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.

Father's Day breakfast and candy bar bouquet

For fathers day I usually like to play with different recipes and try something new. I guess you could say I use my husband as a guinea pig on his special day. He's never complained. This year I made him French toast roll ups and they were a big hit. I plan on making them again next weekend for the whole family to enjoy.

The recipe was super simple.

• I took six pieces of buttermilk bread, cut off the crust, and pressed on them to flatten them out.
• I then put nutella and banana slices on two of the bread, nutella and peanut butter on two of the bread, and nutella and strawberry jam on two of the bread. (get creative with fillings here)
• I then rolled them up and slathered them with a French toast batter (any kind will due, I just used two eggs with 1/4 cup of milk)
•  I then put a little butter in a frying pan and fried them on every side until evenly golden.
• Once removed from the heat and cooled slightly I rolled them around in a sugar/cinnamon mixture.
• Arrange on a plate and eat with syrup. No forks needed!

**I'm going to warn you, they look really gross throughout the process but once they are completed and ready for eating they will look delicious!



For one of the fun gifts I made a candy bar bouquet because after all, what man wants flowers? I was able to get everything I needed at the dollar store (score!) - the "manly vase", Styrofoam, candy, and TNT pop-its (no man can resist pop-its, it always brings out that inner child).

I thought this tin can would look more manly and rustic than a typical glass vase. Isn't it cute? I cut the Styrofoam to fit into the bottom, taped wooden skewers to the backs of the candy, and stuck them in. Easy-peasy and oh so fun!

ps... notice how I put a heart sticker over the "C" of the Chunky candy bar? I didn't want him to think I was calling him fat while giving him 2,000 calories of candy. "Hunky" was much more appropriate. hehe..

Spring / Summer Revirsible Craft

Another great craft kit found on groopdealz.com. All I had to do was paint and adhere scrapbook paper of my liking. Can it get any easier?

Frog cake

My friend asked me to make a cake for her baby shower last weekend. She's naming her daughter "Lilly" and thought it would be a cute theme to do frogs (lily pads - frogs... get it?). Here's what I came up with. I baked a 9 inch round, 8x8 pan, and two cupcakes. The round in the body, cupcake for eyes, and the 8x8 was carved into the legs. Super easy and super cute!

One year older

It has been so fun watching this little man grow in the past year. Those tie monthly stickers were so helpful recording him each month (not to mention so cute!). I can't believe this chubby boy was 7 weeks early, just look at him now! I want to jump into month 4 and just blow raspberries on those THIGHS and kiss those CHEEKS! Ok, onto the next stage.... TODDLER!

Monstrous first birthday!

For Broderick's first birthday we had a "monster bash". It was fun to plan and come up with different ways to make it cute and fun yet simple for a first birthday party. 



Here is the 3 tier monster cake I made. The top layer is the "smash cake" but I thought it looked better on the cake rather than off to the side. 

I took a picture of the baby each month with numbered ties to show how he's grown. It was fun to look back and see where his hair and skin started to really lighten. I meant to have a poster board to put these pictures on but forgot. The mirror works too I guess. 

I made the happy birthday sign out of scrapbook paper and ribbon. My sister painted those canvas's for her sons bathroom and let me borrow them or the party. They were perfect! That green chair is the one I painted for his first birthday photo shoot seen HERE. 

For party favors I had a candy bar. I collected large baby food jars, painted the lids orange, and glued googly eyes on them. From there everyone could put whatever candy they wanted into the jars and take them home. 

Shots from his photo shoot on display. 

The dining room décor. I'm digging the vertical streamers. 

Birthday boy with his cheesy smile 

Monster punch! 

present time

What's a party without good food! 

Chicken croissant sandwich's, pasta salad, and fruit kabobs... mmmmmm

 Make a wish!

 The cake was almost as big as him!

Big brother helping him blow out his candle 

It's my party and I can cry if I want to! 

It's tradition for the first birthday to let the baby dig in and make a mess.

Oh boy here we go...