My sweet little buddy ..he brought Mickey upstairs to "help mommy sew"- could he be any cuter???? He wanted to make a big train so we took all of the track and made a huge railroad going from the kitchen to the den. Lots of fun for a Friday night :-)

WDP loves birthday parties- "More birthday parties, cupcake" He associates cupcakes with birthday parties. It's so cute. We had one this weekend and it was so fun! My friend Melanie does the best kid parties. This was a county fair theme. I think I gained 5 pounds. Hotdogs, chili, nachos (with the yellow/orange cheap cheese- yum!) peanuts, a popcorn maker, apple pie, cotton candy, etc. So fun.... So yummy.... Pants won't button today...sigh.... They also had a bounce house- in the bonus room. Talk about a good time!!! I made whoopie pies to take....delicious!!! so easy!

Cookies

box cake mix...I used chocolate for this, red velvet for work on Monday

1/3 c oil

2 eggs

a little bit of water - 1 T or so...just so it's not sooo thick

Scoop out- I use a little ice cream disher- Bake at 350 for 7-8 min. Each cookie was exactly the same size! Perfect for stacking with icing in the middle!

Icing

1 stick real butter

1 box powder sugar

pinch kosher salt

1tsp vanilla

1 T milk- more or less depending on thickness

Mix well- really well. Put into an icing bag with a fat star tip. Swirl on cookie. Top with the other cookie. I refrigerated mine until the party so the icing would not squish out when you bite into it. Not at all to toot my own horn, but these were yummy.

OK- back to the party. She had the bounce house ....games - Pony races (stick horses)- WDP didn't do to well with these...everyone else loved it!

hay rides (husband on the mower)

Face paintings, Guess the number of pickles, etc. It was so cute. You had a card and had it "punched" after you completed a game and turned it in for "prizes" at the end. What a fun idea! Happy 2nd birthday sweet Joel!!!


On another, more personal note...WDP is now spending Sunday at 6pm until Tuesday at 6pm every week with his dad. I like the consistency- makes more sense than every other week, a mid week afternoon the weeks in between, etc....but it is so hard to be away from him. I am purposely trying to stay super busy. I miss my little buddy when he's gone. I find myself giggling at something he's said recently (this weekend he pulled out a pool noodle, held it like a megaphone and said "attention, attention" over and over). I can't wait to see him tonight!!!!

The Zoo...again

I know, I know- we go to the zoo a lot, but he loves it. The park/ playground there is awesome... We fed the birds this weekend and hit up the Tot Lot for some jumpy fun. Good times were had by all! And by all I mean my sweet friend Becky and her son :-)

Halloween gifts for teachers

I had such great plans ...and then the last Friday before Halloween was here and I was giftless. I know, I don't "have" to do something, but I am so lucky that WDP is at a school where everyone loves him and he is learning so much, and has so much fun. His teachers this year are awesome! We are lucky to have Miss megan back for a second year and now have Ms. Trisha too. He calls them "trisha-meg-ann"...as if they are just one person. Sometimes I'll tell him we're going to Target and he'll randomly ask "Where Trisha- meg-ann?" It amazes me that anyone can work with 2 year olds all day every day....so....I love them and wanted to do a little something. I decided on a Howdoesshe? caramel dipping sauce. You HAVE to make this. EASY. Delicious. Yum. Did I mention Easy??? What a great Christmas treat for a neighbor or friend. And seriously- 2 batches 5 cups of yumminess in about 30 minutes!!!! Less had I not been unloading the dishwasher and looking for my measuring cups (WDP had them in his kitchen)

Caramel dipping sauce

Put into saucepan

1/3 c butter

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c corn syrup

Stir on medium until it boils (5 ish minutes). Remove from heat. Wait 5 min. Whisk in

2/3 c whipping cream...I used heavy...not sure what the difference is, but heavy was on sale, so heavy whipping cream it was!

1/2t vanilla...she doesn't say do this, but really, isn't everything a little better with vanilla????

Pour into cute leftover jam jars. Refrigerate. Use within 2 weeks...as if it will last that long. Makes 2 1/2 cups. It gets thicker as it gets cold. Yum!!!!

