Happy 4th of July: Part 2 - Explosives for the Guys

So I already posted on the “crafty” side of our 4th of July, now it’s time to highlight my husband’s mad skillz in the explosives side! ;) We asked each guest to bring a firework…here’s our final stash! Holy moly! Look at the guys admiring… We started out with sparklers, the snaps, and smoke bombs. (which wasn’t scary at all with 10 toddlers running around!) The kids were amazed with just these! We started around 8:15, which is early for our area when it doesn’t get dark until nearly 9, but with the kids, it worked great! Here are some of us coordinating throwing our “snaps” at the same time…Oooing and ahhhing at smoke bombs…Here’s a picture of Cooper getting his first “lesson”…We brought out a bucket with sand in it for the kids to stick their sparklers in once they went out. Then, the men brought out the BIG fireworks. Overall, the kids LOVED them!

Here are some shots of our guests enjoying the show… Lots of kids covered there ears throughout the evening. The picture below was one of my favorite shots of the evening..precious! Here’s me watching with my two bundles of joy…Such all-American fun captured in this shot…  I love this one of my husband and my dad admiring their handiwork… My Life Lesson for this post (that I will CONSTANTLY be learning), is sit back and enjoy life! This party turned out pretty fantastic if I do say so myself, and I loved every minute of planning! HOWEVER, my ultimate goal with each shindig I throw, is that my guests would have FUN and that they would feel relaxed and at home. I think that shows in these pictures… To all you fellow party throwers…make sure you’re having fun  (and your guests)! If you’re not, it’s NOT worth it! No matter how gorgeous your party looks. =)

With that said…happy party-ing! I find it truly enjoyable and fulfilling.

July 4th, 2010

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My parents were visiting for the fourth of July, which meant we also got to celebrate my mom’s birthday! This was definitely worthy of our Cool Summer Days calendar activities! There’s really nothing better than hearing your son (or grandson in this case) greet you with a “Happy Birthday, Grammy!” Just melts your heart!

*CONFESSION* I’m HORRIBLE when it comes to birthdays. I’m not sure why, but other than my children’s b-days, I’m never going to be reliable when it comes to celebrating anybody else’s birthday. So, if you’re my friend, I apologize in advanced.

With that said, I had no gift for my mom, just asked her what she’d like to do. So, we got mani/pedis, had breakfast at good ol’ Karen’s Bakery, and as a surprise, I made her Texas Sheet Cake (which I’d recalled being one of her faves!). Unfortunately, no picture of her with the cake (she’s not a fan of posing for pictures, so I was stoked when I got the adorable snapshot above!). BUT, I will pass on the recipe from Our Best Bites anyhow.

We also had dinner at Cheesecake Factory (which was a bit silly, because we had no cheesecake due to the Texas Sheet Cake at home, but of course dinner was delish nonetheless!) See my purdy nails in the pic! Texas Sheet Cake

½ c. real butter
½ c. shortening
2 1-oz. squares baking chocolate
½ c. buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

FROSTING:
6 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. butter
2 1-oz. squares baking chocolate
1 lb. powdered sugar
½ c. chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 11 x 17 jelly roll pan.

2. Combine ½ c. butter, ½ c. shortening, 2 oz. chocolate, and water in a small saucepan. Heat until chocolate is melted.

3. In a separate small bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, buttermilk, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla. Combine with chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture and mix very well. Pour into pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. Five minutes before cake is done, make frosting.

FROSTING:

Combine milk, chocolate, and butter in a large (or medium-large) saucepan. Heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. If desired, add 1 c. nuts (optional, preferably chopped walnuts or pecans). While icing is still warm, pour over cake.

I haven’t met a recipe I didn’t like from Our Best Bites. My mom loved it! Next time, I would for sure add the walnuts! It was tasty, but it needed that texture, for me personally I think at least!

In closing, I want to say to my mommy…

I truly hope you had an amazingly perfect, fantabulous birthday this year! I know I’m far from perfect when it comes to thanking you and celebrating your role in my life (which will NEVER be replaced nor taken for granted), but I want you to know that I truly celebrate your “birth”day and how special you are to me! Love you!

National Postal Worker Day

From what I found searching on the internet, National Postal Worker Day has been in effect since 1997 and was chosen because it is also the date in 1775 in which Benjamin Franklin appointed the first ever Postmaster General by the Continental Congress. The inscription on the Main Post Office in New York City reads:

“Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

I don’t know about your city, but where I live right now, it’s HOOOOT! So, I put together a little “Sunshine in a Box” (found the idea here) to brighten our postal worker’s day.

First, I found a box that would fit in our mail slot. (It’s actually our can dog food box!) I prettied it up with paper.(I actually ended up covering the inside walls, too. That darn perfectionist in me!)

Next, Cooper helped me string a cute little banner that our postal worker can take back to hang at the post office so everyone feels some love. I hung it quick to take a picture. It says, “Happy Postal Worker Day”. (a little closer up so you can actually see it)   I wrapped it up so it’s compact, but ready to hang!

