April Fools! TATT

Go check out all the other great recipes at Andreas Blog!

Ingredients
Makes 6 cupcakes!

6 Vanilla Cupcakes, baked in silver foil liners

To make the drumstick cupcakes, first download and print the bone template

FOR THE DRUMSTICKS
1/4 cup white chocolate melting wafers, melted
1 cup Vanilla Frosting
3 plain store-bought doughnut holes
1 cup cornflake crumbs

FOR THE MASHED POTATOES
1 yellow fruit chew, such as Laffy Taffys or Starbursts, cut into a 1-inch square
3 tablespoons Vanilla Frosting
1/2 tablespoon store-bought caramel sauce, heated

FOR THE PEAS AND CARROTS
3 orange fruit chews, such as Tootsie Fruit Rolls or Starbursts, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons Vanilla Frosting
Green gel food coloring
2 tablespoons hard green candies, such as Runts

FOR THE CHOCOLATE PUDDING
3 tablespoons Chocolate Frosting
1 teaspoon colored sprinkles
Directions

To make the drumsticks:

Place the bone template on a baking sheet. Cover with parchment paper; set aside. Place melted chocolate into a resealable plastic bag and snip a 1/8-inch corner from the bag. Following the bone template, pipe an outline onto the parchment paper. Fill the bone in with chocolate and lightly tap pan to smooth top of chocolate. Repeat process 3 times. Refrigerate until firm, about 5 minutes.

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Spread vanilla frosting on top of 3 cupcakes, mounding it slightly. Place 1 doughnut hole on top of each cupcake. Spread frosting over the doughnut hole until it is smooth and covered.

Place cornflake crumbs in a medium bowl. Gently press frosted cupcakes in crumbs to cover completely. Place cupcakes in a 6-cup disposable aluminum cupcake baking tray.

Using a sharp knife, make a small slit in the top of each crumbed doughnut hole. Carefully peel 1 chocolate bone from the parchment paper and insert the pointed end into one of the slits. Repeat with remaining 2 bones and cupcakes.

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To make the mashed potatoes: Spread vanilla frosting on 1 cupcake, mounding it slightly. Use a small spoon to create a well in the center of the frosting. Place cupcake in aluminum baking tray. Place yellow fruit chew in the well at an angle. Drizzle caramel sauce on top of cupcake so that it fills the well and spills over like gravy.
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To make the peas and carrots: Color vanilla frosting with green food coloring and spread on top of 1 cupcake. Arrange orange fruit chews and green candies on top of cupcake, pressing them into the frosting. Place cupcake in aluminum baking tray.

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To make the chocolate pudding: Place chocolate frosting in a resealable plastic bag; press out all the excess air and seal to enclose. Snip a 1/4-inch corner from the bag. Pipe chocolate frosting into a spiral swirl onto the remaining cupcake. Top with sprinkles and place in aluminum baking tray. Serve.

Recipe from cookbook "Hello Cupcake" but gotten off Mathastuart.com picture from Cupcakes take the cake (Google image search).

Whats on your fridge?

Awhile back Becca posted about what was on her fridge. I have been meaning to post mine but I always forget to take pictures of it when I have the camera out. Well last night I did it! Here is a look at what is on my fridge.

This is the front....nothing too special. Sorry. But I will explain what I do have.

Hatley has the funniest magnets! I bought them on my girls trip to Whistler this past fall.

The top picture is of Justin and I when we were in High School. We got in the hot tub with all of our clothes on....it was great.

The bottom picture is of our little family at Waterfront Park in SC. We loved going down there in the summer.

My Sub stuff and shrinky dinks.

My best friend bought these for us. They are so bright and cheery! I love looking at them. The dog makes me laugh every time I just can't help it, he has the same goofy look as hotdog does.

Left side. That calendar is my life! I write everything on there. Since we got married I always get the same kind of calendar every year. The yellow Curious George pad is my shopping list and the pink on is my meal list for the month.

R for Rowan. I love the yoga magnet....it's so true.

My husband loves video games. I don't.

Last years Eagles schedule.

This is the right side....the side no one sees (but you now). It has random recipes that I like, the Ward phone list and my liquid measure equivalents magnet (which has saved me tons of times!).

If you feel like posting whats on yours leave me a comment so I can go check it out.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

We love this! It's so good and it's easy! We eat it with Cesar salad and bread sticks.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Ingredients

Olive oil
2 C. marinara sauce
1/3 C. mascarpone cheese (Soft cheese. harder to find. We couldn't find it at walmart but stop & shop had it. It's where you buy the Humus)
1/4 C. chopped fresh parsley leaves (1/3 that amount if dried)
2 tsp thyme (1/3 that amount if dried)
1 lb cheese tortellini
2 oz thinly sliced mozzarella cheese
1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Lightly oil an 8x8 dish

Whisk sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl.

