Zac's 5th Birthday

I've posted so many Smiles the last few days that I figured it was time to break things up a bit. Don't get me wrong, you can never laugh too much, but today we can Smile at cute pictures of a little boy, instead of the cute things the little boy says. And since I've been in the catching-up-on-posts mood, I figured I would finish up a post I started a while ago: Zac's 5th birthday. Yes, he turned 6 a few months ago. This is an oldie, but a goodie.

Happy 5th Birthday, Zac!

The birthday child always gets to pick breakfast. Zac chose buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup, topped off with fresh whipped cream and sprinkles. Certainly not healthy, but how often do you get a birthday anyway?
 

We dropped off the other kids with my parents and spent the rest of the day together celebrating him. The kids and I look forward to their Special Day every year. I love having one-on-one time with each of them and they love choosing the agenda. 

Birthday boy's choice for lunch? McDonalds. 

 

After lunch, we made a stop at the dollar store where Zac picked out a new school workbook, markers, and a toy.

What would a Special Day be without a Toys 'R Us birthday crown and balloon? We threw in a red Hulk, just for fun.

At home, we assembled the new LEGO set he picked out at the store and then watched the LEGO Movie together.

On the way to pick up the other kiddos, we grabbed Slurpees for everyone.  I always like to bring back a treat for the others so no one feels left out.
 

Zac picked homemade personal pizzas for dinner and chocolate cake with blue buttercream frosting for dessert.

And, of course, no Leaf birthday is complete without a LEGO birthday present!

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet, tenderhearted, selfless, loving boy.

Two-And-A-Half and Twenty-Six Days

Zac turned 2½ years old . . . 26 days ago. I'd like to say that I'm just really late in getting this posted, but honestly, we were just really late in celebrating. Somehow, amidst all the hustle and bustle of life, I completely forgot about it. Maybe subconsciously I thought if I just ignored it, he wouldn't actually get older. Maybe time would stand still, and my babies wouldn't grow up so fast. Wishful thinking? Definitely. 

It was my mom that pointed out that Zac's half birthday had passed a few days prior. Since Jake keeps pretty good tabs on everyone's special days, we couldn't just skip the celebration. So, celebrate we did. And no one even seemed to mind that we were 26 days late. 

The kids always get to pick breakfast on their real and half birthdays. And they always pick pancakes. 

Always.

Corn on the cob??? Yep, Zac could not be convinced that he wanted pancakes or even waffles for breakfast. Trust me, Jake tried.

There's an educational site that we're currently reviewing. The youngest level is for preschoolers, but I've been working on the activities with Zac. He's doing so well and has fun doing it. After sitting on my lap for a few minutes, he told me, "I do it myself." 

We played, read a bunch of books, went to Jake's soccer game, and of course, made cupcakes. Caramel brownie cupcakes, to be exact.

The half-birthday-er always gets one present.

Do you know how long it took me to wrap that crazy package? Much longer than it took him to unwrap it.

His Stick-A-Doodle was a big hit. He loves to draw, especially on the dry erase board. This pack came with 10 reusable, re-stickable sheets and 4 markers. The kids had fun sticking (like static cling) the sheets around the house and creating masterpieces.

Happy Half-Birthday, little Zachy! You are constant energy, always happy, very loving, a little brute, and so silly. We love you bunches!

Tasty Tuesday: Butterfingers

What do you buy people who have everything? Or, when there is actually something they want, they just go out and buy it themselves.

That is the dilemma we experience with my parents. They are the hardest people to buy for. Oh, it's not that they're ungrateful. Far from it. They are the most giving people. Ever. And they want nothing in return.

My dad recently celebrated a birthday. And as always, we asked, "What are going to get him???" There's always the Barnes & Noble gift card option. He does a lot of reading. A lot of reading. People often give him gift cards so we wanted to pick something different this time. Another gift we often fall back on is dress shirts. Between work (he's a chiropractor) and church, my dad wears a lot of dress shirts. My mom suggested we go this route. But a couple of dress shirts (they have to be Staffords from Penney's) just seemed so boring . . . and typical. 

Then I thought of Butterfingers. They are his favorite candy. In fact, it's really the only candy he ever eats. There is always a bag of fun size bars in the freezer. Somehow, they taste even better frozen. Instead of just picking up a bag from the store, I thought, "Hmm, I bet there's a recipe to make them myself." And you know what? There is! So that's just what we did.

I looked at the recipe in 4 different places. And while the ingredients were always the same, I found 4 different variations for the ratio of them. After comparing and brainstorming, I settled on my own ratio.


The first ingredient is probably not what you would expect.

Candy corn.

Candy corn?

Yep. Candy corn.

Wait, do they sell candy corn in the spring???

Surprisingly, I found 3 containers full of candy corn in the bulk section of Meijer. Three whole containers 6 months after Halloween! Either these candies are really stale or the store keeps them stocked year-round.

I'm hoping it's the latter.

 Melt them down and admire the pretty colors.

Add some peanut butter.

Peanut butter and candy corn???

Just trust me.

Mix it all together and admire the pretty colors again.

Plop the mixture into a pan lined with wax paper and let cool.

If you're totally intrigue to find out if candy corn and peanut butter really taste like a Butterfinger and you can't wait for it to cool, go ahead and scrap some off the spoon. I give you permission.

Cut up your bars. A real Butterfinger is about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide, but with sloped ends.

Yes, I measured.

Yes, I'm compulsive like that.

Melt your chocolate.

I prefer candy melts because they melt and coat better than chips, but I didn't have any.

But I always have chocolate chips! I melted the chips in a makeshift double boiler (pan with a couple inches of water with a metal bowl resting in it.) I also added about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to thin the chocolate and make it easier to coat. 

