"I Love Pink!"

The Pembertons sent our kids the book "Pinkalicious" in December and it has been a favorite ever since.  Hannah asks to read it almost every night and just recently has asked me if we can make our own pink cupcakes.  The only thing better than making the pink cupcakes was watching HG eat one.  She loves pink and she loves cupcakes...

Cupcake Wars

The small group we're in gets together twice a month and this month the host couple put on a halloween-themed party, including a friendly game of "Cupcake Wars."  Let's just say the competition was intense.  We had a lot of fun but I'm really looking forward to relaxing and getting some sleep.  I've been putting in some late nights and waking David up in the middle of the night to discuss cupcake designs ideas.  :)

Then there was a bunch of smack talk on Facebook and so the pressure was on.

Here was what we were up against:

We were not allowed to vote for ourselves and in the end our cupcake lost by only ONE vote!  The funny part is that I voted for the winner... so it's my fault that I lost... or something like that :)

Here was our design:

And everything was edible...

The whole family had a blast.  Blaine and Hannah dressed up in their costumes and both had fun playing with the other kids and decorating their own cupcakes.

We are all planning for the next competition: "Ginger Bread Man Wars!" Ha!

A Rainy and Gluten Free Weekend

It rained all weekend... and I loved it. Rain slows me down a bit, which I enjoy, plus Blaine was able to fully recover.  I spent a lot of time planning meals this weeked, watching cooking shows, and reading our new Gluten Free/Casein Free (GFCF) cookbook.

One thing I don't like about a Gluten Free lifestyle (besides that it is way more expensive) is that it now takes me 2-3 hours to do our grocery shopping because I have to go to two different stores to get everything
(and save a little money in the process) and I have to read all labels now.  When I plan out our weekly meals I have to make sure it is all gluten and dairy free, I have to tweak recipes that I find that aren't GFCF and actually, finding recipes to satisfy all of our tastes is difficult, so it has definitely been a learning experience. I know (I hope) it will get easier as we keep on with it.

We made a GF pizza today and it was actually really yummy. David even liked it (that's saying a lot!)  I also made a cranberry orange bread that we haven't tasted yet, but it looks tasty as well.

Blaine's school is closed tomorrow, so I'm off again with both kids.  Should be interesting.

THANK HEAVENS!  GF/Dairy Free Chocolate.  Mmmmmmm.

Blaine's pizza.  He really enjoyed making this.

David's pizza.  He also enjoyed making this.

GFCF Orange Cranberry Bread.  Mmmmm, tasty! (I hope.)

The Lone Star Cookie

Because of this post right here the Texas folk went into full on mission-Texas-cookie-cutter mode.

And they were successful in their pursuit.  Blaine received a Texas shaped cookie cutter for Christmas AND cookies to go with it.  Unfortunately we were given the cookies in Plano over the weekend and someone (David) ate almost 3/4 of the batch of cookies before we got home and then a few broke in transit. 

But Blaine had a great time decorating the remaining few.

Thank you Aunt Barbara and Uncle Perry for completing the collection for our little Tex-Gander (Texas/Michigander.)

The Star is for Austin and the heart is for Conroe where Aunt Bebe and Uncle Perry live.

 

After the decorating...

And we can't leave without showing a picture of Sister.  Here she is in her outfit from Aunt Bebe and Uncle Perry.

Tis the Season

We're all about the Christmas spirit over here at 2001 Crystal Shore.  My feet, back and head hurt from two straight days of baking.  I've made mocha truffles, Andes Mint cookies, peanut clusters, and burnt sugar almonds (just like the ones they sell at the mall and fair. Mmmmm)  See how the bag says, "A Heart-Healthy Snack".  Not anymore...

 

Here is the recipe: Burnt Sugar Almonds

It is kind of a good thing that Sister has acid reflux and a milk allergy... I can't eat anything I bake.  Come to find out, she's extremely sensitive to high amounts of sugar too (hence, I am out on the almonds above.)  I think I would normally be on the weight-gain-train at this point in the Christmas season, but not yet!  Thank you allergies!

Blaine and I had fun making a gingerbread house this weekend.  I showed him the kit before he went down for his nap on Saturday and then twice (before he even went to sleep) he screamed out to me, "Mama, is it time to get up?  I'm done sleeeeeeeping!"  Nice try, Son.  He finally did fall asleep and then when he did wake up two hours later he screamed, "Mama - did I sleep?  Is it time for my house?"  Cute.

Here is our masterpiece.  See, Mom and Dad - my architecture degree does come in handy.

That is a Gingerbread Man who was attacked by gumballs.

 

Really (really) proud of that Gingerbread Man.

 

Note to self: Do not give Blaine Miller Lyon sugar.  The kid cannot handle it.  Trust me - the aftermath was not pretty.

And it wouldn't be Christmas unless we had some unexpected expenses.  Nothing major... just four new tires for my truck!  That's right.  The gift I always wanted - tires.  I got a flat tire (thankfully, I was not on the highway and I was not far from home) on Saturday and to make a really long story short, I had to get 4 brand new tires.  My knight in shining armor handled the whole deal which was not an easy task since I didn't have a spare on my truck, so he had to switch his tire out with my bad tire, drive it to Firestone, and then get a ride back and put his tire back on.  We feel very thankful that I was not with both kids and driving on the highway because it could have been bad.  The tire totally blew out.  I was driving along, heard a loud pop and then the back end dipped.  Scared me, but because of my stellar abilities as a female driver I managed to save my life, Hannah's life (who was with me) and the lives of the other drivers around me... and I pulled into the closest parking lot and called on my own personal Superman (D).

And then there was the Luminary Festival in our neighborhood.  D took Blaine to sit on Santa's lap for the first time (even though he really doesn't know who Santa is) and Blaine screamed his head off.  The picture is actually pretty priceless.  David is holding Blaine and Blaine is gripping David with a look of total fear on his face as he tries to get away from Santa.  We tried to take HG last night but the line was too long.  Here she is being a beautiful angel.

I must go recover from the weekend now.

Over and Out,

J

Special Prizes and More

Almost everyday when we go to the mailbox Blaine says, "I wonder if GG sent me a special prize today."  And a few weeks ago when D got a birthday package from GG - Blaine cried (literally), "Why didn't GG send meeeeeeeee a special prize?"  Well, Blaine (and Hannah) were in luck on Thursday... a special prize from GG was waiting for them in the mailbox.

GG wanted us to know that the special prize was for Hannah and Blaine so she put their names on the package in really big cut-out letters.  Or maybe her postmaster has trouble reading small print.  I don't know.

In that package were some prizes for everyone in the family, but Blaine's were especially fun.  He got this funny spoon and spatula.

And like any good Baker's Man... we put them to use.

We decided that the cake we made was going to be for Tug's birthday. He turns 4 today!  Here he is at 6 weeks old.  Happy birthday Tug :)

And then there is our little Angel Bug.  She is so sweet, compliant, lovely, adorable and you'll just have to trust me that the girl has a neck... We have seen it.  Once.

And here she is wearing an outfit that my dad bought for Blaine over three years ago.  When I was pregnant with Blaine he was sure it was a girl, hence the girl outfit he bought for Blaine.  It looks much better on HG than it did on Blaine.