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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Kid Friendly Recipe Sunday - Super Rich Awesome Chocolate Cake

Since I have been stuck inside a lot lately I have had a major sweet tooth. So, this week’s Sunday recipe is a really good chocolate cake…

This cake will make you want to slap your momma. Okay, please don’t really slap your momma.
Anyways, here it is.
You will need:

1 Box of Devil’s food Cake Mix (I use Duncan Hines, because it is the best)
1 1/4 Cup of Sour Cream
1 1/8 cup of Vegetable Oil
1 of the smaller packs of JELLO instant Chocolate pudding mix
4 Eggs
½ Cup milk
2tsp Vanilla
2 cups (mini) Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 350
In a large bowl mix everything (with a mixer) but the chocolate chips.
























Batter will be thick.
Stir in the Chocolate Chips.














Pour into pan of your choice. I used two round 9inch pans.














Bake for about 10-15 minutes longer than what the directions on the cake mix box states.
I used a white vanilla icing for mine but you can use whatever. This cake is a very rich chocolate and great for any chocolate lover. I will also include a homemade butter cream frosting recipe I have used before and works great with this cake. I didn’t make the icing this time. I was lame and bought the icing in can. Sorry to let you down.














Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup shortening (Crisco)
4 cups powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
1tsp vanilla
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (usually found near the milk or coffee creamer)
In a bowl beat shortening until fluffy. Add Sugar and continue mixing until blended. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream. Blend on low until moist then beat on high until frosting in the consistency you want.

While I was out..

What a weekend this has been. It has been relaxing and kind of crazy at the same time. Kids always keep it exciting, but it is nice to have Mr. Wonderful around for moral support on the weekends. The weekend started great, we found out that we are moving into a new place. I have not told anyone really so this is my official announcement. We are moving to an apartment that will meet our needs better than our current house, and it is in a new town closer to the big city. The big day is April 10th. It is great to have a long notice on a move, something I am not used too. I have packed up our entire house in a week or two more than once. I have 40 days so I’m not going to waste any time.

Sunny Bear did not have school once again on Friday so I had them both with me. Mr. Wonderful has had to take my car to work because I have four wheel drive and the snow has not been friendly to us this winter. So, I was trapped at home Thursday and Friday of last week. So, when Saturday came I knew I needed to get out.

Saturday we went to our wonderful mall (small). It was just lovely because we saw some wonderful Girl Scouts there and was able to stock up on Samoa’s and Thin Mints. I apologize to my butt ahead of time for the extra winter weight and the fat from stuffing my face with cookies.

Afterward, I took Sunny to eat some cracker barrel. I always enjoy the one on one time I get to spend with Sunny. Since she has not had a lot of school lately she has craved more attention from me. I have major “mommy guilt” because I cannot always provide her with the attention she needs.

Meanwhile, while Sunny and I were out enjoying our meal, Mr. Wonderful and Biggie were having some male bonding time at home. After eating Sunny and I went to the wonderful world of Wal-Mart for some much needed *not* shopping.

Sundays are always relaxing. I clean the house and do some grocery shopping. The grocery store here is awesome and has a child care area. I took Sunny and dropped her off. I grabbed a Starbucks and shopped in silence with no one nagging “can I have that”? It was amazing, and if you are a parent you know that it is a vacation to go grocery shopping alone. You might as well be on a Caribbean Island somewhere. Well, maybe not that great but it’s still pretty awesome.

There was a lady in front of me when I went to check out and she had 6 things. 6 THINGS.. She scanned three of her items, paid for them and proceeded to do another transaction for that last three items. *no big deal* But afterward, she proceeded to bag her items at the end of the belt. It was my turn so I waited exactly 1 minute *I counted* and she was still at the end. She had not bagged her items yet.. I don’t know what she was doing. Maybe she thought that her items would magically jump into the bag; she was just hanging out. She then started bagging her items slower than a one legged dog on tranquilizers.

Anyways, I started working on my items because I felt I had waited long enough for this women. As I started working on my items she shot me the dirtiest look I had ever seen. ARE YOU FORREAL? She has no idea who I am or what I could do to her but she is looking at me like I am a monster all because she was taking 20 years to bag her groceries.

Moral of the story... The average person is stupid.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Did someone see a pony in the refrigerator?














It's a pony of a different color...wow.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Seriously, Where does all this crap come from?

