::chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes::

Even the title is long!  Josh loves anything with cookie dough in it so when I saw these on The Idea Room I knew that they would be perfect for his birthday.  They are chocolate chip cupcakes with a hole cut out of the top and egg free cookie dough filling.  Then the icing is a brown sugar piece of heaven.  I got to be straight, these little buggers were not for beginners.  And when it comes to baking I am barely above beginner.  All the cakes I make are from a box.  I am just above intermediate when it comes to decorating cakes.  These took all I got.  But they actually turned out really good.  They took me forever to make.  But the directions were perfect and I followed them to the letter.  (which is fairly unusual for me)  Even my chronic icing hater, Emma, thought that they were amazing.


For the recipe link here.  
  

::kid books april 2010::

Lily is home today for a sick day.  Poor kid.  But she is willing to help me out with our monthly book review.

If you haven't red these as a kid you are really missing out.  I loved them and I am glad to read the series to Lily.  The basic story line of all the books in that Amelia does the literal translation of what ever she is told to do.  Her boss tells her to draw the drapes and she draws a picture of the drapes.   They tell her to dust the furniture and she puts face powder all over the furniture.  Just as they are going to fire her she pulls out a lemon pie from the oven and it is so good that they keep her.  

"I love Amelia it is the funniest book in world.  I think.  Amelia does all the wrong things cause that is what the notes says and the people are all fancy and so they use different words then she thinks they actually are."

We LOVE this book.  Poppy is the little girl and she and her dog are pretending to be other animals.  I made motions to go along with it.  Let me tell you that the "waddles like a penguin" page is too cute to see a little kid do.  

"They pretend to be all different kids of animals and it is so fun.  I like when they stand on one leg like a flamingo."

We used to sing this song and YMCA camp on the bus ride to and from camp.  I love to read any book that rhymes and this one is just great fun.  At camp Catalina always came to a bad end, but in the book she lives happily ever after.  

"She is so hilarious.  I like that she has two hairs - one was black and the other one red."  She sang the last part. 

::APPROVED::

We got the call last night.  We got approved for medical financing.  THANK GOD!  So now we just make our appointment.  I think we will go with late June or early July.  I'll update when we get our appointment.  

::chicken MIA::

Just today I was bragging to one of my friends about how my chickens have all lived.  All 12 still rocking it out with no fatalities.  Not two hours later one of the brown chickens pictured above is MIA.  We looked all around but she is lost.  Poor thing.  This is the last time I let them wonder totally free.  Poor Josh - now I really am going to make him build the chickies their outdoor patio area.  

::max::

Has anyone noticed that Max isn't a baby anymore?  


He actually has a neck in pictures.  


He teases us all the time by calling us the wrong name, so we will chase him. 

He put several odd items in the fish tank.  


He still has the greatest hair I have ever seen in my life.  

His eyes are still blue, nothing like his parents.  I keep waiting for his real mom and dad to come and claim him.  I will fight them for him.  That little fro head is MINE!  


He crosses his arm in all parking lots so I can't hold his hand, which I force him to do anyway.  

He tortures and loves my little dog.  Which she takes over and over.  


He took all my row markers out of my garden.  (They were pencils, and really, aren't row markers in a cottage garden cheating?) 


He spray's himself in the face with the hose.  

He climbs on top of Josh's little pet car and laughs "look at me!".  


He is no longer mute but still only partially understandable.  He says "ack-a-doodle" which mean alligator.  How I figured that one out was a long process.  

He always wants "andy" which is candy.  


He smells so good all the time.  (I know he'll out grow that one.)  


He always wants to take a "naked shower", as opposed to a dressed shower?  


If he hears the mower or tractor start he RUNS to them and demands Josh pick him up.  Then he will sit up there with Josh for hours.  

He grabs your hand and says "come on Mommy".  Then he leads you off on an adventure.  

Every night when I tuck him in he wants "one mo iss".  One more kiss.  Last night he got about 15.

I am so in love with that kid.  

He lived when others did not.  Don't think I don't know that.  I see his sick pictures and my heart feels such fear.  I never let myself really except how sick he was, and I am glad I didn't have to.  Thanks for letting me keep my Max.  

  

::annnie - the play::

Lily has been working for the past few months on the play Annie.  She is the youngest person to get a speaking role.  Now, I seriously mean a MINOR role, but I still think she is amazing.  I got some pretty cute pictures of her little face.  When she was on stage the opening night be was looking around for me and when she saw me she broke into a huge smile and raised her shoulders at me.  I started crying.  WHAT A DORK I AM!  But this kid happy just blows me away.  She also blew me a kiss, just to make sure I was totally crying.  That kid knows how to charm my socks off.  

