Reasons Why I Won't Be Asked on the Show Cupcake Wars Anytime Soon

So JV game me this amazing cupcake recipe to try. It sounded utterly delicious and high fat which is what all "good" cupcakes should be. I decided, what the heck I will try it out. The boys were gone and I turned on The Wiggles for Leah. Fast forward three hours later...

I could never ever go on that show Cupcake Wars because I can't take the high stress, rush atmosphere and I don't have the cupcake training, but I sure gave it 100% effort this morning. This recipe called for a gazillion ingredients and a TON of butter! 3 sticks of butter went into the cupcake batter plus half a stick for the filling inside the cupcakes and another half in the frosting...YIKES!

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes...almost done!

Frosted! The frosting turned out a bit more soupy than I had hoped, but I threw them in the fridge and it hardened perfectly.

Now if I had been on Cupcake Wars there would be someone to clean up this mess for me.

The cupcakes were an utter hit and I have to say they were pretty darn tasty!

Seth's BIG Surprise!

We have desperately been trying to find time to take Seth to the Rochester Science Museum because they have been running a a special dinosaur exhibit. Since dinosaur is Seth's middle name these days we really wanted to take him. It came down to the last week of the exhibit and Roland decided to surprise Seth. So he picked him up at school on Friday and they were off. They spent many hours at the museum and then spent the evening with Aunt Sheryl and Aunt Jessie. Seth had an utter blast being the center of attention for the day and night.

At night they all went bowling and after Seth went to bed they ordered food from this amazing restaurant called The Distillery. The boys came home late this morning and had all sorts of stories to share.

They're BACK!

I broke out some old DVDs for Leah to dance to and I found The Wiggles. Seth used to be obsessed with them and Leah loved them instantly too!

It took Seth no time at all to get right back into The Wiggles dance mode!

Life Changing Decisions

Decisions Decisions Decisions... On the Roland front: I guess we wouldn't title them "life changing" if they weren't serious right? But, why do they have to be so hard? We weigh all of the pros and cons, but yet still can't seem to make the "right" decision or even come to a decision. We need some guidance or a sign to help us make the right choice. On the Jen front: Why are teaching jobs so damn hard to find? Why does NYS have to be in such a financial crisis? Why isn't TI closer to Syracuse? This would solve a problem. On the Seth front: Why did he have to grow so damn fast? This mom is not ready to let him walk into some strange and huge building where he doesn't know anyone and leave. What is the best environment for him? On the Leah front: Why the heck can't this brilliantly smart nonverbal little girl TALK? Why won't she even try? Where does she get this stubbornness from? Why are kids favorite words NO? Come on Leah we know you can do just about anything without words, but let's start trying a little more! These are just a few of the things on the minds of The Charlton Family! WHY WHY WHY!!!

FOSPA Night

Last night we took Seth to Knickerbocker for his kindergarten parent night. Tears were shed and I definitely think that I am having a much harder time with this and Seth seems unphased. He was a little nervous at first, but warmed right up. We met many kind people and had a great evening all together!

Seth brought home a sunflower that he planted and he is very excited to water it and hopefully watch it grow into something beautiful!

No matter what age you are we support you!

On order..a Livestrong t-shirt for Beaner too!

Check out our little men meeting The Bishop!

It's Finally Spring!

The warm weather is finally approaching and we are taking full advantage of every moment we can outside. We hit the playground on Friday as soon as we got home.

I soon came to the realization that Leah is madly in love with swinging and she cries hysterically when I take her out of the swing. I'm talking full on tantrum! Looks like I will be spending lots of time swinging Leah this summer. Seth had a blast in general getting outside and running around.

Check me out Mom!

SNIRT Run 2011

It's that time of year again. The time when grown men like to go and play in the mud. Roland works so hard and puts in so many hours during the week that it makes me happy to send him off for a day or two or three and let him go and do manly things. ha ha! This weekend was the annual SNIRT (snow ice dirt) Run in the Tug Hill area. Rod was out of town this year, but gladly lent his four wheeler to Zeke who couldn't have been more excited to go for the first time.

The one snag was that we only currently have a single trailer. Thank goodness they call my husband the "Mayor of Watertown" for good reason. The guy knows so many people through his family and Pepsi that he was able to borrow a double trailer for the event. Friday night the prep began. How the heck are we going to get these two wheelers on this trailer with the seats on the back? After about an hour of trial and error he figured it out and was ready for Saturday morning to arrive.

Unloaded and ready to go!

Zeke looks like a natural.

Pure bliss!

Ahh the life!

Multi-tasking

Zeke broke the four wheeler in by getting it stuck in a little snow.

I guess Zeke was super excited to get to ride so close to the wind mills. Who wouldn't be. When Jen and I joined the boys a few years ago on a run we couldn't get over how amazing they were up close.

Just a few people attended..ha ha!

Looking a little dusty and muddy...a man's dream!

The final stop...the car wash!

This picture is specifically for Rod. Thanks so much for letting Zeke borrow your wheeler. They missed you though.

PS ~ Thanks to Lisa for letting Zeke go too! You should get a four wheeler and we can all go on the next run!

