Hello Kitty Cupcake Toppers & Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Rick's daughter has a birthday tomorrow, exactly one week before my boy's birthday, and just two weeks from Rick's son's birthday. Do the math, that's three birthdays in two weeks. Yikes! So, I'm trying to be as frugal as possible this year by making as much as possible.

I offered to make Gracie's birthday cupcakes, and of course the first order of business was to find a great recipe for chocolate cupcakes. I did.

Oh. Yeah. Check it out. There's also a recipe for chocolate butter frosting, but this little girl wanted Hello Kitty pink and white. Wish granted!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

I made a buttercream icing to top them with, but it's a basic. I double the recipe and it generously frosted all 26 cupcakes.

Easy Buttercream Icing
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 Tblsp milk

Whip the butter until fluffy. Gradually add in 1 cup of the powdered sugar and reduce speed to low, add in the liquid, salt and flavoring. Last the rest of the powdered sugar. If firmer icing is needed, add in a bit more powdered sugar, if softer icing is needed, add in a bit more of the milk. Flavor as desired.

And here's the finished product:

I also created the Hello Kitty cupcake toppers in Publisher, since buying the download alone would have cost me $6-$10 on Etsy, and buying them completed would have been upwards of $15 per dozen.

I found some free images on google search, created a 2 inch square and designed away! I printed the toppers on cardstock, cut them out out and attached two cards to a coffee stirrer with double stick tape. Simple! I thought about adding some ribbon to the sticks as well, but ran out of time.

I think she'll like them. What do you think?

Happy birthday sweet girl!

Cooper's birthday is a week away...I'll be back next week with an update on that party!

My Favorite Mommy Tip - Juice Box Wings

A friend recently introduced me to the concept of "wings" on a juice box. I wish that I could claim this tip as my own, it's that good. Ok, so I may have been the last person in the world to hear of this concept, but I know there have to be other fresh off the truck mommies who haven't, right? Right? Bueller?

Ok so anyway, here it is - Juice Box "Wings":

Just fold up the little cardboard tabs on the side, and have your child hold the box by the "wings."

Brilliant!

It keeps them from squeezing the box and wearing the juice! And they think it's pretty cool.

What's your favorite "Mommy Tip?"

Because I Don't Always Follow the Rules

I've been handed several awards lately, and I'm sorry to those handing them out for not posting them until now! I'm supposed to share the award, where it came from, and share some things about myself. But because I don't always follow the rules (ok, who am I kidding, I always follow the rules), I'm going to share it all at once...

I recently received

award from Kelli at Sovereignly Sustaining Sanity.

And this one

from Scrap Addict.

I was also tagged by Rachel at Randomness with Rachel and was challenged to answer a few questions. There are eight of them, and these will serve as my seven things about me as well. Because I'm unconventional like that.

1. What is your "guilty pleasure" food?

Cereal with milk. I know, crazy right? But when I'm staring into my freezer late at night, looking at the ice cream, I usually end up closing it in favor or Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes. Ok, perhaps not so much "guilt" as "pleasure."

2. If you could guest star on any TV show, which one would it be?

Ummm...Grey's Anatomy. And I would play the chick who can finally steal MeDreamy away from Meredith .;)

3. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Bad drivers. You know, the ones who slow down as they're merging onto the freeway, speed up when you try to change lanes, and don't use their turn signal. Oh yeah, that's a big one.

4. Scary movies- love them or hate them?

Love them, as long as I'm not home alone. 

5. If someone was to make a movie of your life, who would play you?

Jennifer Aniston of course. We're like twins! Ok, so maybe it would be more like Bonnie Hunt.

6. If you could only shop at one store for a year, which one would it be (not counting grocery stores)?

Depends on if I have the $$ to shop! If I have unlimited funds, then I choose Nordstrom. Otherwise, Amazon.com - haha, smart right? Wait, does that count??

7. Are you a MAC or PC user?

PC all the way.

8. What would your friends say your best quality is?

I'm always willing to lend a hand, and help out when needed.

I know I'm supposed to choose some blogs to pass this on to, but, you know, that whole "rules" thing. There are so many fabulous blogs that I love; they are all listed in my sidebar and they are all well worth your time! Go take a look, then come back and tell me what you think.

I also want to thank everyone who takes the time to comment on my posts, as random as my topics seem to be! I love reading each and every one of them, and try to get back to as many as I can.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend! I'm off to spend some quality time with these two beauties...

and this crazy guy...

Please don't tell him I showed you this photo. He might never speak to me again.

TTFN!

Adoption - Fate or Chance?

I recently came across this article about Sandra Bullock.

In the article, Sandra, who adopted her son earlier this year, talks about what she believes about adoption. She says, "Everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out. We had always said that it didn't matter where the child came from. If they had issues that were medical issues, we didn't care. It's like the child that needed us in the home is the child that's going to be placed."

I've read conflicting things on this topic of fate in adoption. From everything happens for a reason, to life is a game of chance. Some believe that God placed these children in their lives, and vice versa, others wonder why a loving God would put a child in harm's way just so others could be parents.

While this is far too philisophical a topic for me to tackle, it did make me think.

