Cupcake Wars

Cupcake Wars is a fun and creative show on the Food Network where teams compete to bake the most delicious and decorative cupcakes.  At our house this morning, you could say that we had our own little version of the Cupcake War.  We love, love, love the Family Fun magazine that we get each month in the mail and it's always filled with great ideas!  In this issue they had a beach themed octopus cupcake that looked like fun.  The kids love baking and cooking with me, but they both don't care for cupcakes or really cake for that matter.  They're all about the frosting, candy treats on top, sprinkles, etc.  So what they really enjoy doing is eating the toppings off.  We made chocolate cupcakes...I don't know what it is but since I became pregnant with Violet, I started liking chocolate cake instead of vanilla.  Go figure!

 

Here's what you need to make these yummy treats:

-cupcake flavor of your choice...bake as directed

-blue frosting and blue sugar sprinkles (water)

-large gumdrops or fruit slices cut into circles (body)

-sour gummy worm cut in half (legs)

-black frosting to make eyes and mouth

 

Ava had fun decorating these before swimming lessons this morning.  What a beautiful smile she has!

My Boo showing me the first one he made. 

Our yummy treats!

Andy discovered some new buttons on our camera and was experimenting with them.  Violet was his model.  Here's our baby doll!

Love those big eyes!

 

Chillin' with Jackson!

I love my Daddy!

Violet loves her Build-a-Bear princess bear.  She loves holding it when I change her diaper on the changing table. 

Ava cuddling with her little sis!  These two love each other so much.  I love hearing Ava talk to Violet and hearing Violet respond with her little coos.

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1) Violet slept 10 minutes shy of 12 hours last night.  That was great!

2) I am so proud of how much Ava has improved with her swimming abilities this year.  She barely put her head under water last year and is now gliding and doing the crawl stroke.  She's been working really hard on her back glide and back stroke too. 

3) Our family is cuddling on the couch watching America's Got Talent tonight.  Time to relax and unwind from the day!

 

My Favorite:

I love the smell of one of my new Scentsy Bars.  It's called "A Wink and a Smile."

This and That

Click on the link below to see the slide show of other stuff we've been up to.

A Little Bit of This and That


Happy Saturday!

One Way. Forward.

Does anyone know where these words from the post title come from?  Come on...if you're a true Cyclone fan you should...keep guessing...keep guessing.

 

"One Way.  Forward."  This is the theme/title of the new ISU football season.  These three words are on all the calendars and posters this year.  It's crazy to think that the 2013 season will be starting soon.  Every year Grandma and Grandpa Richardson purchase tickets for Ava and Isaiah.  They are official members of the Little Cyclone Club.  They get admission to all home games and invitations to special pregame activities.  Miss Violet is still a fan...but for the time being she is free...we'll take that. 

 

This afternoon we went to the Jacobson Building at ISU to pick up all the stuff the kids get and to participate in some of the activities they had.  They each got a bag with the lanyard and season pass, a new T-shirt, and bracelet.  The kids had so much fun here and the best part was that it wasn't as crazy as the Fan Fest we went to last August.  This was a perfect way to spend a few hours...supporting one great team!  Go State!

 



Here are the kids with Cy.

Ava and Isaiah with Grandma and Grandpa

Ava getting a tattoo from one of the cheerleaders.

Isaiah too!

Violet busy playing with her flower toy.

My Vee Vee and me!  This kid constantly puts things in her mouth.  It's a guarantee that if she has some type of dress on that it will be soaked within minutes.

For some reason I can't figure out how to switch this one to the side.  Here's Ava with her toothless smile.  Her two front teeth are gone and her bottom one is just coming in.  This kid has lost 5 teeth so far!

Daddy and his little Violet

Whoa!  What was that?  She can really open her eyes WIDE!

Our beautiful little lady!

They had free face painting and Ava wanted an ISU butterfly.

When we were driving home and I was looking through the pictures I came across this one and thought, "Oh my gosh...Ava looks SOOOO old!"  How can she be growing up so fast.  She's supposed to be my baby!

Isaiah wanted an "I State" on his face so they painted a large "I" and then wrote ISU across his face.

Sweet!

Three Cyclone fans!

They had a coloring station too.

The Jacobson building was open so Andy took the kids out for pictures.

What a great view!

Go State!

One last picture with all of us...

...and we had to get one last picture with one of the Pom Pom dancers.

Two future Iowa State Cyclones

 

 

The kids decided after we went to ISU that Texas Roadhouse was calling our name. Grandma and Grandpa Richardson took us out for dinner.  I think the kid's most favorite thing about eating there is the peanuts.  What kid doesn't love making a mess with the shells!

 

My Three Happy's

1) I'm trying play catch up with all the stuff we've been doing so I'm putting all the pictures of random stuff into a slide show.  It's taking forever for the pictures to upload so as soon as it's done I'll post it.

