August 28, 2015

Birthday cupcakes and a family walk

I thought I'd be sore yesterday, after doing the new-to-me equipment at the rec center Wednesday, but I actually felt pretty good. My mom was up north with my sister over the weekend, and her birthday was on Sunday. Since she wasn't here, we didn't celebrate, but she came home yesterday. The kids and I spent the morning making cupcakes.

Almost as much as I adore cookies, which I named my blog after, I love frosting. The sweeter, the better. I can't have a container of frosting in the house, because I'll just eat it by the spoonful until it's gone. Anyway, since Noah took cake decorating classes, he wanted to decorate my mom's cupcakes. The last time I tried making homemade frosting, it was a disaster, so I bought some yesterday for the cupcakes. I'm not a baker, so I just hoped that it would pipe okay for Noah to decorate the cupcakes.

We made a dozen red velvet cupcakes, and we colored the frosting purple and green so that he could make flowers for decoration. The frosting was really soft, and didn't work very well, but by sticking it in the freezer on and off, he managed to decorate nine cupcakes, while Eli decorated three of them. (The box was supposed to make 24 cupcakes, but rather than bake that many, I just used enough batter for 12. The last thing I need is leftover cupcakes in my house!) I was pretty impressed with how good they looked, considering I can't bake to save my soul (I later realized that I'd only used two eggs for the cake when I was supposed to use three, so they were a bit crumbly... oops). The kids did a great job decorating! (I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the finished cupcakes--bummer.)

Anyway, it's important to note that I didn't eat any of the frosting! I wanted to, but I knew if I tasted it, I would want to just keep eating it. So after we decorated the cupcakes, I dumped the rest of the frosting in the trash.

We took the cupcakes over to my parents' house to surprise my mom. My dad made a stir-fry for lunch, and then we sang happy birthday. The kids each gave my mom one that they'd decorated:

My dad got that hat for her that says "Queen for a Day", haha

I refrained from eating a cupcake. I knew I could calculate the calories in it, and eat it guilt-free; but lately, I've been saving my indulgences for things that I am really craving. If it doesn't sound absolutely fantastic, and I wouldn't be heartbroken passing it up, then I will just hold off and wait until something does sound that good. It's been working out well so far!

Jerry was off work today, so we invited Nathan and Kendall to come over for dinner. They were supposed to come on Wednesday, but had to reschedule. This morning, Jerry, the kids, and I took Joey for a walk on the access road. Jerry was sure there was another path at the end of it, leading somewhere new, but we couldn't find it (I don't think it exists). Instead, we wound up at a small boat launch, which was perfect for allowing Joey to run in the water.



Eli is SO CUTE with Joey! When we were walking back home, he asked me, "Would you sell Joey for a million dollars?" I laughed and joked that it would be tempting, and then I asked Eli the same question. He said he wouldn't sell Joey for a billion dollars. Then, "I wouldn't even sell him for a money-making machine!" That was the ultimate sacrifice to Eli, haha.

Noah was in a bad mood, pouting because we made him go for a "family walk" ;) He was about 30 steps behind us the entire way. It's so funny to watch his attitude change as he gets older! At 11, I guess it's the age of feeling embarrassed of your family? Eli will still give me hugs and kisses in public--I'll be sad when he stops letting me do that! It sounds so cliche, but I can't believe how fast time flies after having kids. You don't realize it at the time, but it seems like you just blink and they're 10 years older. They grow up way too fast.

Well, I've got to get my house clean and start prepping dinner before Nathan and Kendall come over. I'm making these Chicken Lettuce Wraps (I made them a few times before, and they are DELICIOUS) and a healthier version of vegetable fried rice. I haven't seen Nathan since we were in Portland earlier this month, so I'm looking forward to catching up! Hope everyone has a great weekend :)


By the way, Wednesday was National Dog Day, and I posted a picture of Joey on Facebook. I asked everyone to share pictures of their own dogs in the comments, and I LOVED going through them! Here is a link, if you want to check out the adorable dogs or share your own.

3 comments:

  1. I fully understand your viewpoint on the cupcakes. My work has always had a lot of birthdays with people bringing in goodies. I decided a while ago to only eat homemade items and only those I was really interested in. It really helped me keep myself in line. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am not that much of a candy eater (other than candy corn), but I love frosting - and cupcakes. I hardly ever bake them at home. We just go out and will buy one at a bakery to enjoy - usually in the middle of a long bike ride. Makes it taste better LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You sound like my hubby with the frosting. My weakness is chips, can't even have those suckers around. I know what you mean with the kids and time flying by. My oldest is almost 19 and it just seems unreal. My little one just turned three and I feel like they were both just babies. It goes Way to fast.

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive