Grown up play dates

Did you know that even grown ups want play dates, at least I do. I have had the privilege of knowing Jo from Frosted Happy for the last four years. Her hubby's been in school here and now they are off to work in another part of this great world we live in. I really wanted to pick her brain about fondant and how she makes her stuff look so unbelievable fantastic. Check this out, and this too, oh you gotta see this one! Isn't she crazy talented. Well I got my chance and here's a sneak peak.

She had a project she was working on and allowed me to come over and help with it, I know crazy! I had such a lovely evening working, chatting and most of all being inspired by how creative she is. I learned tons of little tricks and enjoyed hanging out into the wee hours of the morning! Thanks for sharing your time and your talents with me. You'll have to go over to her website and check out the final product!

Happy Mother's Day!

"May each of us treasure this truth: One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one." Thomas S. Monson

Today I'm thankful for the privilege of being a woman!  I'm grateful to my mother for giving me life (I love you Mom), to my children who have made me a mother, to my loving mother in law, to all those of you in my life who have not had the privilege of being mothers yet but have cared for and nurtured me or my children, THANK YOU!  I hold sacred the blessing and privilege of being a mother and am so thankful that I've been blessed with these two precious children. 

(Photo by HMF Photography)

I love you Coconuts and Buddy boys, I'm so thankful your all mine! 

Happy Mothers Day to all of you!

(The painting at the top was made for me by my Sweet Coconuts!  Isn't she just so talented, and crafty I might add!)

Pinapple Sauce

This stuff is fantastic on just about anything.  Banana splits, ice cream, waffles.  If you haven't noticed yet I"m all about simple stuff.  The least amount of work that's going to wow the crowd.  This sauce is just that.

 Here's what you'll need:

1 Can Crushed Pineapple

1/2 Cup Water

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 Tbsp Corn Starch

Dump all the ingredients into a saucepan.  Heat over medium heat and stir until it thickens to your liking.  I don't like runny sauces so I make mine a little thicker. 

Give it a whirl and then come back here and let me know what you thought of it.  At our house we love it!

This post was featured here.

Royal Potluck

What do you think goes down at the office when there's a Royal Wedding going on in the world.  A Royal Potluck that is!  Can I just say I have some of the coolest co-workers ever!  Check out this hat that Cory whipped up on her own.  Like the red hand sewn jewels on the flowers!  Love it!

The food was fantastic, although I"m sure that Will and Kate ate way better than we did it was still fantastic grub!  We have some of the best potlucks on the 16th floor. 

The guests of honour arrived dressed for the occasions, a Royal potluck just wouldn't have been the same without them.  Loved their attire and head gear as well!  Girls you stole the show.

The honorary couple arrived in true fashion in the form of a poster on the wall!  The invite did go out to them,  and unfortunately for us, someone else had already thrown them a huge party.  During our lunch hour we watched reruns of them walking down the isle, the buggy ride and other highlights from their big day!

She looked fantastic and we enjoyed the excuse to have a great time as well!

Dying Easter Eggs

I love spending time with my kids, but I also love spending time with my sweet nieces and nephews!  My brother and I got our kids together to color Easter eggs.  For the most part it went off without a hitch, (if you consider child #3 breaking a glass before it even begins and child #6 having a melt down because said egg was put into the green food coloring when apparently said child didn't want it to be so).  But isn't that what makes these family events memorable?

Isn't Tato the sweetest little boy, he was totally posing for pictures with his finished eggs when we were all done and he was so stink'en adorable.  I love that kid! 

We hard boil our eggs so that we can have them on toast the next morning, which means the eggs are really hot and the wax crayons just melt right on to them.  Makes for some sweet designs!

I sure hope you all had a fantastic Easter and created some of your own family memories this Easter weekend.

(My brother let me use his super fantastic camera, now I may have to get one of my own!  John if yours is missing I likely didn't take it and it's probably not at my housee.  Just saying) 

Easter Basket Cupcakes

My sidekick Monica and I decided to make these fantastic Easter cupcakes for the kids at church.  Really I think it was more about how we needed an excuse to get together.  These are so easy and quick to make.

First just make a batch of your favourite cup cakes, set them aside and let them cool until you are ready to decorate them. 

 To make the grass, you take some coconut and put it in a bowl.  Keep dropping a few drops of green food coloring into it and mix it around until it's green to your liking.

 We cheated here and took some store bought icing, divided it into four and made four Easter colors!  Easy peasy, I'm telling ya!

 Start icing the cupcakes and dip them into the "Grass". 

 Are you seeing how quick and easy this is.  They were so tasty too!

 Last but certainly not least, your going to dip Cadbury Mini Eggs (those bad boys are my Easter indulgence, we have a love hate relationship) into a bit of icing and place them on top of the basket so they don't roll off.  We then cut 1/3 of the pipe cleaners off and then just stuck them into the cupcakes to make the handles. 

The kids loved them and I bet yours will too!  Happy Easter everyone.  Thanks for stopping in!

Margarita Punch

Did you know that when you have your friends over to play you should always serve some yummy punch.  This is a tasty Margarita Punch, that I absolutely love the color of as well as how it looks when it's made.

Recipe
1 Can Frozen Lime Aid
1 Can Frozen Lemon Aid
1 Bottle Sprite

Mix the juice up with 6 cans of water.  What I do is use some ice cubs and water to make the six cups and I blend just the water and Ice in the blender to make the Margarita like a slushy.  Super fun and your guests will love it!

April Club

I hosted April's club at my house tonight.  It's always fun to get together with the girls, be creative and enjoy their company.

This purse bag card is probably my favourite card we've made yet.  It uses the Stampin Up Cup Cake Punch to make the purses.  I think I'll be recreating this card.  Coconuts would love to give these to her friends for birthday cards. 

I decided to make a waffle bar for our treat.  I pre made the waffle batter and put it in the fridge so that I could make them fresh when we were ready to eat.  I used this waffle recipe.  I put out all sorts of topping so everyone could decide what tickled their fancy.  Have you ever put Nutella on your waffles?  Me neither until tonight.  Hello sweet hazelnut goodness on my waffle.

I also made a pineapple topping which is so delicious.  I will share that recipe later on this week.  Thanks a bunch for stopping in to read my blog.  I sure do appreciate you.

Blueberry Cake

My mother in law is a wonderful cook and this is one of her recipes.  It's so delicious and moist,  your going to love this cake.  I used some of the blueberries that we picked as a family last summer so it was especially tasty!

1 1/2 Cups White Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

Mix these ingredients well until smooth (use beaters or kitchen aid mixer), then add;

1 1/2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

Mix until it is well blended, then fold in

1 1/4 Cup Blueberries

Top with a cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake in the oven at 350 for 50-60 minutes.  It needs that long to cook.  It will look as though from the top that you are over cooking it but it's necessary to properly cook the whole cake.  Bake it in a square pan.  This cake will be moist and delicious.

Enjoy!

March's Club Cards

I think that my family is finally on the mend after two plus weeks of a virus kicking our trash!  The final score was Wentzell's 0 - Crazy Flu Virus 4.  But here I am back to the world of the living with projects up my sleeves.  In the mean time here are the cards we made at club last month.

It's my turn to host club in April, which also means I need to come up with some fun snack to share.  I'm thinking it's going to be a dessert waffle bar, with Margarita punch.