Photostory Friday- have a little cupcake

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Happy Birthday to my little princess. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, all she said was chocolate cake. We usually make this as a bundt cake, but we had them as cupcakes at my surprise party this summer. This has been a favorite of our family for as long as we have been married.

Trust me, this is a cupcake you want to know. It is a chocolate chocolate chip cupcake.



1 box devil's food cake mix

1 box of large pudding (the cook and serve kind)

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. water

12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix all until thoroughly mixed. Just stir in the powder of the pudding mix (don't prepare it like the box says). Add in the chocolate chips after everything is mixed. For a cake, bake at 350 degrees for one hour. I made these as big muffins and it took almost 35 minutes. Mini muffins only take ten minutes.

edited to add: the cream cheese frosting is simple: one brick of softened cream cheese, a splash of milk (probably 2T or so)....then just keep adding powdered sugar until stiff enough to pipe through a bag. I used probably 2 1/2 c. , but could have used more. Mine was a little soft. Mix until combined. To pipe it on the top, I put it in a ziplock bag. Snip off the corner. Pipe in concentric circles on the top. Enjoy!

Hey hey, back away from the cupcakes. I am still trying to get a good shot! Boy, yeah, you...get your little mitts away from my princess sprinkles.

PS, why is it every time I say bundt I think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding? I love that movie!

just another Saturday

The kids and I had a super lazy Saturday. I think I have a sinus infection or something. I am taking Sinus meds that last 4-6 hours....at the 3 1/2 hour mark, I can tell it is wearing off. UGH.....so what are some things the kids can do that will occupy them for some time....PLAYDOH!
As Livi was starting to come to the table, she starts stripping off her dress. She said, " I don't want to get my pretty pretty dress dirty." Of course she had to have the "purpur" playdoh. She is kind of learning how to say purple, but for the most part it is still "purpur".
Want to make a wife of a deployed soldier happy.....send letters! These were in my mailbox yesterday. Mike is so good about sending letters. I love to read them when I am feeling like I don't know what I am doing. I always have known that Mike does alot around here, but with 104 days of deployment, I now realize how much he does. So husband, thanks for the letters!!!

On Fridays we order pizza with our neighbors. Her husband is deployed as well. She has two boys. The younger one asked if he could come over and make reindeer cookies on Saturday. We made these for Will's preschool at Christmas time. So after Livi's nap, Zack came over to make cookies. While here he asked, "Do you have the stuff to make "mexican surprise"....these were some muffins we made a while back....They are simply cornbread muffins with a little piece of hotdog in them! They have a dipping sauce with them made from taco seasoning, sour cream and mayo. The neighborhood kids loved them when we made them for muffin Monday. So we made them.

So, now the kids are in bed, I am relaxing and waiting for my sinus meds to take effect!

January 16, 2007

Hey there all....we are freezing our patooties off here in TX. Will didn't even go to school today. It is so cold!! Here is a picture of Will getting ready to go out to deliver our muffins on Monday. Each Monday we bake either a muffin....or on this day we baked zucchini bread....and share them with the neighbors. Now most of the neighbors come running when they see us head out the door on Mondays.
The bread was really good, but here is what Will thought of it. He started to say, "Yuck" but he caught himself and said, "No thank you....Livi, do you want my zookie bread?" Of course the carb-loving Livi jumped on it. This batch made four mini loaves, she ate 3/4 of the loaf I kept for us.

This last weekend, I knew it was going to be a cold one. I saw this cool terrarium in a Lowe's ad. The kids and I put them together ...it was really simple. But I did prick myself on one of the cacti. I put them in my bathoom window. I felt very Martha when we finished. Here are the kids finishing up one.


A view of the bathroom ....A close up of one...it is just a plant saucer, with a tiny plant, river rocks, and a lamp sconce..(Livi broke one, so that is why only two of those have one....I guess we will be making another trip to Lowes!)

Speaking of the cold, here is what my urns look like now...I don't know if you can see a thin layer of ice over all of it! I am sure the pansies will die, but I don't know about the little evergreen. Shouldn't it stay green forever?? Or is there some disclosure statement about not leaving them out in freezing icy weather?? Who knew it got this cold in TX?

Finally, I hope everyone is staying warm. Oh yeah, we did find out Mike gets to come home the last week of Feb for his mid-tour leave. He will get to stay home two weeks! I think that is almost forty days away!! Whew hoo!!