There are too many sweets in this house!

Between my icing experiment and yummy treat Monday this week we are bursting at the seams (literally) with sugar! Yesterday Mason and I made whoopie pies! They were SO EASY compared to what I got myself into on Sunday. A friend of mine once said...."I rate the level of difficulty of a recipe by how much damage is done to the kitchen (clean up afterwards) I AGREE COMPETELY!

Other updates...Jake started on Mason's outdoor playset/swing set and we have the trampoline! Fingers crossed for some decent weather so that its all DONE before April 22! I will post some pictures of the progress next week sometime.

AND! We have been shopping around for a train table for Mason to set his wooden train track up on. Right now, all of his stuff is in the floor in the play room and he is kind of like a bull in a china shop when he plays with it because his knees and feet knock it over! I never knew how expensive the things were! Anywhere from $189-700!!! H-O-L-Y CRAP! Anyway, yesterday on facebook a girl from work posted that she had one that she wanted to get rid of...FREE!!!!......Thank you Melanie Willsey!!! you will forever be in my heart!!!

Icing and I don't get along and back to basics in the pool...

We had another swim class this Saturday morning and Mason is loving every minute of it! Jake has been trying to teach him to float on his back and I must say his technique will make you L-O-L!! See below! We have two classes left for the winter sessions and then we will probably sign up for spring too.
I have been busy trying to perfect my cupcake decorating skills. I plan to make cupcakes for Mason's 2nd birthday party BUT if I cant master the icing...Ill be calling the bakery..stat! If I have a recipe that is yummy..then its too thin for the decorating bag and tip combo. Its its stiff enough to decorate with then it usually tastes...off...SOOO if anyone reading knows of a good buttercream frosting thats thick but creamy...help a sista out!
AND..just so I dont feel like I am writing to myself every week...comment!!!! And to my 11 followers..THANK YOU for reading!

blowing bubbles...

See?!! Isnt this hilarious!?

This buttercream is okay. Better than others Ive tried. But I need something better :)

Stay tuned!! Tomorrow is yummy treat monday!!! We're making WHOOPIE PIES :)

Yummy Treat Mondays! and Aunt Kah gets a bath!

Its Monday again! Today Mason and I made a Mocha Chocolate Cream Cake and today's catastrophe was that Mason threw all of the measuring cups and spoons into the batter while I was getting the baking soda out :) He said "My bake a cake!" haha! What a MESS!
Aunt Kelsay also came over this evening for a visit. She is always a huge help because she can entertain Mason so I can get stuff done! AND since I had 2,354 measuring cups and spoons to wash..it was good that she chose tonight to stop by! So she gave Mason his bath...which usually turns into a splash fest and she ends up soaked! She also gave him a turtle "tattoo".

Meal Planning and Grocery Savings March 20-25th

This weeks Menu

Fettucini Alfredo with salad and garlic bread
BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw
Pizza and salad
Stuffed Peppers and dinner rolls
Left overs

Kroger is having their buy 10 save $5 this week again! Digorno Pizza (reg 7.19) are on sale for $4.77!! AND pork loin (reg 4.99lb) is on sale for $1.99lb.
My grocery bill this week before coupons was $174.51 and after was $101.10.

Easy Meal of the Week
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Coleslaw

3-4lbs boneless pork loin
1 small onion
2 Tbsp minced garlic
water
16oz bottle of bbq sauce
wheat buns
Cole slaw mix (produce section of your store)
Jar of slaw dressing

Chop onion into 1 in pieces and put in bottom of slow cooker. Place pork loin in on top of onions. Put garlic on top of meat and cover with water. Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or until pork is done.
Drain water. Shred pork with a fork and mix on bbq sauce. Serve on buns.

Prepare slaw according to package directions. ENJOY!

Since I work nights..I put this meal in the crock pot in the morning and go ahead and make the slaw. Then when I wake up all I have to do drain the meat, shred and mix in the sauce. SO EASY! Especially since I have about 6 minutes in the evening before I have to leave for work! This also makes a TON of food for our family. So we get 2 dinners and 2 lunches out of it.

Gardening in our PJs, rocking a Senior and flipping the bird...

I bought Mason his first gardening kit last night and he COULD NOT wait to plant his seeds this morning! Excuse my robe and undereye BAGS! His little greenhouse SHOULD grow tomatoes and zinnias. I guess we'll see. I dont exactly have the greenest thumb.

When I was rocking Mason to sleep last night I told him that I remembered when he was so tiny that I held him in one arm. Now he is getting SO BIG! I asked him if I could rock him to sleep until he is in high school....he said YES!!! yay!! Shoulda got that on video though! I have a feeling he might change his mind :(

So...I LOVE these trendy feather headbands! I was looking to buy one on etsy.com but they were about $20-50. I figured they couldnt be THAT hard to make so I youtubed it :) This is the first one I made. It turned out okay considering...Jake is not a big fan! But I LOVE it :)

Yummy Treat Mondays!

