Cupcake Valentine Pops and Evan's Valentine Party

My sister in law, Melissa, inspired me to make Cupcake Pops.

She had made them several months back and they were so cute and delicious

that I just knew I had to find a good opportunity to make these!

Valentine's Day I thought would be the perfect chance to give these a try.

Bakerella is where the Cupcake Pops were found.

They are tedious but so worth it!

If you want to just do cake pops instead of molding them into cupcakes

you can do that too and takes much less time.

You can get creative and use your own flavors, colors,

and decor to fit your theme and taste.
Bakerella is fantastic!

I solicited my little helper to participate

in the making of the Valentines for his classmates.

He loves to dump stuff in the mixer.

(I wish I could have done them for Hayden's class

but the school only allows store bought treats, bummer.)

Oops, sorry buddy, I forget you can't open the mix
package on your own. I guess this look on your face is
que for me to put the camera down and open the bag
already!













Evan loves to be able to crack the eggs. Normally I won't
allow his to do this because I end up digging out a bunch of egg
shells but he pulled this first one off very successfully!
This was pretty much where Evan's part of the deal ended short of
starting the mixer and licking the bowl. (This was after I emptied the batter into the pan of course for any concerned readers that had one of the delicious treats.)

Fast forward many hours later to the finished project. I was so happy that Michael's had the perfect little heart candies to place on the top along with pink candy melts and Valentine themed sprinkles to complete the look.

After staying up until 2 am, there were still ribbons to be tied and valentines to be secured the next morning. I placed them as little "bouquets" for presentation in little valentine themed ceramic pots.
I loved how they turned out. I was a bit nervous with all the dipping and candy melts involved having never done them before but Melissa gave me some great tips before I got started - Thanks, Melissa!

The Valentine cupcake pops were a hit.

Now if I can just find the motivation to do ever do them again...

Evan and Will as usual ready for the hug pose.
You can't see it but both of their shirts said "Prince Charming."
Fitting title for this pair, huh?

 Evan and his favorite girl, Nicole.

Yeah, I was so happy Nicole's Mommy

was able to finally get a good picture of them.

Thank you for the pic, Cookie!

The teachers and room moms always take the
time to make the parties special.

 

Evan takes time out from the party for some tumble time - why not?

January Birthday Party Fun!

So January was the month of birthday parties-
Evan had two parties in one weekend for his classmates at preschool.
He so enjoyed spending time with some of his favorite buddies
and finally got to be the one invited to a party without his big brother
(or being the one left at home with Mommy or Daddy).
These first videos are of Evan and Will.
(You need to check out my friend Julianne's blog.)
Her take on Will
regarding Evan is so precious and also gets some cute pics of my E.
It is pretty neat that Evan and Will could be in class together
this year. For those readers that don't know,
Julianne is the older sister of Steve's best friends growing up,
twin brothers Jeremy and Joel.
Joel married us in fact and Jeremy was his best man.
Anyhow, just thought I would include that fun fact
before you could see these little guys together.

Evan simply adores Nicole.
He talks about her constantly.
Evan, Nicole, and Will seem to be quite the little
trio at school together.
I wish I was able to sneak a better pic
that wasn't on my handy iphone camera
but was happy to finally get a picture of them
together. Of course Evan was just delighted to see a pic
of himself with his sweet friend.
You can from their little faces, they had just
enjoyed some good ole chocolate birthday cake.

I love that Evan is still at the age where
he is not ashamed to sport a Hello Kitty hat
or wear Hello Kitty stickers from his party favor goodie bag.
These two always seem ready to pose for a
picture together.

Evan and Nicole looked on concerned with
what Will has to say.

And here is the trio.
Evan had told me recently that Nicole was his "girlfriend"
and Will was his "boyfriend."
Oh, the sweet innocence of three years old!
Anyhow, he enjoyed a truly wonderful weekend
full of bouncing, tumbling, singing, and sugar induced eating coma!

Dads and Doughnuts

Evan celebrated "Dads and Doughnuts" at his preschool with Steve.

I hadn't blogged this before but getting doughnuts
with Daddy is a special outing and time the boys share with
Steve almost every Saturday morning.
While Steve, being so wonderful, so kindly lets me sleep in
he takes the boys to get their delicious
breakfast, often with the boys still in their pj's.
He also uses the doughnuts as disciplinary
leverage those mornings so if misbehaving
happens in our house (*yes shocking but true!),
no discipline = no doughnuts.
When this happens Mommy knows quickly
as she wakes up to little boys crying in the other room.
It's the rule though, a good incentive for the boys
to behave for Daddy on Saturday morning!

Evan shows Daddy his cute little footprint
bookmark craft. Anything with their
hands or feet is always a keeper.

Daddy gets his usual- plain glazed. Evan goes for the chocolate - that's my boy!

While he is quickly growing into a big boy,
he still has just enough of those "baby hands"
that I am still holding onto.

Evan strategically places his stickers.
Usually when you leave this boy with stickers
he covers his jeans or sleeve with them
so it was good for him to have a focus.

Love to see Steve with a glue stick working their
little airplane craft.