There is a little known secret that when you have kids you develop piles of hoard all over your house in the form of toys. It is amazing how toys continue to multiply over a span of a year. I have to admit that that the one good thing about moving is that we really have to keep toys and other junk down to a minimum. After two or three toys in a year we’d tell Sunny Bear she had reached her maximum allowance of toys in a year because we just could not move a ton of junk every 6 months. But, we have been in one state for 18 months now and the crap has grown out of control.

Hoard/Clutter causes me massive anxiety. 
I just can’t stand to look at it ANYMORE! I throw something away and it can multiply into three other things; toys are amazing like that. And my god at the McDonalds toys..Do they really have to give them a toy with every meal?

So today I have had enough. It is time to commence "Operation Purge the Hoard". My friend Hefty and I got it all cleaned up relatively easy while sunny bear was entranced in Hannah Montana. I’m glad she didn’t bother me, I really can’t stand it when she in the room while I’m purging all her junk she never plays with. She reasons quite well and we end up throwing away a half of a Lego and a half eaten Barbie shoe.

So, since I am supermom and so awesome, I documented this occasion for those that need a visual (like me).

I mean really did the toy box just throw up??  This is actually not that bad, but lookie lookie what I found while cleaning this mess up.

Mmm, nothing like a good month old Sun Chip with a little toy box flavoring.
Sunny Bear is chanting -- "Treasures I tell you!! I can't part with them."


The book shelf threw up too. 


And I seriously curse the guy or girl that invented stuffed animals.  I mean really?? Every time we visit some place new, Sunny feels the need to have a new "baby".  They all have names too; Sarah, Marah, Pearah, Flower Power Sparkle Queen, Mr. Pig, Mr. Dog.. I could go on for days but you get the picture.  She is now beating the Octomom and Duggar Family with 29 babies, minus the 6 I threw away today. *shh, don't tell her*


And finally here is a picture of my friend Hefty, she's a little camera shy.  Yes, that is all that I threw away today so far.  I am working on a fourth bag though.

Funny thing about all of this is that Sunny Bear will never even notice what is gone. Kids and all there paraphernalia, it's more work than the kids by themselves.   

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

"Can't have nothin' nice"

Now I understand why my mom used to say that. Here is some beautiful artwork Sunny Bear drew for me today.














And a special "shout out" thank you to the lady at the UPS Store that gave Sunny the pen to deface my car door. I guess it could have been worse, at least it didn’t say “I hate you” or “Mommy is fat”.



MckLinky Blog Hop

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Kid Friendly Recipe Sunday - Spaghetti Pizza

I know how hard it is to find something a child will actually eat. I also love to cook, so I need many different dinner ideas to avoid eating the same thing every night! So here is my idea. Every Sunday I will share something I cook and that my kids enjoy.

Today I made Spaghetti Pizza.
The ingredients you’ll need are:

A handy assistant
½ pound Spaghetti Noodles
1 Egg
1/2 qt Spaghetti Sauce
3 tbsp Onion
3 tbsp Butter
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
½ cup Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
1 tsp. Oregano
½ cup Milk
1 clove chopped Garlic
And any toppings you want- I use Green Peppers, Canadian bacon, Pepperoni, Mushrooms (Mr. Wonderful eats them)

Make sure your handy assistant is ready.



















Check

Boil the spaghetti until done, drain.














In a pan mix everything but spaghetti noodles, sauce and only 1 cup of Mozzarella. Cook until cheese melts. I mix in half of the toppings as well as any veggies (except mushrooms, Mr. Wonderful puts those on his own).














Pour in spaghetti noodles and mix well.














Place into a pan. Top with sauce, remaining cheese and toppings.














Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. WALLA! Yum!














My kids love this stuff!! Sunny Bear had seconds and thirds.  Biggie had seconds.  I love it when I find something that fits their appetites.  Here is the proof--


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
YUMMY!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Enjoy!
 
 
 

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Look at what I can do..

When I got home I played around with Paint.net. All my friends have been making their pictures half color and half black and white. So being the smarty pants I am I googled it. Anyways, here is my masterpiece. I know some of you might think I am lame but oh well, LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO!!! Maybe one day soon I will have some new pictures to share. The kids seem to take better pictures outside. Is it spring yet?



