and now he is six!

Happy 6th Birthday to the little man who made me a mommy for the first time!



The last 6 years have been more incredible than I ever imagined them to be.



Because the baby was also due in December, we wanted to be sure that Xavier had a special day to celebrate his 6th birthday. The first weekend in December he invited two buddies from his class out to Gattitown which is a place that has video games and cool stuff like indoor bumper cars. We had pizza and I brought cupcakes. The boys had a blast!








(These cupcakes were really, really good! One of the best I've had. Get the recipe here!)

Luckily, the baby came before Xavier's birthday so we also got to celebrate on his actual birthday. Here he is the morning of the 19th. Doesn't he look six?


He requested homemade pizza, broccoli with cheese and and Iron Man eclair cake.


Not my finest work but I just had a baby 5 days prior...that's a valid excuse right?



He opened many wonderful cards and gifts from family, so thank you again everyone. He is very appreciative! The one thing that he kept asking for was a pet (especially since he found out that his cousin Grace had one and she is younger than he is.) We thought that we would go with a fish as a good (read low maintenance) place to start. Xavier had a treasure hunt with clues like a fish net and food before he found the tank that was filled with water but empty. Steve thought that it would be more fun to have Xavier pick out his own fish. So off they went to the pet store to get fish #1.



Yes, your read that right. Fish #1 lasted about 3 hours when Xavier came to me and said that his fish (still nameless) "was upside down and the bottom of the tank just looking at me with his eyeball." Yikes! That never sounds very good. So Xavier started to ask Steve a million questions about what what was wrong with the fish and before Steve could think he said "It's DEAD!!!" Nice job, Daddy....that was subtle. A few tears later and back to the pet store with dead fish in the bag they went and returned with this



Xavier eventually named the fish "Goldie" (he definitely gets his creativity from his father) after about 3 days. He also was afraid to have the fish back in his room the first night for fear of this one dying too. He came downstairs the next morning and Steve had him look at it and report back to him in effort to have him get over the fear. However, Steve did check on the fish earlier to be certain that it was NOT upside down for Xavier to find again.

To sum it all up Xavier said "even though my fish died it was still the BEST birthday ever!" Mission accomplished:)

a little fun on the fourth

To celebrate the 4th of July we got a few fireworks for the boys this year. They were SO excited but didn't even really know what to expect. We did the fireworks on the evening of the 3rd. While we waited for it to get dark the boys ran around catching fireflies.



They started off with some "snap-its" and loved the noise they made when they threw them at the ground.



Time for the "big" stuff:)







On the 4th we were invited to a cookout and fireworks at our friend's house. In addition to fresh berries and jalapeno poppers (similiar recipe here), I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. It was festive and good:)





Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 stick Butter
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoons Almond Extract
1 whole Egg
1-¼ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and extracts on medium speed until well combined. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides combined. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg. Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until combined.

Put the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch round cake pan. Smooth the batter into an even layer and bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes. Cool for 4 hours before cutting. Store in a cake carrier or simply wrap the cake pan in cellophane.

I pretty much made the recipe as is except maybe added a few more chocolate chips...I used the mini ones and baked it my springform pan and it came out of the pan perfectly!

We had a very nice holiday weekend!

my big boy turns 5!!!

Xavier turning 5 was a big deal to both he AND I! For him, it means really being a big boy and closer to loosing his teeth (which he is pretty much obsessed with but has zero loose teeth). For me, it means that he is no longer my baby and that he is closer to growing into too big of a boy. The fact that I can still lift him and cuddle him are 2 things that I will sadly miss when they are gone!!! BUT that won't be for a very long time so I am not going to worry about that today:) Xavier is a joy and a blessing and I am so happy that he made me a MOM. It is and was the best Christmas gift I have ever been given.

We celebrated his b-day earlier in the month with some friends and family. For that he requested cupcakes AND cake. I made him choose between the two and he decide on this....



For his actual birthday he requested a Batman cake. Great, I thought. Frost the cake, stick an action figure in it and call it a day!! When I ran my idea by the b-day boy, it was not what he envisioned. "I thought you could draw a Batman on the cake Mom!" Sure ...why not??? Of course that is what you want. So I drew Batman for the 698th time this month on the cake. We did a sketch on a piece of paper beforehand; deciding what colors were going where. The spikes on his glove must be blue and so is the cape. Don't forget the yellow for his belt.... "Can I give him a smile?" I asked. No...just do a line for the mouth, I was told. Here he is!




