Hey Good Lookin' What you Got Cookin?

It should say What you Got Bakin' - 48 cupcakes, 12 mini cupcakes and a soccer ball cake was bakin' last night.  I also whipped up a double batch of butter cream frosting and tinted it pink and green.  Sounds like an exciting Thursday night at the ESPN household.  And guess what I will be doing tonight?  Frosting all of those bad boys and hopefully not licking too much frosting off my fingertips (sooo fattening!).  As if that wasn't enough excitement for a Thursday evening I mopped the floor and then proceeded to try and find outfits for our family for pictures tomorrow. 

Yes we had the bright idea of doing family pictures tomorrow before the party.  I found stuff for everyone to wear in the family except me - what else is new?  So that means in addition to my frosting duties and grocery shopping this afternoon, I need to find a shirt that is either navy, yellow or green so I look like I belong with the people who live in my house!  Bia told me this morning "No want picture taken" - lovely!  We told her and Chatty that we will stay and take pictures until we get good ones even if it means missing their birthday party (yes we are those kind of parents).  I even told Chatty to start practicing her smile (she has this goofy, constipated looking, fake grin that Mr. ESPN and I hate).  Needless to say I may get a note home from her teacher telling me that she couldn't concentrate in class because she was too busy practicing her smile so she could make it to her own party on time. 

If my children listen as well as they usually do it will be a doozy of a session tomorrow!

Four Generations

Today the girls and I went to my mom's house to bake/decorate cookies. There were four generations of girls there ... Chatty and Bia, me, my Mom (aka Nana) and my Granny. Of course I didn't get a four generation picture (although I think Poppa did)! When I was little I always wanted to help my Granny in the kitchen ... but I was a little impatient back then (still am now!). The funny thing is now I am a lot like my Granny when it comes to baking and cooking (although I can't cook nearly as good as her .. Granny is from Mississippi and makes the best comfort food!) and I have a hard time letting my kids help. But we let them help today and they (we) had a great time. Chatty was very in to it and lasted quite a while. She even showed signs of being a great decorator ... My niece Lily joined us for the cookie decorating too. The girls had a great time together.

The masterpieces ..

Some of the ones I made. Mr. ESPN already ate his tree!

Granny and my girls

Granny helping Bia cut out cookies

Chatty is always ready to pose for a picture!

My niece and I .. I think my mom caught her blinking ..

Three of the four generations

Trying to Catch Up

I have been trying to catch up on my blog reading and posts ... so bear with me this is a little long

• Kindergarten Holiday Party (& Pajama Day) Friday Afternoon - let me preface this by saying I think I win Volunteer of the Year for Chatty's Class and Most Interesting Holiday Party. Shortly after we started decorating the gingerbread houses (minutes after the following pictures were taken) Jordan (who sits at Chatty's table) proceeded to throw up not once but twice in the classroom. As if that wasn't enough, Brandon threw up because he saw Jordan throw up. Abbey's dad sprang into action and started getting paper towels so I began cleaning the lovely mess up! Not like I enjoy cleaning my own kids puke, much less someone elses kid, but if I didn't I was going to be the next one in the nurses office. Luckily a couple other moms helped clean up the other spots! Miss Johnson and the other parents moved the kids and the the gingerbread decorating outside. Good thing it was a lovely 70 degrees here in the desert!

Cous - I didn't chop my hair - just got a little cut off ...

• As if that wasn't enough excitement for the day, we went to the train park with our neighbors on Friday night. We rode the train, carousel and even visited with Santa. It's a crazy year - we now have two pictures with Santa after going 5 years without! Bia wasn't a big fan (as you can see from the photo below, hence the reason Mr. ESPN is in the picture too). You'll also notice a picture below with Chatty covering her face. This was taken during 1 of the 2 timeouts she experienced while we waited for the train ride! Good times!

Don't you just love Bia's look? Making sure the big guy doesn't try anything!

• Saturday a few of my girlfriends came over to decorate cookies and drink wine. It was fun to catch up with them and just chill. I forgot to take any pictures of the girls or the cookies but let me assure you a good time was had by all and our cookies looked fabulous! Only problem is the red icing tastes like crap. Even Mr. ESPN wouldn't eat it today and he eats everything! Too bad I made a bunch of red stocking cookies, guess we will save them for Santa!
• My goal of hitting the gym on Friday and Saturday was not achieved ... oh well ... even OCD people have to deviate from the plan occasionally ... tomorrow no excuses - I will be there! In fact as soon as I am done with this post I am looking up class times!
• On a serious note, please say a prayer for a family in my church. They have two children my kids age (her daughter is in Chatty's Sunday school class - the one I teach). The mom just got diagnosed with Stage IV lymphoma ... such sad news. Also my old neighbor recently miscarried. Both of these women are strong Christian women and I know they would appreciate your prayers.
• If Chatty behaves tomorrow we may venture into cookie baking/decorating tomorrow ... and Bia may join in too!
• I am on vacation for two weeks - woo hoo!!

