happy halloween!

To start off our day we carved our pumpkins and baked up our pumpkin seeds! Better late than never, right? I almost have no concept of time anymore and the time change tonight isn't going to help me any. Hell, I won't even get the benefit of an extra hour of sleep (yeah, thanks Piper).

After cleaning up the mess from carving and cooking, we proceeded to lounge around the house; keeping The Weather Channel app pulled up on our phones and computer. There had been a 20% chance of rain that kept increasing each hour after 5pm. Way to look out for the kids, atmosphere! Luckily my longest friend, Rachel, texted me earlier in the day to ask if I wanted to meet her and her two girls at the mall for a round of indoor trick-or-treating. I thought this would be the perfect solution! The girls would be able to don their costumes, get candy, and stay warm and dry while doing so! Queue costumes!

Dun, da, da, duuuuuunnnn!

October 31, 2015: presenting Dorothy & Glinda the Good Witch! Named 'most likely to not smile for the camera!'

Once again Granny had completely outdone herself. The event at the mall was scheduled between 5-6pm. As per usual I had to text Rachel to let her know I was going to be about 10 minutes late (luckily as a mom of an almost 2 year old, and a 2 week old she was understanding). I should add that with all the excitement of Halloween Kennedy did not take a nap and was hopped up on toddler (?) exhaustion energy. Kennedy was scrambling around and acting crazy once she got into her costume and lo and behold, DISASTER!

"We aren't in Kant-sas."

I was already upset with her behavior and her 'listening' skills up until this moment and if it weren't for her Granny, Papa, and Gramma Sandy being present I probably would have exploded. It was one of those moments where you aren't really sure that what you're witnessing is actually happening, and I was pretty close to anger tears. All the hours my mom spent measuring, cutting fabric, and sewing seemingly gone, and if Kennedy had only been listening to me and not actin' a fool this situation would have been averted. But hooray, safety pins save the day - well Kennedy's costume at least, not our time schedule to get to the mall.

Ten minutes late turned into approximately thirty minutes late and it was already starting to rain at this point. When we are finally only 5 minutes away from the mall, I get a text from Rachel that reads, "It's insane here." OH. MY. GAHD. The line to get the candy from one store would have been a 15 minute wait and at this point the trick-or-treating was scheduled to end in 30 minutes! So, instead of waiting for 2 total bite sized Snickers bars we met up with Rachel and her gals and just hung out for a few.

Once 6pm rolled around we left the mall and headed back to our neighborhood. Hooray! The rain had subsided to a light mist and it was above 45˚F! Compared to last year this was a win on all fronts. I added one layer each to the girls and we set off on our way. The sidewalks were crowded and the kids were happy. Piper was content with going to only four houses where she did the same routine each time: 

1. Stomp-walk up the driveway behind big sis.

2. Receive candy in bucket.

3. Turn back down drive.

4. Take three steps.

5. Set candy bucket down.

6. Grab piece of candy.

7. Walk away sans candy bucket.

Needless to say we couldn't keep up with Dorothy and we left her and Granny to do some serious treatin'.

Google: switch witch

Don't recognize this lady? Yeah, my family isn't familiar with her either. On an episode of Shark (haha, accidentally typed Shart and debated about leaving it for 2 seconds) Tank the Switch Witch was being 'sold' to the sharks. Personally I failed to see the concept. The idea is that on Halloween night, the kids give their candy to the Switch Witch and she 'switches' the candy into a gift. So! Not only do you have to spend money on costume fixin's, you also have to spend money on a gift for your one (or more) child/ren? Eh. Probably best to not let them go trick-or-treating at all right? Living in Michigan it seems especially cruel to send your kid out in the cold and rain and go door to door asking for candy only to take it away? Maybe someone could enlighten me; I'll take a powerpoint with no less than ten slides for rebuttal.

Whether the Switch Witch will visit your Elsa's, Minions, or baby Walter White's, I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

The week long sugar buzz commences!

Leia

shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!

