Happy Halloween!

JP asked me to make a special treat for his class to celebrate Halloween.  He also got his teacher to go along with this plan by (I suspect) having her send home the "treat list" with a check mark next to "cake".  I suppose it doesn't help that I am constantly schlepping cupcakes and such to school to entice the staff!

I ended up spending my whole day working on this gem.  It was "just" going to be cupcakes.  Then I thought it would be cute to have something with a pumpkin theme.  I didn't want to shape frosting into pumpkins all day, so I baked 2 bundt cakes and slapped them together.  Goodness knows you can't have a class celebration without adding the names of ALL OF THE KIDS IN THE CLASS....sigh.  Why do I do this to myself??  The fact that I spent 5 hours working on something that will be destroyed by a class of 8-year-olds in 5 minutes flat has not escaped me.  The things we do for our kids!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Halloween Surprise!

As you may have realized, my family is big on celebrations.  Not expensive celebrations mind you (since I can't seem to get paid to roam the Internet and look for awesome craft ideas) but fun none the less.  This idea came from one of my many MANY hours looking at Pinterest and Craft Gossip (SWOON).  2 ENORMOUS beach balls that I spent hours (no, really...HOURS) coloring with a black permanent marker.  My husband hoisted them in to a tree and secured them with bungee cords, which allows for movement.  WHALAA!

While it was difficult to hide from the kids due to their size, I did want to surprise them with the actual unveiling.  My husband and I snuck out to the chosen tree and stealthily (HA!  Stealthily...with each of us carrying a 42-inch beach ball!) assembled the eyes just in time for the bus to drive by!  They were quite amazed.  And so was the bus driver....

Next year, we are going to attempt a crashed space ship.  Wish us luck.

Casino Night Fundraiser

 

Casino Night Meringue Tower and Pumpkin Pie Pops
 

I recently had the pleasure of working with an amazing group of the hardest working moms around.  Out school district, along with many others all over the county I'm sure, has had more than it's fair share of budget cuts.  Hoping to ease the burden at least a little bit we decided to hold a Casino Night Fundraiser.  Holy Hannah was it fun.  AND A LOT OF WORK.  Seriously.  I am still recovering.

 

Chocolate Fountain

 

Other than they joy of getting to work with these amazing women, I did get to live out my Vegas-style dessert buffet fantasy.  Chocolate fountains, meringues, tarts, mini pie-pops!  I was in heaven!

 

Lemon Tarts and Salt Water Taffy
 

 There are a few things I would do differently.  The meringue on the Lemon Tarts "melted" and spread.  The chocolate fountain is MESSY!!!! so maybe a smaller, separate table is in order and the Meringue Tower was so tall and glittery, I don't think people realized that it was edible!  Maybe an "Eat Me" sign is in order.  Just FYI...if you plan on making Mini Pumpkin Pie Pops with Cinnamon Whipped Cream, be sure you have A TON of them.  They were the favorite of the night!

Chocolate Cupcakes with real BUTTERcream
 

All in all, it was an incredibly rewarding event.  Both in terms of money for our school AND time spent with wonderful people.

 

The Cupcakes

I had the pleasure of making 4 different cupcakes for our community clean-up day. 

KEY LIME PIE

SUPER sour....just like the real thing!  I made lime flavored cupcakes using a vanilla cake recipe, adding about 2 tablespoons of lime juice.  Baked as usual and topped with real BUTTER buttercream frosting that tasted JUST like you bit into a lime.  LOTS of lime juice in this.  I then piped it onto the cupcakes and sprinkled crushed graham crackers on top along with a tiny candy lime wedge.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE

These are dark chocolate cupcakes topped with home made Coconut Pecan frosting (Ala Cooks.com).  Made chocolate ganache and piped SORRY looking scrolls (really, they look more like snails)around the cupcake. 

Want to know what the other 2 flavors were?  Check back soon to see!

JACKS BIRTHDAY AT SCHOOL ICE CREAM CONE CUPCAKES...whew

That was a mouthful.  Hopefully, his classmates will think the same of the treats we brought for them!

I love making these because you can make them look so realistic, it causes double takes all over the place.  And I am all about double-takes.  And general Tom Foolery.  And Silly....I do silly REALLY well.  Ahem.

Just fill flat bottomed (don'tcha wish you had a flat bottom.  I sure wish I did!) ice cream cones 3/4 of the way full and bake as normal. 

FYI - I suggest doing this in a mini-cupcake pan surrounded by tin foil to keep them from falling over.  Just a small tip learned from a very bad experience....:)

I frosted mine with bubble gum flavored REAL buttercream, sundae sprinkles and a sour cherry candy on top.

Again with the FYI - These things are REALLY DIFFICULT to transport!  If possible, do not introduce them to a moving vehicle.  Disaster will, I promise, ensue!  They are worth the effort, however....looks good and SO tasty!

Spring Is In The Air!

Where I live, Spring is a magical time.  After MONTHS of cold, snow and ice, the warmth of the sun and crocus flowers poking through the last of the snow is the unofficial badge of honor proving you have the fortitude to survive all Wisconsin can throw at you. 

Well, in theory anyway.