It's the Most Busy Time of the Year

As much as I love this time of year, it never fails to be the busiest ... always something going on and something to do ... which for the most part I love. The OCD in me loves to be busy and to have a fully planned out schedule. But sometimes (or should I say most of the time) a wrench gets thrown into the aforementioned planned schedule. The wrench this week - Chatty - she is sick! Poor kid has a fever, headache, throwing up ... not so fun. She is looking better today but still far from 100%. So I am "working" from home today and answering to her beck and call. I personally think she feeds off all of the attention she gets when she is sick (but then again who doesn't)! Tomorrow Nana and Poppa are taking a shift as Mr. ESPN and I both have holiday luncheons at work. Since my assistant baker (Chatty) was out of commission last night, I had to cut out and bake all 7/8 dozen sugar cookies myself! She was sad she missed out ... I told her she and I would bake some later this week when she was feeling better. So here is my schedule the rest of the week

• Tonight - Gym ...
• Wednesday - Work, Hair Appointment, Dinner & drinks with two college friends - so excited to catch up with them
• Thursday - Work (last day before a two week vacation), Gym, Bunco - Dec. Bunco is always the best - lots of good food and drinks
• Friday - Gym, volunteer at Chatty's school, lunch with old co-worker, errands, dinner at Oregano's with my BFF's family
• Saturday - Gym and then cookie baking with some of my friends who live near me sans kids!
• Sunday - Church, baking with Chatty

I have to go to the gym as much as possible to offset the large quantities of cookie dough I have been eating! It is frightening trust me!

Busy Busy Weekend

Let's start off with Friday. To preface this story I have to admit I am one of those mean moms who never takes my kid to have their picture taken with Santa. I don't have any pictures of either of my girls with the big guy. My excuse is the time and money. We are always so busy during this time of year and I can't stand waiting in line and paying lots of money for one crappy picture. Honestly, since we have Snowball the Elf, Chatty hasn't even asked to get a picture taken with him. Last Friday Boys and Girls Club hosted a breakfast with Santa. Chatty was so excited to go that morning. Each child got to sit on Santa's lap and tell them what they wanted. When I picked her up from Boys and Girls Club that afternoon, they gave each of the parents pictures of their child with Santa. I had to scan the photo in (hence the crappy quality) ... but alas we have a picture of one of my kids with the Big Guy (Click and you can enlarge it)!

OK and because I (actually Mr. ESPN) was scanning stuff, I (actually Mr. ESPN) scanned our Christmas card too (double click to enlarge) .. I have received several Christmas cards this year with the entire family - which I love and I was feeling guilty I did just the girls, but I decided my hair looked too crappy (must be my word of the day) to have us all on the card. Maybe next year. I really loved the wording on this card and the cute pic of my girls!

Saturday I co-hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine. She is pregnant with twin boys. Since her husband is an Arizona alum, I decided to use Arizona colors (red and blue) for the "theme". My friend the Kingston Queen taught me how to make these pretty iced cookies. She even helped me with some of these. I did all different things on the onesie cookies .. intials, monogram, sailboat, etc.

And here they are packaged up (we gave them out as favors) ..
And here are some pictures of the diaper cake my craft mom made. It turned out super cute and everyone loved it. Thanks Mom!

I used it as the centerpiece for the table during the shower.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the shower. The only problem was we made too much food ... but that means leftovers! Yesterday I taught Sunday school and then came home and made several batches of homeade salsa and chocolate chip cookies to give out to our neighbors. I have been a baking machine ... Friday night I made several dozen mint chocolate chip cookies and cake balls for the shower and then yesterday I made seven dozen peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies! Tonight Chatty and I are going to make sugar cookies. We made the dough last night and will roll them out and use the cookies cutters and bake them tonight. So much to do this week!

A Normal Thursday Night and Plan B

So who bakes 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 6 dozen oatmeal cookies while watching football and then college basketball on a Thursday night after the kids are in bed? Just call me Martha ... knocking more stuff off that to do list ... worked out ... got Grandma and Grandpas room cleaned and linens on the bed .... enjoying a beverage now!

Plan B - gee I thought I had already gone over this. First off Mr. ESPN knows he was Plan B ... and is fine with it since he won the ultimate prize - ME! Mr. ESPN and I met in college our junior year ... we became friends and talked "sports" but I was totally not interested in him as a boyfriend nor did I want a boyfriend. The fall of my senior year I needed a date to a formal. I was adamant about it being just a date and nothing more. So I talked to 3 of my guy friends Matt, Chad and Jim ... we came up with Plan A - a guy named Sheffler who came from a family with lots of money and had a nice Jeep Grand Cherokee but not the brightest bulb in the box (it was one date not a relationship ladies)... and Plan B, Mr. ESPN. My boys (Matt, Chad and Jim) tried to work Plan A but all of them thought Plan B was a much better option and pursued it more heavily (and yes when we discussed it we always referred to them as Plan A and B not by their names). Matt ultimately encouraged Mr. ESPN to ask me to the formal (which happened to be two days after my 21st birthday when they took me out at midnight ... but that is a whole other story). Anyway after one date, Mr. ESPN couldn't resist my charms and the rest is history!! Lucky man he is!!