Oh, if only we were only singing LMFAO & Lil Jon but c'est la vie, Kennedy had her four year check-up this morning and was due for FOUR shots: MMR, chicken pox, DTaP, and polio. I am pro-vaccine!

Since Piper's one year check-up last month I have been preparing Kennedy for her shots. She asked me over and over again how bad it would hurt and I refused to be the parent that lies and tricks their kid in a situation like this, so going in she knew that it would hurt but that it would be over very quickly. She accompanied me to almost all of Piper's check-ups where Piper received a shot at almost every visit and I think in the long run that really helped; to see that her baby sister could get a shot and be happy and content almost immediately afterwards. When we woke up this morning I was preparing for the worst. She kept asking me, 'why do I need shots today?', 'why can't I just drink the medicine?', 'do we really have to go? really?'.

Of course we were late getting to her appointment but luckily we were taken back right away and the pediatrician wasn't backed up at all! Kennedy weighs 39 pounds and is 39 inches tall, and to me she seems like such a string bean compared to the plump little babe she started out as, but based on percentile charts this puts her in 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight which medically/scientifically qualifies her as 'heavy' for her size. 

POPPYCOCK!

Left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4-today!

At her appointment they took her blood pressure, checked her vision, and tested her hearing along with asking age/development appropriate questions to determine her health and growth. Everything went great and she 'passed' with flying colors! The next thing to check off on the list for this appointment was her vaccines. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous and was preparing for an all out meltdown (I agreed to let her bring her blanket in to this appointment so armed with that I had a pretty good defense).

October 30, 2015: the 'blood temperature' machine.

First off, the nurse aid that came in to administer the shots was dressed as Snow White. Being the day  before Halloween the entire office staff was festive in their costumes, but I couldn't help but think how horrific it would be to get a shot from a favorite childhood character. Let me tell you, it brought tears to my eyes to see how brave she was. I know as an adult that getting a shot is by no means the end of the world. Surely they aren't fun, but it's something we just have to deal with. Being four and not remembering the last time you got a shot? PIECE OF CAKE! She exclaimed, 'owww' each time they stuck her, but she did not shed one tear nor did she try to fight away from me or the nurse aid. She's one tough cookie and today definitely affirmed that.

Good luck to all the boys and girls who are in need of vaccines in the near future!

And weather for Halloween seems like it will be decent. But this is a perfect example of Michigan weather. 50's to start and end the ten day stretch but warming to the 70's in the middle. Guh.

No measles, mumps, rubella, OH MY.

Leia

mid-week meal share (on Thursday?): omelette 'muffins'

Busy week between work, home, and school and I didn't realize that I missed mid-week meal share! I know all you glamorous fans were upset and outraged; please forgive me. Oh, no one was waiting with bated breath for my recipe? That's fine too.

Wooo, another breakfast recipe! We did NOT make these for breakfast but I can assure you they were just as delicious for lunch. Omelette 'Muffins'! Yes, I think it's weird that 'omelette' is spelled wrong on the recipe but don't take it as a bad omen!

Yet another recipe I found on Facebook shared via a video clip. What can I say? If they can show an entire recipe in 30 seconds how hard can it be to pull off?! So far each one has lived up to my assumptions (minus the apple roses but that was definitely due to user unpreparedness).

Cost effective: ~$10 (for one dozen and most will probably have all ingredients on hand)

Easy to concoct: absolutely

Nutritious: yes

Here's what you'll need to bake up these little egg creations:

 

**the ingredients below will yield 4-6 muffins depending on what size eggs/pan you have

4 FARM FRESH eggs - kidding, regular eggs will work

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp vegetable oil

¼ cup milk

& whatever omelette fixin's you love!

we used:

shredded hot habanero monterey jack

shredded colby jack

feta

spinach

ham

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Whip together eggs, baking powder, vegetable oil, and milk in a large measuring cup if you have one. I thought I was pretty genius to have thought that one up. One less dish, and no fumbling trying to pour a mixing bowl into something that you can easily use to pour. Amiright?