Instead of cake, I made an eclair cake which has been in the Noe family for a long time.

ECLAIR CAKE

1 (1 lb.) box graham crackers
2 sm. pkg. instant French vanilla pudding
4 c. milk
1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

Butter bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan, line with graham crackers. Mix pudding with the milk. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Blend in Cool Whip. Pour half the mixture over graham crackers, then place second layer of crackers over pudding. Pour remaining pudding mixture over, and cover with more crackers. Refrigerate for 2 hours, then frost.

FROSTING FOR ECLAIR CAKE:

2 1 oz. pkg. pre-melted unsweetened chocolate
2 T. white Karo corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla
3 T. softened butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. milk

Beat all ingredients until smooth; spread over cake. Refrigerate 24 hours.We used chocolate pudding per Xavier's request:)

THANK YOU family for all of the wonderful gifts you sent for Xavier. Each was very much appreciated by the birthday boy. Here are some opening pics.



A funny comment when Xavier opened his card from MN Aunt Mary. "Oh!!!! Dollars!!! Will these spend at Wendy's????"

Legos from Grandpa and Grandma Lein


Cool space projector from Aunt Aimee


Scooter from "Grandma from MN"


We also carried on the tradition of letting the birthday person choose dinner. We made chicken nuggets and fries AND green beans.

Happy Birthday to Xavier!

a super birthday celebration

We had a fun time celebrating Dax's 3rd birthday. Dax picked his theme and we ran with it:)He also chose the menu of cheeseburgers, pineapple and strawberries and Cheetos. Mommy threw a few extra items of her own in there too:) Steve's whole family from Cincinnati came to celebrate with us.





Dax wanted chocolate cake so I made and decorated a zucchini chocolate cake. I used this recipe . I believe this was the recipe that my mom used to make years ago and it is one of my all time favorites. It makes such a moist cake.









We all had a wonderful time!

On Sunday, his actual birthday we went to the pumpkin patch after Mass.
The boys were really wanting their pictures taken here....not!



The boys had a great time playing and running around.






After the pumpkin patch we had more presents more cake! Dax had a wonderful birthday and received so many nice things. Thanks all of you who helped make it special!!

mom's carrot cake

I really have no idea where my mom got this carrot cake recipe but it is really my favorite one. It is easy, very moist and simply delicious. NO pineapple, raisins or other craziness...just straight up carrot cake the way it was meant to be...with plenty of cream cheese icing of course!

Carrot Cake
2 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. oil
2 c. pureed carrots
4 eggs
2 c. grated carrots
2 c. flour
2 t. soda
2 t. cinnamon
3/4 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Using your mixer, combine sugar, oil, pureed carrots. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each egg. Add grated carrots and mix until combined. Add flour, soda and cinnamon. Mix until the flour mixture is incorporated. Add nuts. Grease and flour 2 nine inch cake rounds. Bake at 350 for about 40 mins or until the center is set and sides start to pull away from the pan. Do not over bake as no one likes a dry carrot cake:) Cool for 10 mins in cake pans and then turn out on wire rack to cool completely. Frost with your favorite cream cheese icing.

* I think the original recipe called for jarred baby food carrots which I still find thoroughly disgusting even after having 2 kids. A much better and cost effective solution is to steam the carrots and then use your food processor or blender to make the puree. Even if I make a little too much puree, I just add it and cut back on the grated carrots:)

**I also add 1/2 t. salt and 1 t. vanilla for flavor.

*** I don't really chop my nuts as I like to have large chunks in the cake....just my personal preference.

Cream Cheese Icing
12 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
4 c. powdered sugar

Using electric mixer, beat 12 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter and vanilla extract in large bowl until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.


I made this particular cake for dinner guests and although it looks lovely, I did slightly over bake this one. It still tasted good but was not the utterly moist cake that it usually is. So I apologize to the dinner guests (who may be reading this and laughing) and encourage you to try this one as it will live up to the moistness that I have been raving about. But you may want to omit the nuts as a certain someone (who was very gracious and did not complain) is not a fan of them:)


On a different note... those carrots are very cute aren't they???



Enjoy and invent a reason to celebrate and make cake!