Trunk or Treat at Discovery Point, followed by Cara's first spend the night out at Olivia's house.
Boo at the Zoo with Joslyn from school and her mom.
Max's 1st Birthday party at Swift-Cantrell.
The Crawford's annual Halloween Party.
Emmy's 5th Birthday lunch at American Girl Doll Bistro.
Let's just say, the girls had a fab weekend, and I'm one tired Momma.
Some nights, when it's just me and the girls, I like to be super girly! I mean, why not! So last night we opened up the game boo boo gave the girls, Angelina Ballerina, AND had a pedicure session. I also let the girls dress up in their ballet stuff to make it as super girly as possible. I however, remained in my regular clothes. You're welcome. It was fun! Sometimes I like to surprise the girls with random super fun week nights!
{warning: pictures were taken with my phone, without any light}
Minnie Mouse and Candy Corn toes!
Last Friday was my Mom's birthday and in honor of her, I wore a shawl around my head to embarrass my husband while driving in the jeep. It seemed like something my mother would do!
{Pumpkin Roll}
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup Libby's Pumpkin Puree
3 eggs
{Filling}
8 oz. whipped cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbls. melted butter
Last Fall, I started baking. I suppose I have baked before last Fall but never with success, so I count last year as when I started. Fall was a perfect time because it was pumpkin season and I really wanted to make a pumpkin roll. I found a recipe online and as I read through the directions it had this whole towel scenario with words like "no sticking" and "carefully wrap", so I made pumpkin cheesecake muffins. They were fantastic! Then I tried my hand at pumpkin cupcakes and made hand whipped cream for the first time ever. My two girlfriends loved them, so my confidence grew. I found myself back at the pumpkin roll recipe, and one random weeknight, I went for it. Best decision ever. Not only did I successfully roll it, but Chris loved it. And since I've mentioned his pickiness for dessert before, that is a big deal for me. Christina also loved the pumpkin roll, so in honor of Matt cooking us lobster cakes tonight and Chris having to travel this week, I thought I'd surprise my boo's with a yummy treat!
My trusty sidekick in action, mixing up the first five dry ingredients.
Then we added the pumpkin puree and eggs for COLOR!
You're supposed to use a 10x15 jelly roll pan that you grease up, but I only have 12x17 pans, so I don't use the whole pan when I spread out the batter.
As it bakes for 14 minutes in a 350 degree oven, you take a picture of the cutest little helper!
I didn't take any pictures of rolling it up because it took both of my hands, and has to be done quick so the wax paper pulls off without tearing up the pumpkin-y goodness. Basically you spread out a towel and dump a lot of powdered sugar on it. Then you remove the roll from the pan and flip it over onto the towel. Remove the wax paper slowly, and then roll it up with the towel and let cool. It may not sound all the difficult now...
As it cooled, we started to whip up the filling. Hey, if you ever want a three year old out of your hair, have them scoop cream cheese into a bowl. It takes foooooorever. "It keeps sticking Mommy!" yelled Sam. (note to self: this is awesome!)
Add the remaining filling ingredients, for a yummy, whipped cream cheese-y delight!
Once the roll has cooled, spoon on the filling and roll back up. Then take pictures of the beautiful pumpkin spiral!
Since we are surprising Chris and Christina, we didn't taste test it, so again no "Sam" of approval...yet. I know she will be digging in tonight. Finally, another attempt at a food blogger picture.
Cara had her first official sleepover this past weekend! Her little BFF from school, Olivia, was over for the party and requested a longer visit, so her mom and I worked out a plan for her to spend the night. Cara was thrilled! I was pretty happy too, because they got along so well! They had snacks, played with the new birthday toys and talked and talked and then talked some more! We loved having her over and look forward to more slumber parties in the future.