3. Prepare muffin tray by spraying with non-stick spray or greasing with butter.

4. Add omelette ingredients the the muffin tray, layer with cheese.

5. Pour egg mix on top of ingredients.

6. Put in the oven for 20 minutes (or until done).

7. Enjoy!

(I'm trying to get better at documenting each step of the recipe making process, of course this one was pretty straight forward and lacked confusion but hey! I gotta start somewhere!)

Kennedy was sort of confused and was insistent that the egg was 'on the inside', and Piper who normally loves eggs was not interested in eating these. I uploaded a video to my Instagram with the caption: 'The day no fucks were given.' She was throwing them off the tray of her highchair with all her might; I was dumbfounded.

October 23, 2015: Clean up aisle Piper. 

Overall these were a success and turned out pretty good. The main thing I would have changed was to add more 'filling'. Our spinach and feta combo was sort of lackluster in the flavor department, but it wasn't something a little sriracha couldn't fix! Sriracha can fix almost anything (at least in my book)! 

Whip it real good.

Leia

wingardium leviOsa

Guys! Guys, guys, guys, guys, guysssssss! My newest book has arrived in the mail! Why all the hullabaloo? It's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the illustrated version! Growing up I read these books like a mad woman. Tearing through each sentence as if it could disappear at any second. Why didn't these get released sooner? Oh, yeah. They were too busy constructing an entire theme park and they were just now able to market/produce/deploy their next money making gambit, and do I blame Harry Potter Inc.? Hell no! J.K. Rowling, hats off to you and major kudos; you have created something iconic and it's clear that Harry and his friends are not going anywhere, anytime soon. Fingers crossed Kennedy and Piper will loves these books as much as I do. 

This will be the first book I have picked up since school started. I've already read the book (more than once), so I won't be taxed with minor details or missing important tidbits - the main reason why I haven't picked up a new book since September 17, 2015.. SEPTEMBER 17, 2015! This my friends is an absolute record for not having a novel in my hand (even now having a new book I probably won't get through it for another three weeks).

For reference these are most, not all, of the books I read over a three month period (June-September); roughly one book/week or every couple days depending on content. To say it again.. I'M ECSTATIC to have a new book!

How did I find the time to read, you ask? As I've said before my job has a lot of downtime which I may or may not spend reading. *On the off chance my supervisor would ever stumble upon these words: I most definitely DO NOT spend my downtime at work with my nose in a book. If I am at home there is little to no chance for enough free time to read a book, and if free time is found it is usually spent catching up on weeks/months of TV shows. Books are expensive, you say? Yes, they definitely can be. But it's one thing in life that I almost feel necessary. It's great for the mind and hey, unlike a $20 entree at Outback Steakhouse, you will have it forever (unless you're irresponsible and have the tendency to lose things). And who's to say you need to buy new books? Buying online alone saves a lot of money. For instance the same Harry Potter books costs $39.99 in store at Barnes & Noble but is only $24.99 online at Barnes & Noble.

And for the little readers in your life? Kennedy currently has a couple of favorites:

 

The Some Bugs book is fun because the ladybug is featured on each page and she loves getting to see/find where he'll be next. When it first came out, I picked up The Book with No Pictures and she was not the biggest fan. Maybe I'm too boring and don't read it to her in a fun enough manner or she's too young to enjoy it since there is no visual. Oh well!

"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

Leia

halloween costumes

This evening the girls and I went to visit granny to have a costume fitting before the final touches are done. My mom hand made most (if not all) of our costumes growing up. Everything ranging from poodle skirts to bats to Mrs. Claus. Kennedy and Piper now get the same special treatment. Homemade costumes are close to the top of the list of traditions I like to uphold.

Last year they went as Snow White and a dwarf and it was so cold, rainy, and just downright disgusting that Kennedy didn't even want to go trick-or-treating so we stayed in at granny's and most likely sipped on some hot cocoa.

October 31, 2014: this costume has since been worn numerous times.

I minimally helped with Snow White mainly because I feel like I get in my moms way but I made Piper's little beard and hat all by myself and yes I was proud of this tiny feat. 

This year they are going as:

Kennedy

Piper

..okay so this is all I'm revealing regardless if the fabric for Ken's is a dead giveaway.

