Quick update, then long review...

I need to be taught how to manage my time wisely! I havn't blog journaled in 8 months! So much has happened and I want to keep a record of it, but, before I retrace my months I wanted to show off my adorable family.

Kasidee: started 5 grade and turned 11. Right now her interest are art, makeup, dance, animals and boys! AHHH!



Dillon: started 1st grade and turned 7. Likes basketball, rollerblading, Pokemon cards, and the ladies. AHHH!



Boston: will be 9 months this week! Rolls to get around, has the cutest laugh and the sweetest smile. Rarely cries! He has been such an easy and fun little boy! Well, easy during the day. I still get up numerous times a night...but I probably would anyways to make sure he is okay. We are so in love with this little guy! Each different stage is so fun and we love cheering him on. Recently he has been coughing for attention, screaming high pitched just to hear his voice, waves bye-bye like a parade queen, claps, and has the sweetest reach that make you feel pretty darn important. Have I said we love him? Seriously, in love.

Our baby story

My sweet Boston (FINALLY) came to our family April 25th 2011 @ 8:56 am, weighing 8lbs. 7oz. I started having contractions Saturday night(the 23rd). I went to bed thinking "this is it!" and being so excited. I had a good nights sleep...so obviously that wasn't "it". The next day was Easter, Derek and I walked a lot. But my contractions had stopped. We had a nice Easter with the kids, a very nice spring break too:) And as I took off my makeup and got into my grubby comfy clothes my contractions started again...but this time they were legit and very close together. I didn't bother getting myself all gussied up. We arrived at the hospital around 11pm and were admitted fairly quick. I had an epidural by 1 (already dilated to a 6) and spent the whole night quite comfortable...but it took all night. Nothing happened I stayed a 6. Finally, my doctor(who had been out of town until that day) called at 8am and told them to start petocin and break my water. Then, BAM, I was in so much pain!!!Luckily Brooke wasn't there yet to see me throwing up and nearly passing out because it "hurt sooooo bad"(natural child birth not an option. The nurse checked me at 8:20 am and declared "YOUR READY!" The drug doctor came back and gave me a hearty dose and again I was happy. Brooke arrived to see me content and not able to move my legs:)
I chatted it up with Dr.Smith about his not-so-great trip to Harry Potter World and then gave a couple pushes and he was here. But I waited...it felt like forever. I just waited to hear my angel baby cry! And he did. It was such an elating moment. I think I asked the nurse 20 times if he was OK. Then,finally, they placed him in my arms and I could breathe. I love him. I waited so long to hold him...bliss!


Easter Sunday, swollen and not patiently waiting for Boston to come.


KJ made this cute bunny cake


We tried to keep busy to pass the time


He's HERE! Can you believe it? Me either!


Happy Family


Going home!

Disneyland

I saw only 2 other preggo ladies the whole time we were there. And I know why...I'm positive that I saw every single bathroom in the parks! And I definently had a waddle at the end of the day... you know, the waddle. The thing that certain pregnant ladies do for attention. I certainly did not have my hands on my back as I was doing it, and my waddle was totally legit. We did three days (in a row) at Disneyland and Cali Adventure. At the end of the third night, no one in the whole family dared make eye contact with me. I was hungry and tired...2 things that make me incredibly not pleasant.

Yep, I look totally approachable.

I seriously had a ton of fun. And yes, I was able to ride lots of rides. We went with Derek's family, and we got along swimmingly. My kids are still talking about how much fun they had with their cousin's, gotta love the memories made!


My favorite part: Goofy's Kitchen Buffet


Dillon's favorite part: California Screamin'
Dillon's least favorite part: all the picture taking. He told me, "I wouldn't have come if I knew we were going to stop every second and take a picture."
He can be loads of fun.

Kasidee's favorite part: All the roller coasters!


Derek's favorite part: Not having to stay at the kiddy area...because now our kid's are old enough to ride the "fun" rides.


