CHILDREN OF THE CORN!!!!

AHHHHH!!!!!!!! Remember that movie? I think I had nightmares for years after seeing it! Lucky for me - these children of the corn are far less scary and have not developed a desire to kill all people over 18 years old.


To celebrate Halloween Eve, we headed over to the local pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins! With the family pumpkin philosophy firmly in place - If you can carry it, you can have it! - we set off on our pumpkin finding mission!








Mission accomplished!

Giant Potatoes and Family Hoops

Today we were on the receiving end of our Dinner Exchange program! On the menu was Twice Baked Potatoes stuffed with ham, cheese, mushrooms and a bunch of deliciousness! After gorging ourselves on the most giant potatoes I have ever seen, we saddled up our 2 wheeled horses and headed to the neighborhood basketball hoop.

Family Hoops was everything you'd expect an NBA basketball game to be - except for the one player who clearly shot like a girl! There were mad skills being displayed all over the court and moves that some people had most likely never seen before. It is a crying shame that I decided against pursuing a career in the WNBA because all 5'4" of me could be kicking some serious behind!

Check out that WICKED defense!

He's still got it!

Air Tanner!

Textbook Form!

Mark Shark!

The One Who Shoots Like A Girl!

GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

Madison's soccer season sadly came to a close yesterday. In a performance that can only be described as phenomenal - Madison ROCKED the house! With dribbling skills that rivaled her Uncle Chris, speed that far surpassed the opposing defensive line, and power shots that scored her a goal, she concluded her season with, what I would call - perfection!


Yesterday, Tanner and his Kicker teammates had their most challenging game of the season. In a nail-biting performance, they were able to pull off the win! Tanner had 5 goals under his belt - the last one being scored while dribbling from mid-field with an opposing player pulling on his jersey. The play of the game came when Tanner was set to kick off the ball. He looked at the other team and how they were lined up and said, "You need to back up - No, I'm serious!" With that warning, he booted the ball so hard it flew about 25 yards past the goal. It was very sweet of him to want to protect them from the possibility of getting the ball smashed into their face at close range! Stuff like that just makes a mama proud!


Soccer combined with pizza parties and birthday parties made our Saturday complete! Completely exhausted, completely tired, completely ready for bed!

Baking Bliss (Again!)

Today marks the 10th birthday of Madison's dear friend Riley! As part of my gift to her - I was given the honor of making her birthday cake. With cake and frosting and fondant covering my counters along with an assortment of baking necessities, my sous chef and I set off to make the perfect birthday cake - one that would truly reflect her personality. With the fact that Riley has more fashion sense than most people I know - combined - and that she loves all things fashionable - the executive decision to make her a cake in the form of an upright purse was, for lack of better words - a no brainer!

The result, as seen above, is a pretty flippin' cool cake - even if I do say so myself!

So, Happy Birthday Riley!!! I hope you have as much fun on your birthday as I had making your cake!

Good Bye Old Friend

With hearts full of sadness, today we said goodbye to our good friend, Toby. Please keep Mark's grandfather in your prayers as he deals with the loss of his closest companion.

Ganache-ulous!

To help in the celebration of a friend's 50ish birthday, I volunteered to make the cake - I know, huge shocker there! After making and gathering all of the necessary items - thinly baked layers of cake, ganache that had been chilling overnight as well as a few extras to make the cake unique - I set off on my cake assembling. The completed cake (pictured below) is a 4-layer yellow cake. It is filled and frosted with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache and is topped with a white chocolate drizzle and shaved Nestle Crunch bars.





Because I am not a chocolate fan - unless it is mixed with peanut butter - I had to count on the chocoholics at the birthday celebration for their honest reviews of the cake. Much to my great joy (and ego boosting) - the cake was a hit! I can officially add ganache to my baking repertoire!

Dinner Exchange Kick-Off!

Today marks the official kick-off to our Dinner Exchange! To sum up the program - I cook dinner for a friend and her family on Monday (today) and next Monday she will cook for us. Nice huh? I think so too!

On the menu: Chicken Paprika served over a bed of jasmine rice.

So, armed with a bunch of chicken breasts, cream of mushroom soup, bell peppers, onions, seasonings etc., I set off in my dinner preparations! Now, it is no secret that I enjoy working in the kitchen (and by working, I mean cooking - not cleaning!) but I can honestly say that cooking for someone else's family really makes me happy! I love knowing that people are actually eating the food that I prepared - unlike my children. But I digress...

Back to me and my love for cooking - I love hearing praises over what a fantastic chef I am and how I really should have my own cooking show. I love when people beg me for recipes which I willingly hand over knowing that their version will never be as good as mine.... Uh - did I really just write that??? Hahahaha!!!! I am only teasing! I really do love cooking for other people. Call me a freak. Call me a dork. I am the first to admit it! For me, cooking for other people makes the whole cooking process so much more fun - which makes the Dinner Exchange even better! I get to cook for other people and in return, I don't have to cook every other Monday! Works for me!

Fireworks, Lawn Fishing and a Little Child Labor

Whew! At the end of the weekend - it truly is amazing how much you cram into 48 hours. Between baking, soccer, cleaning, wedding receptions, fireworks, grandparents in from out of town, gorging on ridiculous amounts of food and the 42 other things that seem to be a part of our weekend - it is no wonder that come Sunday night we are BEAT!

