I am a frosting snob.

OK.  I will be the first to admit that I am a total snob when it comes to frosting. If I am going to splurge on a sweet piece of cake, I want the frosting to be worth it.  In my opinion, it's less about the cake and more about the frosting. On a good piece of cake with REAL frosting, I always want one of the corner pieces. More frosting to cake ratio.

I just realized that the word "cake" is my favorite word. That, and the word "baby". Both conjure up great visuals for me.

But, I digress.

Back to frosting. I am sure there are other fabulous frosting recipes in the world. I haven't found one that I would replace mine with yet. I could be persuaded though. Just bring your frosting to my house for me to sample. That would be THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. Frosting delivered to my door for me to sample?

Yes, please. I will be home all day tomorrow!

(I am only slightly kidding)

Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  About to share my recipe for REAL frosting.  I got this from a friend of a friend of a friend.  Then I adapted it slightly, just enough to call it mine.

Here's what you need.  All these things separate are terrible to eat.  But when you whip them together...pure awesomeness.

Creamy White Frosting
from a friend of a friend of a friend

1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter, softened (aka, 1 stick)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat on medium for 30 seconds (Or longer.  I always take that time to measure out my powdered sugar)

You will need 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Add half (2 1/4 cup).

Beat well and add 2T milk to smooth it out.

Then add the SECOND HALF powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated.

Add another 2T-ish of milk until your frosting has reached spreading consistency.

Then the magic happens.

Oh, baby.  Come to mommy.

For Wit's 3rd birthday cake, I found inspiration on my friend Lynn's blog.  She made darling cupcake balloons and I knew immediately that I MUST COPY HER!  Wit also wanted Curious George, so I used the famous picture of him holding the balloons as he flew through the air.

I seperated the first batch of frosting into 4 bowls and added Wilton's coloring paste to each one for the balloon colors. 

I adore.

Then, I made a second batch for George's body.

I am not a perfectionist, so I will never be a good baker.  But I was pleased with my attempt.  It was a fun cake for my fun baby boy!

What about you?  Are you a cake or frosting snob?

What is your favorite flavor combination?

Mine is chocolate cake with REAL white frosting.

In case you forgot, I will be home for frosting samples ALL DAY tomorrow!

"I'm three now!"

You cruised past 1...

You zoomed past 2...

and you just kept going--WOW!!

You've raced your way to THREE today!

You're such a big kid now!

*sweet card from my grannie to Wit
*how did Hallmark know that is exactly how I feel?
*Wit, please stop growing so fast, my heart can't take it.
*and tell your brother and sister to do the same
*thankyouverymuch

The Happy Halfs.

Today is Langley's Happy Half Birthday!

I know what you are thinking. Isn't April crazy enough with real birthdays that you make up more things to celebrate?

Oh, yes. We do.

There are some traditions that I am happy to let go of like decorating Easter eggs.  We tried to be consistent with that for the first couple of years and lately we don't even bother.  The kids don't miss it, and frankly, NEITHER DO I.

Bye, bye mess! 

Bye, bye guilt!

But the tradition of the "Happy Halfs" is one of my favorite keepers.  On the day of your Happy Half you get to decide who to have a date with and where to go.  We keep the choices pretty simple.  Donuts or ice cream?  Mom or Dad?

Last night Langley was almost asleep when I went into her room to check on her.  She gave me a sleepy hug and asked me if I would mind if she choose to date her daddy instead of me.

"Of course not, sweetie."  As my heart melted into a puddle of sugary goo.

She smiled and rolled over to sleep.

Her daddy woke up early this morning to get ready for his special date.  He was excited to spend time with his favorite girl.  Tell me.  Is there anything sweeter than a daddy who delights in his baby girl? 

No.  I didn't think so.

Celebrating the Happy Halfs is a simple and easy tradition.  I love it because it tells our kids that they are special to us.  It creates some one-on-one time with a parent.  That alone time is in high demand with our crazy scheduled life.

And when you are the one chosen for this special date. 

PURE JOY.

Nothing compares to the feeling of being chosen.

April Madness.

A basketball tournament fit for a TEN year old.

Every year we give the kids a choice for our present to them. They can either have a friend party or presents from us. Since we have tons of family that shower them with gifts on their birthday, they almost always choose to have a friend party as their gift from mom and dad.

This year, Zeb wanted to have a basketball tournament. He invited 15 boys and made 3 teams of 5. He randomly chose the team captains and then they each chose their teams.  The games were 10 minutes long and they each played each other.  Then they had bracket play. 

(as a girl, I just nod my head and pretend to know about the bracket and the seeds.)

(just smile and wave)

We invited some older boys to be the referee for the games.  Not every call they made was perfect, but they sure did enjoy the power trip!  It was fun to watch them engage the younger boys.  We had a couple of upset boys after the ref's called something a foul, or missed calling something else a foul.  But all in all,  it was pretty fair.