Now this is the most entertaining part.
The way Evan eats a donut is quite the skill.
He does not eat donuts from side to side
but from top to bottom (icing to dough of course).
Often times he only makes it halfway through the doughnut
and then chimes, "Mommy, I'm doooonnne".
I love it!

My boys had a great time together.

Hayden Reading

Hayden is coming right along with his reading - so proud of him! He is getting better each day.

Christmas Pictures and Outtakes..

I thought it would be fun to post several of the photos taken

for the annual Christmas card.
The boys agreed to cooperate in exchange for ice cream.


Get your hat on, brother!

the angry chokehold pose

Cheese!

The happy chokehold pose

The stranglehold and kiss pose

Likely plotting their escape ...

I love this one.
Evan was clearly in done mode. Hayden was in goofy face mode.

This one was a keeper!
Can't you just tell from their looks
which one is a little more mischief? - love it!

This one also made the cut-
essence of Evan's sweet little face and expression.

This one was also a keeper.
I love that little dimple
that always shows on his left
cheek when he smiles.

cute goofball

It was so cold and so windy but the boys were great sports
and Daddy really got some good laughs
by flashing his belly.
Who knew that would be so entertaining?
Thanks, Daddy.

The cover shot - genuine happy boys.
I think they were singing some
song they made up called the "diaper song".
It makes them laugh so I just went with it.

Makes me smile.

Photo shoot over- We are free!
We are free!

Christmas Eve Snow!!

What a beautiful gift to see snow on Christmas!
I always hoped for a white Christmas as a child but never saw one until now.
I was thrilled my boys could experience it.

Daddy was in the mix of all this fun but I never got a shot
of him as I kept having to dodge his snowballs
anytime I was in his vicinity.

Evan grabs a hand of snow to form his perfect
snowball.

A little cold to stop and smile for the camera, Mom.
I appreciated his effort though :-)


Steve had so much fun coaching Hayden
on the art of the snowball fight.
You can see Hayden was having a blast.

Another most special part of our Christmas Eve was
visiting MeMaw and to deliver her
some special framed pictures of the boys.
She has been recovering from
pneumonia for the past few weeks but
is doing so much better and for that we are thankful.
Her lungs are clear but she still has some swelling her in
her feet so we are praying for healing there
so she can return home soon.
We got to stay and chat as her hair stylist came
to fix her hair and give her a beautiful Christmas "do".
She looks lovely, doesn't she?
Oh, how we love her so...
She is a source of some of my happiest and most
precious childhood memories.
If you know MeMaw, you know what it means to feel loved.


.

Christmas Card 2009

Evan in "Close to You"

The Carpenter's "Close to You"
is our favorite bedtime song.
Melt.My.Heart.

How Evan Enjoyed the Snow...

I am bewildered as to this child's obsession with being naked.
I guess if my buns were that cute I would probably be running
around the house naked too...

It is amazing how many times a week you hear in the house,
"Evan, where are your pants?! Put some pants on!"
He just randomly appear unclothed, usually after going to the bathroom.

Unfortunately, naked boy only got to enjoy the snow from the window.
By the time he got around to clothes the Texas snow had melted...
We will hope for more this season that will stick!

"Nah, Nah, Nah, Hey, Hey, Hey Goodbye!"

Evan's First Dentist Appointment

I was very fearful of Evan's very first dentist appointment.
Before we even left the house he was screaming,
"I don't want to go to the dentist!! I don't want to go to the dentist!"
I just knew we were in for quite the morning.
All the bribery in the world was not convincing
this boy that a trip to the dentist would be worth it....

This was Evan at the dentist. I would not have
believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

He was a perfect angel.
He did everything the hygienist ask of him.
He did not protest one second.
He let her count, clean, and polish his teeth.

He got some cool sunglasses to wear
and was holding his "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" Mouse
that Aunt Melissa had given him.
What else does a boy need?
Mommy could not have been more proud!
Thank you, Lord, for
answering the small prayer of mine.
Physical restraint was not required.
Now, if we could talk about that when I
sometimes just try to get him in his car seat!

Indiana Turkey

Hayden's Kinder assignment was to disguise his Thanksgiving turkey.
He thought Indiana Jones would be the perfect cover up.
After finding an old back pack to cut up for a jacket and a
small braided belt for a whip he was all set!
We created a leather satchel and everything to complete the look.
Indiana Turkey was one handsome turkey
and he was so proud to take him to school.

Half Marathon!

Nothing better than seeing my sweet boys cheer me on
at the finish line of my Half Marathon!
They loved taking turns wearing my finisher medal on the way home.
I came in at 2 hr 20 min beating my last years time of 2 hrs 32 minutes.
I am so behind in posting this that since then I ran the
White Rock Half Marathon six weeks later on December 13 coming
in at 2 hrs 15 minutes beating my November time by 5 minutes setting
a new personal record for me!
Running has been such a wonderful outlet for me
and keeps driving me to get stronger.
Anyone want to join me for the White Rock Half next year??
It is such a fun run and so beautiful with
tons of crowd support the whole 13.1 miles!