Once again granny has outdone herself and we are all very excited for the final product! I am so excited to see Piper trailing Kennedy house to house for goodies. My fingers are crossed so tightly for good weather. It's always such a toss up in Michigan around this time of year. It could be beautiful, mildly chilly, or hell; it could be snowing already. 

Not my kid

"You know you're from Michigan when your parents plan your costume to fit over a snow suit."

Happy sewing!

Leia

kennedy grace is 4

Seriously, if there is one thing that people will tell you about having children is 'how fast the time flies'. This has proven to be absolutely accurate. Telling Kennedy happy birthday for the fourth time yesterday seemed impossible. The days are long, but the years fly by. 

October 18, 2015: "Can we take a picture with this around my head?"

The third year was a really fun one. Great speaking skills, reasoning skills are coming into the picture and understanding rules, her memory was a little TOO good if you ask me, and you really get a feel for their personality. It's great to see that recognition in their eyes when you can see them processing a joke (or making one) and understand something like humor and being funny; getting laughs not solely by dropping an F bomb during dinner, which is only funny the first five times. And no, I don't only value my kid being a comedian but it was a really cool thing to witness her working it out in her brain to be funny.

OF COURSE I didn't wrap her presents til the morning of her birthday (or make her a birthday cake: bad mom point #1), but I'm glad I didn't. This way they stayed hidden in our closest and she couldn't beg me to let her open them for days on end. I hired Piper to help with the wrapping, but she was much more interested in trying to wrap herself up than actually helping me. Guh, toddlers! You mean, you can't hold the tape for me and rip it off when I'm ready?

Piper stealing the thunder with this hand-me-down shirt for the day.

Eventually we got the job done and I literally cannot tell you how many times Kennedy asked to open them. Brendon and I picked out really practical things for her since toys were the major item given at her party (yes, I didn't even order her gifts until Sunday 10/18 for her birthday on Thursday 10/22). Some winter clothes, shiny silvery ankle boots (tip about Old Navy/Gap: if you are shopping online and they aren't running a sale, check back in a day or two. I refuse to buy anything full price because of how frequently they have 30-40% off sales), and two really awesome wooden puzzles.

For her birthday dinner she requested hot dogs and a Coca-Cola all to herself. Pop is her current obsession and she is really convincing when she tells you Orange Crush isn't pop, "it's wemonade." Whatever helps you sleep at night, but it ain't working on me. Initially we planned on taking her to Mongolian BBQ a.k.a. the tiny corn on the cob place (baby corn is Kennedy's favorite thing to load up on there but does anyone else find baby corn creepy? WHY DO YOU EAT THE COB?! You aren't supposed to eat the cob. Creeps me out. Rant over, sorry.) to have a double celebration for her and my sister who's birthday was on October 20 since it's her favorite, but everyone sort of decided we were too pooped and hey, she did ask for hot dogs anyway. *insert bad mom happy dance*

I bought these to try them out because when I saw they were 'fast food fries' I actually scoffed in the frozen aisle. LIES! Nothing store bought could be as good as fast food fries. I was happily mistaken and I will forever keep these on hand. Score one for Ore-Ida!

 

 When I went out to get the fixin's for chili dogs I picked up a platter of mini cakes. I was a little upset with myself for not making her a cake for her actual birthday but she looooved these and I would never be able to decorate a cake like this. On occasion I may try something cool with frosting or dye the cake itself with food coloring, but colored white chocolate shavings on top of a maple pumpkin cake? Nope.

Act like a cat by sitting in the window? Sure, even if it's only long enough so I can get a picture and then proceed to yell at you to get down. MOM POWERS ACTIVATE!

Then for her final birthday wish she asked if she could stay up late and watch the hockey game with dad. I'll be damned if he didn't shed a tear over this. She even fell asleep snuggled up to him without her blanket which is basically unheard of. So, all in all I think she had a great time turning 4 but she keeps asking me if she'll still be 4 tomorrow and why will her birthday always be in October.

Here's to 364 more days of 4.

