If she had the proper words to say,

What do you make when you're invited to a birthday BBQ in the summer?

"Hot Off the Grill Cupcakes," of course!



I came across this idea in my latest issue (August/September) of Taste of Home magazine, and I thought it was just the cutest idea! The original decoration is shown on a brownie, rather than a cupcake, and topped with candies. However, I had some buttermilk I wanted to use up, so I opted to go with my Chocolate Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes (minus the icing and cherry buttercream) as the building block instead. I love the springy texture of this chocolate cake, and it's quickly become my go-to recipe for using up leftover buttermilk. I never have complaints when I give away cupcakes to all our neighbors and friends, either! *wink*

To make these oh-so-hot treats, you'll need the following:

• 2 dozen cupcakes (or brownies, as the original idea suggests)


• 1 can store-bought chocolate frosting (omit if using brownies)


• orange icing sugar


• 72 pieces Hot Tamales candy


• black royal icing (piping consistency)

( Click for more. )

You could jazz these up even more, too. Try some Hershey's Chocolate Drops™ to make tiny burgers, or small bits of red and yellow royal icing for ketchup/mustard accents. I can't wait to do more the next time I make these! :-D

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(As an aside, I'm ridiculously proud of the photos in this posting, as every single shot is "SOOC," or "straight-out-of-camera" with no post-processing at all. *squeee*)

We're becoming so lazy here in summer vacation. Honestly, "lazy" doesn't even cover it. We're averaging bedtimes around midnight-1am, and then getting up in the neighborhood of 10-11am. Lunch is usually around 3-4pm, and then dinner is pushed as well. We've eaten around 10pm the past four nights!

I woke up this morning at 9am, and I absolutely couldn't go back to sleep despite the super-quiet household. I got up, got dressed, started some laundry, and began a list of online to-do's. I got several things squared away, my desk cleaned up, and then finally the boys woke around 11am.

I spent at least TWO HOURS trying to relocate a recipe for blondies I've been wanting to try, and with no success. I remember being astonished that the recipe called for one whole pound of brown sugar, and I picked it up when I was shopping last week. In my uber-frustration, I finally succumbed to the next baking craving on my list: Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. They were very gooey and very yummy, even if not my first choice.

Jack had a friend in and out most of the afternoon. We really enjoy having Riley over - he's exactly Jack's age, and they are just two peas, you know? He's so very polite, too. He only lives four houses away, so they are constantly either in one of our houses or out on the block on scooters.

A.J. puttered around on his laptop for a while. He's been discovering the world of Weird Al Yankovic through videos on Youtube, and he's constantly giggling over the lyrics of one of the tunes. In turn, I've played several of the original songs that Weird Al parodied, and of course - A.J. likes the parodies better. *wink*

Unrelated to any of the above, I've been meaning to mention that, in a fit of boredom one night Philip was at work, I watched the first episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. It ended on a cliffhanger (oh noes! Buffy's trapped under a vampire in a coffin! How will she get to the other seven seasons?!), so I watched the second episode the next afternoon. Philip watched it with me, and once it was over, he flipped to select the third episode (Netflix, instant queue), but I stopped him. The acting is just so, so poor I couldn't imagine watching another second. I'm sure wendywoowho is gasping, and I know devi_pavarti may never speak to me again...

I've posted about it in passing a handful of times, but I've never made a post specifically for swim lessons. It's among those things I'd been "meaning to" for so, so long, but now I'll just pop in a bit of backstory as relevant to the picture post that I'm wanting to make.

The boys began taking swim lessons over a year ago - on May 1, 2007, in fact. As with every new 'first,' I did take along my camera for the event, and I took over 200 pictures that evening during their first lessons. (Hey, I had to document it well, as I needed to have lots of photographic evidence to email to Philip in Iraq, right?) I had tried to sign them up in March, but by the time I arrived at the Lied Center, all the spots were taken. The same thing happened to me in April, even though I went hours earlier on the special "sign-up day." Finally in May, I was at the Center right when the doors opened, and I secured them spots.

I had asked a few questions about level assignment when I was registering them, but the head swim instructor (Leslie) was not there, and the man who answered my questions wasn't really sure of anything specific. I told him the skills that each of the boys had, and he placed them in levels. As it turned out on the day of their first lesson, both boys were incorrectly placed.

I had enrolled Jack in the Preschool level because, well, he *was* in Preschool in May 2007. Not only that, but he'd never had any swim education before. A.J. had a bit over the summer of 2006, as Philip and I had made concerted efforts to teach him certain things, and so he began in Level 2. By the end of the first lesson, however, Jack was blowing his peers out of the water (no, not literally!), and so he was moved up into Level 1.

And they have made slow, steady progress. During the summer, they had swim lessons two nights as week, and on other days, I took them to the pool 2-3x/week as well. We had a LOT of swimming last year! During those heavily-watered months, the boys made better progress in lessons, having more of an opportunity to practice their skills. Once the school year began in August, we decided to keep them in swim lessons all year. We figured that it would be easier to keep their skills up to par (if they lapsed until summer again this year, they'd probably forget quite a bit), and they would have the opportunity to advance a bit more. During those school months, however, the Lied Center drops their lessons from twice a week down to just once - on Saturday mornings for 30 minutes.