One of the said 42 additional items that snuck into our weekend was the ever daunting task of maintaining our lawn. With his ear protectors firmly in place, Markie and the lawn mower became one in an effort to manicure the grass jungle that seems to have grown 6 inches since its last grooming 7 days ago.

Markie's efforts were a great success and Tanner was rewarded with a perfect landscape for practicing the ever popular sport of lawn fishing.

With his Pirates of the Caribbean fishing rod in hand - the little rubber red fish were no match for this expert lawn fisherman.

Even though our weekend was jam packed - it was one filled with fun times, lots of loved ones and lasting memories. I am pretty sure that is what it is all about!

Culinary Bliss...

If there is such a thing as culinary bliss - I experienced it today! With my hair in a ponytail, donning my favorite apron and my 10 year old sous chef at the ready, I set off on my cake making extravaganza! On the menu:


Cake #1: Chocolate Decadence


A 4-level square chocolate cake filled and frosted with a chocolate ganache and topped with shaved chocolate.

Before:

After:

Cake #2: Strawberry's Wild

A 4-level round yellow cake with whipped topping/cream cheese filling with strawberries on top and thinly sliced between each layer.

Before:

After:

Both cakes are for a wedding reception honoring Mark's cousin and his new bride who were married last month in Lake Tahoe.

Second only to watching my kids on the soccer field - baking the perfect cake is a joy that is truly indescribable!

Where the wild things are...

Lions, tigers and bears? Close but not quite. You just never know what you are going to run into in our neighborhood! Lions (well, mountain lions anyway) - yes. Tigers - not so much. Bears - well, it has been a number of years since one has been spotted. Over the past couple weeks, we have been visited by a variety of local wild life. Here's a glimpse of what goes on right outside my front door!

Snakes!

Why did the turkeys cross the road?



Peacocks!

Oh deer!

Three unidentifiable species!

Let Freedom Ring!!!

You know the scene - Kate Winslet is there, arms outstretched, on the very front of the Titanic. Leonardo DiCaprio is behind her. The wind is in her hair and she's saying - "I'm flying!" That was me yesterday when I dropped off all THREE of my kids at school! Leonardo DiCaprio was unavailable but with the cool breeze blowing through my hair and my arms stretched wide - the angels and I were singing rounds of "Freedom, freedom, freeeeedoooommm!"

Yes, Markie is feeling back to normal! No more fever. No more headache. No more staying home! My house arrest came to an abrupt halt yesterday at 8:30 a.m.! Can you hear it??? Freeeeeedddooooooommm!

Soup's On!

I might not be Julia Childs - thank heaven, given that fact that she is dead - but I know my way around the kitchen! With the temperature changing from insane heat to our 2 weeks of fall-like weather, I could hardly wait to dive into my recipe box to find something hearty and stew-like. With my Nani's Italian soup recipe in hand, I started chopping veggies with wild abandon!

While the finished product resembled a stew more than a soup - due to the fact that we had to leave for soccer and the rice sucked up all of the broth - all 3 kids actually liked it - a true miracle - and I LOVED it!

Vacation at Wal-mart?

Not quite the ideal vacation spot but after a week of being confined to the house to take care of Markie - I was willing to take whatever break I could get! After receiving a hot tip from a friend last week, Madison and I braved the elements (and I mean the scary people who frequent our Wal-mart) and did a little clearance rack shopping. We were on a mission to get some really cute but ridiculously cheap swim suits. Our mission proved to be a great success!

Madison scored and found 3 suits. I grabbed 2 pairs of swim trunks for Tanner and 1 for Markie as the selection for his size was minimal. All will be perfect for next summer. The damage done for 6 swim suits totalled $16.00 - the normal price for 1 suit!

While it was hardly a vacation, I did come home rested, relaxed and refreshed. Ok - that is stretching it a bit - ok, a lot - but the trip out did help with the cabin fever!

Soccer, The Incredibles and Saturday Night Fever...

With only one soccer game actually taking place today - the other two cancelled due to rain and illness - the responsibility of representing the Stephens family on the soccer field rested entirely on Tanner's shoulders. In a performance described as mirroring David Beckham, Tanner rose to the occasion and put away 6 goals. Despite the rain, mud, and wind, he led his Kickers team to a 10-4 victory!

After spending the day indoors, playing countless games of Battleship and "hand soccer" - since the kids aren't supposed to kick the ball in the house - we capped off the evening with movie night! After reading off the names of ALL of the movies in our cupboard, the kids finally agreed - and I use this term VERY loosely (2 out of 3) - on The Incredibles. Ice Cream sandwiches are the final stop for these kiddipoos before we ship them off to bed!

With Markie's Saturday Night Fever running full force - back up to 102 degrees, I can only hope that a good night's rest awaits us.

Cupcakes and fevers

Not that I am counting or anything but today is Day 6 of Markie's virus. With one whole week of school missed, we are entering the weekend pretty much the same way we entered the week. Not good! His fever is still sitting between 100 and 101.8 degrees and his mouth is so swollen and sore that it is hard to understand him but his spirits are up and he can still play a wicked game of Yahtzee! So far the rest of us have been spared and I can only pray that it stays that way!





On a totally separate note, Tanner, after having a hard day at school yesterday, finished off his school week on a high note! To celebrate, a batch of undecorated chocolate cupcakes awaited his arrival from school. Armed with their mama's cake decorating genes and an arsenal of sprinkles, Mark and Tanner launched themselves into cupcake decorating bliss. Here are the fruits of their labor for your viewing pleasure and their eating pleasure!