Yesterday, my baby turned 3. She's the baby of our family, and if we don't add more children in the future, she will be the youngest. It's bittersweet to watch your children grow. I admittedly was less than thrilled with the feeding, lack of sleeping, and crying that came with infancy. But when we had Sam, I tried to enjoy it more, in the event that we didn't add children. And it seems like it went faster! I guess having an older sibling makes the younger kids want to be older quicker! She seems every bit of 3 and as exciting as it is, I still get a little sad that she needs me less and less. I'd say she's physically gotten so big, but that's just not the case. She's my little midget! Her favorite things at three are dressing up, wearing ballet clothes, anything Disney princess, anything Mickey or Minnie Mouse, going to the playground, spicy foods, her Sissy, her pink blankey and doing everything on her own without anyone's assistance! She's loving, moody (like her mom), needs a lot of sleep, sweet, talkative and inquisitive! Welcoming Sam into our lives has been so rewarding and I am so thankful to be with her each day to watch her grow and become her own little person! She's my cuddle bug and I hope she never outgrows wanting to lay with mom, snuggled up with a blanket. I would be okay with it if she wanted to start sleeping in her bed every night though, because she is a snorer! I'm guessing she has the Kenny tonsils, considering her doctor has already made a comment about their size.
Sam's birthday fell on a Monday this year. She kept giving me this look like "are you sure it's still my birthday?". After attending Disney on Ice and having a double party Saturday, I am thankful she recognized that the celebrating was becoming excessive. I'm a celebration person though, so I didn't feel it was right to not at least acknowledge her birthDAY. We met Christina and Matty for lunch and Tina got her a cupcake. She took a bite then put it back saying she was "saving it"...another sign she might be partied out.
For dinner, Chris and I took em to Chuck E Cheese because they were given a gift card as a present, and they had free birthday tokens coupons thanks to their frugal mom for being a part of their eClub. The kids loved it, of course. By kids, I am including Chris. Sammy does NOT like the dressed up Chuck E though so she spent a lot of her time looking over her shoulder. That wraps up the girls birthday week! Please let this be a reminder that next year I promised myself I was doing small scale celebrations...
Yawwwwn! I am still trying to wake up and recover from a Disney hangover this morning. I must say, after going to Disney World last year, and visiting Disney on Ice last night, those guys know how to put on a show! Most people chalk Disney up as "over priced", which I will admit some of their toys could afford a discount, but overall, you get what you pay for. Down to the smallest details, Disney makes every element enjoyable. The guy who hands out programs is charming, the shows are spectacular, the songs stick in your head, the characters are lovable and even the $12 bag of cotton candy seems magical. I kind of have a major crush on Disney today, so I might not agree with the cotton candy in a week, but my point is that Disney delivers! And they know how to put smiles on your face!
We headed downtown after Chris got home, and kept our destination from the girls top secret. The details of our evening were stowed away in a perfectly appropriate Disney princess gift bag, and one randomly chosen trunk. Cara made guesses such as "ooo, Monkey Joe's!" and "oh I know, the kid's place with lots of things to do". As we pulled into our ever so shady discounted parking garage, I handed the gift bag to Cara. She looked at us baffled when only discovering a piece of paper. "I don't know how to read," she admitted. So I took the ever so decorated card stock and began to reveal the surprise.
{You are cordially invited to join me and some of my most special friends tonight for a birthday surprise...}
It was a cryptic letter from Ariel telling Cara and Sam that they had a huge night in store and to make sure they thanked Gigi, Perry and Ms. Jo-Ann. Both parties contributed to the night and I wanted to make sure the girls knew since neither of them were with us. The last line said "p.s. - look in the trunk".
The dresses were stowed away with a picture of all the princesses from the Disney on Ice promotion. Cara caught on right away having seen the commercials, which made it so much more awesome for me, because she got the surprise! From then on it was all smiles! They immediately put on the dresses and started posing...
We ate in the CNN center and had a birthday toast!
And then it was showtime!
It wasn't the best lighting and I'm not the best photog, plus I took some pics on my phone...so that's the best I got. We had an awesome time! The show was phenomenal and the girls loved it. Surprisingly, I think Sam loved it more. She was in awe the entire time. Pointing, laughing, smiling! Cara loved it too, but she might have been more interested in cotton candy and toys for part of the show. Ariel went first so her attention slowly started to fade afterwards. If anyone is wondering, my favorite part was Rapuntzel. I love the movie Tangled! Plus they had the horse, which was two people skating under one giant horse costume. That is talent! We had a blast and again, are very thankful for Gigi, Perry and Ms. Jo-Ann for making the night possible! The best part might have been this morning when Sam woke me up saying, "Mommy, that was the best movie ever last night!". She hasn't stopped talking about it...
"Look Mom, this was from the movie last night!"