::gabe::

 I am so blessed to have some of the most amazing friends.  Not only do I love these people but I LOVE their children.  My dear friend Emily has the most perfect little miracle baby.  I loved him when I was still patting him in the belly.  (Plus isn't Emily so pretty!)

Not that I ever doubted it but Emily is the most naturally talented mother I have ever seen.  She worships this baby and it is obvious when ever you are around them.  The weather today was terrible but we did get a short break to shoot a little bit outside.  The bad weather was a challenge I haven't taken on before and I feel like it worked out well.  I set out some hay bales at the end of the barn and I think we got some good pics.  Still room to improve.  

I am so mad that I cut out his feet!  Next time!

   

So this picture was just an auto play picture.  But isn't it funny that the pattern on the carpet makes it look like he has a mohawk?  I kissed him like 40 times during this shoot.  

::clothes line::

Lily pressured me to set "help the earth goals" and I told her I would help by drying at least one load of laundry on the line when ever humanly possible. So all her dresses got the line treatment.  I hope I get little dresses on my clothes line for many more years.  (You might ask, where did she come up with the term "help the earth goals"? - the Disney Channel would be the answer she gave me.) 

My dear friend Megan took a picture of her clothes drying in Japan and it inspired me to take a similar picture in my back yard.

::science fair::

LILY WON HER GRADE AT THE SCIENCE FAIR!  She, Josh, and I worked on a project that compared how high six different kinds of balls bounced.  She had to roll them off the top of a door frame and then I took pictures of them at the peak of their bounce.  The night before the science fair we had a mock science fair at our house were Emma, Josh, and I pretended that we were judges and we asked Lily questions about her project.  She had the most intelligent answers, but of course I would think that.  I felt better when Josh told me, "If she pulls out some of that cuteness tomorrow she is going to blow them away."  

This morning I took her in early to school and carried in all her balls, poster, and a less than helpful toddler.  I got her set and then I had to leave.  They don't let parents stay for judging.  I came back at 2:15 for the awards, that were announced in front of the school.  Of course I had to sit on the bleachers fighting back tears.  She looked so cute and smart and little and precious and proud and happy and... tear.  Love that face. 

::blender paper::

This year for Earth Day we decided to make paper.  We added seeds to the mix so that after you read the card, you plant it in the ground and the seeds sprout.

Rip up old construction paper or newspaper in small strip and soak in water overnight. 

One of the many wonderful things about being married to an airplane mechanic is that he has every tool known to man and he thinks I should know how to use them.  I am maybe up to 10 (including hammers and screw drivers) that I would use totally independently but one I just learned is this sheet metal trimmer.  Perfect for trimming a 6 inch by 10 inch piece of old window screen that happened to be in the attic.  You need one piece of screen for each piece of paper your want.  We ended up with 12, just because that is how much screen I had.

Place the soaked paper in the blender with enough water to cover the scraps.  Blend till the thickness of thick soup.  Lily loved using the blender.  I let her push every button.  

Fill a baking dish about half way with water.  Add about one third of the pulp.  Stir in one packet of seeds from your favorite flowers.  We used Zinnia's.  Slide a piece of against the inside of the bowl and under the water.  You are trying to filter out the pulp onto your screen.  The thicker the pulp the thicker the paper.  Place the screen/pulp on a towel and let dry over night.

Decorate the paper how every you want.  I pulled out my good stamps and ink.  What I think I am saving them for I will never know, so I taught Lily how to use them with out ruining them and then turned her loose.  

As usual the company was what made this so fun.  Cute little toothless kid.  

::hello kitty cake and cupcakes::

For Lily's fourth birthday she wanted a Hello Kitty cake.  I knew that was a group of shapes that I could put together.  


The main head piece is an oval cake pan and the ears are cut out of a 9 inch round.  Then I just iced the whole thing white and used colored icing in ziplocks to free draw the rest.  Hello Kitty is not exactly a complex character so don't under estimate the difficulty here.  It was super easy.

The cupcakes have white chocolate bar ears and mini M&M eyes.  I made girl cupcakes and boy cupcakes so everybody would be happy.  

::melissa photo shoot::

Here are some pictures I got of my precious little neighbor girl.

Pink toes!  I want a little person with pick toes!

Is the framing thing too much?  I am not going for Olen Mills.