Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Valentine Cupcake

Looking for a cute Valentine treat, but VERY easy to make?

Go buy a box of Red Velvet Cake Mix and some white icing
Follow the directions on the box to make cupcakes
Once baked and cooled, use your white icing to make an X and an O

I wish this picture showed their true red color!
Such an easy, QUICK treat!

Package in a cute Valentine box and there ya go!!

S'more Cups

Craving s'mores? Try these mini S'more Cups!!
We made a whole batch, and they were all eaten within hours!

What you will need:
7 whole graham crackers, finely crushed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
4 Hershey Milk Chocolate bars, divided
12 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Place your graham crackers in a large plastic bag and crush them.
Then in a small bowl, combine the crackers, butter, and powdered sugar

Using a mini muffin pan, place about 1 tbsp of the crumb mixture into each cup.
Press the crumbs done to make a shallow cup
Bake 4-5 minutes or until edges are bubbling

Meanwhile, break two of the candy bars into rectangles

Remove pan from oven and place one rectangle into each cup

Cut each large marshmallow in half. Place a half on top of the chocolate
Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for a FULL 15 minutes.
Then melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave.
Remove the cups from the pan and dip the tops into the melted chocolate.
Let cool for 30 minutes.

We will be making these again, and again, and again!!!
Very, very yummy!!

Peanut Butter Pies

Did you know that January 23 was National Day Pie? So why not celebrate it by making pies! Here is a delicious recipe for those Peanut Butter lovers!!

Individual Peanut Butter Pies in a Glass

FOR THE CRUST

16 Oreo cookies
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and stir.


Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.


In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to a small bowl and place it into the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the filling.



Place cream cheese and peanut butter the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add in confectioners' sugar until well combined. Add in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until mixture is creamy and smooth. Take care to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.



Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream until well blended until no streaks remain.



Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls.


This recipe makes 8 individual pies.
I decided to add a little tag and ribbon and pass out to friends and family!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Big Game

During this season of hockey Nick's team was able to play one game at the American Airlines Center, which is where the Dallas Stars Pro Hockey Team, AND the Dallas Mavericks Pro Basketball team play. Last night was THAT game! Nick had been looking forward to playing on the 'professionals' ice rink ALL season! Unfortunately, his game was scheduled for 9pm - a little too late for Ashlan on a school night. But Brent was able to go, and he took his dad as well.
Brent kept me informed via text during the night. He also sent me this picture of the 2011 NBA Champions banner for the Maverick's! So awesome!
Nick's team is the Blackhawks, and they were playing against the Capitals
Each player was introduced over the arena speaker AND each player got to skate onto the ice through the Dallas Star's 'star' entry! Man I wish I had been there! Here is Nick in the white helmet.
Taking a dive for a shot!
Team Picture!
I am thrilled that Nick got this opportunity to skate on Dallas Star's ice! Even though they were not the winning team of the night, I know this will always be an amazing memory for Nick! Way to go, bud!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Rainbow Pinwheels

Aren't these cookies bright, colorful, and fun! They just make me happy by looking at them!
The girls and I made these this past weekend! I am going to make some more today! To see the tutorial on making them, click here

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Career Day!

This week has been College Week at Ashlan's school. Each day has a specific purpose, whether it is "Wear your favorite college shirt", or dress in PJ's for "Dream Big".... But today was "Dress like the career path you want to take". Last year Ashlan was an artist. That's what she wanted to grow up and be. But since our visit to SeaWorld this summer, she now wants to be a dolphin trainer, also known as a Marine Biologist!
So, how were we going to pull off a Marine Biologist? I can tell you she was NOT going to wear a wetsuit to school. Some friends mentioned wearing a shirt from SeaWorld, but we didn't have one of those which I now regret not buying for her this summer on our visit.
My amazing neighbor came up with the idea of printing out the SeaWorld logo on IRON ON printer paper and ironing it onto a plain white t-shirt. GENIUS! She had the special paper and printed out the logo for me.
I went to the local craft store and bought 3 cheap white shirts (had to have more than one in case I messed up on the ironing, which I did actually), and some black letters to spell out "TRAINER"

The shirt turned out great! We added a whistle and a clipboard with dolphin information. And there you have it, our MARINE BIOLOGIST!
Thanks again to my brilliant neighbor, Amanda, who helped make this happen!