I almost made a bag out of candycorn fabric (thank you for talking me out of it MelMel)...which we think WDP may be allergic to- huge hives outbreak this week- but went for the cellophane bag and bow. I use these treat bags from target for everything. I need to buy them wholesale :-)

Enjoy...any good teacher gifts you can share with me a "new mom of a schooler" I would love you!!!!

slide hair

wdp and I were at the zoo again last weekend with Aya and her sweet daughter and she got a great shot of him with his slide hair- I love slide hair.... and the tongue in this one kills me :-)

Fall break

We just "celebrated" Fall Break 2010 :-) I did a little crafting- got the idea to make this wreath or "tire" as WDP calls it- from www,pizzazzerie.com...So easy and fun! And with the left over candies I thought I would fill some bud vases...

of course they are now half full....

We hit up Gentry's farm and tried to get a good picture for the grandparents...My friend nancy let me borrow her portrait lens...loved it! WDP was not so much into posing for pictures for me....

Jenna had a big birthday party at the bowling alley. WDP wore his team shirt and thought he was "big time" because he "knew" how to bowl. he kept saying "more birthday party...more cupcakes"...The cupcakes were obviously a huge hit!!!

Jenna's sweet parents Mel Mel, Jay and baby Joel

We also explored the yard while I worked on my lenses and photography :-)

William has been taking my measuring cups, putting them on his Thomas table and will say he's "cooking"...I thought I should start looking for a kitchen and went by Toys R Us and found a steal of a deal...a Melissa and Doug small kitchen (because it's in the den) marked down and then on sale again so I paid $54 instead of 139... nice! Of course putting it togteher was a pain, but he just loves it..."kitchen, kitchen, more kitchen"- all I hear! The sink doubles as a hat when it's not full of cars....I think I need to find some fake food- he only cooks his cars right now :-) All in all it was a great break! 4 weeks until Thanksgiving, then 2 wekks then 1 week of exams then Christmas Break- woo-hoo!!!!

I am the Varsity Bowling Coach at my school. I use the term "coach" very loosely...more like sponsor/ score keeper/ snack getter, etc...you get the picture. It is the best coaching gig in the school district. Other schools are extremely serious about their bowling...us, well, we have fun. I had an assistant yesterday at the game/ match...not really sure what they're called! WDP was so sweet. He loves anything with the "big kids"...We had a practice lane and the bowling alley let me set up the ramp for WDP and they gave him a kiddie ball. He could not have had any more fun. He would throw the ball down the ramp and run to see it come back in the ball return and say "here it is!" He was high fiving kids/ parents/ anyone that would give him a high five :-) Such a sweet little helper! We are going to a bowling birthday party this weekend....I think we have a leg up on the competition since we've been practicing!!!
We went to Touch a Truck Franklin Saturday morning. WDP made a bee-line for the train...pretty fun. We even saw our sweet Nurse Erica from our pediatrician. After the train he wouldn't look at anything and kept saying "I show you"...so I followed him...straight to the shaved ice truck! I have no idea how he knew what it was... This kid can throw down some shaved ice. No flavorings, just $3 for a cup of shaved ice...sigh... WDP LOVES his ice... after the ice he did get on a few diggers, mowers, tractors, but he mainly wanted to walk over and then keep eating his ice. He must've been preparing for our big date night- WDP and I went out to dinner and to "baby's first Opry"- My sweet friend Diane invited us out with her husband Louis to the Grand Ole Opry for the 85th birthday celebration of the Opry. Del McCoury (love!), Trace Adkins, Taylor Swift (she's as adorable as you would think) and get this...Dolly Parton!!!! We had so much fun. After each performance WDP would clap and say "more" with the baby sign for more. Then , after the Opry Square Dancers he looked at me and said "that my favorite!" he even talked about the dancers all day Sunday. Thanks for taking us Diane!!! Busy weekend!!!!

Yesterday was continued until Oct 26- blah! Oh well...and my embroidery machine sucked in a bunch of thread and stopped working- awesome right? Hopefully it will be back from the sewing machine doctor by Thursday!!!!