The parks didn't open until 10 am, which sounded ideal, until we got there and had a 6 year old up at 6 am most mornings. Needless to say, I was down with him at the pool by 8 am trying to kill time before the rest of the gang got ready. Love him, don't love his enthusiasm to start the day. (he should have been Brooke's kid)

"Was it too cold to swim the last week in Feb." you ask?
Yes, yes it was.

We hit the beach and Vegas before we officially called the trip over. Love spending time with my fam, but I especially love spending time with my fam AND sleeping in my own bed at night!

I heart Cupcakes

My favorite part of these cupcake: the Leatherby's caramel filling!
E loved her princess cupcake. And I love her!
Yep, that's my dog as a cupcake.



My nephew was really into lawnmowers. He's a fun one. (this would be cute for father's day, but with coconut colored green as the lawn.)
The blue cupcakes were to spread the good news that we are having a boy:)
Not sure if you can tell: these are bowling cupcakes. (remember I only do this for fun:) )


Little snake toppers made my little guy's day. I am not a fan of fondant...or maybe the right recipe hasn't found me.

KJ's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year. She chose turkeys. These were too much work...good thing I lover her. This picture is as close as you'll ever get to seeing them again.

It's been a fun little hobby of mine to make cupcakes and cakes for mi familia's birthday's. I love it! First of all, homemade treats are half the price of store bought, and it's so fun to see my kids and nieces and nephews reactions to something personalized for them...I guess a cupcake from me is a way of saying "I LOVE YOU!"
But, and this butt is huge, they HAVE to taste good too!
My two favorite batter recipe's, and one super yummy whipped cream frosting. I hope you show someone you love them with a cupcake or 10 too:)

Easy White Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white cake)
1 tsp almond extract

Mix all dry ingredients with a whisk, then add wet ingredients. Beat for two minutes until fluffy.

For Cake: Pour into greased, floured pans (fills two 8 or 9" rounds) and bake according to cake package directions.

For cupcakes: fill paper liners 3/4 full and bake according to box directions. Makes 36 cupcakes.

The BEST Chocolate Cake
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 package Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. :) It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

For cupcakes: fill paper liners 3/4 full and bake according to box directions. Makes 36 cupcakes.

For valentines I am going to add about a pound of pureed strawberries and some red food coloring (I heard they will be a grey color if you don't). Let's cross our fingers!
Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling
recipe by ourbestbites.com
3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (I use heavy whipping cream)
1/2 C real butter
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract, or other flavor if you wish.

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. I think this is the critical point for any of you who have had problems with this recipe. I have a feeling people are under-cooking this part. Let it cook, while stirring, until it looks like pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it). And then let it cool completely to room temp. or chill it in the fridge. It needs to be cooled completely. If you don't let it cool completely, it will melt the butter and you'll have runny frosting.

It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You'll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, not the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat on the highest speed you can get to without it spraying all over the place for 7 minutes. Yes, 7 whole minutes, maybe even 8 or 9. I know that seems like a long time, but that's when the magic happens!

You will be scared because it will look like a weird goopy mess at first and you'll wonder what on earth you did wrong. Keep beating and something amazing happens. It goes from that goopy mess to something thick, velvety smooth, and perfectly fluffy.
Use it to fill cupcakes or other pastries, or as a frosting on top. You can't go wrong putting this on just about anything :)

One batch makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes. Plan on tripling this recipe.

Love him

This morning I took Kasi to school and then came home and climbed back into bed. (Don't judge, I'm getting caught up on my sleep before the baby comes!) Dilly was still asleep and when he woke up, came into my bed for some snuggles. He informed me he was going downstairs to play Michael Jackson on the Wii, so I asked him to wake me up at 9:00. I was laying there when he came in (promptly at 9:00) and said, "Okay mom, it's 9:00. Time to get up. Time to get up and feed your little boy." (I laughed, because it sounded like I'm some crack addict mother who's children have to be the parent, and because he's so darn cute!) I thought "your little boy" meant him. But then he rubbed my belly and said to it, "are you hungry brother?"
Love him.

The longest break ever!