100th Post

Wow - I finally made it to 100! I kept thinking I would do the 100 things about me list, but decided I am just not up for it. So just some random Thursday thoughts.

• If I was doing a 100 things list (but I am not since I am too lazy) I would tell you I am extremely Type A, Christian (who is striving to be a better one), conservative, Republican, love to bake, have a Master's in Taxation (riveting I know!), love college sports (and most sports), Arizona Wildcat, originally from Florida (and in a lot of ways still think of it as home), Mr. ESPN was originally plan B, mom to 2 independent stubborn girls (just like their momma!), Chatty's first name is my maiden name (Lacey), competitive, love fountain Diet Coke with a splash of Cherry Coke, love my southern roots, have a love/hate relationship with running and exercise, yacked one time on the way to Yakima, WA, left handed, want to go to nursing school, love Bud Light, wine and most food .... along with a bunch of other useless information!
• I have tackled a decent portion of my to do list - Kahlua cake and brownies baked, packed at work, purchased new shoes, Amy had to cancel lunch (boo!) and Mr. ESPN completed painting project
• I still have the biggest portion of my list still left to do - DEEP clean my house, bake cookies, cut out some vests from paper bags for our Battle of Jericho lesson/craft for Sunday school, grocery shop (but list is complete and coupons are ready), need to exercise this afternoon, tomorrow and Saturday to complete my 5 day goal this week.
• Mr. ESPN and I are having date night with our friends Ang and Lars on Saturday night - yeah for grandparents babysitting!
• Bia is obsessed with Boobees (yes Chatty went through this phase too). The other morning Mr. ESPN was getting her dressed and she was pointing to his shirt saying "Boobees, boobees! Daddy has little boobees!" Just how he wanted to start his morning! I told him at least she didn't say he had big man boobees!
• Bia loves to snuggle in the morning ... this morning she woke up around 5:45 and ran into our room with her entourage (blankie, little blankie, puppy, monkey and pluto), threw them up on our bed and then climbed in next to me to snuggle! I love it!!
• Chatty didn't make her day twice this week at school (and once last week) ... not sure what's going on in her head. I reminded her this morning that God is disappointed in her behavior and she responded by saying, "Yeah Santa is too!" Uggh! I then proceeded to explain that the only one that truly matters is God ... hopefully a little of that will sink in.
• Still trying to work the Coco hook up for a single lady in Austin for Uncle Greg ...
• Still haven't made a dent in the 10 pounds I wanted to get off by the holidays - doesn't help that I had donut holes for breakfast yesterday morning (in my defense I had a 7:00 am meeting and needed some fuel! Laurie - I don't always eat that bad in the morning)

Kahlua Cake recipe per Dee and Sass' request (it came from my friend Ang). If you love chocolate this is your cake - so easy and so good!

• Box of German Chocolate Cake Mix
• Large box of Chocolate instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 16 oz. container sour cream
• 12 oz bag of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Kahlua
• Mix ingredients together by hand; Spray bundt PAM generously with PAM; pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean); Let stand 10 minutes and then remove from pan and let cool completely. Once cooled sprinkle with powdered sugar.
• Variation - I have used mint chocolate chips and it tastes great too (if you like mint)

Still Here

I have been a lackluster blogger the past few days ... feel like I have been going non-stop trying to get some projects done around the house before the in laws arrive on Saturday. It didn't help that sweet Bia got sick last Thursday ... Mr. ESPN stayed home with her that day and I was off Friday but was scheduled to volunteer in Chatty's class so Nana and Poppa to the rescue. Bia was better on Friday and we enjoyed a nice lunch out and trip to Costco with Nana and Poppa (after I was done volunteering). Bia proceeded to tell her Poppa everything she wanted in Costco as well as everything we already have from there. She managed to convince him to get her some new coloring supplies (and some for Big Sis too)! They sure learn how to work the brown eyes and pouty face young in our family!

In the midst of all this Mr. ESPN and I stripped and re-finished our kitchen table and chairs. What a chore ... I think we are finally done ... that was a week long project. On Saturday my good friend Mrs. Kingston came over and we made cookies ... sugar cookies with icing. She taught me the tricks and I made some cute ones for favors for a baby shower I am hosting next month. They are in the freezer with strict instructions to Mr. ESPN not to touch! I still have a list of a few things for Mr. ESPN to complete before his parents arrive on Saturday. Our office is moving to another building so I am off this Friday too ... so that means cleaning/packing at work this week and serious deep cleaning of my house on Friday. So below is my to do list this week (in addition to my normal parenting and wife duties):

1. Bake a Kahlua cake, chocolate chip cookies and brownies for a craft fair at our church and drop off Friday morning
2. Bake some more cookies for my in laws
3. Prepare Sunday school lesson for next week
4. Clean House - Deep Clean!
5. Follow Up with Mr. ESPN on his projects - namely painting baseboards and door frames
6. Pack up my stuff at work
7. Exercise - at least 4/5 times this week
8. Grocery Shop (the list has been made)
9. Meet Amy for lunch on Friday
10. Buy some new shoes - hey you gotta have fun too - plus I have two coupons that I can combine at DSW!

I know I am forgetting something in there ...