SF Giants Birthday Party

Mr. Tyler turned 10 and wanted to celebrate with a "Giant" birthday party! We took the kids to Sky High for an hour of trampoline fun and then came home for lunch and cake. He was only allowed to invite a few of his closest friends since we were paying per person at Sky High. It was so pleasant having a little group of kids. Everyone got along great and had a ton of fun. Although, have you noticed that this is the age where boys begin to really stink? They haven't quite learned the concept of controlling body odor yet and after an hour of bouncing they were all pretty ripe! WooooWe!

Decorations

Party favors - Sunflower seeds and Big Chew! 

I wanted to include a box of Cracker Jacks but couldn't find any.

 Place settings

Baseball cake. 

A giant ball on a baseball diamond 

  Birthday boy

 The crew enjoying a pizza lunch

Snazzy gifts

Make a wish!

Spoiled little brat got $130 from family and friends. Can I get a loan? lol

Bunch of goofballs 

 A few bouncing pictures from Sky High!

Dodge ball!!!

White Chocolate Biscoff Blondies

Have you heard the the Biscoff Cookie Butter? It's yum. I've heard that Trader Joes has one called Speculoos Cookie Spread and from what I understand Biscoff is the origional and SCS is the generic. I found my Biscoff Spread at my local Target so if you don't have a Trader Joe's you can head to Target for the rescue. I stumbled upon an entire pinterest board dedicated to the Biscoff spread and I'm not joking when everything on there was making me drool. The first recipe I made was the White Chocolate Biscoff Blondie's and they were a huge hit. My friend said they tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal but I describe them as a mouth watering fall delight! Here is the recipe. Excuse me while I eat more cookie butter.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line an 8×8 inch baking dish with tin foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30-45 seconds until butter is melted and hot. Add 3/4 cup white chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, if needed place back in microwave for an additional 15-30 seconds to melt through.
3. Place flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Stir in 1/2 cup white chips then add eggs and Biscoff. Stir until well combined. Transfer to prepared baking dish, spreading evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through. Let cool completely then cut into squares. Serve warm, room temperature or chilled.
Makes 12 servings

 

To Wen or not to Wen?

My Wen Review:

I'm sure everyone has seen or at least heard of Wen hair care products. A hair cleanser that promises  "a revolutionary new concept in hair care. A 5-in-1 formula, this one product takes the place of your shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, detangler and leave-in conditioner. It cleanses hair thoroughly without lathering or harsh ingredients. It's designed not to strip your hair and scalp of natural oils, leaving your hair with more strength, moisture, manageability and better color retention."

Sounds good right? I thought I'd give it a try and bought the 90 day supply of the Sweet Almond Mint. This included two bottles of the magical cleanser, anti frizz styling cream, straightening smoothing gloss, and re moist intensive hair treatment a.k.a deep conditioner.

Let me first tell you a little bit about MY hair. I have long, blond, fine, thin hair. Normally I use all Biolage products and battle fly-aways and sometimes split ends. I have to wash it everyday or else I start to get greasy. I can go every other day if I wear a pony tale.

I started using the Wen about a month ago and going in for my first use I was extremely surprised that the bottle suggested over 30 pumps of product for long hair. 30+ pumps?!? I could not bring myself to do it so instead I used about 15. That still seemed over excessive. My first observation was that when I wrung out my hair, hardly any water fell to the shower floor. OK, so its holding in a ton of moisture. Next observation is that it took about 2 hours for my hair to completely air dry. This normally take about 30 minutes. Not a big deal. After my hair was completely dry I noticed that my hair was shinier, smoother, and free of fly-aways. I WAS SOLD!

After a few days of continuing the product I noticed my hair started to look greasy and weighed down. I thought maybe I was using too much product so I cut back on pumps to about 8-10 instead of 15. That helped a little but not much. In frustration I decided for one day to give my hair a break from Wen and went back to Biolage. When I got to work that morning my co-worker told me that my hair "looked so good that day". Hmmm... the day I decided not to use the Wen cleanser?

Brought up on the phrase "waste not want not" I decided to continue the Wen but at least once a week I use regular shampoo and conditioner. In the end I will probably not buy the cleanser again once I'm out. I do however, like the anti frizz cream and will probably continue to purchase that.

Now don't be quick to cross Wen off your list of things to try. I have several friends using the product too and love it. It has done amazing things for their hair. This product just didn't mesh well with my hair type. After all, all hair care products were not created equally.