September happenings...

Our September can be wrapped up in one word… busy. Goodness, I don’t even know what we have done. But life has been a wild and crazy ride these past few weeks.

We have all gotten settled into our daily routines. I’m spending my days with this fabulous group of ladies. #thirdstheword

They make the hard days easier and are always so encouraging and uplifting. I could not imagine having a stronger group of teachers to keep me straight and sane.

As far as my kiddos, they are loving their classes and their teachers. They are learning new things each day and that makes my heart so happy.

How sweet are these four cuties? This was a picture from their first sleepover!

I took a day off of work this past week and I was able to spend some MUCH needed one-on-one with this angel baby.

#babylove

Since school began, I haven’t seen him before school at all, and only for a couple of hours each night. So, we cuddled, napped, movied, and grocery stored. :)

Since this past week marked then first official day of fall, and the girls have been begging to bake some cupcakes, I thought it would be a perfect time to make something that satisfies my love of pumpkin! I was going to start from scratch with a pumpkin cupcake, but a friend reminded me of the goodness of my very basic fall muffin. So, I added three large eggs to the mix for a more cupcake-y batter and baked away.

I did want to make a cinnamon icing from scratch and I found a delicious recipe for marshmallow frosting from Sally's Baking Addiction that I adapted just a bit (and by adapted, I mean I added cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice to it).

This icing might be my all time favorite that I’ve ever made. Buuuuuutttt…. I didn’t follow the “mix the dry, add the wet” rule and it was WAY too thin, so as soon as I piped this glorious wonder onto my cupcakes, it just melted into a blob. The girls still sprinkled them and added a pumpkin on top.

They tasted amazing, but if you’re going to make these, be a rule follower. You might also want to freeze your icing for about five minutes before piping.

I hope you and your family are having a great start to this beautiful fall season!

Our Little Lady Turns 2!

Yes, it's true. Our little lady, Lily Rain, turned two on Friday, August 19th. We celebrated with family by having a Pink Lemonade Party at my parent's pool today. Lily Rain had a great time and we were so thankful to see all of our loved ones there!

This little girl is the light of our lives I tell ya! She has more personality than I ever thought possible for a two year old. Everyday is an exciting adventure with her and with each passing day we love her more and more.

People tell you before you have kids, "Ahh, there's nothing like 'em". You usually smile and nod, but seriously friends, there is nothing as great as little children to fill a home. :)

I knew I would love her before she was born, but I truly believe that the love between parent and child is something supernatural. It is instant and amazing and unlike anything I've ever experienced.

The birth of Lily Rain completely changed my life, especially my perspective.
-The moment she was born, I wanted to apologize to my mother for the way I treated her growing up. I wanted to go back in time and live my teenage days with the understanding of how much my parents truly loved me.
-I think about my daughters all day long. Everything reminds me of them and I get this amazing feeling during the day just at the sight of their picture on my desk.
-I'm a completely different teacher now. Every child I see, I now see them as someone's little boy or girl.
-Most importantly, the Lord has shown me so much about how He loves me through my children. I understand more clearly about learning hard lessons, discipline, sacrifice, and love because I have children.

As crazy as life can be, as tired as I am, I wouldn't trade being a mother for anything in the world. It truly is the greatest blessing I've ever received. As another blogger stated so perfectly, "Yes, my hands are full, but so is my heart."

Happy Birthday Lily Rain! Being your mother is the greatest job in the world!

Here are some pics from her birthday weekend. Enjoy!

 Birthday Breakfast

 Sweet Bed-head enjoying her breakfast!

"I'm the Birthday Girl!"

 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

The most adorable birthday banner! I wish you could see it better! My friend, Melanie, from Make It Personal made this for her. It truly was adorable and everyone talked about it.

 Sweet Lyla having a good time too!

P.S.  I wanted to share the idea for the party favors. I first found them here on Love From the Oven. They are cupcake pushpops. Very easy! Very cute! Very cheap! Enjoy!

i heart cupcakes.

I do love a good cupcake. I've been wanting to make a good chocolate/coffee cupcake for a while now. So today, I did. I made one. Actually, I made 30. Although I haven't yet tasted the finished product (waiting until Sunday for my sweat treat day), the samples have proven themselves worthy.

BONUS: On my weekly Publix trip, these little guys were calling my name:

What is a cappaccino bambino? Heck if I know, but I knew they'd be perfect on the cupcakes I was attempting later in the day!

Chocolate Coffee Cream Filled Cupcakes....yes please! :)

For the cupcakes:
I used Paula Dean's recipe (below) but I was slightly disappointed. The recipe calls for a cup of oil, but the edges came out crispy and the middle of each cupcake sort of sunk in, and I think this might be because it had TOO much oil, maybe next time I'll try just 3/4 cup of oil. Also, I used dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of the regular stuff.

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used dark)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Whisk the dry ingredients, add in the wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake on 350 for 16 minutes. 

Like I said, this was good, but I've had better. Next time, I'll stick with my favorite chocolate cupcake of all time, from My Baking Addiction.

Once your cupcakes have cooled, fill them with this WONDERFUL Chocolate Coffee Cream. Paul's recipe is below but I couldn't find chocolate coolwhip, so I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and mixed that with the original. I didn't have any chocolate liqueur either, so I used 1/4 cup of strong brewed coffee. This mess was unbelievable!! I was so tempted to frost the cupcakes with it, and some of you might choose to do so. To fill the cupcakes, I used Wilton tip #230. If you have an apple corer, you can use that to scoop out the middle and put your icing in a ziplock to fill them. 

Chocolate Coffee Cream

• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur
• 1 (8-ounce) container frozen chocolate flavored whipped topping, thawed

In a small bowl, whip the cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Slowly add the liqueur and fold in the whipped topping. Cover and chill.

For the frosting: Paula's Coffee Buttercream recipe is below, but let me warn you...1)It's not very pretty, and I'm all about the look of something I'm going to eat. 2) It doesn't make enough, so double the recipe.

Coffee Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

In a medium bowl, beat the butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth, then beat in the coffee.

Because I was a little bit disappointed with the look of the frosting, I decided to doctor it up a bit. I melted a few semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl and put them in a ziplock and cut off the corner. I drizzled the chocolate over my cupcakes and put some of those marvelous little cappuccino beans on top.

Go on. Make it. It's Sunday, so eat it. :)