See, this year we have had 6 months of Spring and on some days, Summer!  Very odd for my neck of the woods.  None the less, April is a welcome sight and is causing me to think of the gardening possibilities!  I made this rose cupcake/gift basket combo with that thought in mind.  Who can resist flowers made from buttercream?

I used a regular (heavy) flowerpot and inserted a styrofoam ball (one that fits TIGHTLY).   I topped that with green tissue paper (if I do it again, I may use green shredded tissue paper.  I didn't like how "bunched up" it looked).  I then used heavy dowels topped with cupcakes and pushed them through both the tissue paper and the styrofoam ball.  I would recommend freezing the cupcakes before doing this to limit any damage to the icing and to also wrap in a clear gift bag to help support the cupcakes.  I then tied a package of flower seeds to the outside of the package so she could reuse the planter.

The recipient, by the way, LOVED it!

April Fools Part 2

Here are the remaining April Fools pranks as promised!

Lunch was "grilled cheese" and "chips"...AKA pound cake with orange frosting and bags of chips that I opened a TINY bit on the bottom, poured out the chips and refilled with carrots!  I then hot glued the bag back together being careful not to use too much glue (Carrots and hot glue = YUCK).

April Fools Day 2012

It's that time of year...April Fools.  Some say it is my favorite day of the year.  Some also say that I seem to get a strange amount of pleasure out of tricking my kids.  Some say I spend WWWAAAAYYYY to much time planning and organizing said tricks.  "Some" need to shut their pie-hole (yes, YOU Mr. DingaLinge!).

Ok, fine.  He is right.  I really don't know what it is...but my kids have the BEST reactions to being fooled.  The first year I really did anything, I made meatloaf in a cupcake pan and topped them with colored mashed potatoes.  JP looked at me with his big blue eyes opened wide and yelled "MAMA!!!  These ARE NOT CUPCAKES!!!!!"  And yes, he did use that many exclamation points...ha!

So here is a small sample of what is in store for The Boys when they wake up this fine April 1st Day.

Cold cereal for breakfast.  But WAIT...is it cold cereal?  Could it be....an APRIL FOOLS TRICK?  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA (yes, that is an evil laugh).  This is, in fact, NOT cold cereal, but white jello topped with little candy necklace pieces!

And look.....Pizza!  The Boys' favorite.  Who can resist gooey cheese and pepperoni?  Well, if you are at OUR table you would be eating a COOKIE instead of pizza.  That's right, that is a GIANT COOKIE.  Topped with strawberry jam "sauce", "shredded" white chocolate, fruit leather "pepperoni", black licorice "black olives", cashew "mushrooms", and gummy worm "green peppers". 

Check back later for lunch and dessert pictures.  BWWHAHAHAHA!

Heart Cookies

The Ice Cream Cone Cake

By Request...

The Ice Cream Cone Cake....

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Joey. The Clown.

Last night, around 10:30 I went upstairs to go to bed. My normal routine is to cover each boy and kiss them good night with James' room being first. When I tucked him in, his hands were COVERED in marker; odd, but I thought little of it and moved on to the next room. Tucked in Jack....then looked at Joseph. I swear to all that is good and holy that a clown attacked him. He had circles on his ...face. ALL. OVER. HIS. EVER-LOVING FACE. In BLACK (headsmack) PERMANENT MARKER. Circles on his cheeks...forhead...NOSE. Big circles, little circles....I then made the connection between James' hands and Joeys attack. I am going to go with this being some passive-aggressive payback on James' part....the explanation of WHY will be extracted shortly in PAPER AND PENCIL FORM and consisting of no less than 500 WORDS.  

All of this may be more horrifying to me because I did EXACTLEY the same thing to my brother.  As a matter of fact, I think I was almost the same age as well.  In his case, the weapon of choice was a ball point pen.  And in his case, my mom laughed about it...me...not so much.  James was promptly awoken and marched into his brothers room.  To do what, I STILL have no idea, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

James does seem to be the one who reinacts all of the stereo-typical childhood scenes.  The phone call from his Kindergarten teacher comes to mind, where he not only stuck his tongue to a frozen pole, but coerced half of his class to follow suit.

I suppose I need to look at the bright side....that it could all be so much worse.  He could have written WORDS on his face.  At least with circles, I can fill them in and call it chicken pox!   

The Day We Slid Down the Stairs / Valentines Day 2012

Thanks to The Hungry Housewife

I love to make ordinary days special for my boys.  This last weekend, we pulled the sheets off of the boys' beds, threw the mattresses down the hall steps and took turns (kinda) sliding down. 

The boys thought it was the best thing EVER.

Daddy thought I was NUTS. 

I tried to tell him that we needed to change the sheets anyway, but he wasn't having any of it.  After about 15 minutes of laughter and screaming (on my part...HA!), we finally convinced him to try it out.  Not impressed with his form, I must say....but happy that he attempted to enjoy himself.  We video taped the whole insane event and I hope to have a screening of it soon.

I have explained to the boys, you NEVER know what a day will bring.  It can be good...it can be bad...it will always be a surprise.  It gives them something to look forward to, I think.  Especially since we are in the dead of winter with nothing to do but make up silly games and wait for spring.

So for Valentines day, I am making these GREAT gelatin hearts.  My boys LOVE Jello, and they think I can preform magic when I make stuff out of it.  So far their favorite is Broken Glass Jello, but I think this will be right up there.