The Circus is in town....

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls...Cameron had his Kindergarten circus today at school! He was the strong man and in my unbiased opinion he was the star of the show! Hulk Hogan look out!! Brett and I were so proud of him. He said that he was nervous, but he got up there and performed his little heart out. As you can see, Cameron was very precise in his performance. Cameron loved his costume (what boy wouldn't) and refused to let us wash off his moustache. He even wore it to a birthday party that we attended after school (only this time with a bandana around his neck to be a cowboy). Then tonight as I was tucking him into bed, he said "Mom, I wish that I could keep that costume. I want to wear it for Halloween." Way to go Cameron, we loved your circus

A Cameron funny and Happy Easter!

First off, Cameron is such a funny kid. He is constantly saying the cutest things that make me and Brett laugh. Cameron is at the stage where girls are gross and he doesn't like kisses and he doesn't like the word love, because he thinks that it is a "girl" word. Anyway, the other day he said to Brett (with a disgusted look on his face) "Dad, when I grow up and get married, am I going to have to kiss my wife?"
So funny! Give him a few more years, and I am sure that he will feel differently.

We had a great Easter today! The boys were up at the crack of dawn ready to go and see what the Easter bunny brought them. In a matter of minutes, they found their baskets and were sampling some of the yummy candy that was in them (Nothing like a little chocolate at 7:00 am). Then it was off to church . After church we came home and Jed and Kathy were here. They came over to spend the afternoon with us. I had to fight the boys to get our annual Easter picture taken and then of course the ties and Sunday dress were quickly replaced with shorts and t-shirts. We had a really nice afternoon. We had a little BBQ and Texas sheet cake for dessert (which I have already had way to much of). Then it was off to the park. The weather here was absolutely gorgeous today 70+ degrees and sunny! Can't beat that! Happy Easter!

Someone's being sneaky! Caught Austin sneaking some candy from his brother's basket!


Texas Sheet Cake (from All recipes)
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup water
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons milk
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15 inch pan.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix in the sour cream, then beat in the eggs. Set aside. In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the water and 5 tablespoons cocoa. Bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, then stir cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing until blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
For the icing: In a large saucepan, combine the milk, 5 tablespoons cocoa and 1/2 cup butter. Bring to a bowl, then remove from heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, then fold in the nuts, mixing until blended. Spread frosting over warm cake.

Rice Krispie Treats, freezer paper and handbags...

While the big boys were at school, Austin and I decided that we needed a yummy treat, so he helped me make Rice Krispie Treats. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of my big helper. They turned out delicious and so what if we ate half the pan by ourselves!





Freezer paper to the rescue! Erik had to do a report for school on a famous American. He chose Roberto Clemente, a famous baseball player and humanitarian. Erik wrote a fabulous report on this amazing man and of course was sick the day that it was due. So upon returning to school and turning in the report, Erik informed me that his project for the report was due the next day. For his project, he chose to dress up like Roberto Clemente. So, we found a white t-shirt and using one of my new favorite techniques, we created a "Pirates" stencil from the freezer paper and turned that plain white t-shirt into a "Pirates" jersey. We thought that it turned out pretty cute!



Last but not least, I made a couple more handbags. The navy blue handbag was a new one for me and I love how it turned out! I used a free pattern from you can make this. com. So much fun!

Fruit pizza!

I made this fruit pizza for our "P" night with the Young Women and I have been getting requests for the recipe ever since. I must say that it was pretty yummy, so I am posting it here to share. Enjoy!

Fruit Pizza:
Refrigerated sugar cookie dough
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla

Spread the sugar cookie dough out on a pizza pan or cookie sheet and bake according to package directions or until golden brown around edges. Cool.

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together in a mixing bowl until well blended.

Spread on cooled sugar cookie crust and top with your favorite fruits.

Sunday craft...freezer paper stencils

I have been wanting to try this fun craft with the boys for awhile now and today seemed like a good day to do it. A few weeks ago, I bought some inexpensive t-shirts for each boy, some fabric paint and some stencil sponges at Wal-mart and then each boy chose a design that they wanted to stencil on their shirt. I printed out Erik's and Cameron's designs and traced them onto the freezer paper and cut them out. I am proud to say that Austin's little truck is a Melanie original! Anyway, after the designs were cut out, I ironed them on to each shirt and let the boys paint the stencils. After the painting was done, we let the designs dry and then removed the stencils to reveal the finished product. The boys loved this part. These little shirts turned out so cute! We love them. This was a lot of fun and so easy to do. I definitely want to do this little craft again in the future. Brett, funny boy that he is, wondered aloud if this craft was for me or for the boys. ha ha! I must admit that I had a blast helping the boys with their creations.

Here is the finished product:

A couple of good sites to look for stencils.

http://www.kittybuttons.com/stencils/categories/index.html

http://www.supercook.co.uk/kids/stencils

"P" party, awards and report cards!

The Beehives and I were in charge of the combined YW activity last night. We decided that we wanted to have the ever popular "P" party for Personal Progress. We had so much fun! Each class came up with 3 snacks that started with the letter P. We had pizza, potato chips, dessert pizza (that I will post the recipe for), peanut butter M&M's, Pink cake, punch, pudding pie and I know I'm forgetting something. Anyway, there was a lot of food! We had the girls come dressed in their PJ's and they also had to wear as many "P" items as they could think of and then we gave out awards for the girls who had the most items on. These girls were so creative. The winner was one of the Laurels and she had on 61 P items! So cute! Then I read the girls a book called "The Paper Bag Princess" and after the story we divided up by class and the girls were given paper bags and they had to create a paper bag gown. Then we gave out awards to each class like the Perfect gown, the Pretties gown and the Priciest gown. The girls loved this! It was just a fun night of hanging out and enjoying one anothers company!





Yesterday Erik had an award ceremony at school. They have these about once a month and the children are recognized for various things like academic excellence, citizenship and recognition. Erik's teacher told me he was receiving an award, so I made sure that I was there to support him. He received a recognition award for outstanding behavior! Yeah Erik. His teacher said that he is an excellent boy in class! We are so proud of him! Also, Erik brought home his report card and he has straight A's! Way to go Erik!