Which results in the longest blog ever...
Our Christmas break started when the Kuehne cousins came from Portland the Sunday before Christmas. My kids didn't get out of school until that Wednesday. But that didn't stop our craziness. Dilly was sick (though if you asked him he was "just tired") and couldn't kick it, so, he ended up missing majority of school that week. Christmas break felt like a month, not a week and a half! But that's because we packed a bazillion things in:

Kasi had a holiday program at school


Dill had a holiday program at school (still not feeling good)


Same day was the Reflection assembly where Dillon got a first prize award and is headed onto region and Kasi got an Honorable mention. Both kids did such a great job. The theme was "Together we can". Kasi did "together we can recycle", and Dill did "together we can save the animals",which should have been "together we can save the reptiles" because there were mainly snakes and lizards. Both made very nice 3-D art out of clay. And both made me proud:)


We went bowling with Kuehne cousins. (Dill still not feeling great)




Had fun ice skating with my family.




Christmas Eve was just as busy as ever. We go to my grandma's first where my mom had planned a Nativity play put on by the whole fam. It's always nice to remind everyone what Christmas is really about. Ella was Mary, Dill was Joseph, Lola was baby Jesus, Kasi was the angle who beautifully played Christmas songs. Then we were off to Derek's moms where we missed the nativity play(Kasi was super bummed because it was her turn to play Mary). We had a fun night there, but I kept telling Derek something felt weird. I found out why that night when I was up sick with the flu.


Christmas was good and bad. I stayed home with the flu which sucked. But Derek did all the running around, which exhausted him, so they skipped two of the parties and the kids got to stay home and play with their toys...for once!


Then the next day (like every year:)) was my birthday. The kids and Derek went skiing with family while I had a very nice relaxing day. My mom made a yummy chicken enchilada dinner and my sis hosted it at her house...so nothing short of awesome! Did you check out those cupcakes! SPOILED!



A couple day's later on the 30th was my baby's birthday. My baby turned 6! The huge snowstorm was a great gift! He had been asking for a bearded dragon (Dill's going to be the next crocodile hunter) but I think had forgotten with all the jumble of Christmas because acted soooo excited and surprised when he got one.At first he named the lizard Sassy. We encouraged some more brainstorming which resulted in the name Spike. Now both kids have a pet and I can hardly believe the easy going mother I have become. We soon will have a petting zoo in the back..stay tuned. That day Dill was a king. He wanted crepes for breakfast, had his favorite meal for lunch (shrimp pasta), he got to see Yogi Bear(the things we do for our kids), ate at Tempenyaki for dinner, and had a snake cake at Gma Kuehne's. He kept saying "this day is awesome!".





I think one of our family's favorite holiday's is New Year's Eve. We go to Derek's moms with his whole family and eat yummy food and play the funnest games. My sis-in-law Michele planned a "minute to win it" game for the whole family to play and I have to say was the best game yet! Dill competed against his 15 year old cousin Sydney (fair? probably not) in stacking the cups. Kasi against her cousin Bailee in ping pong toss. Derek against his brother in unravelling streamers. And me and my other sis-in-law in cookie from the head to mouth game. It was hysterical. All 16 grandkids get along great and we laugh till we pee our pants with his brother and sisters. Never a dull moment.





And finally the last day with our cousins here. We slept in. We were dead tired from the night before. But not too late because we had Dillon's party. We went sledding. Have I ever mentioned I hate the cold? Well, I do. Sooooo much. I tried to be a good sport but finally retreated to my mom and dad's car to stay warm. As did most of the other mom's. The kids never once complained, they just kept coming up the hill with big ol' grins. Kids rock. After the adults begged the kids to be done, we went to McDonald's for lunch and cupcakes. After we went to another movie:) and dinner. Said our sad goodbye to cousins and came home to recoup. Which took all day Sunday. Hope your holiday's were as fun and crazy as ours! I meant to send out Christmas cards but didn't, so here ya go:

Happy Holiday's!


Love,
The Kuehne's