Organization - Medicines

I found this idea of organizing the medicine cabinet on Pinterest awhile back. If you've seen our medicine cabinet before (over the master toilet), it's a disaster. We have a mini pharmacy, seriously. Brent brings home medicine samples from his office all the time, from muscle relaxants to headache medications to anti-inflammatories. The medicine cabinet quickly becomes a massive mess and you just pray when you open the cabinet door that everything doesn't come spilling out! So that leads me to the picture here. They have baskets labeled "First Aid", "Children's Medicine", "Adult Medicine", etc.
I knew I had to do something similar!
I did NOT take a before picture because the cabinet was that embarrassing! But here is my finished product.
My buckets are labeled "Children's Medicine", "Cold/Allergy", "Pain", "Indigestion", "First Aid", "Prescriptions", then my little bucket with drawers on the second shelf is "ointments", "eye drops", and "nasal sprays"
I love it now! Whatever we need, whenever we need it, it takes a second to find! No more digging for that certain medication!!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year

Mackenzie's last final day with us was yesterday - New Year's Day! The girls were excited to wear their matching jeans and shirts for the day!

Mackenzie asked if we could go to Cici's for lunch which was the perfect choice because Murphy just got a new Cici's. I had not tried this new Cici's yet, so off we went...
Mackenzie introduced my kids to the 'flip pizza'!
After lunch, we went to the grocery store to get cakes for the girls birthday celebration and food for our tradition New Year's Day meal! After the store, we came home and watched a movie, then went for a walk in the neighborhood to a friend's house, then back home to start dinner! While I was cooking dinner, the girls turned the outdoor speakers on and danced away for over an hour. They had so much fun!


Our traditional New Year's Day meal is pork loin, sauerkraut, and black eyed peas.

Eating the 'lucky' foods
Then it was time to celebrate Nick's Christmas and the girls birthdays!
Nick got lots of hockey things, clothes, room decor, gift cards, etc.... He was a happy boy!
Then it was Kate's turn to open for her birthday!
Then Mackenzie's turn to open!
We had gifts everywhere!
Kate picked a vanilla cake and Mackenzie picked a banana cream pie!

Happy 12th and 14th bithday's!!!
We have really enjoyed our time with Mackenzie. And we can not wait until she returns! Hopefully soon!!! We love you, Mackenzie!!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year's Eve!

Hope everyone had a fabulous and fun New Year's Eve, whether you stayed safe inside your home or ventured out to a fun party!
We spent our day doing some fun things! First off, the kids spent a few hours with their grandparents! They did some shopping at the local outdoor mall, then went back to their house for some snacks and time together.
And how fun is it to start the new year with some pretty toe nails! So we ventured over to the spa to each get a pedicure.
Since Katie and Mackenzie both have birthdays in January, we decided to go on a fun birthday shopping trip! We stopped at a few stores but spent most of our time in Hollister! Everything in the store was 50% off (good deals!) so the girls decided they wanted to shop for matching outfits!
They both got a new pair of jeans and matching shirts! Happy Birthday, Katie and Mackenzie!
Once the evening arrived, Brent and I had a dinner and gathering to attend. Nick came in from Maryland, so all four kids were going to be together to celebrate at home, ALONE! They celebrated by eating pizza and wings!
They had plenty of poppers and confetti to throw around, as well as cookie cake and root beer floats to indulge in!
Happy New Year's from the Morgan children!
Brent and I got home at 12:30. All the kids were still awake, except for Ashlan who had fallen asleep. This picture was taken around 12:30am when the girls finally decided to eat some cookie cake!
And boy did they celebrate with the poppers and confetti! It was everywhere!

Fun was found all over the house!
And yes, they cleaned it all up!
Hope everyone had a fun, safe, memorable New Year's Eve! Cheers to 2012!