last night. It broke our hearts to take all of Jovie's pacifiers and throw them away. I guess it was the realization that she is a toddler and no longer a baby. I wasn't prepared for the emotions of this task. She loves her paci but wasn't ever dependent on it. It was more of a soothing thing, only at night. She still has her blankies, and we will never take away those. Praying that tonight isn't dramatic since there are no more pacifiers.

An Awesome Day...

I drove the kids to Southlake on December 30th to meet my parents, brother and his family and my sister and her husband.  The drive was AWFUL. We ran into horrendous, stand-still traffic in Grapevine. I had two children who had to use the restroom including my three year old, Jovie. She was in tears because she had to go potty so badly. There wasn't anything I could do because we were stuck. We finally got out of traffic but I had to drive through DFW Airport to do that. With the help of my brother and his navigation system on his iPhone we took some smaller roads that led us to Southlake....an hour and 1/2 later! When we pulled up my sister, Kari, and her husband, Martin, grabbed the kiddos out of the car for the much needed bathroom break in Wich Wich. We then sat and finally ate lunch on the patio at Wich Wich. As we were on the patio, Kari made a comment about a huge truck that had just pulled up and parked in the front parking space. We didn't think twice about it but then Martin noticed Josh Hamilton from the Texas Rangers go inside Wich Wich with on of his daughters. My son saw Josh and I knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet one of the best baseball players and great role models. I think his wife overheard us talking about Weston meeting Josh because she walked in a few minutes after Josh and his daughter. We really didn't want to impose on the superstar but just as we were opening the door to go find him so that Weston could meet him, Josh came out, knowing that Weston wanted to meet him. I am assuming that his wife had told him that there was a boy outside that wanted to meet him.

Josh spent time with Weston, with his hand on his shoulder the whole time. He asked him his name, what sports he played, what positions he played. When Weston told him that he played a lot of different positions, Josh called him "the man." Josh asked Weston who all the people were that were with him. At this point, it was just me, Weston and Kari talking to Josh. My parents, Martin, Karli and Jovie were across the parking lot playing in a grassy area. Weston told Josh that he was with his family and that he had two sisters. Josh waved over to my family. Josh then told Weston to treat his sisters right because they look up to him to do the right thing. He told Weston that is what he tells his oldest daughter. Josh told Weston he liked his jersey which was Sam Bradford's #8 St. Louis Rams jersey. Josh asked Weston if he knew what I am Second was and Weston said yes that that his dad liked it too. Josh shook Weston's hand and then let us take one picture on Kari's iPhone. I thanked Josh for his time and thanked him for being a role model for my family. He said "this is what it is all about."

We were floored with Josh's genuine personality. He went out of his way to make Weston's day...a day that Weston will never forget. I think about the awful drive over to Southlake, how we were 1 1/2 hours late but just in time to meet Josh Hamilton. God works in funny ways.

I went to Borders today and bought Josh's book, Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back. I am looking forward to reading it. If you haven't heard Josh's testimony, you can watch it here:  http://www.iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Josh_Hamilton/

First Try at Blogging

I have had this blog set up for a long time but I never did anything to it. I thought it was about time to keep up so here goes....

Those are my three kids in the photo above. Jovie is 3 years, Weston is 9 years and Karli is 6 years. They keep me smiling and busy and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am one semester away from graduating with a degree in elementary education from Fort Hays State University. My semester starts on January 12 so my blogs may seriously decrease after that date. I expect to be very busy with a 16 hour load. Lastly, I have been married to Jonathan for 11 1/2 years. He makes me laugh everyday and I am blessed to walk through life with him.

Good night....