Leia

mid-week meal share: apple roses

Guess what! It's a breakfast or dessert recipe! Apple roses! One thing I love about food groups is that things that are sweet and fruity can be devoured in the early morning hours with some juice or coffee or as a sweet treat after dinner.

I made them for Kennedy's classroom to celebrate her birthday and it seemed like they were going to be a huge hit when I dropped her off with them in hand at 9:00am!

*enter Kennedy*
Mrs. Miller: Oh my gosh, Kennedy! Are those apple tarts?!
Kennedy: Nope. But I can tell you what they are.
Mrs. M: Oh, well please tell me!
K: They are rooooses!

They aren't smothered with frosting and most of the sugar that is in the recipe is natural and not added. I'm hoping her teachers were appreciative that they weren't going to have nineteen 3-4 year old kids hopped up on sugar like a gang of tiny crackheads. 

Cost effective: yes (~$16 for 2 dozen, and this will leave you with leftover apples, cinnamon, and powdered sugar)

Easy to concoct: difficult if you don't have proper utensils
Nutritious: they aren't the worst choice

What you will need to pull this one off (for 2 dozen):

Poor lighting in the kitchen at 9:30pm.. WHO KNEW?!

6-8 apples
1 lemon (which I forgot)
6 tbsp apricot (or other fruit) jelly mixed with 4 tbsp water
2 packages puff pastry
Cinnamon (I used cinnamon sugar)
Powdered sugar

 And do you see this lovely cutting board Brendon surprised me with?! He thought it would be a cool addition to the blog! My husband thinks my blog is neat! Am I dead?

1. Set out puff pastry to thaw, they will need approximately 40 minutes depending on room temperature. The directions explicitly stated, "NO MORE THAN 40 MINUTES". Mine were out for an hour or so and they seemed just fine to me! Oh, we don't have an apple corer? Fabulous, this will only take 3 hours longer than anticipated.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Prepare your apples! Hopefully you have an apple corer and this task will be exponentially easier than my attempt. Core each apple, cut in half (top to bottom), and slice in thin strips from left to right. The thinner, the better. Rolling the more thick cut slices caused the slices to crack in the middle. Great cooking terms right? If I was an actually food blogger I would have thought to show pictures, but hey! My recipe link included a video!
 4. Fill a microwave safe bowl with water and juice from one lemon (FYI if you forget the lemon like me, rest assured they seem to have turned out just fine), pile in your apple slices, and microwave for 3 minutes. Once you get those baby's in the microwave, roll out and cut your puff pastries into 6 strips.
5. Spread the apricot (or flavor of your choosing) jelly mix onto the puff pastry. I used two level spoonfuls to cover the entire surface.
6. Layer apples across the top half of the pastry so you have room to fold them into a 'sandwich'. *I used 6 slices per strip of pastry but in the video much more are used. Sprinkle with your cinnamon or cinnamon sugar and fold excess pastry.

7. Roll them up like a cinnamon roll and place into a greased muffin tray.
8. Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes.
 9. Enjoy!

For the most part this recipe was easy to pull off. Even without having an apple corer I still fared pretty nicely but it was definitely more time consuming. The difficulties I ran into were with my tray's. I first found this recipe on Facebook and the video had been shared alone on my feed and it did not specify to grease or prep the pan and like a good little sheep it didn't cross my mind to do something different than the recipe called for. Needless to say.. I had to scrape the first batch out of the tray. They still looked decent and weren't necessarily burnt. So!, now that my muffin tray is covered in crusty remnants from the first batch I decided that I would bake the second batch in a cake pan the same way you traditionally bake cinnamon rolls. HAHA, jokes on me because now none of them are cooking all the way through. I'm now forced to wash the muffin tray so I can separate these damn things and get them finished. Joy.

In the end, they all turned out. Well, at least visually. I didn't try one before sending them on their way because I didn't know the exact number in Kennedy's class since of course I wouldn't think to ask. I did ask if there were any allergies/intolerance's, though so I think that's redemption enough.



Apple bottom jeannsssss, boots with the furrrrr!
Leia

it's a 4th birthday party!