2) Violet used to scream and scream and scream until 10 or 11 at night.  For the past month this kid has gone to bed around 7 or 7:30 with no fussing.  Some nights she sleeps straight through the night and other nights she's up around 4 or 5 to eat and then goes right back to sleep until 8 or so.  What a trade off!

3) Our garden has green beans, wax beans, and little yellow tomatoes that are ready.  Unfortunately Andy and I don't get to eat them.  Mr. Isaiah has become a huge fan of beans this year and eats every one we pick.  As for the tomatoes...there's no hope for us!  This kid can eat 20 of these little ones in just one sitting.  He did that last year and I'm sure he'll do it again.  That kid loves his fresh vegetables!

 

My Favorite:

Our family has really started to like watching America's Got Talent together.  The kids LOVE playing this and enjoy showing us their talents.  We put on shows for each other and then give our comments.  It's so funny to hear them say some of the same things that the judges say.  Andy and I get a kick out of the phrases they use.  The DVR is set to record this each week...we love it!

Fort Richardson

Love Camping?  Then Fort Richardson is the place to be this summer.  All campers sleep in a cozy 4 person tent complete with an air mattress, Internet access, and free ipad usage.  This place has the best roasted hotdogs and offers delicious smores as dessert.  There is also a huge play set for entertainment as well as many different game opportunities such as softball, baseball, and croquet.  In the background you will hear the trickle of water flowing out of the water feature and the distant cheers from fans cheering on the Ballard Bomber baseball team.  This place receives 4 stars for it's hospitality, comfort, and entertainment.

Starting the campfire for hotdogs and smores...if you look closely you can see Jackson trying to steal the hotdogs off the table.  Sneaky guy!

Miss Violet chillin' on her play mat in the grass.  She loves, loves, loves being outdoors.  The poor thing crashed before 7:30 tonight.  I'm sure when she's older she'll think camping in the tent is great!

Isaiah eating his pear and hotdog.  Dinner was pretty simple tonight.  This kid ate three hotdogs!   The roasted flavor must have been a hit!

Ava holding the hotdogs...this girl was ready to eat.  She ate two. 

Yum Yum!

Fort Richardson...this tent is great.  Andy and I registered for it when we got married and it sleeps four people very comfortably.

These two were the only ones left!  Isaiah fell asleep on a deck chair and Andy carried him to his bed.  Jackson is crashed out on the family room floor by me and Violet was a sleep hours ago!  These two looked so cozy...Ava insisted on watching a Netflix movie.  It's a good thing that Fort Richardson has Internet access outside!

 

Here are a few other pictures...Violet playing...she was having fun spinning the three chickens.  It's fun to see how interested she is with everything!

There go those chickens again...she was fascinated by them!

Sound asleep outside in her swing.  As I said earlier...this kid loves everything about being outside.  I'm very thankful the weather has been so nice lately.  I'm not sure what we're going to do when the temperature becomes hot again.  The breeze was perfect for a nice little morning nap.

Big sister Ava swinging next to her!

Isaiah enjoying a taco ice cream treat.  Andy found these at Sam's Club and he loves them.  Picture a chocolate coated waffle cone shaped like a taco shell with vanilla ice cream on the inside.  Summer time means pajamas all day sometimes...we change into new ones of course...but why not!

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1) My wonderful, amazing, and awesome husband painted the dining room for me.  If  you remember it was a deep red color.  It was pretty but made the room so dark...it was time to brighten things up and this light gray color was the perfect shade to add that extra light and help the dark furniture and wood floors stand out.  The first color I chose was too light and it looked white on the walls.  I went back to Lowes the next day to darken the other paint can to the next shade of gray...and it turned out great.  It almost has a light blue tint to it.  I love it.  Andy also painted the baseboard trim white and for now we're going to leave the wood trim around the doors...we both kind of like it that way. 

 



The room seems much bigger and so fresh!  It's amazing what a can of paint can do to a room!

 

2) The wonderful weather!  We woke up to a 60 degree morning and the temperature was in the low 80's with a slight breeze all day.  It was perfect!

3) I love the fresh basil and cilantro growing in a planter on our deck.  Isaiah likes to snap off pieces of the cilantro and eat it plain.  Summer time means fresh ingredients that add great flavor to recipes!

 

My Favorite:

Andy and I have been watching a neat HGTV show called "Love It or List It."  Each episode features a family that is tired of their home because it's too small or not updated.  They give so much money to have parts of the house remodeled while a realtor finds new houses in the area that they could move into.  In the end they chose to "Love" the house they are in because of the remodeled work or "List It"...put it on the market and move.  Every episode I've watched shows the families loving their house.  The updates and changes are fun to see and really makse us think about how we can make our house more functional.