Next, we gathered sunshiney yummies and goodies for our postal worker! The box includes the following:

• Lemon Bar Mix
• Yellow Laffy Taffy
• Peach Rings
• Popcorn
• Lemonade Mix
• Lemonhead Candy
• Yellow Flower(Here you can see the inside lined with paper. So much cuter, huh?)

Lastly, we printed out a cute little card that said, “Happy Postal Worker Day” and wrote the following: We’re ready to head to the mailbox!It fit perfectly! I hope our postal worker enjoys the unexpected surprise! They really do deserve to be thanked. =)

 July 1st, 2010

The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything

Regal Entertainment theaters has $1 days during the summer with G or PG rated fun kid movies, our local theater has theirs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Boy does my child LOVE a good movie! He’ll do practically anything to sit down and watch a movie. I was planning on going to see the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything today, but…we’re adjusting to a napping little one. Thankfully, our neighbor had the movie, so we had our own little private showing later in the afternoon (which worked great for me, ‘cuz I got to get things done around the house!). I may have to rethink this one. hehe =) Anyway, a movie here or there is a great break to the summer heat and fun outing for the family!

 June 29th, 2010

Cars 2

State Farm was the lead sponsor for the movie Cars 2, which made me happy because I’ve been with State Farm since I’ve been driving (we won’t mention how many years that’s been). Anywho, a local agent, JD Snead (I have no affiliation and no perks for mentioning said agent, but come on! Does an agent get any cooler than this?) hosted a free screening of the movie for local families who had RSVP’d. A whole mess of our friends attended, it felt like a private screening with just our friends practically! We had friends from out of town visiting and they were able to join us (hence the yummy recipe included at the end of the post, what I made for lunch for all of us!)

It was so well organized and we felt like we received the red carpet treatment! We arrived to an orderly line in which our names were checked off and each child received an adorable Cars 2 shirt as well as a little goody bag with pencils, a decoder, etc. My in-laws joined us. Here we are below checking in, can you see little Allie’s car seat?I was so excited because the ONLY picture I captured the whole day was the one below (not the best, although it cracks me up that he’s holding his trains), but when I checked out JD Snead’s facebook page, he had some pictures of us on it! Lucky me!   After we walked through the front doors, they had the State Farm Good Neigh Bear awaiting us for pictures. Here’s Cooper’s reaction… We were told which theater to enter and when we walked in, as I mentioned, we saw friends galore!! My neighbor was sweet enough to snap the picture at the beginning of the post for me, thanks friend! And here’s the excited theater awaiting the feature movie! All our friends were in the upper right corner (probably close to the exit in case little ones couldn’t sit the entire movie), and I’m below the arrow holding little Allie. =) JD himself (who you can see in the far right of the picture) welcomed everyone and sang Happy Birthday to a little boy in the audience who was turning 4. What a fantastic host, here he is again… Cooper and I were so looking forward to this movie, and felt extra special that we got to see it for free (particularly since I had no idea how Allie would do, thankfully, she was an angel!). It helps to have a network of mommy friends to help find out about fun activities such as this going on in your area. If you’re not in SOME type of mommies group, I highly recommend finding one, or heck, start one yourself! =)

This was definitely a fun memory for our Cool Summer June activity.Oh yes, our yummy lunch following the hilarious and fun movie! The picture is from foodnetwork.com, it’s a Rachael Ray recipe (we were busy chasing all our kidlets after the movie, no time to take pictures of food). Here’s the recipe, I was able to do most of the prep ahead of time, so we just stood around the stove frying up the chicken.

Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders

and Salad with Tangy Maple Dressing

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 ½ to 2 lbs. chicken tenders

Salt and Pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1 cup pecans, processed in food processor to finely chop

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 orange, zested

Dressing:

¼ cup maple syrup 6 radishes, thinly sliced

¼ cup tangy barbecue sauce 6 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 navel orange, juiced

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped

Directions: Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil over medium high heat. Season chicken tenders with salt and pepper.

Set out 3 shallow dishes. Place flour in 1 dish, eggs in a second and combine bread crumbs with ground pecans, nutmeg and orange zest in the third. Coat tenders in batches in flour, then egg, then bread crumb mixture. Fry tenders in small batches 6 to 7 minutes. Drain tenders on paper towels.

Combine maple syrup, barbecue sauce and orange juice in a bowl. Whisk in oil and season with salt and pepper.
Combine romaine, radishes and scallions in a large salad bowl or on a serving platter. Toss with 3/4 of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste. Top salad with pecan crusted chicken tenders and drizzle remaining dressing over top.

June 25th, 2010

Concert at the Park

My husband had the day off…thank goodness after his hellacious week! We were supposed to see Cars 2, but we have a fun opportunity to see it tomorrow…I’ll explain in tomorrow’s post. So, today we had a relaxing day at home including watching my husband remove his big toenail!! Ewww!, followed by a relaxing evening listening to music at the park.

Seriously, look how relaxing this looks! I snapped this adorable photo op of hubby and my daughter… And, while it’s a bit John Elton-ish…how cute are these?  I’ll spare you the photos of my husband’s minor toe surgery and sign off with the cuteness above…=)

June 24th, 2010