Since I dont work on Monday nights anymore, Mason and I have started a new tradition! Yummy Treat Mondays! Each Monday we bake a special treat. This week we made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I pre measure all of the ingredients and Mason dumps everything in the mixing bowl. This is doing NOTHING for my waistline but its SO MUCH FUN! When I start getting everything out to bake...mason starts running around saying "bake cookies..help you!!" and "FUN FUN!!!"

In a few weeks we will be making flower and easter egg shaped sugar cookies! I will put a pic below of our Valentine's cookies we made for Daddy!

Check out the cookie tips at the bottom...

My cookies used to be flat messes! I did a little research and here is the recipe for perfect cookies every time!
Parchment paper!!! (my new BFF!)
Use butter and eggs that are room temp (so sit them out on the counter 1-2 hours before using)

Swim Fever!

This weekend was Mason's first swimming class! He has been so excited about it all week! So I was completely bummed when he had this phantom fever on Thursday evening. By Friday morning he was a mess and his temp was 103 !! (scaaaarry!) We went to the doctor only to be told that he probably had a virus and to come back if he wasnt better in 5 -10 days (not exactly what I wanted to hear). For a baby who has had two ear infections, one stomach bug and maybe a handful of runny noses in his 2 years of life...I was NOT diggin the 103-104 temp! By Saturday morning I was pretty sure we were NOT going to be swimming. But he woke up fever free and said he wanted to go...He had a BLAST and seems to have a made a complete recovery from whatever it was that he had!

Meal Planning and Grocery Savings March 7-12th

Here is the menu for this week...Its VERY boring!

Shrimp Salad and Steamed Veggies
Red Beans and Rice
Pizza and Salad
Brats, Baked Beans and Chips :)

I had a BIG grocery trip last week because our schedules have been a little messed up lately! So this week my total was $24.17 after coupons and plus card savings.

HOWEVER! Target has some awesome coupons on their website and the P&G ad from last Sundays paper was a pretty good one too.

Target coupons were 1.00 off Target brand oral care products (print limit 4)...I got 2 packs of 2 tooth brushes for .74 cents each and 2 packs of dental floss for FREE!

1.00 off Target brand cotton product= 4 packs a Q-tips 1.24 each

1.00 off Target brand cleaning product= 2 bottles of bathroom cleaner .99 cents each.....you get the idea!

I will put the link to the Target coupons below....looks like they have diaper coupons this week too!! STOCK UP.....ENJOY!

http://coupons.target.com/mcp/pd.cfm?encp=bw3Edh8NsU3vzmfu%2BCqxk1gE5kAdfbx6dC45DH8m6FuvNQDwYVl3xOH31DkRj79yzb%2BSNmiA400y%0D%0ALhj%2FXmLy9zzvNW3gItgBqLI6rw64%2FkWO9JVnZr7BwX%2F%2FouxDgeAQJmFEfNWjdG2LuHWbDHpgRw%3D%3D#

Homemade baby/toddler food, BIRTHDAY plans and SWIM, SWIM, SWIM

Well last weekend I had some "extra" time so I decided to use up the organic sweet potatoes and butternut squash from whole foods that we had. These are Mason's 2 fav veggies! He WILL NOT eat ANYTHING green! So I guess these are better than no veggies at all!
I am also in the beginning stages of planning Mason's 2nd birthday party! REALLY?! 2nd birthday! I cannot believe it! He has requested a "choo choo" party! So at least we have a theme. Then I realized that the weekend I was planning for is Easter!? Since when is Easter in the end of April?!  So we might have to put things off until the following weekend. Jake and I are constructing a plan of action for Mason's BIG birthday gift! Jake is going to be building an outdoor playset complete with swings, a slide and sand box AND a trampoline! So I am hoping for some "decent" weather that lasts more than a day so we can get that started! I cannot wait to see the finished product!
Right now, we are planning a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We have never been, but Mason has been begging to swim since he has been seeing all of the huge rain puddles outside lately! I also signed him up for parent/child swim classes at the YMCA! We start next saturday! We took a swim class last spring too! Mason LOVED it! Should be tons of fun!

I will put baby food pics below! Have a great week!!

By far...the BEST babyfood making device EVER!! Thanks mom and dad!!! Who purchased this for me for my 26th birthday when Mason was 6 months old and starting solids! Its steams,, purees and reheats!

Once you've steamed and pureed your babyfood...pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Then you have perfect portions for later!

The 1 squash and 3 sweet potatoes cost me $4.78. They made enough for Mason to have 3 cubes per meal for 19 meals... thats 25 cents per serving! Compared to gerber jars that are 97 cents at walmart for 2 servings :)