Cook tortellini in salted boiling water until just tender (about 2 min.) Drain.

Add tortellini to sauce and toss to coat. (I didn't toss in the baking dish I just forgot to take a picture of it when it was still in the bowl...sorry)

Transfer to baking dish and top with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese on top melts. (about 30 min)

Sunday Sundae's

Besides me not feeling 100% for a few days we had a great weekend. Justin bought Twilight and Bolt on the way home from work for family movie night that weekend. On sunday we decided to all sit down and watch the movies. Landon loved Bolt (and so did we!).

In the middle of the movie we all decided that we wanted ice cream sundaes. We had everything for them (even bananas). Landon always gets excited to make them because I let him add all of his toppings himself. Here he is with his big ol' grin (sundaes are a shirtless food for him in our house).



This past weekend we also bought my patio furniture. After we put it together Landon was playing in one of the boxes and called it his home. After him climbing in and out of the top all night and falling over many times I decided to make it a "home". I cut a door and a window out for him, taped the top shut and tossed a pillow and blanket in there for him. Now it's almost a week later and he is still playing in it all day every day. He will even turn it so that he can watch his movies through the window.

He claims that now all it needs is blinds......

Spring

I love that its spring! I love hearing the birds chirping outside my window every morning and I love that we can go to the park again without freezing. I'm excited for all of my plants and trees to start blooming. And i'm really excited for the thunder storms to start again...even if they aren't anywhere near as good as the ones in the South.

Justin got home yesterday from having duty. He walked up to me and told me that he thought about me all day and couldn't wait to get home to me. My heart melted. Then from behind his back he pulled a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

I'm so lucky to have him. Not just because he got me flowers but because after over 7 years together he is still sweet like that. I hope I can teach Landon to be the same kind of man that his father is.


It also gave me a great reason to use my amazing Vase I got in Whistler, Canada this past Fall with my bestest friend Sheena.

Every night when Justin gets home he puts everything from his pockets into his work hat and sets it on the bar so he will know where it is (this has helped me with 5am wallet searches). I was wiping down the bar so I needed to move his hat. Inside a saw a note I wrote him the morning he had duty, it was so worn from being opened so many times it just made my heart melt.....he looked at it that much! Then on the back I saw his shopping list for when he ran to the NEX. On it the only words were...shoeshine and flowers. I thought it was so sweet that not only did he get me flowers but he was thinking about me and knew he wanted to do something sweet, not that he just walked into the NEX, saw them and thought "oh yeah that's a good idea". He was sad that I saw the note but I thought it made it even more special.

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Now my house smells AMAZING! I love when I have fresh flowers in here.

Backyard makeover

I want to enjoy this summer. Last year I hated it. I hated that Justin was on deployment and that he wasn't home with us. This year he's not deployed, but he will be on several underways. I wanted to make our backyard into an added living space. We got new patio furniture, a BBQ and we are getting a massive swing set for Landon.

I love this set! We even got the glider to go with it. It's so comfy! I'm excited to be able to take all of our cook-outs outside! Now it just needs to warm up alittle more.

My neighbor Mandy(Brandy) wanted to see a picture of the swing set we are getting. Here it is! It has a picnic table on the side and a sandbox underneath! We are going to switch it so that the slide is coming out the front so it will fit in our yard a little better.

I just found this one that I kind of like.....I just have to decide which one I like more.

Ick

I hate duty nights.....

Backwards Bob

It's been a week of cute stories from home.

My sister Kat called me this morning to tell me what her son Skyler said on the way to drop him off at daycare. He was being unusually quite this morning during the drive so she asked him what was up. He replied...

"I think Kimmy should come over tonight and play monster trucks. Maybe if she saw backwards Bob she would come over more."

I love the way little kids think.

I wish I could go over there more but 3,000 miles isn't an easy trip.

Home

Where is home? Being a military wife it's a questions you ask yourself regularly. Is it where you grew up? Where all of your family lives? Or is it wherever you and your new little family seem to be at the moment? This is what I feel. I will always say "back home" when I talk about Washington. But my home is where my husband is. Over the past 3 years we have lived in 3 states and 4 houses due to the military (not counting moving from Washington). I have found a way to make each new house Home. I have my groove now. I have learned that you need to love everywhere you are or you have no chance in making it home.

