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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Piano

Hooray, we now have a piano to call our own.  
It's not the most beautiful one, but trying to round up enough people to travel to get one, this one worked out the best.  It needs some love, but has a good sound.  
 It's fairly easy to play, I think it will be better once it's tuned and adjusted.  It has a few sticky keys on the very edges, but those have gotten better since it's been brought home and inside.  I've left the top open to really air it out, it seams to be helping.
 This is the inside the top, really pretty wood.  Hopefully at some point we'll be able to polish it up a bit. 

A quick tune to share...

Excited to have it tuned on Friday! 

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter Fun

The Easter bunny came last night and filled up all our baskets!  
 We then tortured the boys and told them they couldn't wake us up before 8am.
I'm pretty sure they were up around 6am, but were good and stayed in their room.

Can we open them now Mom?!!?!
 Easter bunny loot...
 The bunny left a note that he was awfully busy this year and asked for some Mom help.  
So I set up a scavenger hunt that sent the boys around the house to find their big gift.

 Whoo Hooo, found it!
 Then they searched around for the treat eggs the Easter Bunny left.
 Counting their eggs...

 Once they were dressed, it was time to test out the new stadium.

Before we knew it, time had come to go to Grandma and Grandpas.  
Once everyone arrived it was time for the egg hunt.
 The little boys had 6 eggs to find with their initials on them.
The big kids each had to pick a color and find all 6 eggs of that color. 
 Eye spy with my little eye a pink egg!
 Found one!
 Purple...
 The boys checking out their loot. 
 The big kids had to solve a Scrabble style puzzle, each the same, to claim our gift card. 

After a nice brunch and some play time, we called it a day!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Dying eggs for Easter...

The boys have been asking since the beginning of March if we could dye eggs this year.  They were really excited when we opened the Easter box to find two dying kits ready to go!  I was crossing my fingers that they weren't too old and would still work.  In the end, the old set (5+ years) didn't work all the well, but the newer ones were great.  Plus we have cups for next year.

Every time I hard boil eggs I have to Google it, it's really not the hardest thing I've ever cooked, but it's easy to mess them up.  So eggs in the pan, covered with cold water, brought just to a boil, then cover them and turn the heat off.  Let them sit for 12 minutes or so, then place them in an ice bath.  Done! 
As to not ruin anything else in the house, the garage was where we set up. 
 Wasting no time, Ty dunked right into the green. 
 Cody really liked writing messages and designs on this eggs.
 Double dunk...
 Ty slowed down and drew on some of his as well.



 This one hit the ground, but we figured we would just keep dying it anyway. 
 No super smiley photos today, egg dying is serious business.
 That or it just wasn't as exciting as they pictured it to be.
  Egg bath...
Pretty eggs, all finished.

Happy Easter!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cody turns 8!

Saturday was Cody's 8th Birthday.  In the morning he went to a hot rod breakfast with Keith, Grandpa and Uncle Tim.  Then we had a small party at Monster Mini Golf with a couple of his friends, followed by a family dinner later that evening.  He had a great day and has a lot of cool new loot to show for growing another year older!
Monsters were the theme for the year, so we made monster bookmarks for everyone.
Monster Juice bottles and oranges...
and monster cupcakes.  
The kids started out by playing some games...


 Then some snacks...

 We opened a few presents and ate some chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes!
 The green was Really green!
 Then it was finally time for some black light, golfing fun!



 Cody and his buddies.
 A happy boy that finally has the RipStik he's been dreaming of!
 Ahhhh....
Big thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate!

I found the recipe for the cupcakes on Pinterest, from here: 
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/02/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes.html

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the filling:
4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons milk
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For decoration:
Mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line cupckae pan with 24 liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about a half hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. I found this a little tricky to get the hole out but then you get to eat what you take out! Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired and sprinkle with mini-chocolate chips. My husband thinks they are best served chilled. I think they are way better at room temperature where the frosting just melts in your mouth.