Deer, Milk & Bubbles

The boys are having fun with the "slightly" warmer weather. It's still raining a lot, but the temperatures are a few degrees warmer, a sure sign that Spring is coming. We've seen some deer in our driveway recently... this guy was having a snack of our flowers starting to come up. We have a lot of deer in our yard - not sure what, if anything, we're going to be able to plant this year.

The boys had good fun the other day with a bubble gun Colin got at Target. He also decided to ride the trike down the driveway. (Our driveway is a big hill) He got going pretty well and then crashed, but was OK. As I was rushing to his aid, Owen got on the trike and started up where Colin left off. The boy has no fear, I tell you. Even seeing his brother crash is not a deterrent. Colin decided to help out by "bubbling up" his trike for the ride.

Owen is officially 17 months now... big boy! We'll know his growth stats next month when he goes in for a checkup. He finished all the frozen breastmilk to mark the 17 months. I'd frozen so much that he's been drinking it daily since I stopped nursing him 4 months ago!

Cake Pops!

A woman I work with brought Cake Pops into the office the other day. I'd never seen such a thing and was immediately in awe. They are so cute and so perfect for little boys! For those of you who haven't heard of them, they are basically a ball of cake on a stick with a hard layer of frosting on the outside. The boys just adored them and I cannot wait to make them myself! The best part (besides them being super cute) are that neither of the boys made a mess while eating them! Definitely not the case with an actual piece of cake!

Here is a recipe if you want to try them yourself:

Bake a cake (box cake or from scratch)

Let it cool completely.

Crumble the cake into a bowl, pretty fine crumbs, you don’t really want too big of chunks.

If you use a whole cake mix it’s about 8oz of frosting. Really you just want enough frosting to bind the cake.

I would start with a large spoonful at a time.

Mix it in with the back of a big spoon until the cake binds (you can kinda tell.. it all starts to stick together)

Too much frosting and it won’t roll into balls well (same for too little)

Roll the cake into balls.

Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or freezer for 15 minutes. Take from the freezer and put in fridge.

The book says to take a couple out at a time to keep them at temperature.

For the candy melt, you can get that at Joann’s or Michaels.

Use a microwave-safe bowl and melt the candy at 30 second intervals taking it out and stirring well each time.

You don’t want to overheat it.

Take the lollipop stick and dip it in the candy melt then insert it into the ball.

I use a spoon and pour the candy melt on the underside before I dip the whole ball into the melt.

Once it’s dipped, slowly rotate it. Tap the wrist that’s holding the cake pop with your other hand to help gently shake off extra candy.

That’s pretty much it. If you want to add candy eyes or other pieces of candy, there is a pretty small window before the candy melt hardens. I usually lay out all the pieces and use tweezers to drop them on the candy melt while it’s still soft.

If the cake is too cold once the candy melt goes around it, it will expand and crack the melt. So if there is cracking the balls are too cold.

Baby Crocs!!

Owen got his first pair of Crocs today. They are super cute - so tiny! But they fit him perfectly. We were able to get out after his nap (the rain let up) and test them out at the beach today. He has taken a huge liking to puddle stomping lately, so these will come in real handy for saving the shoes from getting soaked! A must-have for living on the beach in the summer!

Some Randoms

We haven't had a lot going on lately so there hasn't been a lot to post. What has been going on is a lot of GERMS! We all caught a nasty PNW germ and it took us down like dominoes. Colin was first - then Owen - then Daddy - then Mommy. It's been ugly. Owen caught Croup from it and Mommy has had bronchitis. We're still trying to kick this virus, it's been horrible. 3 weeks now and counting.

Here are some randoms from the past few weeks. Owen adores cream cheese and although he makes a huge mess, he does eat it quite well. Colin is showing off his crane that he got from Santa this year - the thing is TALL when extended! And Mommy tried to take a self-portrait of the 3 of us, and although I don't like pictures of myself I thought I'd post it. :)