Playtime

Cash and Luc have a box of costumes. This is Cash in his "Batman Warrior" pose.

Not really sure who he's saluting...check out Luc's awesome costume....Batman Giraffe.
Breakfast with Luc.....
and Flux...
Kaleidoscope at the Creative Discovery Museum
Cash at CDM
More kaleidoscope
Luc at CDM
Me and the boys at the top of CDM tower.
even more kaleidoscope
Cash "hanging" out at the play ground.
Luc looking sun kissed.
Doing some digging.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

As I mentioned in the last post, the 18th was my husband's birthday. It's important to me to bake a cake for him myself. Not really sure why I am so OCD about this, but I am. I am pretty much like this for all my family's birthdays. I don't like to give them a store bought cake for their big day. Nothing wrong with a store bought cake, and I totally understand how mom's are too busy now days to make a cake. Anyway, it's one of my little quirks. Maybe it's one of my ways to say "I love you."


In any case, this year, Andre decided on the Chocolate Oreo Cake rather than the Chocolate Sour Cream Cake that is his usual favorite. It turned out deeeeeeeeelicious, and pretty snazzy looking, too, if I do say so myself. (Oh, and out of control easy to make!)
What you need:
1 Devil's food cake
2 cups Cool Whip topping
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
12 oreos
8 oz cream cheese
2-3 tablespoons instant coffee
1/2 cup sugar
4 Semi-sweet baking cubes (I use Bakers)

First- Mix and bake the cake as directed EXCEPT use the sour cream in place of the water. Add in the 2-3 tbsp of instant coffee. (This is based on how strong you want the coffee taste to be. I use three, and it's still just a hint.)

Next- While the cake is baking, crush oreos in a bowl and set aside. Blend cream cheese and sugar in another bowl until smooth. Fold in the Cool Whip and oreos. Put in frig. to keep cold until cake has completely cooled.

Then- Once the cake has completely cooled, put first layer of cake top side down on your serving plate. Add the oreo/cream/Coolwhip mixture, and place the second layer of the cake top side up.

Finally- Microwave the 4 cubes of semi-sweet chocolate for about 2 minutes until chocolate has melted. Mix in the softened butter. Give it about 5 minutes to thicken back up before spooning it on top of the cake. Smooth topping with a icing spatula and it will drip down the sides.

Garnish with Oreos.
Keep cake refrigerated, and ENJOY!

Present from the Boys

My husband, Andre, will celebrate his birthday tomorrow. I have some special gifts for him, and I wanted the boys to be able to give him something fun, too. Erin posted this idea back in June for Father's Day, and it seemed like a perfect plan of action for the Cash Man. It was definitely a winner idea....fast, easy, colorful, and fun. Plus, I don't know one guy who doesn't like pistachios. I mean really....do you?

First, you have to shell the pistachios. Cash did most of this part, totally eating all of nuts as he went through the process. (They are a bit addictive.)

Second, squeeze some paint into three different ziploc baggies. I used a brick red, yellow, and a turquoise blue. These were just acrylic craft paints I already had in the house.

Third, put the pistachios in the bags and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! This was Cash's favorite part. Can you tell?

Then, pour the shells out on a plate, and separate with a toothpick. Let shells dry.

Next, hot glue the dried shells to a frame. I already had a black frame we weren't using, so I just used that one. This part, of course, is not child friendly...sometimes not even adult friendly. I totally burned my fingers a couple of times. (The shells are tiny!) You can spray a coat of some shine spray over the shells and frame if you'd like. I didn't have any on hand, so I opted out on that one.

Of course, you need a picture to put in the frame. I used one from vacation this summer in North Carolina. I uploaded it to Picnik.com, which is an awesome photoshop for free type of site, and added the text "We're Nuts for Dad!" at the top, and Love, Cash and Luc 2010 at the bottom. I also changed the color a bit to give it a bright funky feel. I save the final pic to my desktop, loaded it up on Snapfish, and sent it off to Wal-greens to print for me. Quick, easy, and cheap.

Finally, I wrapped up the frame with a jar full of left over pistachios. We ended up giving Andre his present early because Cash couldn't wait. He ran right up to his dad and said, "I need you to help me find a place to hang this picture..." This was before the project was even done. So much for surprises.... :)

The Boys Lately

Cash ready for his first day at pre-k.
Luc at the zoo.
Cash dressed up as Goliath at his grandparent's kid crusade.
Luc tries to get in on the Goliath action.
I am pretty sure Cash is doing a jig to Luc's instrumental.
Quite possibly my favorite picture of Cash for all time.
Luc looking utterly adorable.
Speaking of adorable....