welcome to the world donovan

There is nothing more exciting than getting a text message that an expectant friend, has delivered their child early..

Last Tuesday, this little bundle of joy was delivered to the proud parents Ashley and Jason

Donovan Michael

4lbs 13oz

I was able to get over to meet this little guy earlier this week, and I didn't want to put him down.

He has grown to 5lbs but there is nothing sweeter than holding a new born,

especially one this teeny tiny!

He is absolutely previous, a perfect little peanut. I can't wait to see the little man again!!!

Welcome Baby Charlie!

Tonight Justin and I went over to see our good family friends Rachel, Mike, Madison and their newest addition to their family Charlie.

We brought them dinner and Madison was so excited to see Justin, who she has nicknamed Toodles from MMC. She had already planned on Sunday that Toodles was going to sit next to her at the dinner table and was SO excited to see him when he walked in the door.

We brought Madison a new big sister gift too. Rachel and Mike have turned us onto Melissa and Doug toys. So I thought these cupcakes would be perfect her, and they surely kept her entertained for quite sometime.

I LOVE that Rachel and I grew up next to one another and now we have become even closer. I can't wait until the next time we can all get together!

Happy Thursday Eve or Friday Lovelies!

Quick Recap of the last 2 weeks...

Hello there blog world!

I thought I would catch you up on what has been going on in my life over the past 2 weeks
My family went on an impromptu vacation to Lake Cumberland.

Cumberland to me is the epitome of our family vacations. Sure, we have been a lot of fun places skiing, tropical, ect, but to me this is heaven on earth! You are on a lake, surrounded by family and friends, and your biggest care in the world is when its appropriate to pour your first drink of the day! There is no concerns about what to pack [a few bathing suits, a towel, and tee shirts and shorts are just fine], what you look like [make up is pretty much forbidden], and its just chill!

We found a nice quite little cove to tie our houseboat up the first night we got there
The next day we woke up and went to the new party cove, Harmon Creek
And these pictures really don't do it justice
We parked just outside of party cove central.
It was what my family calls a "Cumby Day", 95*+, and the only place you want to be is in the water with a cold one in your hand!
Well, I may have had 1 too many cold ones that day
I may or may not have fallen 2 times trying to get into the boat when we called it quits for the day [i.e. we ran out of beer]... whoops.
If you follow me on twitter you have seen some of the consequences that I reaped from the fall
Its feeling much better now on Day 10 - but I have a funny feeling it may be a while until its completely gone!

Here are some other pictures from our trip

[we called J "coach" in this visor, i felt like he needed a clip board and a whistle]
This houseboat was at the dock where we rented ours... I joked that I thought it must be Pauly D's boat
We also took a trip to visit Jimmy and Jess in Dayton
We always have such a good time when the 4 of us get together.
Jimmy and Justin went golfing, while Jess and I stimulated the economy at the outlet malls, and then the 4 of us went to dinner
Jess and I at dinner
Justin and I on their patio after dinner
Yesterday we had Sunday dinner combined with my parent's next door neighbor. Mike is in town from SF and brought his daughter Leila. She is such a good baby, and she is SO smart!

My dad has never really been a "baby/kid" person, but she certainly has him wrapped around his finger. She even calls him Bad Brad. Its too cute! I don't know who will be more sad when she heads home on Wednesday, the grandparents or Bad Brad!

So thats a quick recap.

I had a delicious appetizer to share with you for Make Me a Meal Monday, however I'm having issues uploading my pictures, so as soon as J gets home from work [my own personal Geek Squad] I will have him take a look and it may just be a day late! I'm going to try to get back in the swing of having a more regular MMaMM post!

Happy Monday Lovelies!

Welcome to Molly's Little Brother - Dom!!!

Tonight we went over to meet Domingo "Dom", Molly's little brother.
She LOVES him, and will go over to him and give him lots and lots of kisses.
She even calls him "bubba", in the most sweet little quiet voice. It is seriously the most adorable thing ever!
I'm pretty sure she is just as smitten as the rest of us!
The little peanut
with all that hair i had to give him a mohawk
I gave Molly a "big sister present" and she thought it was more fun to use the bucket as a hat! ha!

You say "Hello, Molly" and she puts it up to her ear, she looks so serious and grown up
and she also figured out how to work my ipod on my phone without unlocking it [i don't even know how to do that]
I love this video of her dancing to Lil Wayne [yes she also figured out how to shuffle the phone]

Even though Molly was up 2 1/2 hours past her bedtime, she was so good, and being such a ham! I love seeing all of her rolls, its hard to believe that just 15 months ago she was the size of Dom!
Congrats Katie and Jason!
Dom is perfect, and Molly is the perfect big sister who LOVES her bubby!

Cake Pop Tutorial and Beckett's birthday

The past few days I have learned the ins and outs on how to make cake pops.
I thought I would share a few tricks of the trade of what I have found to work.

I made 2 types of pops for Beckett's first birthday party
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Oreo Truffle Pops
Cake Mix
[all the ingredients needed for the cake]
Frosting
Candy Coating
Lollipop sticks
Crisco
[what they don't tell you about red velvet cake, is that it stains your hands red - be careful :)]


Oreo Truffles
Oreos
1 block of cream cheese
Candy Coating
Lollipop sticks
Crisco


Cake Pops
1. Bake the cake per the box directions
2. Cut the cake up into crumbles [after the cake is completely cool]
3. Add icing, I have used only 1/2 of the tub, remember you can always add more
4. it should be a dense texture, but not too mushy
Oreo Pops
1. Put the entire package of oreos in the food processor
2. Pulse into small crumbs
3. Add block of cream cheese
4. Mix in the block of cream cheese
[these are absolutely delish!!]

Place both of the mixtures into the freezers for 10 minutes

Roll the cool mixture into balls
Melt a little bit of the candy coating
Dip the end of the Lollipop sticks in the candy coating
Stick the Lollipop sticks into the balls
Once all of the sticks have been placed into the balls, place the cake pops back into the freezer for 10 minutes to solidify the candy coating
Melt the rest of the candy coating
you can use paraffin wax, however, I have never been able to find it and crisco works the same - i just use a very little amount and spread it over the candy coating, this helps the candy coating not "sweat" when the pops are not being refrigerated
I take the melted candy coating and place it into my liquid measuring cup so that it is just a one deep dunk with the cake pops.
Dunk the cake ball into the candy coating
Allow all of the excess candy coating drip off of the cake pop
And then turn the cake pop right side up to dry
[please excuse my attempt at making a cake ball holder, i.e. my left over scrap from my craft room - that i drilled a bunch of holes in]
i topped the different cake pops to differentiate them, the oreo truffles, i kept a few of the crumbs to sprinkle on top, and the red velvet cake i topped with a spiral
the finished products in the bucket for Beckett's birthday
Lauren did not disappoint with her party planning either!



And here is the birthday boy!
I have never seen a little one go after his smash cake quite like Beckett - he went in with 2 hands!
and this picture makes me laugh every time I see it!
its as if he is "sugar drunk!"

Happy Birthday Beckett! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I can't believe its been a year since I wrote about you being born!