Jake Turns 6!!!!

I can't believe it. We're the parents of a six year old. Seems like just yesterday, we were bringing him home from the hospital and Jamie Coldsnow was making us a steak dinner to welcome us. We were at Vance AFB in Enid, OK...SIX YEARS AGO!!! Wow, time really flies. Jake is just such an amazing kid. He's bright, sweet, fun...just a good kid. We are so blessed to have him as our son.

Well, this year, Jake asked for an ocean themed party. I was excited to do this one. Thomas was getting old. We got a few ideas and set out. Everything ended up coming together quite nicely. I made a big round ocean cake with a few different sea creatures and a shark popping up out of the water chomping on a number 5 candle. Andy likes to tell everyone he made the "fondant" which he thought was a word that meant decoration. He really did help...I couldn't have broken the corner off that graham cracker for the dorsal fin without him :-) He did get creative, too, aside from making the "fondant". He picked out a fishy assortment of beer: dogfish and landshark and bought the cool crab hat (and the $18 2-pull pinata) when I sent him to pick up the balloons. Okay, back to the food. You know me, I'm all about the food. We had hotdog octopuses (or octopi???) on a bed of green seaweed ramen noodles, shells and cheese, goldfish crackers, fish swimming in blue jello in my trifle bowl (note to self: don't make this again the day before. The swedish fish get saturated, absorb the blue color and quite frankly get GROSS! Lesson learned.) Then we had some shrimp dip and crab dip and landlubber's delight (pulled pork), sea creature-shaped cookies, as well as a few other basics (veggies, cheese and crackers, etc). It was fun coming up with "fishy" ideas.

For the first time, we actually played games with the kids instead of letting them just play. It was more work, but really fun. We had them fishing with a magnet and some fish made out of construction paper and can lids, pinning the fin on a shark, and tossing various stuffed sea creatures into the square risers for my step aerobics step, marked with various point values. They also put together a giant under the sea floor puzzle and did the pinata (well, two kids did the pinata as it was a pull string one and the second kid picked the string that opened the flap...not bad for $18!). And the kids created oceanscapes with foam sea creatures, crayons, rubber stamps, and glitter glue for Jake to make his thank-you notes on.

And the coolest part, I thought was that we decorated the whole basement (the new party spot) with the art projects Jake made at the Little School last year for their big art show. His class did an ocean theme (convenient), so we had tons of cool things he made stuck on the walls and on tabletops, in addition to a couple big sharks I picked up at the party store and the one I made for pin the fin on the shark. With blue balloons and streamers, and blue walls, we felt like we were really below the sea!

We had a blast. Jake had a great time celebrating with his friends and family and so did we. Happy Birthday, Jake! We love you!!!!

Andy wearing his cool crab hat he picked out and his riversharks shirt. He was the only one "dressed" for the party theme and he was so proud of himself!My definitely homemade ocean cake. It wasn't perfect, but Jake liked it and that's all that counts. And it tasted really good, so that made me happy. I'll post the recipe: peanut butter...YUM!!! The fishing game
presents. lots of presents. Jake, you're a very lucky boy. Better get started writing those thank-you notes and you might be done by Christmas!

Happy Birthday to you....

Ewa leading the floor puzzle crew

Jon pinning the fin on the shark. Good call on the hat, babe. It also served as the blindfold.

Toss the sea creature...the squares got a bit moved around, but they had fun.

Okay, for the recipes so many of you asked me for:

Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 ¼ c. water
½ c creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Grease or spray 9x13 cake pan or 24 cupcakes (use wrappers). In large bowl, beat dry cake mix, water, peanut butter, butter and eggs for 30 seconds on low, then on medium for 2 min, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans and bake for approx. 32 minutes (less for cupcakes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
½ cup butter, softened
½ c. peanut butter
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. confectioners’ sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk.

In large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth and fluffy at medium speed. Add sugar and 2 Tbsp milk. Beat on low until blended and then increase speed to medium-high; beat 2 min or until frosting is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl. If necessary, beat in remaining 1 Tbsp milk for better spreading consistency. Can tint frosting with Wilton gel coloring. Spread evenly onto cooled cake.

Also very popular were the cookies, so here's the recipe for those, too.

Roll-Out Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff. Do not chill dough. Divide into 2 portions. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on an ungreased or parchment covered baking sheet for 6-7 minutes. Cookies should be just slightly brown around edges. Allow a couple minutes to cool on sheet and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Makes 20-24 average-size cookies. Note: dough can be tinted with Wilton icing color. For chocolate cookies, blend in 3 ounces melted, unsweetened chocolate.

ENJOY!!!!!

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

YUM! That was the consensus when I made these for our little playgroup a couple weeks ago. Many of the mommies asked for the recipe, so here it is, for you all to check out. I had never made scones before and they were surprisingly easy and oh so good!

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter
2 Tbsp craisins
1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
Dough:
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c cold butter
1 egg
1/2 c. canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/3 c. milk
2 Tbsp chopped pecans, optional (I didn't use these)

Place cranberries in a small bowl; add boiling water and let stand 5 min; drain and chop. In a small mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and cranberries; mix well. cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, pumpkin and milk; add to crumb mixture just until moistened. Stir in pecans if desired.
Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Pat into an 8 inch circle. Cut into eight wedges; separate wedges and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (took mine longer). Serve warm with berry butter. (I took butter out to soften just a tad before serving).
ENJOY!!!!

Babies and Banana Bread

In honor of my good friend Katie Owens having her new baby girl, Amelia (Congratulations, guys!!! You all need to check out the pictures on the Owens Update blog...she's beautiful!!!), I decided to make Katie's grandmother's banana bread recipe...well, that and I had some brown bananas!!! :-) I forgot how delicious this bread is!!! So, here's the recipe, and thanks "Meme" for passing it along to Katie and thanks Katie for sharing it with me!!!

Meme's Banana Nut Bread

1/2 c. butter (use the good stuff, no substitutes)

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. mashed bananas (about 4 ripe ones)

1/2 c. sour cream (here's where you can lighten it up if you want...I used fat free)

1/2 c. nuts (walnuts are best)

1 2/3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Cream on high for 1 1/2 min. Add bananas, sour cream and nuts and beat on low while adding dry ingredients. Put into greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350 for about an hour. Cool for about 30min-1 hour in pan and then turn upside down to remove loaf. Let cool completely on wire rack (that's when you cut into it...when it's still a little warm...yum!!!).

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!