Recent addiction

Here it is. Thanks to Kenzie, I have been fortunate to add this delicious elixir to my soda repertoire. It is yummy, and because of the antioxidants, I get to pretend that it is good for me. It's delicious, it's good for me, what more could I ask.

Cake Pops!

For the blessings on Sunday I wanted to make something special as a dessert treat. I had heard a bunch about those cute little cake pops, so I gave it a try. They turned out very cute, and quite delicious. Here is the rundown of my approach...

First make a cake. Store box mix is what all the other blogs said, and it was quite lovely. I made two, one strawberry, and this very lovely white one. Then, you need to let it cool completely.

Then, pretend it is your first birthday again and make a mess of it. You want to reduce your beautiful cake, to beautiful crumbs. It worked really well to take chunks in both hands and rub them gently together. They sortof sanded themselves down to tasty bits.

Then make some frosting, or you can use the ready-made. I just made some. Go easy on the butter if you make your own. I think it makes the chocolate take longer to set if it gets buttery from the outsides of the middles. (That sentence makes sense to me even if it doesn't make sense to you...it will once you have made some.)

You could use chocolate frosting, I didn't want to change the color of the batter too much, so I used white frosting. It takes about 1/2 cup. Mix it into the cake crumbs. I used the hand mixer and then my hands. That worked very well.

You don't want it too 'wet'. I was able to make the strawberry pops bigger because the mixture for the center was not as wet as the white pops center mix. Less wet than play-doh, maybe like bread pudding-ish? I don't know quite how to describe it. It looked like this...

Then you roll it into 1"balls. I was not the greatest at getting them to be spherical, but in the end it didn't matter too much.

These went into the fridge for a little while. You could check for consistency, I think they were in there for about 4 hours. Overnight would be okay.

Then melt that chocolate! There are lots of types you can use. These are Wilton candy melts. For the pink pops, I used red and pink melts and blended them in the melter. P.S. This little melter was awesome! Super easy, no timing necessary, and it has a separate heat setting for just keeping it warm. Very helpful!!

I forgot to take a couple of pictures, so here you must imagine dipping the ends of the lollipop sticks about 3/4 of an inch into the chocolate, and then impaling the little spheres on the chocolatey end of each stick. Then they went back on the tray to set. The pink ones never went into the fridge again, the white ones did because I got busy with something else and they got a little warm. If they are too mushy they will fall off the stick into the chocolate, or your hand if you are a quick catch. If that happens, do not despair. Set it on a plate and let it be a taste-tester for you. Yummy!

After they are on the sticks, you dip each one completely. The sideways swoosh and roll worked best for me. The straight up dunk made them harder to keep on the sticks. Then, while the chocolate is still melty, sprinkle away! That part worked like a charm. There are a gazillion other things you can do with these. Bakerella has a whole book dedicated to the little treats. My friend Melissa showed me a snowman version she had made that was adorable. We may have to try those next year. I know it is only January, but I am ready for spring, and I am not excited about winter treats right now...except for hot chocolate. Okay, back to the pops...

After you have dipped and sprinkled, insert the sticks into a piece of styrofoam so they have a chance to harden. If you are not bagging them, you're pretty much done. I think they would look cute in mini muffin cups on a tray, with a ribbon around the stick. But this is what I did with mine...

 Each cake made about 50 pops, give or take a few. A couple of the white ones cracked, but that was it. Otherwise, they turned out very cute, and I think everyone who tried them, liked them. I am excited to make some more!

Beautiful Babes Blessings Day

On Sunday these darling little cousins were blessed by their daddies and many loved ones. It was a wonderful day and the blessings were almost as beautiful as the baby girls!  Here they are with their gorgeous mommies.

Here they are with their handsome daddies. With a lot of people taking pictures at the same time it is hard to get everyone looking at the same person at the same time. Sorry. My bad.

Lauren Jane

Kate Sophia

 Each of the little ones with their mommies. Aren't the dresses gorgeous? So delicate and darling! Just like the girls!

Four Generations! I wish Ann were smiling, but she is below so you can see how darling she is!

Now, at any family gathering there are bound to be pictures. With these three, you never know what will happen.

First everyone has to check each other's teeth...

Then there is some personal investigation and grooming...

and finally, we're ready for the shot. If you're lucky, Shel will count it down with you! one, two, three...got it!

Love them!!

Double Rainbow!

Just kidding about the double rainbow thing. That guy is awesomely nutty. This is just a really cool sky with the two sides of the circle of refracted sunlight. In the last picture you can follow them up and around if you look carefully. How cool would it have been for the sun to be high enough to get the whole circle!!?!! 

Right side

Left side

Nice job Big Guy!

New Year's Party

New Year's was so much fun! We went to dinner, then a movie, then back to Olsen's to play the night away. Little did we know until later that Nancy had planned so many activities because she was afraid we would just be sitting around bored. Maybe she was bored last year. In any case, we had a terrific night, and judging by the fact that no one left until after 2:30AM, I don't think boredom had any place in the night.

 Here are the kids and Mare and Mike. Andrew is missing because he had a headache, but otherwise they are all in this shot. So many cuties!

Reverse charades! Hilarious!!

Preview of things to come...

and evidence of the same things in action!

Love the way the tree gets into the act.

Cheers to 2011!

Martinelli's for everyone

Spence and Tommy. When Spence was about 8 months old, he came to the New Years party with his parents, and despite their best efforts, he stayed awake and played with us the whole time. We have joked about it ever since. This year TomTom was determined to stay up until the "middle of the night" and he did. The proof is in the picture below. In fact, Tom made it all the way to 2:30 with everyone else, and just like his brother before him, he was pleasant and fun the whole time!

Happy New Year to all my late night revelers, and everyone else too!

The Festivities Continue!

Here are the pictures from the last family party of the season. We went out to Charles's and Shea's in Syracuse. It was amazing to have everyone together again. It has been years and years since we have all been together as often as we were this year. It made it extra special!

Here's the table.

and of course the food

This is my salad. I had to include it as proof that I can, in fact, make other things besides brownies and 7-layer dip.

Some of the decorations...

The tree...such fun colors!

Everyone loves to gather in the kitchen

These three lovely ladies have become our Three Musketeers! Maybe if we can all get to the Magic Kingdom together, they can be the Three Mousketeers. (Hey, a girl can dream)

George showing mom his son's afternoon exploits.

Maximus has pretty amazing aim! Perhaps the FBI will be providing Maxwell's future employment. He has a great connection through his "Uncle" Teddy!! I wonder how he got so good, so fast. Practice much Max?

I love how Griff is looking at Em. You just know he is in awe.

Just the present shots. More kids kept getting in each picture, so I just had to post them all.

Nice tie bud.

Happy Holidays one and all. Now on to the new year!