Easter Is Coming

I saw this quick clip from Cook's Country on how to perfectly cook hard boiled eggs. If you're getting ready to color your eggs, you need to cook them first. Go here to learn how to do it right. Basically, it says to place six eggs in a pot with two quarts of cold water and a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Remove the pot from the heat and put a lid on the pot. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for ten minutes, then remove the eggs to an ice bath for five minutes. This keeps that gray ring from forming around the yolk.

P.S. Not my photo- grabbed it online.

Stuffed

Yesterday was fun. We had been eyeing a recipe for a couple of days, and variations of that recipe for weeks, maybe longer. 

It starts with a chocolate chip cookie recipe from Picky Palate that wraps itself around a S'more.

 LynnEl wanted to see my haircut. Here it is! 

You wrap cookie dough all the way around a S'more until it is completely enclosed.

These things were huge. Seriously huge. I realize you have nothing for comparison other than my lightning-fast blurry hands.

Because the same chocolate chip cookie recipe is used in a multitude of ways, we then wrapped it around an Oreo. We were cookie-stuffing maniacs!

But the best one of all was using these Reester Bunnies!

I am not going to show you Karen taste-testing this cookie because she had chocolate all over her face (so she said anyway), but she declared that every chocolate chip cookie should have a Reester Bunny in it! Then this morning, she asked why I gave away the best cookie (we only made two of them with the bunnies. She ate one, and I gave the other to my friend because she brought me a warm loaf of bread last night!). 

Before we ate cookies, we ate salad.

 Then we decided to make some normal chocolate chip cookies and share them with some friends.

I love Caleb's little hand reaching in to be my model!

Caleb said it was the best day ever. 

The Cutest One Year Old Girl!

Laura sent me some pictures of Olive. They are so cute I had to share them too. I'm sure she'll eventually put them on her blog as well.
Eliot is standing outside because he is ready to go to school. Look at Olive's cute shoes!

See? I told you these pictures were so cute! 

Caleb's Fifth Birthday

Caleb turned five yesterday! We celebrated his birthday today with a Batman party. It was originally going to be a Star Wars birthday, but we talked him out of it because a Batman cake was going to be easier on my part.
Here's how it went-
Caleb is helping me by stamping the dots for the lego pieces for his cake.

Admiring the cake that he helped me make.

Smiling for his mommy.

It's not as elaborate as last year's cake, but it's what he wanted this year.

Lincoln is about to paint his super hero cape.

Alanna's cape is done. Sorry I misspelled your name on your cape. I will know better next time.

Hot dogs and french fries and popcorn for dinner. That's a balanced meal right? Especially if ketchup counts as a vegetable.

Super Heroes! 

Super Heroes FLYING! 

Time for singing, candles and cake! 

We have leftovers. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 

Happy Birthday, Caleb. We love you! 

Patti's St. Patty's Party

This was my way of calling "game night" something a little fancy. Besides, what is a party but having friends come over, playing games and snacking on a lot of sugar?
I was in a vinyl crazy mood, so I slapped some shamrocks on my cute little milk bottles. I found the straws at Zurchers. I couldn't pass them up. When did paper straws go from lame to retro-cool?

The popcorn is covered in green Candy Melts, with some pretzels, peanuts and M&M's added to it.

I filled up the bottles with Brazilian lemonade, which I love. Grab the recipe here. 

Unfortunately, I added a few lot of drops of food coloring.

I knew I wanted to make this for the real dessert of the night. 

I should have waited for it to warm up enough to take a better picture, but I was impatient. 

I adapted this recipe just a little bit. Doesn't that make you want to wish for virtual computer monitors where you can George Jetson yourself a little taste?

I used mint Oreos instead of regular Oreos. Cheryl said it still wasn't quite minty enough for her, but I say they were plenty minty enough.
Interestingly enough, Bud was the big game winner of the night. Perhaps that was because all the rest of us were in a sugar coma except for him. The only thing he ate all night was the mixed nuts. Let's do this again sooooon, okay party people? You know who you are!

More S'Mores

Karen gave me this little contraption for Christmas. It's so cute!

Sundays require dessert. I don't know why, but it does. Karen's been asking for a specific dessert for quite a while, but I've resisted for some unknown reason. Because of this resistance, she asked me what I was in the mood for, and I answered S'Mores. But then she took it up a notch and inquired if we had any Reese's trees or hearts or...and then I pulled out this bag of eggs that I'd bought Saturday afternoon.

Assembly required. 

Here we go...

Just what I wanted! 

Mmmm.

I know, you think all we do around here is eat dessert. Ha! Wait till I show you what we're having at "Patti's St. Patty's Party" later! Now THAT'S what I call dessert!