Connecticut is not the place that we will be forever but I do like it a lot. Mostly I love where we live. Justin works 5 minutes down the road which is a nice change from when he worked in Seattle and drove 2 hours each way. I love that if I have my windows open I can hear the national anthem in the mornings and colors every night. It's when I feel the most patriotic. I love that we live so close to the water that I can hear the boats passing on the Thames River at night, blowing their horns. I love that I can hear the trains passing on the tracks along the water and I mean really hear them, the shaking of the cars and everything. I love how this house has just the right amount of space for us. Most of all I love that we are a family here. It will be hard to move on to our next duty station when it comes time. We have really grown here.

South Carolina house. Arpil 2006-April 2007

New York house. April 2007-November 2007

Connecticut house. November 2007- November 2011?

So far we have always lived in base housing. We hope the next place we go we can buy.

Do I look 16?

I posted a few days ago about my little date night in with the hubbs. What I didn't tell you was a funny little story that happened while he was trying to buy the movie.

Justin went to wal-mart to buy Role Models. When he got to the counter the lady asked to see his I.D. Justin thought alright she's just doing it because I used my card, no big deal. So he pulled out his Military I.D the lady looked at it and said "No. I need to see your drivers license. I need to see your birth date to make sure you're over 17" (Don't you have to be 18 to be in the military?) so Justin showed it to her and was on his way. Now in no way was he mad that she asked him because it's her job. But he was sad that she thought he wasn't over 17.

He came home and told me the story...to which I laughed the whole time. HARD! He said that if he was a girl it would have made him feel good I mean it is a few years difference....but since he's a guy he said it wasn't very flattering. He even had to add "I haven't shaved in 2 days!" and yet he still looks 16. Hahaha poor guy.

Wishbone

My niece and nephew are huge lights in my life. Taylor (10) and Cole(7) are the most amazing little kids. They live about 5-10 minute from my parents house so I always get to hear the great adventures that happen at Grammy and Papa's.

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Last night I was talking to my mom and she was telling me about her weekend with the kids. I guess my dad had a wishbone and told the kids they could do it, he explained to them that they had to make a wish and so on. They pulled and Taylor won. I guess Colby was a little sad and my dad could see it in his eyes. My dad looked down at Cole and asked "Well what did you wish for?" Colby waited and then in almost a whisper replied "super powers" then walked away

How stink'n cute is that?! I love that little boy like he was my own.

This is Cole and I on my wedding day.

Home "date" night

I'm a lucky girl, I really am. Justin just seems to get me. He knows when I'm getting upset (and not just with him. Lol) and knows how to calm me down before I freak. He always knows the best time to say something sweet and he always tells me he loves me a million times a day.

Last night while I was cleaning the kitchen he came in and hugged me. He didn't let go for a long while then as he was getting ready to go back to whatever he was doing he whispered in my ear "thank you for being mine", kissed me on the cheek and walked out. It's little things like that, that remind me why I fell in love with him in the first place.

Then after Landon went to bed Justin told me he was going to run to the store to get a movie for us to watch. He came back with snacks, pizza (he said he was craving it? I thought only girls did that) and a really funny movie. We had a date night in the living room. We watched Role Models (which was SSOOOOO funny!), sat on the couch together and had lots of crap food. As much as we love being parents and how much we love that little boy, it's nice to have time just the two of us. I think we are going to do in home date nights more often and I'm not talking just siting on the couch watching movies because we do that all the time. This was different. It was special.

Who would have thought that I would have found the man of my dreams at 15? I sure didn't. I would say that I'm lucky, but luck has nothing to do with it. Fate is more like it.

Holiday Party!

Last night was the boat "holiday" party. It was fun. Every table was decorated for a different holiday and we got the Happy Birthday table. Lol. We had a great time. In most of the pictures my eyes were watering from laughing so hard.

Justin & I

The Girls. We are always together. Friends forever.

Louis wanted in on the fun.....poor Louie

Hahaha she had no idea what I was doing.

We brought Uno. It was great....I got my butt kicked! And don't mind my husband he can never be serious for too long.

A Day With The Bean

I love my dog. I don't write about him as much as I could for some strange reason but I sure do love him! I grew up with Dachshunds and when I was still living at home I raised a deaf mini for my parents. After raising Tucker I knew I could do it on my own. Once we got here to Ct I knew I wanted to get a dog. I waited a while I figured out how exactly I wanted to train it. I read tons of books and asked a lot of advice.

We were getting ready to put a deposit down on an unborn puppy when someone in one of my groups said their neighbor was giving away a puppy. We went and looked at him the next day and fell in love right away.

Landon named him Hundley after the dog on Curious George and its fits him so well! But we call him Hummee Hotdog or Bean. He sleeps in bed with Landon every night and I think it makes me worry about him less (I'm the crazy mom who still checks on their child 10 times in the middle of the night).

