Trying New Things!

So this lovely three day weekend was one filled with trying out new concoctions I've had in my head. I tried making more chinese food and I put a spin on a cake recipe and pie recipe.This is my beef and broccoli and it was scrumptious-dilly-umptious!
Lemon meringue cupcakes. I made cupcakes(lemon and used lemon juice in the batter instead of water)and filled them with lemon filling and then a dollup of meringue. They were a huge hit!
Black Forrest cupcakes! Umm umm GOOD! These are devils food cake with a cream cheese filling layered with cherry pie filling and then topped with whip cream, a cherry, and mini chips. These also were a huge hit!

I just love when ideas in my head actually turn out when I make them. I had a good baking and cooking weekend. I love when I get the time(all thanks to the hubby for keeping an eye on the kidlets)to enjoy one of my passions.

Breakfast and Dessert all rolled into one-for Dinner!

So who doesn't just love to have breakfast for dinner? My kids absolutely love it when we have breakfast for dinner. This time I decided to put a spin on something they all love. Let me introduce you to French Toast Cupcakes.The name just had all my kids excited. They didn't know if it was breakfast or a dessert. We just decided it was both and the best part was... we were having it for dinner. It's simple enough, you just break a piece of bread into pieces and put it into a cupcake pan and bake it. This was cinnamon bread that I also added a caramel topping to half of the "cupcakes" and I made cinnamon syrup to go with them. Doesn't this just look scrumptious, trust me it is, but you get really full if you actually eat 2 of them-so needless to say one of these went into a container to eat the next day. So, before anyone asks here's what you do:

Take 12 slices of bread(I'd use cinnamon or cinnamon raisin)and break into pieces and fill your cupcake pan.

Then mix 5 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1tsp. cinnamon.

pour evenly over bread into the cupcake pan and let it sit for about 5 min. to let the bread soak up the mixture.

Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

Now, if you want to add the caramel topping just mix brown sugar and melted butter in even amounts and spoon a little bit on top of the bread(not too much or it will bubble over the pan when the "cupcakes" puff up.

Cinnamon Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup of corn syrup

1/4 cup of water

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup of cream

Boil sugar, corn syrup, water, and cinnamon. Take off heat and mix in the cream. Voila, you have some tasty cinnamon syrup!

So, if your family likes breakfast for dinner this is truly a yummy recipe and a fast way to make french toast for a big brood all at once! Tasty eating!

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my dad!

My dad is the coolest guy out there. He is the best dad and my kids think he is the coolest grandpa ever! Why, you may ask is he the coolest? Well, he knows Eric and I are trying to get our finances straightened out finally(it's taken a long while with all our medical bills from having the babies and the big "C" hit our family)and for Christmas he gave us some cool annual passes to places in Utah. We went out this weekend and he bought our family an annual pass to Hogle Zoo and Thanksgiving Point. SWEET! That's all I can say. So now with our pass that we got last September to Ogden's Dinosaur Park and these two new ones we can go out and have some fun without the worry of trying to come up with the admission prices for everyone. I'm so excited to have an entire year to go and play with my kids at these places. My dad so ROCKS! He has also decided that for the next few years he'll just renew our passes for our Christmas presents. How cool is he! The coolest and greatest dad a daughter could have. If your reading this dad I love you to the moon and back again!

She clips, she shops, she SCORES!

I just needed to brag about and document my sweet success over this weekend. I scored these sweet items for a very low amount of money. These 9 items: 4 juicy juices(64 oz), travel first aid kit, 10 pack hello kitty band aids, 2 johnson buddies soap bars, and a tub of pamper wipes. All of these items would have cost me $19.56 but after all of my coupons and target's sale on the juice I only paid $2.06. Yep, that's right folks, only $2 bucks. Wow! I must say I'm getting this whole coupon thing down pretty good.

I just wanted to toot my own horn- TOOT! TOOT!

I can make...

CHINESE FOOD!

and not just chinese food, but really good chinese food, so good that I don't need to go and get chinese food anymore.

This is my sweet and sour chicken made from scratch(even the sauce). Doesn't it just make you want some right now. Even Eric says it was the best thing he's had. He then said it is right up there with my spaghetti(I make my own marinara sauce). That's saying a lot, because my spaghetti is his all-time FAVORITE meal that I make. I'm so proud of myself. I have been trying out new things trying to challenge myself at making new things and this just takes the cake.
I also made cream cheese wontons(some had sausage in them too). The kids just loved these. They ate the sweet and sour chicken too. Alexis absolutely loved it and said, I quote "it's an explosion going on in my stomach, I love it!" Such a funny kid. So, I found another keeper and the family wants it again for Chinese New Year.

Bella is 7 months!

I can't believe this little sweetie is already 7 months old. Man, how time has just flown by. She is getting so big, so fast. I just love this little girl. She is doing so much now and just keeps learning new things. I just love this cute little outfit of hers.
She is such a smiley little girl. She can almost stay sitting up all by herself. She has a hard time, because she is obsessed with putting her feet in her mouth. So when she's sitting up she reaches down to grab her foot and she fall over. Silly little girl.
She absolutely hates being in her carseat, but I wanted to get a picture of her in it. She is so long that I'll be amazed if she can stay in it all the way until she's one. She just might grow out of it before then. She likes the carrier a little more since she got a new jingling toy from Santa. She pulls at it and hits it and it makes a cute little jingle bell sound. She loves the toy, so she can manage to stay in her carrier for a little while(like about 5 min. before she starts sqawking).

I was trying to capture her in mid-roll, but she's a fast little bugger now. So fast she rolled right off her blanket while I was trying to get this picture. She loves rolling around now. She picks stuff up fast, as of 3 weeks ago she wouldn't roll over for anything, now I can't get her to stop. Funny how little babies all do things at their own pace and in their own time.

She finally stopped just to look up at me and flash me a cute little smile with those big blue eyes and cute big grin. Oh, how she just makes me smile and I just fall in love with her all over again. Even my sleepless nights are worth it when I have this little girl grinning at me from ear to ear.

She's also getting really big now too. She's finally put on some more weight, due to the fact she snarffs her food and just eats a ton of it. She is eating rice cereal, applesauce, bananas with clementines, green beans, yams, pears, peaches, and peas. She is a good eater and she still nurses about 10 times a day. So all this food has led her to now weigh a whoppin' 17 pounds! She's a big little girl(really not that big, she's only around 50% now), but she just looks huge to me now. So, our life is busy with all our cute little babes and we wouldn't have it any other way!

New Year's Eve

So, this post is a little behind, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!This New Year's Eve was a fun one for the kids. Eric received this gingerbread house kit 2 days before Christmas and we decided we would do it as a family activity during the day on New Year's Eve. We had a blast doing it. We did it early in the morning and we had a fun family party later that night. We invited my dad and some old family friends(Patrick and Sybil) over for some good eats and fun family Wii time. We ate deli sandwiches, chips and shrimp dip, veggies, and we had our annual New Year's Eve chocolate chip cheese ball for dessert. The kids had fun trying to stay awake all the way to midnight-alas we only had two make it. Noah, Logan, and Bellla gave up the fight around 10 p.m. However, Bella, woke up right after the ball dropped. Looking back through the year it was hard and long. We had one very GREAT blessing with miss Bella Georgia joining our family, but that was about the only good thing for the year. We are really hoping for a better, UNEVENTFUL, year this lovely year of 2010!
Our finished house. Isn't she a beauty!
Alexis having fun with the candy placement.

Logan decorating one of the gingerbread boys.

Laney wanting to strike a giggle. She's such a little giggle pus! I just love these lit'l kidlets! Once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!