Yahoo! We've got ourselves an almost 4 year old and we made the cake to celebrate! With Piper's birthday party one month prior, cold and almost flu season upon us, and a delay from Snapfish getting the invitations out, there was lower attendance than normal which I was honestly happy about. I have been extremely stressed from school and trying to balance every piece of my life has me on my last leg almost every day.

Without fail, I plan all my events with a three hour time frame (I also prepare the same three food options as pointed out by my sister. Meatballs, taco salad, pasta salad, Jimmy John's party platter, and/or chicken bacon ranch pasta). This gives you the perfect amount of time to hang out with friends and family along with buying time for stragglers. Is this mean? I like to think that this is absolutely normal and everyone budgets time for this phenomena. 

All around this party snuck up on me. Not just in the sense of a month flying by, but the morning escaped and I was no where near prepared for the 1pm start time. When the first guests arrived I was still trying to get the balloons filled with helium. Queue my cold ass coffee trying to make a comeback.

In addition to running around the house like a mad woman, it was clear to me that I did even worse at planning for polka dots than I had originally stated. I blew up three balloons that had polka dots and had a polka dot tutu for Ken. GO ME. Did Kennedy complain about this? No, she loved every second and that's when I feel okay with myself, because even though I felt disappointed and that I could have done more for her, she did not feel that she had gotten the shaft.

October 18, 2015: derpy doodles never gives me a real smile.

OMFG PRESENTZ! This is something that always throws me off. 8/10 people ask, "is there anything she needs?" Well she doesn't need anything, we provide her with everything she needs. I then find myself telling people a range of things that I've been looking at for her or things she has specifically mentioned that she would like, 'from christmas'.  The running list had been: puzzles, legos, art supplies, and anything cat oriented. I would say 'low and behold' but since there were less than 10 separate party goers present, the odds should have been slim for duplicate gifts, so instead I'll say: WHAM-O! Two people had purchased the same LEGO set for her and the reaction was priceless. "Wait a second.. what da heck!"

Twice the LEGOS = Twice the mine field that will become our entire house.

The biggest hits for her came from the 218 pairs of socks she got from my mom/granny and the rocking horse she got from my dad/papa and stepmom/gramma Sandy. They had given Piper a tiny rocking horse for her birthday and Kennedy went absolutely crazy for it and promptly informed them that she would like the same one for her birthday. 

I have been picking up socks hourly and have not been able to get the 'clippity-clop' song that this (and Piper's) horse sings since these photos were taken.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for cake (because I forgot to buy ice cream for the party: bad mom point #1?)! Here is the unfrosted Funfetti cake we concocted:

Yeah, it's not so horrible. Not my best work, not my worst. It looks so much more sloppy than the Pinterest cake, but I think that's just par for the course, eh? There were zero complaints from Kennedy. In fact, she asked if she could have it for breakfast that morning!

And that's a wrap.

For, fore, four, 4.

Leia

oh muh gahd

Kennedy's birthday party happened today and it was an overall success! More on that later.

Right meow I'm currently stressed and exhausted by school. Chemistry exam two weeks ago, an anatomy lab exam last Monday, math exam last Thursday, and this Tuesday I have my second anatomy lecture exam.

MRW I take a look at my calendar and try to get my shit organized.

Joints and tendons and ligaments, OH MY.

Leia

it's almost a 4th birthday party

Twelve hours from now we'll have friends and family gathered to celebrate Miss Kennedy Grace turning four years old (today we celebrated my dad, Papa Jeff turning 55!). Honestly, I don't know how these four years have come and gone so quickly - I still have four days left until it's official, though. Yes, so stereotypical but it's the absolute truth.

This evening after the devastating loss Michigan suffered, Kennedy and I started to get her birthday cake in order. Initially she told me that she would like to have a Hello Kitty cake for her party; the theme of which she selected as 'dot', which I translated to polka dots and then poorly executed in the end. Well, it hasn't fully been executed yet, but I have an idea. Bad mom point #1, when I ordered her '4' shirt for the party, I inadvertently had it shipped to our old address. Since the address is forwarded via the USPS the package didn't get delivered today. It will promptly arrive on our doorstep Monday morning. Just in time to be one day late for her party!