Coat your bars with the chocolate.

If you have any leftover chocolate, put it in a small dish and hand it and some mini marshmallows to your kids. They'll think you're the coolest mom.

Finally, time for a comparison!

Pretty similar in size.

Comparable in shape.

A couple shades off in color.

Almost double the thickness. (I changed the pan size in my directions.)

Filling color is spot on.

Texture is crunchy, yet chewy.

Taste?

Taste???

Taste is nearly identical! Oh, it's crazy. The chocolate is a tad too rich (just like when we made the mock Girl Scout peanut butter patties), but the filling tastes like the real thing. It's no wonder the kids love them. Jake even asked if we could make them every week. Yeah, they're good. Crispy, crunchy, peanut-buttery!


A couple of boring dress shirts and yummy homemade Butterfingers - happy birthday, Dad!



Butterfingers
Ingredients:
2 cups candy corn
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips or candy melts

Directions:
1. Melt candy corn in microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Continue to heat for 15 second intervals, stirring each time, until completely melted.
2. Add peanut butter and mix until combined.
3. Pour mixture into an 9x13 inch pan lined with wax paper. Let cool for 1 hour.
4. Cut into bars
5. Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. Coat bars with chocolate and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet to set.

Alyssa's 4th Birthday Day

I already shared about our Mommy-Daughter Day to celebrate Alyssa's 4th birthday, but here is how we celebrated her actual birthday day.

It seems that we start each special day with pancakes. I think the kids associate pancakes with celebrations. This time, I colored the batter a pinkish-purple with food coloring and added chocolate chips. Alyssa was a little disappointed when she saw that I made plain ol' circles instead of party hats or something else festive, but she quickly got over it when she saw me top them with whipped cream and star sprinkles.

When we ran out of whipped cream, she asked for ice cream as a replacement. Ice cream for breakfast??? Of course! Who am I to deprive my princess of ice cream-topped pancakes on her birthday?

We all spent the day playing with toys and games of Alyssa's choosing. Multiple times, she told me, "I want to spend the day with you again." I think she liked having mommy to herself and not having to share my attention with her crazy brothers. It's always so special to have one-on-one time with your children. Of course, we also made these chocolate cupcakes and whipped vanilla frosting.

The real fun came when daddy got home from work. It was finally time to open presents!!!

She may have been a little excited to get a new stretchy headband and ribbon clip.

And she even may have been excited to get her new booster seat.

  And she was definitely excited to get a princess castle tent (though I didn't get a picture of her face when she opened it since her little brother was running all over and got in the way.)

My little girl is so sweet and loving, yet sassy and dramatic. She's my girly-girl in my sea of boys, but she can keep her own in a wrestling match. She loves to help and loves to cuddle. And ever since the beginning, she's had her daddy wrapped around her little finger.


Happy 4th Birthday, Princess! We love you so very much!

Zac's Second Birthday Party

We celebrated Zac's birthday a little early before my grandparents head down to Florida for the winter. It's been a year since I wrote this post describing his birth story. (What an amazing story it is! And I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm the mom.) I look back on that day, and I'm still in awe how God orchestrated so many events to fall perfectly in place. It still humbles me.

This little boy is the sweetest little thing. He loves to cuddle. He doesn't even complain when I kiss and smooch on his cheeks over and over again! He's very compassionate. Just an all-around sweetheart.

On the other hand, he loves to play rough with his siblings. He can take either of them down at any given moment. He loves to laugh and play. He especially likes to eat. He's a fantastic sleeper and asks to go to bed. He's rarely ever crabby.

We've had the privilege of knowing him for 2 years and look forward to many, many more.

Let the celebration begin!

 Waiting so patiently to open his presents. Oh, the anticipation!

 Here we go . . .

I don't know. Did he like his gifts?

 What do you think? Excited?

 How about now?

Yeah, pretty sure he loved them all.

 He also loved his Blue's Clues cake that his auntie made for him.

Then, he moved on to lick, er, eat the candle. He got a waxy biteful, made a face, and opened his mouth for more. Silly boy.

 He soon set his sights on something better though. (I love the look on Alyssa's face.)

Charlie Chaplin?

 It's like one big, personal cupcake.

Yep, I think the birthday boy had a pretty good time.

Happy Second Birthday, Zachy!

42 Months

We had reason to celebrate . . . Alyssa turned three-and-a-half!

We started the celebration with a nutritious delicious breakfast. We replaced our beloved letter-shaped pancakes with balloon ones and topped them with powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkles. (Hey, at least I overrode their choice of pop for a beverage!)

We spent the day reading books, putting together puzzles, playing the Wii, playing dress-up, and filling the house with the delicious smells from our play dough bakery, "Leafs' Treats." The pictures show our very own cinnamon rolls, strawberry pie, and apple pie (featuring 2 kinds of apples.) Also for sale in our bakery are cookies, rolls, cakes, doughnuts, and ice cream. We were very busy rolling, cutting, preparing, and baking. It was worth it! It was all sooo delicious!

 

We always give the half-birthday-ers one present. Alyssa was very happy to get clothes for her baby dolls. And for a total of $3.00, Mommy was pretty happy, too. 

Our little Sweetie Pie wanted personal pizzas for dinner. Fresh homemade dough, tons of cheese, and lots of favorite toppings - what could be better?


And for dessert?

Ice cream cones???

Nope! Ice cream cone cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles! Yummy!

Happy 3-and-a-half birthday, Alyssa! We've enjoyed calling you ours for 42 months. Looking forward to many, many more. 

Want to read about more half-birthdays?  Jake 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 (rainbow cupcakes), Alyssa 2 1/2 (cream-filled cupcakes).