Birthday Cupcakes!

This may be the most photos I have ever put in one post. But its well worth it.

Today I made cupcakes for my dad's birthday dinner. His actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, but due to scheduling, dinner is tonight at gram's!

It took me a bit to think of what kind of cupcakes I would make, but my decision is perrrrfect for the occasion! I decided on red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and black sprinkles! Why, you ask? Because my dad loves Dale Earnhardt, and his colors were black and red.

I even bought foil cupcake liners because they go better with a NASCAR theme than pastel-y ones. :)

First, I sorted out the black confetti from the green and orange. Ah, what a fun chore. ;) It really wasn't too bad. Except there was a little critter at my feet begging for sprinkles...

I might have given him a couple. :)

He was going back and forth between begging for sprinkles and dancing to our background music. A compilation of Mumford & Sons, Jon Foreman, Gungor and the Fourquare UG Band. All goooood stuff, and Cameron can dance to ANYTHING.

:)

Oh fresh, warm cupcakes. How I love you. Did anyone ever notice that red velvet tastes very similar to chocolate poptarts? I love chocolate poptarts so it works out, but they seriously taste SO MUCH alike.

I opted for the whipped frosting in stead of regular. Mostly because it was in a bigger container and on sale, but also because its delicious.

So this is how I frost cupcakes so I don't smear it on the liner and such. I'm sure tons of people have been doing this since the invention of cupcakes, but I just discovered it. First, a dollop of frosting.

I put mine in a plastic ziploc bag and cut a hole in the end so it comes out nicely.

Then carefully spread it out as far as you want. I wanted a bit more of the red than usual to show so that they did just look like morbid black sprinkled cupcakes. :)

Then you bust out whatever decorations you want. I used some Halloween sprinkles. Also where I got the black confetti sprinkles. Black sugar crystals on cupcakes? I wasn't sure how cute they would be.

And surprise! They're adorable.

A little variety with the confetti. I love them so much, I will be sad to see them go!

Yum!!!

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Lately I've been so busy that I keep forgetting to blog. With Katy home, now Hope coming home... its just been crazy. In a good way. But... as I promised to Kelsey before she left for North Carolina, I WILL BLOG. As will she. :)

This might be a little random, but I have so many precious black and white pictures on my phone, and I had to post some.

Brody and Cam in their hats. For some reason Brody LOVES the infant sized bear hat. He brings it to me everyday wanting me to put it on him. And if I don't snap the bottom part, he gets mad. So his not-infant-sized face gets squished into that hat almost daily around here [unless I remember to hide it...]. And Cam, well he doesn't keep hats on. At all. This picture took about 14 tries before I got one with the hat still on him. :)

Ah the top of our tree. I love it. I had a picture on my camera of the full tree, in color, lights on and everything.... but.... it was blurry. Oh well. We have a TON of pretty vintage Christmas ornaments that were my grandma's. They are super colorful and super breakable. We learned that when our tree fell over one year... bummer. But there are still a lot left. :)


Lastly, two of my very favorite kids, Claire and Miles. I was their chauffeur on Monday, and while we waited at the dance studio for Alex to be done with hip hop, Claire and Miles wanted to pretend to be asleep. Miles is really convincing, huh?

Thankfulness: Day 3-6. :)

Once upon a time, I was a terrible blogger. And that time was the past 3 days.
So much for thankfulness, right? WRONG.
I have been writing down and photographing the things I've been thankful for in the past few days, even though I haven't been blogging about it. Sometimes I just don't have time, you know?

[Sidenote: I don't know how moms of small children can be so up to date with Facebook and blogger and such. When I am nanny-ing, I literally have to be with them every second or the crazies dump my purse on the floor and eat my necklaces! Haha. My only internet time is the small time where their naps overlap. Maybe it will be different with my own kids?]

Anyway, thankfulness.
First, I am so thankful for fall in Washington.
I love the rain. The cold. The storms. The leaves.
Its so beautiful. It makes my life more enjoyable.

I am also thankful for the vast array of coffee shops in Washington. Today I visited one I had never been to before, Satellite Coffee in Tacoma. I was looking at a couple apartments, saw this place, and had to try it.
I got an americano with a little bit of vanilla in it. Mmmmmmm.
Perfection.

I am always thankful for these precious prizes. I am especially thankful for their parents' old cell phones. The boys constantly want mine. They know I keep it in my purse [hence the purse dumping]. But since they are only babies, they don't quite realize that these phones don't really work anymore. :)

[Sidenote: Note Cam's little face. He is ALWAYS looking to Brody to see what Brody will do next. Dangerous of course, because Brody is daring and defiant, but so cute!]

More coffee? No. This picture is about these boys. The two on the right have been my favorite family to babysit for since the Isbells left Washington. They love me and I can't figure out why. [Seriously these kids call me, on their own and ask me to babysit. Miles once offered to give me his room is I would live with them.] Anyway, I just always take them to Forza and read to them a lot? I guess we have similar interests? :)
Usually I have all three Omans [Alex, Claire and Miles] but tonight I just had the boys, plus their cousin. They were so excited to make all the decisions without the input of their sister. I am so thankful for these boys. For the joy they bring when I watch them. And for their parents, who have become my friends, not just my employers. Love love love the Oman family!

Thankfulness: Day One.

So I decided this month I am going to try to the best of my ability to blog everyday about something or things I am thankful for.

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;

in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I've realized that its easy to be thankful for the good things in life. Its easy to praise God when he hands you everything you want. So I'm going to make an effort to give thanks in everything as the verse says. Especially when I might not understand why God is doing the things He is doing.

thank·ful

/ˈθæŋkfəl/ Show Spelled[thangk-fuhl]
-feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

–adjli

Today I am especially thankful for precious little Cameron. Usually I'm watching both boys, but whenever I watch one of them alone, its such a nice little treat. Cameron is always SO excited to have my undivided attention. [But he also loves playing with Brody. :)] He was enjoying stacking a rolling dolphin [Yeah, what kind of toy is that?? I was confused too] on top of a drum. Then he would push it off the drum and laugh uncontrollably. :)