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?" 

school party

What a day...I love Valentines day. It was always esp. exciting when I was in grade school and we would decorate a shoe box in anticipation for the big day. My mama would take us to pick out our valentines at the store and then come home and print each classmates name on a card. Great memories. And today it was so neat to see my children's excitement in their classrooms.

Passing out the cards...

And Jack got to be calendar helper today, which was fun to watch. It was so cute to see him up there naming the days of the week, saying the month, year, etc. I took a video...with the intension of blogging it...but it's over a minute and I guess I think I might bore ya' all. Hats off to Mrs. Irick (Jack's teacher) who demostrates more patience than a saint. I love the respect and consideration she gives to each of her students. I love the creative ways she quiets the class down when it gets too loud. I love the way she keeps class parties simple, but fun for the kids. I love how she involves the parents. I love how she loves Jack and each of her students. I love how she mantains control of her class and keeps her cool. Yes people, She is just that awesome!!!

And then I dropped in quick to say Hi to Isabella........... Here she is with her homemade valentine box. The most challenging part of today was not to be with her while at her school. I wanted to be there to watch both of my children and their expressions and how they reacted getting their special cards, snacks, etc. But it was sweet that both times I came over to see Isabella there was not an ounce of jealousy that I was Jack instead of with her. She was simply happy to see me. She greeted me with a big hug and smile each time.

Hope you had a sweet Valentines Day!