Random Fact Friday

I'm going to start a new segment called "Random Fact Friday". I think about myself and my family often on my rides to and from work daily. Everyone in the world has quirks, don't say that you don't! Kristen, Laurie, Becky and I learned a ton about each others quirks last weekend so I started thinking about the random quirks that make up my wonderful family. Once a week I will try and share some of our strange quirks for you. Everyone needs a laugh by Friday! SETH ~ Seth goes to bed every night with a full set of jammies on, but somehow between the time we put him to bed and the time we come back up and check on him he has taken said jammies off, folded them and put them on the bathroom sink. I'm not sure why, but I decided not to even buy him summer jammies this year. At least he is considerate enough to fold them. LEAH ~ Leah currently sleeps with four blankets and three stuffed animals. If one is missing we are in trouble because somehow she knows. ROLAND ~ This one might gross you out...Roland puts Italian dressing on top of his baked ziti. It totally turns my stomach each and every time we have it. JEN ~ I sleep with ear plugs in. When Roland and I started dating he snored like you can't even imagine so I could not sleep at all. I got in the habit of sleeping with ear plugs and I'm totally addicted now. Can I just say that I sleep fantastic! In my defense...when the kids were babies I would only sleep with one in so I could hear them. Weird, but true! Happy Quirky Friday! Until next week...

I almost forgot the best part of our evening with my grandparents... I'm in the kitchen working on dinner and I heard Seth yelling. I mean he is yelling loud! So I rush into the living room to see him standing right in front of my Gramp yelling. I ask Seth why he is yelling and his response is (with attitude no less) "Mom, I have to yell or else Great Grandpa can't hear me." 1. My Gramp has state of the art hearing aides. 2. Just because you are old doesn't mean that you enjoy being yelled at by a 5 year old. 3. Thank god my Gramp has patience and loves my kids so much!

Quality Time

My grandparents just celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary this past weekend so when they said that they had to be in town for an appointment I took the opportunity to tell them to come on over for dinner. They both love to spend time with the kids and I love to see them period. I walked into our living room and found my grandfather on the floor. No, he didn't fall. Who knew that an 84 year old man with a plastic hip and a heart machine could get down on the floor to play ball with Seth and snuggle with Rocky?? I want to be just like him at that age and I love that he still has the spirit that he has!

Now, it wouldn't be a visit to our house without dressing my Gram up somehow. We decided that she needed a princess crown this trip. What a good sport she is! We love you Gram and Gramp!

Sweet Rewards

So I had a kick butt weekend in the city, but I definitely didn't come home empty handed. At one point in the trip I had bought a ton of goodies for the kids and nothing but food for myself. That quickly changed once we stopped at the outlets in PA on the way home, but nonetheless I came home with heaps of summer clothes for the kids and some sweet treats as well! Here are a few pics of the kids enjoying their cupcakes from Crumbs.

Did I mention that my pants have been extremely tight all week and yet I was right on the Crumbs website this week learning how to order cupcakes online?

PS...I'm also going to zumba tonight to work on the pants situation!

Thank You!

Great big thank yous go out to all three Smith sisters for a truly memorable and amazing weekend! Kristen ~ Thank you for being my best friend, for always being willing to go anywhere and do anything with me and to basically experience life with me. All 9 hours total of the trip flew by because we can talk for hours on end about any and everything. Thank you for sharing your family me with and for making me an honorary sister for the weekend. I felt truly blessed and I can't wait to do it again next year on our 2nd Annual NYC Girls Weekend Adventure! Laurie ~ Where do I even begin to start??? Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for opening your home and letting me stay with you. Thank you for making it possible to fulfill a life long dream by going to The Melting Pot. Thank you for your amazing generosity and for taking us to dinner not once, but twice and for all of the little side things that you did to make this weekend truly amazing. You are a wonderful, kind and generous person and I am so lucky to have been able to meet you and spend time with you over these past four years. To many more fabulous times together. Becky ~ Thank you for taking time this weekend to spend with us. Thank you for getting us a kick butt hotel room and for being our tour guide through the city. You are so easy to talk to and thank you for being my food partner in crime this weekend. Thank you also for all the goodies for the kids and for us to take home. Seth was thrilled that The Candy Man remembered him! I can't wait to come back again next year and see what we can discover together in that big bad city! I say we hit some different food trucks! I'm up for the taco truck definitely!

Check it Off the Bucket List

I am totally a foodie at heart so there are certain items on my "bucket list" that have to do with food and since Laurie lives in NJ and we were staying with her Friday night I asked right away if we could go to a Melting Pot restaurant on Friday night. Thank goodness all three Smith sisters that I was travelling with are also foodies and were up for the fun!

We started out with a pitcher of Sangria...AMAZING!

We decided to go for the full fondue feast which consisted of a cheese course, salad course, meat and veggies course and finally a chocolate course. Three hours later they needed to roll us out of the restaurant and thank goodness we walked all day long on Saturday thought he streets of NYS to help burn off the previous nights dinner.

We decided on spinach and artichoke cheese fondue to start with and it was prepared table side.

They served it with green apples, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, french bread and chips as dippers.

It was super cheesy!

Our meat and veggie course consisted of pork loin, two kinds of steak, chicken, shrimp and ravioli plus mushrooms, broccoli and potatoes.

They also gave you 6 different dipping sauces and two kinds of tempura.

Beyond delicious!

Dessert consisted of the following plate and we chose a milk chocolate and peanut butter fondue.

Look how tired we are! It was one of the best dining experiences of my life. Truly memorable!

Sorry Becky this was too funny to not share with the world!