Just the Four of Us

We invited these two along for our Valentine's Day festivities.

Our dinner was burgers and fries...so much irony in the night. Never have we chosen burgers for our Valentine's Day dinner, and I am pretty sure it's usually a date night without the kiddos. We planned to make up for our date night on the following weekend...and beat the crowds :)

Emma toasted us with her "cheers."

And, we enjoyed the company of each other and all of the little ducks visiting.

Miss Emma....She's always willing to help out. She's a sweet girl.

And, she loves her daddy.

Towards the end, it was getting a little late for our little one.

He was so ready for bath and bed.

I did manage to sneak in a family photo. Although, now looking at the photo, I'm thinking, "poor Carson." He looks so, so sad.

I ended my Valentine's night with one of the sweetest kisses ever. He's just so sweet.

Burgers on Valentine's with the kiddos just might be a new tradition. After all, they are who we love the most, right?

on heart day eve

we headed out to our favorite park to enjoy the weather.

emma loves a park.

and carson does too.

she offered to push her brother, but got smacked in the nose by the swing...

she was okay and moved on to feed the ducks.

my two favorite boys...

i love them both.

it's hard to believe that this time last year, this little one was still in my belly.

my how the time flies.

he's been a wonderful addition to our family.

i thought it was cute that their shirts matched :)

miss emma and her chapped lips...

and me with my little buddy. it was a fun family day.

from there to here ::part 2::

i was on a mission last week to find a made from scratch cupcake recipe. after being super unhappy with those delightful little box cake mixes on aisle 9 and chunking one "made from scratch" batch of cupcakes in the trash...yes all 24, i came up with this: chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. it's a keeper. i used the recipe from here for the cake, and as for the frosting, i don't remember it's source. it's moist and yummy and if you want the recipe without the photos, scroll down to the bottom of the post. preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with liners, and get a small pan of water boiling on the stove.

mix your dry ingredients together: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup unpacked brown sugar, 1 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt.

then, i dumped it into my kitchen aid and gave it a whirl. i should have just started in my kitchen aid...

add 2 eggs. mix well.

add 1 cup whole milk.

add 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 tsp. vanilla. beat for about a minute, scraping the sides if necessary. then, add 1 cup of boiling water.

you'll end up with this...super drippy batter. i used a ladle to pour the batter into my baking cups. bake for 20 minutes.

they'll look like this when they're done. while they are cooling, you can work on the frosting.

for the frosting you'll need 1 stick butter, softened to room temp, 1 block of cream cheese, softened to room temp, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.), and 1 Tblsp. milk. cream the butter and cream cheese. add the cocoa and vanilla. add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and finish with the milk. if you want thinner frosting, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time.

now, for the fun part...frosting! i'm a nerd and used this video to help out with my frosting techniques. i wanted the "swirl" effect...

i wish i knew more about this stuff...

remember i made these a couple of weeks ago? they were our toppers for our valentine's day cupcakes. miss emma added a heart to each of the cupcakes, and then i loaded miss emma up, and we delivered the cupcakes to a couple of her super special little friends.

our little buddy has reached another milestone...pulling up! here he is on his very first success...just before the big O-N-E.

we wrapped our week up at a valentine's day crafting party.

what a fun idea! there were cookies to decorate...

and eat...

my little pony joined emma on her adventures. have you noticed that they've re-done strawberry shortcake, my little pony, barbie, and all of the others? it appears that in the past 20 years or so that whole licensed clad has gone clubbing. together. seriously. they're all looking a little wild and *****ish (insert appropriate adjective). do you know how much i love all of that licensed junk? not. i abhor the t-shirts covered in dora, don't really enjoy eating on ariel's face, and honestly would prefer my children to play with all things wooden and classic. let me stop now. just take a look at the barbies next time you're in target. i gurantee you that they don't look like these. in short, i prefer the vintage, don't you?

there were bookmarks to color. emma gave hers to her daddy for heart day.

and little valentine dudes to create...

emma even made me a necklace, which i proudly wore to dinner that night. later on, we turned it into a key chain...those bright little rainbow hearts have helped me big time when on my key hunt! it was a fun week....thanks so much to our sweet friends for the super fun party.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup sugar

1 cup unpacked brown sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with liners, and get a small pan of water boiling on the stove. Dump the dry ingredients into your kitchen aid, sugar through salt. Allow it to mix. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat for about a minute. Add the boiling water, and beat until blended. Ladle into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, room temp.

1 block cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)

1+ Tblsp. milk

Cream the butter and cream cheese. Add the cocoa and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and finish with the milk. If you want thinner frosting, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time.

from there to here ::part 1::

from here to there.

this post will be everywhere.

emma's really into rhyming lately. i think she's rubbed off on me. somebody rob taught emma that deer rhymes with beer. awesome. i don't think he realized what he had said, until he had already said it. don't you just hate it when that happens? we started the week off with a couple of batches of salt dough ornaments. i. love. them. i think i've perfected the recipe. the dough was perfect and was easily re-rolled, so there were no wasted scraps.

after they cooled, i hit them with this.

i did this in my garage, of course....with the garage doors shut, because if i open them during naptime, it wakes the kids up, so the ventilation was perfect! this batch was mainly for carson's birthday, but i made some extra ones too. i made emma a set of numbers, just to help her learn. we made a few hearts for v-day, that she and i decorated with sequins, buttons, etc., and i let emma pick out her FAVORITES for something later. can you tell i'm a spray paint junkie? i have spray painted just about everything in my house.

after they dried, i strung them with ribbon, and hung them on our trusty little tree. hello, birthday centerpiece!

here's a sneak peek...

i've been meaning to whip this one up for months. i've seen it multiple times throughout blogland, but don't remember where i saw it first. start with a straw wreath (leave the plastic wrap on), 2 bags of floral hooks, and a lifetime supply of balloons. the wreath was $3.99 at hobby lobby. the pins were $1.50 a bag, so $3, and the balloons, well, let's just say i used more than i thought i would. way more.

choose two balloons. stack them like this...

grab a floral hook and stick it across the middle.

then, push it into the wreath. continue until it's covered! it didn't take as long as i thought. i started just before dinner one night and finished up while rob and i were watching tv that same night.

it was worth all of the balloons. i was super pleased. while i was at hobby lobby, i grabbed the foam letter for a buck, and i even picked up miss emma a yellow "E" for when it's her special day. i love that it can re-used with each child for every birthday.

our front door was looking so bright and cheery with our new wreath that i let emma pick out something new for our front door flower pot. she is still tried and true yellow. we needed something to brighten up our post winter horror of a yard.

i'll be back in a flash with part 2 of this story.

i've got a recipe to share, so you need not to worry.

okay, enough. see y'all in a bit.