So here's what I believe:
- I believe that God led me to adoption.
- I believe that the child who needed me at the time "found" me at the time I needed him.
- I believe that we were meant for each other.
- I believe that I could not love my son any more if it was "fate" or simply by chance that we were brought together.

What do YOU believe?

Allergies, Part 2

Like I mentioned in this post, Cooper was tested for allergies. And it was a very traumatic experience. For me. I had to hold the poor thing down while they took four viles of blood. Ouch! (That's the sound of his Skechers kicking my thighs). Yes, it was a painful experience for him, but I am so thankful I did it.

Let me start from the beginning...

My pediatrician had always said that, because of his severe excema, it was probable that Cooper would have allergies. She even suggested at 18 months that I have him tested, because I was nervous about peanuts especially. But I just didn't want to put my baby through that experience if I didn't have to. So I told her I was going to bring a peanut butter sandwich with me to his two year appointment. She laughed.

I think she thought I was kidding.

I wasn't. I whipped that sandwich out at our 2 year check-up, and had him take a bite. He seemed to do fine, just complaining that something was stuck in his throat. We figured it was the texture he didn't like, and that was that. Yay, he wasn't allergic to peanuts! Since then he has had the same reaction when eating anything with nuts, and eventually would refuse it, saying he didn't like it. I started to get suspicious...

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

Our babysitter had a friend stop by with a dog. Now, I knew Coop had sensitive skin and that if a dog were to lick his face, it may irritate him a bit, but just for a few minutes. This time was different.

I got a call from Rick as I was getting ready to go home from work, telling me that my son was having an allergic reaction. I asked if he was breathing, which he was. Rick told me his eyes were swollen and he was sneezing, and red and blotchy. I hurried home to see my son sitting on the couch, eyes almost swollen shut, skin red and itchy, looking so very uncomfortable. He was most definitely having an allergic reaction.

Scared the H-E-double hockey sticks out of me.

I scooped him up and took him to urgent care. He was back to normal within a couple of hours, and without medicine, but I was convinced now that we needed to have the testing done.

So, here's the results:
Highly allergic to DOGS (hence the reaction to the friend's dog)
Moderately allergic to CATS, PEANUTS, WALNUTS, SHRIMP, DUST, AND MOLD

I am now the proud parent of an allergic kid. I'm nervous because I've never had to deal with allergies myself for anyone in my family, other than Rick's daughter Gracie who is also allergic to peanuts. So we have become a no peanut household. We're preparing to see an allergist to determine the severity and preventative steps and to see if there's anything else to be worried about. In the meantime, I've got an Epi-pen, and a year's supply of Benadryl, just in case.

Allergies, Excema and Medical History in Adoption

One of the fears I have always had as an adoptive parent, even before Cooper arrived, was allergies. I realize that even with a bio child, there can be allergies that are unexpected, but with a child who was adopted, there is a lot of family history that you may not know. In my case, I know very little.

When a child is removed from the bio parents care, an extensive medical history is requested from the bio parents. Both parents were present to give information, but the BM was very unsure of her family's history. BD was a little more helpful, but still lacking quite a bit of information. So I have been constantly worried about what could potentially pop-up in the future.

Allergies & Excema, Part One:
My little guy had severe eczema as an infant. It was so bad that he got infections twice on his poor little cheeks, and required rounds of antibiotics. He would also get severe diaper rashes that turned almost immediately into yeast infections, requiring more steroids and antibiotics.

This picture was taken at his baptism, when he was four months old. See how red his cheeks are? That's after four days of antibiotics, and lots of this stuff:

Eucerin Calming Cream. It was recommended by the Dermatologist when the Aquaphor just made his condition worse. If you have a child with excema, this stuff rocks!

Thankfully, Coop seems to have outgrown the worst of it, but we still take precautions with his skin.


Because of the seriousness of his skin condition, our pediatrician suspected he would have allergies as well, so last week, finally, we had him tested. More about the results in my next post. Stay tuned...

My Summer Vacation

I love summer. I take a week off each summer and try to do as much as I can, even if it's local. It helps me to recharge, and "fill my cup" as Rick says (smart guy, that man of mine!). This past week was no exception.

I decided to take a week off from blogging as well, but now I'm back and ready to share some of our adventures. I spent a lot of time loving on this guy:

Waiting in line for Midway Mania at Disney's California Adventure

We spent a few days down in San Diego at Seaport Village and Sea World.

We forgot our Sea World tickets in the hotel room (oops), but we were able to get them reprinted (thankfully) at the Guest Services window, since they had been purchased online and were under our names.

We also spent a couple of days enjoying our Disneyland Resort Annual Passes. We spent time at both parks, and Cooper got to do several NEW things - like Pirates of the Caribbean, and Midway Mania!

All through the rides, he kept saying "Mommy, this is fun!" with a huge smile on his face. Melted my heart, and I was so grateful to be able to take the time off to spend with him. He is talking like a "kid" now, not just like a toddler, and before I know it he will be off to Kindergarten. Is it just me, or do the days go by faster when you have kids?

We ate lunch on the Seal Beach Pier, had a few playdates and had some 3rd birthday photos done. I'll post some of those soon. I've been spending some time getting things together for the big birthday party. I'm so excited and can't wait to share the whole party with you!

What did you do on your summer vacation?

Posts coming up: Birthday photos, Allergies, and Adoption Fears...