ANYHOO, back to cake making. I picked out some ideas from Pinterest that I thought I could pull off and let her make the ultimate decision. We ended up picking an unfrosted edge cake. Less sugar inhalation?! Let's roll with it!

Unfrosted Edge Funfetti Cake

One of the main reasons I was excited to try this out was because I am not 100% used to the oven at our new house, and so far I have over cooked almost everything I have put in the damn thing, and if I burned the crust of the cake no one would know since it's gettin' peeled of anyways! 

October 17, 2015: boxed Funfetti and 'canned' cream cheese frosting. No special tips and tricks or family recipes to be found in this post.

Hooray! We're well on our way to make a delicious three layered Funfetti cake! Little did we know that trouble was lurking right around the corner.

Guys, no sooner than putting two cake pans in the oven did Piper choose to make a huge mess. A huge mess of macaroni on the floor? No, but that's what I would have expected and that's why I was cautious getting her out of her high chair. Here I was expecting a sticky face and hands with noodles hanging onto her clothes. Instead I was faced with a baby who had poop creeping up her back. Daaaammmmmmnittttttt. 

Emergency bath in the kitchen? 120% necessary.

I tried to be courteous and blur out the affected area.

I could not believe it. OF COURSE this would happen precisely at this moment. Brendon and I tag teamed the situation though, and had a clean baby in under ten minutes. A clean baby who in no way alerted to us that she had even pooped in her diaper, let alone exploded out of it, and proceeded to laugh and giggle through her entire hosing off.

After the poop fiasco, it was just about time to get the first two cake pans out of the oven and prepare a third. Bad mom point #2, the first two cakes did get burnt on the crust so, thank you Universe for Kennedy's selected cake idea. Once the third pan was out of the oven, and all three were steady cooling it was time to get Kennedy in the tub and send both of them off to sleepy town. Now all three layers are cooled, cut, and frosted; more to come on that in the 'it's a 4th birthday party' post because frankly I have exerted all the extra energy I had preparing the pasta salad while I dumped sprinkles on the top of the cake with the finesse of a.. well, four year old. I should have just let Kennedy stay up late to finish it for me.

*tooting party horn emoji*

Leia

mid-week meal share: pizza ring

So, one of my favorite places to go on the internet is Buzzfeed and when I discovered they had an entire section on food my life only became more awesome. Recently the Buzzfeed Food Facebook page has been sharing amazing recipes that use Pillsbury crescent rolls in non-traditional ways. The temptation finally became TOO MUCH and my friend Adam and I decided to try some out. 

This particular recipe is for a 'Pizza Ring' and combined with instructions from Kiss My Apron we created a delicious masterpiece that everyone was happy with!

Cost effective: yes (~$11 to make with listed 'toppings' and the cheese and sauce could be used multiple times).

Easy to concoct: yes.

Nutritious: depends on what you fill it with.

For a pepperoni pizza ring you will need:

2 rolls of original crescent rolls (they make actual pizza dough, but I went with what was used between both recipes), 1 jar of pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, and pepperoni. We also added garlic salt and Italian herb seasoning.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (I would recommend 375°F if you have a double oven and are using the smaller oven).

2. Unroll crescent rolls, but do not separate into triangles.

3. Place onto wax/parchment paper (would recommend highly; placing on aluminum foil caused slight burning on the bottom of ours) as pictured in video - I cannot find the words to describe the shape it makes. Flower?

4. Place the ingredients of your choosing onto the inner half of the crescent rolls.

5. Fold excess crescent roll over ingredients.

6. Place in oven for 15-18 minutes.

7. Enjoy!

Bad lighting makes this looks entirely burnt but only the bottom was crispy.

The only issue we really experienced was the bottom getting slightly burnt and some of the inner crescents were not was well done from more layers placed in more spots. This recipe was extremely simple and quick to throw together. The next time we try this our goal is to create a breakfast masterpiece.



Yaassss Pillsbury pizza!
Leia