By the way this is referred to as the Pleasantville Effect. Awesome huh?
Here is the site I used to figure it out: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=26974

Mommy Day Out

I took Sunny Bear to see The Tooth Fairy today. I haven’t taken a day to just be with her in awhile so we had a great time. Not to mention I got to see The Rock Dwayne Johnson in tights! *hot* I enjoy watching those movies with Sunny Bear because of the eye candy time we spend together.

On top of it all it was SUNNY out today!! I cannot tell you how long it has been since the sun has shown. Have I mentioned lately that I am soo tired of snow? *eye roll*

Before we left Mr. Wonderful decided to build a fort for the kids. Biggie took much joy in pulling it down as soon as he got it up. The fact that there was a giant fort in the living room made Sunny Bear change her mind several times about a mommy day out but finally around lunch time she decided we would venture out for a fun filled day at the movies.

First, we headed to Chic-Fila though. I love the fact that no matter where you live, they always have sweet tea. This makes me happy, just like sunshine! Chic-Fila was “packed out”. This is according to the ever knowledgeable Sunny Bear, so we ate and ran.

The movie was really cute, Sunny enjoyed it. It is really hard to keep her attention in the movie theater but we managed to sit through the whole thing. Good thing, because I was really enjoying the kid kicking the back of my chair the entire time.

Overall, it was a wonderful day with Sunny Bear!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Mommy Heaven

For the first day this week Sunny Bear was able to go to school. I am in mommy heaven now since Biggie is asleep.

This week I have finally decided that I dislike hate snow! Snow is horrible!! It has caused me to be trapped in my house on more than one occasion this winter and has cancelled school 9 times! 9 TIMES!!
*haha when I write that I hear principal Rooney's voice from Ferris Bueller*

So, needless to say I was pretty antsy today when thinking about dropping Sunny Bear at school.

At about 10am I noticed out of the corner of my eye Biggie's head bobbing, so I decided to load up the kids and head to Disney Land! Yep, you guessed it..Wal-Mart!! No matter what you do there for you always end up buying "treasures" you didn't even know you needed.

I was 30 minutes early to drop Sunny Bear off at school so we all hung out in the car. Biggie's head was bobbing again, so I let him sit in my lap.  This began a game of flashing the bright lights, turning up the radio to mind blowing *literally* levels and trying to climb onto the dashboard.

I think I fared pretty well!
So here I am, with silence and a Soap Opera Digest. I’m in Heaven. Silence is Golden!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I'm not tired!

Me: “Sunny Bear, it's late..you should go to bed."

Sunny Bear: “But I am not tired."

Me: “Too bad." (I'm so nice)

Sunny Bear: “I swear I'm not tired."

Exactly 5.7 seconds later—












Even Jynx the Mystical had to get in on the action.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Is my Sunny Bear Stuart?

Sunny Bear is always trying new ways to get my attention if it isn’t focused on her at all times. I thought this would change after Little Man Man was born but I was wrong again. She has recently resorted to the “Look at what I can do” trick which has reminded me of Stuart from Mad TV. Stuart was an eccentric child played by an older man. His portrayal, however, has become very familiar in my house. Recently I watched Stuart online and I now realize that he portrays every 4-7 year old alive. From his incessant “momma” to his demonic growls when he is not happy, Stuart is my Sunny Bear.

I guess I'm lucky though because she is not quite as manipulative as Stuart. I love you Sunny Bear!



Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Love Notes

I just love when my husband writes me love notes.  After 6 years of marriage it is nice to know he still cares!


Thanks hunny!  I love you too!!

Monday, February 15, 2010

A first thought..

For my first blog post I am unsure what to write. I didn’t think it would be that hard. I am my favorite topic but then again it is hard to concentrate when kids are screaming and chaos has begun. I guess I can start off with the fact that I am ready for spring. Kids locked up inside for any length of time have the ability to drive you completely crazy. Not to mention my oldest (sunny bear) has been out of school for some time. In the month of January she managed to make it to school 7 days. Wow. A whole seven days. She is in Pre-k so only goes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This month she has managed to go 2 days. So needless to say it has been a rough few months.


I am from the south where you can wear shorts all year. Here you are locked in your house from November until at least March. This is something that gives me depression around February. So here I sit, Sunny Bear is home from school yet again and complaining about blocks that she decided to throw all over the floor. I do not get it. How is it she can throw the blocks on the floor but it is MY responsibility to pick them up?

Biggie doesn’t treat me that way, at least not yet. He is 16 months old. Currently he is asleep. I wish Sunny Bear would take a nap. Then I could really get some things done.