Even little sister was included in the day!

The competition was fierce, but team black swept the tournament!

The boys played with such intensity that Skip had to keep reminding them that this was a fun thing.  He called a huge team meeting after the championship game was over just to make sure there were no hurt feelings and that all the boys were still friends.  Skip did a good job about reminding these awesome kids that it's OK to be competitive, but our character always comes first.  This group of boys is really special and I pray that they will stick together as they grow up.

After "the talk", they were rewarded with hot dogs, chips and a giant cookie cake.

This was the easiest party because Zeb did all the planning.   It was neat to see him process through the plan.  He made a five page booklet of party notes, layout, brackets and schedule.

I think he might have a career!

His favorite gift.

With ten comes great responsibility.

I am not going to lie people.  This is TOUGHER THAN TOUGH.  He has a very strong lid reflex that fights against keeping it open and touching the eye.  That will die away in time.  Each day will get better.  His confidence will grow and the time will shorten.

But he is so proud. 

Me?

I want to shove him back in the womb and pretend ten years haven't gone by in the blink of an eye.

*sigh*

10 for TEN.

My first born turns ten today. I thought it would do my heart good to look back over the last ten years and highlight 10 pictures.

I love this boy so much. He has changed my life and my heart in so many ways. I can't imagine life without him.

To my sweet Zeb.


I pray over you all the days of my life.


I love you forever.


I like you for always.


1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

And one to grow on...

Basketball cake.

Zeb is turning 10 tomorrow!

*I'm not gonna cry.  I'm not gonna cry.*

He wanted a basketball cake.

Thanks to the power of GOOGLE, I was given hundreds of bball cakes to choose from.

This is the one I fell in love with.

This is my attempt.

It's sort of lumpy and imperfect.

But he loved it.

That's all I care about.

The Birthday Butt.

This weekend we are celebrating my oldest turning double digits (future post).  It has been a busy weekend of cooking and cleaning in preparation for the festivities.  Both of our families live here in B-Town and we pack the house in for every birthday party.  April is a VERY festive family birthday month.  We have partied non stop since the beginning of April. 

Now it's my turn.

I have served the same birthday menu for the last ten years (give or take some bad attempts at straying from the norm).   Let's just say the time Skip tried to grill for 30 people our back deck nearly caught on fire. 

We don't do that anymore.

Here's what works for me that doesn't burn the deck up.

Barbecue pork
Chicken Pasta Salad
WM Potato Salad
MarytheKay's Killer Salsa
Chips
Veggie tray
Fruit tray
Lemonade
Cherry Limeade by Kelly's Korner
Cake
Ice Cream

The BBQ pork is one of my absolute favorite things to make.  It has changed over the last ten years and I finally feel like it is near perfection.  I had fun yesterday taking step by step photos of the process.  This is a meal that you can serve to three people as easily as thirty. 

I LOVE that about pork.

For my birthday parties I buy two really good size Boston Butt Roasts.  Why, butt?  I don't know.  It's really a shoulder.  I guess some guy wanted to be funny and named it BUTT so he and his buddies could snicker every time they said it.

"I said butt."  hee hee

Good times.

I rinse them really well after I open the package and place them in my covered pan.  I have used a crock pot and a roaster, but I really love how it turns out slowly cooked in the oven.  That is my favorite method.

Look how cute they are snuggled up ready for bed.

Next, I slather on all the seasonings in this picture.  I cover it all with a HUGE pile of brown sugar.

Night Night, butt.

"I said butt."  hee hee

This is the type of meat that you want to cook VERY LOW and REALLY SLOW if you want the perfect finish.  Here is a look after 3 hours at 250 degrees.  Look at all the yummy seasonings and the juice. 

Take the time to baste the meat and put it back in the oven for several more hours.  You might want to repeat this process several times during the day.

This meat took exactly nine hours before it was falling apart tender.  Look how it peels off just with the touch of a fork.  You don't have to work hard with this if it is done right.  It falls apart naturally when finished.

Just shred the meat.  This particular batch made 22 cups of shredded meat.

Discard the bones and waste.

In your roasting pan you should have lots of juice and crud.  Just scoop out the crud and put the meat back in the juices and stir around to absorb.

At this point you can put it back in the oven at 175 degrees to let the shredded meat really blend with the spicy sweet juice.

I don't cook it and serve it the same day, but you totally could.  If you don't, just put it in the fridge and slowly warm it up the next day.  VERY LOW and REALLY SLOW applies to warming the meat, too.  I warmed it at 200 degrees for 3 hours.

Spicy.  Sweet.  Tender.  Juicy.

PERFECTION.

Enjoy!!