cupcakes, suckers, and a give away.......

 Not sure if you saw last year's post on Valentine treats...but I made this cookies suckers & because they are so very very simple and easy to make~I thought I would share the idea again (however ! Sorry AFTER Valentines) along with the recipe. 

The recipe is actually a copy cat recipe for Oreo cakesters.  Only I left out the sandwich making for this project. And put the candy sticks in before baking them.

Here is the details:

2 pkg. Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 cup veg. oil
4 eggs
Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl; mix well.  Roll into 1" balls.  Place on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. The cookies will flatten as they cool.
  Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter, softened
4-5 c. pwd. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat cream cheese & butter. Add sugar & vanilla; beat until smooth.  Spread between the cookies.
(You can also use German chocolate cake mix.)

 So here they are after they cool completely....I took a freezer baggie (because it's thicker) snipped off one corner and filled it with melted white chocolate chips.  To melt the chocolate chips I put about 1 cup in the microwave with about 1 TBS. of veg. oil, otherwise it get's clumpy.  And more than a minute will do that too.  So even if the chips do not look melted stir them.  It get's smooth.  As soon as I "scribble" on the cookie with the white chocolate, I sprinkled some sprinkles.  The sooner the better, because that white chocolate dries fast!

 wah...laaa!

 These little gems I also did the night before Valentines for Jack's party at school.  EASY PEASY!  Cake mix folks!  Then a double batch of decorator frosting and pipe it on top of the cupcake with a #20 tip.  PLOP a peanut m & m on top and call it a day.  :) 

 After the kids went to bed....I did some decorating.  My mom did little things like this~and I think it got passed down in my genes.  :)  She loved to make things special while being cheap resourceful. I remember as a child coming down to special birthday's with candles in my toast, or the like.  I found some paper doilies at the Dollar store and got like 32 of them (in different sizes) for $1.00!   The streamers I had on hand from another project...   

Pencils + suckers + container + dollar section from Target=centerpiece.  :)

 I love when they love things.  Ever since before Christmas this little Suzy had been begging for a "pillow pet" ~but it was not under the tree.  Then found these littler/cheaper versions and I thought...wow, that's usually more than I would do for a Valentine Treat...but would love for her to be able to use it on our trip to Florida this year.  She was so excited, she immediately buried her head in it! 

 When walking though the store, Suzy found some heart marshmallows which were a perfect addition to all the love. 

 All my lovies.  At. 7:00 A.M. ~a brutal time to have any kind of party in the world...but if you set up everything the night before...it just makes a Monday a whole lot more fun.  And let me tell you....they all got dressed pretty quick to come to breakfast! :)

 Later that morning. My favorite 4 year old valentine.

 Valentines party at the boy's school.....

And then Isabella asked, "WHAT? You're only going to the boys' school?? This is my last year for a party in my class...can't you come?"  So I did what any guilt ridden mama would do and left a tad early from the boys' school to get to the girls' party.  :)  No,  I wanted to do both, It was just a little crazy going to 3 in one hour.  But glad I did.  I think these times are precious...and anytime my child/big girl still wants her mama around with all her pre-teen friends~count me in!  

So....here's the "give away" part.  The sucker stickers are super, super cheap here at a local Amish store.  As in---50 for like less than $1.  And I want to share the love!  So leave a comment if you want them...and I will pick 5 winners to get a package.  :)

Quote of the day:

Jack: "Mom, what should I be when I grow up?  An artist or a  McDonald's worker?" 

re-purposed

 Remember when we went on our Anniversary trip??  I told you then that we found this great color for the boys' room. 

 Here is the "after".....Come to find out....I have no "before" pictures of the room.  All I have to say is this is so much better!  We, uh.....ur.... I mean D re-painted the bunk beds back in November from white to black.  He had made them 5 years ago and the white was nicked and dull & in need of an overhaul.  I also like how black makes the furniture look more grown up. 

 This was Donovan's childhood desk that used to be in our office.....and it had an overhaul a couple of years ago with fresh paint and a glass top with pictures underneath.  I decided the boys would benefit from this way more than the use it was getting in the office.  So I put it in here.   Only in needed a little help.  I didn't like the stuff that sat all over the top making it hard to have a work space for homework or Lego building. 

 So another inspiration from Ikea in the above picture.  Loved those shelves.  But...they were kind of expensive.  So I took this picture and Donovan worked on a copy cat version. 

 Before

 After.  

Cleaned up the underneath of that glass, and stuck with just pictures of the boys.  I also moved all the Lego creations on the shelves. 

 One of my favorite things to do as a stay at home mom, is to re-purpose.  I love seeing things that were in one room, moved to another and used in a better way. 

 

 
 I thought that these shelves should hold some books.  But how??? We had no bookends.  So I found the missionary bank from years ago and filled it with coins to make it heavy enough to support the books.

On the other end I used marbles that were in a tin storage container and put them in a glass canning jar. Re-purposed and FrEE!  

 

What have you re-purposed lately?

Quote of the day: 

Suzy: "It's not easy having brothers.  Because they fight and say {in-a-puppy-it things}." (inappropriate)

i love snow days

 I love that yesterday was a 2 hour delay!  And love that last night they called off school before we went to bed.  So we KNEW we could sleep in today. 

 I love being snowed in and knowing that things in town are also closed, because of all the snow.  It almost  feels like a holiday.

 While I pretty much am tired of winter by now...this snow storm was just fine with me today.  Esp. since they have already called a 2 hour delay for tomorrow. 

 Remember the fabric I snagged at Ikea?? Here is the curtain that came from it, and a snow covered window boxes. 

 The part I like best about being in a cul-de-sac is the huge piles of snow they plow to the sides of the road.  It makes for a great little sledding hill.  That beckoned  my kids back out side for the 2nd time today.  Another perk is that I can see them from my kitchen window~where's it's toasty warm inside.

 This little thing had been in the snow for so long her sleeves were frozen wet, pants were wet, and cheeks nice and rosey.  She had went face first into a snow drift and decided she was done.  I put her in a bubble bath, and she asked me if I would fix her, "Hot chocolate with marshmallows and cool whip."  Why I sure can!!!

What did you do today?