Themed Family Night

This year in our homeschool we studied U. S. History and U. S. Geography. For the theme of our family night, I let the kids pick a state and we would dress up and decorate like we were in that state.

They picked Alaska.

They made paper snowflakes and hung them from the lights and made paper "snow" chains and decorated the room. We drug out every white sheet we had to make snowdrifts and then the kids raided their rooms and brought down every stuffed animal they had that they thought would live in Alaska. We had many bears, a moose, a seal, a killer whale and some puppies who were actually supposed to be wolves.

They put their hats and scarves on and we read some books on Alaska.

After we finished the book on how to make your own igloo, we got some tiny marshmallows and royal icing and made our own.
They're beauties, eh?

Then for dessert, I made a Baked Alaska. I have always wanted to try one but never had the occasion. My personal opinion is that whoever invented this was bored. :) But I have to say, my kids and husband absolutely loved it!

We then took our snow drifts to the living room and watched a movie about Alaska that I checked out from the library. It was a fun evening! I didn't spend very much money and I let the kids plan and use their imagination. They had the very best time!

Themed family night.

It's a good thing.

Cinnamon Cupcakes

So let me just preface by saying that my dessert of choice has to have something chocolate in it. I just don't think there is much else that is worth the calories.

When we were in Georgia, the person in charge of welcoming us to the neighborhood brought by some cinnamon cupcakes. They were pretty and they looked yummy but I didn't think too much of it until I tried one.

They were incredibly, wonderfully delicious.

Recently I have come to a place in my life (6 months pregnant) where I decided that I would like to make them (needed to possess and eat them to satisfy this craving that I started having for these cupcakes that I had only eaten one time in my life but suddenly could not continue with life as I know it until I had eaten another). I diligently searched the Internet with different search engines and different word combinations until I came to this website called..... How to Eat A Cupcake. And there it was, except she called it a Cinnamon Toast Cupcake. So I thought I would make them and see if they were close.

And they were wonderful.

Everything I had hoped for.

I modified her icing recipe because I wanted it a little stiffer to make the cute swirls on top. And the basic cupcake recipe is so simple that they really could not be any easier!




Cinnamon Cupcakes
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 pkg vanilla pudding
1 ¼ cup milk
¾ cup oil
3 large eggs
1 TBSP cinnamon

mix all ingredients together and bake for 15 – 18 minutes (or until knife comes out clean) at 350°
let muffins cool completely before icing

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg cream cheese (cold – I use 1/3 less fat Philadelphia Brand)(yes, I'm a cream cheese snob)
5 TBSP butter (or smart balance)(cold)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Beat cold cream cheese and cold butter together until creamy. Yes, I know it's a little bit of a pain but it is the only way to keep the icing to the consistency that you can pipe it out in a cute swirl pattern. Add rest of ingredients and beat just until mixed well. Ice cupcakes with large star tip and large tube. I had to make one and a half batches of the icing recipe to do the swirls on top, but if you are just icing them plain, there should be enough.

Keep refrigerated.

You can come back and thank me once you've made them.

And I know you will. Make them that is.

And you will probably name your next daughter after me out of eternal gratitude.

They are that good.

Enjoy!!!

Thankful Thursday

(on Friday)

Much to be Thankful for!

1. Thankful for VBS this week! The kids had a blast and learned so much. I LOVE the "Boomerang Express" Vacation Bible School Curriculum!

2. Thankful that VBS was only 4 days! It was great but I was a teacher for the 2nd grade and it was exhausting. There were 3 classes of 2nd grade and around 72 kids! They kept us busy. I think 4 days was enough. :)

3. Thankful for the beautiful flowers God created for our enjoyment! I planted this clematis early this spring and it has grown 3 ft and puts on a constant show of flowers. It makes me so happy!

4. Thankful that the snake that was living in the hose reel has not been seen for over a week. (have I mentioned that I really dislike snakes?)

5. Thankful for piano and violin recitals that went well. The kids had a good time and a good experience and that was what we were hoping for.

6. Thankful for a 7 year old who wants to be a helper to his daddy and mow the yard.
7. Thankful that my daylilies are blooming!!! I always worry just a little when we move that not all of them will come up the next year. But so far, so good!

8. Thankful my daughter's fine motor skills are good and that she is able to use scissors well.

9. Thankful that when she decided to give herself a haircut using her scissor skills, she only cut this much. (longest piece there is about 4 inches) (isn't that special?)(that turkey)

10. Thankful that the big storm with the funnel cloud passed over our house without any damage and that we were all safe in the closet under the stairway with 47 stuffed animals. Good times.

Hope you had a Thankful Thursday!!!

VBS

Well, I signed up to work at VBS this week.

Not for sure what I was thinking.

I'm already plum worn out just maintaining my daily life. Needless to say, it's been a long week already.

Anyways, I am helping teach in the 2nd grade class. For 3 1/2 hours. So after hanging around 23 2nd graders who are contantly talking and then riding home with my 3 who were excited from VBS and constantly talking, and then making lunch for said 3 children who were standing in the kitchen with me constantly talking and then eating with the children who had to tell me every single detail of their day and were constantly talking, my child talking tolerance meter was pegged out.

I just needed some silence.

Just a couple minutes.

So I announced "OKAY! Let's have some quiet time where nobody talks to mommy. For like an hour!"

My daughter smiled and replied, "That's fine Mommy, I'll just talk to the baby."

[calgon take me away]

Sea World

We had the absolute best time at Sea World in San Antonio! My parents met us for the San Antonio portion of our trip. It was the perfect day. Just a little overcast so it wasn't too hot and no one got burned. We went on a Thursday while the schools were still in so there were no crowds. It was nice.


I'm not for sure if we could pick what our absolute favorite part was. The first thing we did was go to the bottle nose dolphin tank where we could buy dead fish and then feed them to the dolphins. The kids loved this and would have just stayed here all day and skipped the rest of the park (of course they had no idea what else was out there).

We then visited the Lorikeet exhibit where Grandpa bought nectar so we could go in and feed them.
The dolphin show was fun.

The kids rode the Shamu roller coaster several times!

But our very favorite had to be the Shamu show. We actually made it for both performances. The first show had 3 killer whales which was fun, but the second show had 5 killer whales and it was very impressive. They did all sorts of jumps and tricks. The most amusing part was when they all came over to one side to splash the audience. I'm sure it would not have been as amusing to us if we had been in the splash zone, but the people were warned.

My kids are already asking when we are going to go again. I think next time we might plan for 2 days at the park because we barely made it to every show, rode a couple kiddie rides, saw all the exhibits and ate lunch and still didn't make it to any of the big rides. One day is not quite enough.

If you are ever in San Antonio, we would highly recommend going to Sea World. It was great fun!