I Love 'K-LOVE'

About 8 years ago, I was turned on to this little gem of a radio station. I had never before been a fan of Christian Rock, but a good friend of mine (thanks Mary) has two girls who are now teenagers, and was concerned with mainstream music. Now before you go get your panties in a ruffle, I am not opposed to pop music or any music for that matter, I have been known to shake a tail feather or two in my time, but I do think that what they play on the radio now a days leaves little to the imagination, ie; 'I kissed a girl and I liked it' are you kidding me?? What the crap is that? I have enough to worry about than to constantly be screening what comes on the radio, so in our car we listen to 96.5, and before you know it, you are hooked. Alot of the bands have that Daughtry feel, and the lyrics won't send you into a three hour discussion on the birds and the bees!! Some of my favs are, Chris Rice , Third Day , MercyMe , and Natalie Grant . K-LOVE's theme is 'positive & encouraging', and that pretty much sums it up. About two years ago, when I was going through a hard time in my life, I would pack the kids in the car and drive around for hours, and I would find answers to my prayers in these songs. Music has such a powerful way of reaching your soul. So if you find yourself in my same situation, and are in need of some music therapy, turn your dial to 96.5 (in the Southern Oregon region), and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you have been missing out on all these years, and for those of you who are already a fan, yeah to you!! If you have a minute, listen to my playlist and tell me what you think!

Ode to 'Joy' School

Sorry, the music for this post has been changed, but if you would have looked at my blog the day this posted you would've enjoyed a rockin' version of 'Ode to Joy' by Beethoven.

The boys all started preschool last week, and it has been such a 'joy'. It is a co-op Joy School with other Mom's and we rotate between houses. We have jokingly called it the boys club, because between both classes there is not one girl among them! The twins are with four of their friends, and my turn to teach is next week. I believe I have Health and Nutrition! Yeah for me, I will post on that next week! The older boys go Tues/Thurs from 9-11:30, and after two weeks I have seen such a change in them, somehow they seem so much older and they take school very seriously. I use the term school loosely because I am not as concerned with academics as I am with them having a love for learning, and enjoy the process rather than doing a bunch of worksheets, or tracing letters. All of the Mom's on board are really hands on, and so far so much fun! I could not have asked for a better group of ladies, thanks gals, you're the best. This week was my first week to teach Ashden's friends one day a week for an hour and a half and Wow, that was an hour and a half of the 'horse and pony show' staring me in all my glory. We sang, we danced, we hunted for Dinosaurs, made Lion faces, read books, and in my nicest Mommy voice quickly diverted four 3 year olds and two four year olds (Aiden and Anden), from wrestling each other the entire time! Those boys have energy, I need to bottle it up and make myself some money! Oh, did I mention I was also trying to entertain my one year old as well, that didn't go quite as well, and I wish I would have taken a picture of the mess she created why I was busily trying to do craft time with the crew. It was definitely an 'are you kidding me' moment. Only two feet away from me she carefully pulled the soda crackers from the cupboard and poured them all over the floor, and somehow managed to pull the lid off of her milk and make a paste like substance. She was being quiet so why would I be worried? Note to self, if one year old child is ever quiet for more than three minutes, trouble is brewing. But even after all of that it was so much fun and I wouldn't trade it for the world, they are only little for a short while, and I would rather spend my time teaching and playing, than having some 'Mommy time' (although the weeks I am not teaching are turning out to be like a little retreat, who knew that having one or two kids gone could make such a difference in my sanity!). I know I will have plenty of me time when I am no longer the coolest person in their life. So here goes to many years of Joy School, maybe after the third or fourth year I will be singing a different tune, but for now it is an 'Ode to Joy' for me!!

The World's Most Delightful Cupcakes

Here is the promised recipe thanks to my fabulous friend MJ. You won't be disappointed in the end result!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into muffin tins. Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from tins to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Buttercream Icing

5 T. soft butter or more (I use a whole cube!)

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 T milk or cream

1 1/2 tsp. Madagascar vanilla

unsweetened cocoa powder if desired for chocolate icing

Blend butter and sugar together. Stir in cream and vanilla until smooth. For chocolate frosting add cocoa powder and extra milk to desired consistency. Enjoy!!

Adeline's First Birthday!

For those of you who know me, birthday parties are a big deal in my family. I have a friend who will remain anonymous, OK her name is Monique, who seriously throws outlandish B-Day parties. I will have to post more about that later. So here goes the big day for Adeline. Last February I found the cutest Valentine cupcake paraphernalia at Target (my favorite store in the universe), I waited patiently until the day after to purchase said items at 75% off anticipating my one and only daughters first birthday. So with that said, she had a pink and brown cupcake themed birthday. I made cute little chocolate cupcakes from my friend MJ's delightful homemade recipe which I will include at the end of this post, with pink buttercream frosting and brown little jimmies on top. We also had pink and brown whoppers, and strawberries with raspberry marshmallow fluff, and some pink ice-cream strawberry soda concoction. As you are probably imagining, it was a sugar feast, and yes, my kids all had the dirty squirties the day after. I invited her four little girlfriends and their siblings and we decorated picture frames with foam art (my favorite craft item in the world), and then made footprints and handprints to put in the frames. FYI-every good kid party should include a themed craft!! It keeps the party rolling, and makes for a great souvenir. Adeline was dressed in her birthday Tutu, thanks to Granny, and as much as I want her to be a girlie girl, I think she may end up being a tomboy. How sad for me. I will keep pushing the pink for as long as I can. The party was set, the house was decorated, the food look edible, the guests had arrived, the craft was going strong, all seemed well in my world. The husband was put in charge of the picture taking, and it looked like he was capturing all of those precious moments I knew I was going to scrap with my carefully coordinated cupcake paper that matched the party perfectly thanks to Target and the genius' behind their marketing who managed to sucker me into buying every last bit of their Valentine cupcake magic. Who knew that all of that would come crashing down when said husband informed me that he accidentally tried to format the memory card on the camera and erased the whole first half of the party. This may seem like an accident to you, but this same thing happened three years earlier when I received said camera for Christmas and he erased all pictures of Holiday 2005. Someday I will post the pictures I tried to recreate of that Christmas a week after the fact! Enough said, I needed a few minutes in the bathroom to cry just a bit, and recompose myself for all of my party guests. So despite the mishap, it was a fabulous event filled with friends, food (OK, junk), and memories that will hopefully last a lifetime, if not in my mind, at least on cupcake paper in 10 years when I finally get caught up on my scrapbook albums. Following is a photo montage of the day. And for those of you who may be wondering what Adeline's big gift was........her first Cabbage Patch Kid who looks exactly like my first CPK, thanks to the people at Babyland General who launched the 25th anniversary dolls just in time for her birthday. Who knew I had so much power and control!!

Tutu and Pink Mary Janes!!

Sugar induced meltdown.

Adeline and Co.
Pretty as a Princess
Cupcakes
Craft
Coveted CPK

Quick Update

I know I haven't even started this whole blog thing yet, but I am gearing up to take over the blogging world, watch out Sarah!! Hopefully I will start posting soon, but for anyone who may check this. I am banning all forms of Entertainment (ie, Movies, TV, Magazines, Rentals, etc) from now until Election Day to show my support to the McCain/Palin ticket, and to more importantly show Hollywood that Republicans can and will stand up for Family Values and won't let their one sided views distort the truth, or give them a platform to rant. Join me over the next two months, and let your voice be heard, one vote at a time!!