He barks at everything and fights with Landon like they are brothers. But he is such a huge part of our family now that I can't imagine what we would do without him. I never knew I could love a dog like this.

Day at the park

Even though it is still a bit chilly outside, we decided to venture to the park today. Briana, Jenalei and I all live in the same base housing (Jenalei is only 3 doors down) so we get together A LOT. It's nice since we all have kids and we all get along so great. So we decided today that we would all walk and meet at the park.

We had such a great time. The kids played on the slides and swings while the moms talked, then we all did chalk together. After two hours the wind started to pick up so we called it a day.

We hope that we can all get together and go to the park at least 2-3 times a week now since the weather is getting nicer.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Landon with Toby. Kaidyn on the slide. Belly on the swings. Landon on the swings.

Kaidyn, Landon and Belly playing with chalk.

Common Sense

Saw this and thought I should re post it.

An Obituary printed in the London Times........ Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust, by his wife Discretion his daughter, Responsibility, and his son Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights.I Want It Now.Someone Else Is To Blame.I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

The Lucky One

Justin bought this book for me while we were in Bahrain getting ready to do some laundry. I needed something to read while I waited and he ran back to the boat. I really enjoy Nicolas Spark's books and while looking in the NEX in Bahrain it was one of the only books who I knew the author. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. The 14 hour flight went by a little faster because of this book. It's an easy plot but one that's a little different for me because of the military background in it. I can imagine something like this happening. It was very touching at times and a great read. The things some people will do for love.

Synopsis
Is there really such thing as a lucky charm? The hero of Nicholas Sparks's new novel believes he's found one in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny. The chain of events that leads to him possessing the photograph and finding the woman pictured in it is the stuff of love stories only a master such as Sparks can write.

I give this one 4 stars out of 5

Things I Love. Landon editon!

Since I have nothing better to write about I thought I would tell you a little bit about Landon's favorite things (and the things that I like that he has).

#1

Landon loves the Dinosaur Place here in Connecticut. It's so fun to go to. You walk around a mile long path and find huge Dino's lurking around every corner. In the summer time they even have a little water park that the kids can play in.

#2

The Tag Reader is GREAT! The little pen reads the books to the kids then has games to play with them so they can learn how to spell the words and learn what they mean. This is really great for the airplane and long car trips since you can get headphones to go with it.

#3
Now this is something that I love. Our Jeep jogging stroller was bought for our trip to Disney World. It's great because the seat folds down, it has a nice sun shade, cup holders, snack tray, side bags that can hold all the little things you need, a huge basket underneath, a Ipod hook up with speakers and even has a toy that you can attach to the snack try so kids don't get bored! We love it. It's gone everywhere with us since we got it and Landon still fits in it!

#4
Rainforest Cafe! The food selection isn't the greatest I have to admit and it is a little pricey....BUT the atmosphere makes up for it. They had all of the jungle animals you could think of all around the restaurant and every half hour they put on a show where the lights dim and all the animals move and make noise. I also love all of the huge tropical fish tanks they have in there. Oh and its not just a normal lit place, its dim and it has trees and vines going all up the walls. You really feel like you are in the rainforest.

#5

The Hungry Caterpillar is one of Landon's favorite books. He loves to read it, and tries to every night (but I like to mix it up). It's cool now because his whole room is hungry caterpillar. I just can't seem to find a lot of stuff to go with it.

#6

Soccer! Landon was named after a famous soccer player. Justin and I both played select soccer in school and love the game. We picked our our sons name when we were 16 sitting in sport medicine class...lol. We hoped that he would love the game just as much as we do....and thankfully he does! Landon has his own little ball that him and the dog kick around almost everyday. I'm glad that we all share the same love!

#7

Old Navy Pj's. For some reason they fit him great and I love all the cool patterns they come out with each season. His favorite ones are the monkey ones I have in the picture except his are shorts not pants.

#8

Oliver & Company. We got him this movie for his birthday and he loves it! He wants to watch it every night before bed. We also got him a Dodger stuffed animal that he now sleeps with every night.

#9

The Leapster is great. It's video games but they are all educational. This is another one of those things that we got for our 7 hour plane trips back home. I was kind of on the fence about getting it for him, I didn't really like the idea of such a small child playing video games (he got it a year and a half ago) but now I love it. He has learned so many great things from it (like what a parallelogram is).

#10
And last but not least....Color Wonder! This is great for the car and even church. I never have to worry about him dropping the markers and it staining everything up since it only colors on the special paper. I always keep a little mini set in my purse or in the car for those unexpected delays. It has saved me quite a few times.