Bo's Tough Week

Bo has had a tough week!  On Sunday, CJ whacked him on the head (accidentally) with a (plastic) baseball bat!  (Ping!  There's one new grey hair that sprouted in my head!)  Then yesterday, I was mopping, and laid him on the couch, and of course that was the time he chose to roll over for the first time, right off the couch!  (Ping, ping!  There's two more!)  Thankfully, he was completely fine (he is very tough)!  I took back every time I complained in my head that we have REALLY stained carpet, and that hardwood would be so much easier to clean... I am so thankful he didn't land on a hard surface!

So, then today, I looked up to find Toby wildly pushing Bo in his swing, with Bo's blanket completely covering his face!  (Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping... I am glad to be friends with a hair stylist who can cover up my rapidly greying hair!!!)

Seriously, if this kid makes it to his first birthday, it will be a complete miracle!  :~) I am so glad that not only I am loved by a merciful God, but my children are, too!  I have many stories of times he has protected them, and they are all healthy little balls of energy!  I do not deserve this kindness he has shown me!  By his grace, all is well, and little Bo is still as cute as can be...

This photo perfectly describes my day...

Waking up

This morning around 6:00, this is what I heard coming from the boys' room...

(Toby, singing at the top of his lungs, voice cracking...)

"HALLELUUUUUUUUJAAAAAH!!!!! What a SAAAAAAVUUUUUUUR!!!"

I want to wake up like that!

Mmmmmm...

... Blue crayon!!!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I just found this recipe on Cupcake Project, and went and found the original recipe on BitterSweet.  (Man, there are a lot of food blogs out there!)  I didn't have root beer extract on hand, so I tried simmering some root beer in a saucepan to reduce it, in hopes of intensifying the flavor, but clearly, I have no idea what I was doing.  I was seriously scared that there's some rule out there that you should never heat anything carbonated, and doing so will cause it to blow up!  So, the cupcake didn't have much of a root beer taste (my root beer was pretty flat, too, so that might have been the reason), but it did turn out very moist, so these really turned out to be more like vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting!  Oh, and I didn't have any dark chocolate on hand, so I skipped the ganache, but I'm guessing thick chocolate is never a bad thing!  I also halved the frosting, and it was still way too much, as was the cupcake batter, which turned out to be dangerous, as it was incredibly delicious batter!

Oh, and one more note.  I baked the cupcakes for a full 18 min. before realizing that my oven WAS NOT EVEN ON!!!  Yeah, and I'm not sleep deprived anymore!  I'm just stupid.  It did kind of half-way bake, because I had just been using the oven to make something else before turning it off and putting my cupcakes in, so I guess I really can't vouch for this recipe since I barely followed it, but my pathetic version did turn out to be pretty yummy anyway!  See?

(I know, not nearly as nice as BitterSweet's picture, but still...)

Root Beer Float Cupcakes:

1 c. root beer

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar (wow, I just realized I used a tablespoon, not a teaspoon!  Seriously, why are you all friends with me????)

3/4 c. sugar

1/3 c. canola oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. root beer extract

1 1/3 c. flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pan with liners.  Combine root beer and cider vinegar and let stand for a few min.  Add the sugar and oil, and whisk vigorously until slightly frothy.  Whisk in extracts, and slowly add dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.  It will be lumpy at first, but should be a nice smooth texture once all the dry ingredients are folded in.  Pour batter evenly in pan, about 3/4 full.  Bake 18-22 min and cool completely.

Ganache

5 oz. dark chocolate

1/4 cup soymilk (I'm guessing regular milk works, too)

1 tablespoon maple syrup 

Combine above in microwave-safe container and melt in the microwave, stirring about every 30 seconds. (But don't burn it... duh!)  Drizzle ganache in squiggles over the tops of cupcakes (oh, I'm bummed I didn't do this part!  That would have been fun.)  Allow ganache to fully cool before preparing the ice cream frosting.

Frosting:

1 cup shortening, at room temp. (I'm also guessing that butter would work, too, and probably  taste better than shortening)

3 cups confectioners' sugar (I used more than the recipe called for to give it texture enough for 

piping a little swirl on top)

2 tablespoons vanilla soymilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream shortening, and then add sugar gradually until it's a nice smooth consistency.  Add milk and extract, beating until smooth, and add sugar as necessary to get the desired thickness.  You could frost these however you want; I put them in a Ziploc, snipped the end, and swirled away, pretending I work at Dairy Queen (my lifelong dream!).

Enjoy!  Oh, and don't forget the most important part... PREHEAT YOUR OVEN!!! (or at least turn it on....... geez!)

Finger Painting

So...  Saturday we had an interesting experience.  Keith and I went to get the boys up from their nap, and this is what we saw: Toby was completely naked except for his shirt, which he had on his head; CJ was completely naked from the waist down, and poop everywhere!!!  They were also laughing like crazy and looked like they had just had the best time of their lives!  By God's grace, Keith and I could not stop laughing.  And I mean, it was God's grace!  Even as I was cleaning it all up, I could not stop giggling to myself... these crazy boys!  As I cleaned it, I felt like a detective looking for clues.  What had happened here?  How did this all start?  From what I could gather, this is how it went down... some of it's vague, some of it's guesswork, some of it's concrete (anyone know what that's from?)

CJ had a poopy diaper, and proceeded to take off his pants and diaper.  Toby, observing how fun that looked, proceeded to take off HIS pants and diaper.  CJ handed Toby his poop, and Toby began finger painting with it on the dresser.  Elated with joy, he then ran around the room, finger painting all the walls with the poop, while CJ took the remains of his diaper, and shook all the remnants out in the corner of the room behind his dresser.  At some point, CJ peed through his crib onto the carpet, as did Toby, by the dresser.  Keith and I heard them squealing and laughing, and heard Toby running around, but we had no idea what they were laughing about, and would never have imagined the reason!

Bo's Nursery

I just thought I'd post a few pictures of Bo's nursery for those of you who either can't or haven't seen it yet.  The green walls turned out WAY brighter than I envisioned, especially the accent wall, which I like to refer to as "electric slime."  During the day, there's always an eery green glow, but it's still fun to have a nursery for just one baby!  I have missed the days of changing a baby on a changing table and nursing in a rocking chair, so it has become one of my favorite rooms in our house!