So, after nearly 14 months of swim lessons, Jack and A.J. are now in Levels 3 and 4, respectively. We anticipate Jack passing Level 3 at the end of this month, as he passed his "mock test" on the second-to-last lesson last month, but then decided to goof around during the real test. *shakes head* He was pretty disappointed to learn his results, and I think he learned a valuable lesson in that. We're not sure yet whether A.J. will advance to Level 5 after this month, or whether he'll need another round still. Either way, he absolutely adores swimming lessons, and we're happy that he does.

Whereas Jack has currently picked soccer as his sport of choice, A.J. has his eyes set on swimming. We've promised him that once he finishes all six levels offered at the Lied Center, we will then enroll him in the Bellevue Swim Club for competitive swimming. He is so stoked for that day to come!

And it has been so very nice this year to know that the boys are fully independent in the water. Last summer, it was tough on me all the many times I took them swimming: Jack wasn't quite good enough to swim unsupervised by me (even with lifeguards all around), which meant that I couldn't really enjoy seeing A.J. swim on his own. Not only that, but our favorite pool has two special waterslides, and Jack was 1/2" too short to ride them on his own. Of course, the waterslides were his favorite part, and because I had to ride with him each and every time (picture about 20 times each swimming day!), I missed so much of what A.J. was doing - I couldn't see *him* go down the slides, I only caught a handful of his jumps from the diving boards (and it was his first summer to attempt the high-dive, too!), and I couldn't really see his "free play" in the shallower ends. And because Philip was deployed, there really was only me most of the time, and I just don't split well enough in two. *sigh*

Not this year, however. For one thing, Philip and I can both be there. For another, the boys are BOTH now fully independent in the water. By the end of Level 2 in swim lessons, children have mastered the concepts of the basic freestyle. A.J. has spent the last two levels working on different strokes and technique perfection, and Jack has done the same and is now almost two levels past that as well. While being able to swim proficiently allows you access to the diving boards, there is still a height requirement for the waterslides. Thankfully, Jack has grown almost 1-1/2" since last summer, so he now can do that on his own as well!

We first went to the pool this past Tuesday night. Jack was a belly full of butterflies as he approached the height-checking pole, but when it became clear that he was plenty tall enough, you could see his HUGE grin from a hundred feet away, I'll bet! He was so proud to sport the new "adult" band on his wrist that we now all get to wear. :-)

And, being that it was a 'first' occasion, I had my camera in tow. I took tons of pictures, including those of Jack's first solo slides, his first jumps off the high-dive, and also playing in the water. I was so proud of him. And the difference is so evident in A.J.'s skill once he's set free in loose waters (the lessons are very controlled, so it's hard to get a good idea of what your child can *really* do) - he's phenomenal! His strokes are spot-on, and it was so amazing to watch him beeline across the pool!

But for now, I'll shut up about the lessons and the swimming and leave you with several pictures. :-)


Jack at the very end of the 'Curvy Slide.'

( And many more! )

The boys picked out a card last week sometime for Philip, and they had each spent some time signing it. Jack was particularly proud of writing and addressing the card to Philip ("Dad") on the front of the envelope by himself. He also stuck the Hallmark seal on the back of the envelope. ;-)

Inside the card, I had printed out two emails detailing my gift to him. I purchased him two tickets to see Alan Jackson at the Mid-America Center on August 1st. I knew he would be stoked. I waited all week, pouncing on the mailbox and hoping that the tickets would arrive so I could pack them into the card. When they didn't, I printed my confirmation information instead - ah, well.

Alan Jackson is easily among Philip's top five favorite singers (country or otherwise). He's also his dad's favorite singer (which is partly why he is so close to Philip's heart, I'm sure). While I would like to see him and I do enjoy most of his songs... well, I've kinda grown a bit tired of him lately. Still, it's no fun to see a concert by yourself, so I bought two tickets (though not three, because yikes - it was already $126 for just two!). We won't tell him yet (because he'd end up gloating before August, I'm sure), but I think A.J. will be going to see the concert with him. That will be a fun, fun time, I'm sure, and it's a "win" situation: Philip will get to share one of his and Papa George's favorites with his own son, A.J. will get special one-on-one time with his dad, he knows a BUNCH of the songs that could be sung at the concert, and hey - it'll be one more "A.J." at the "A.J." concert! (Alan Jackson is frequently referred to as "A.J." in country music.)

After we all finished up weeding at Runza, Brett left his shift early, and invited us to his apartment pool. I'd been talking about swimming after weeding earlier (I was ROASTING outside in the sun for hours, and a cool pool sounded perfect), but by the time I finished, we'd have only had an hour to swim before the regular pool closed. His apartment pool stayed open until 9pm, though. We dashed home, changed into swimsuits, and hurried over to Brett's apartment. He had said that the pool was always full whenever he saw it, but we must've timed things just right - there were only two other kids in the pool, and they were about the ages of A.J. and Jack. Amazing! We all had a blast playing and swimming for the next two hours, right up until the pool closed. Then we hung out in the apartment for a bit, drying off more fully and snacking on some popcorn and drinks.

We got home late, and the boys went straight to bed. I took a long shower, scrubbing all the sunscreen, sweat and grime off, as well as all the chlorine. Once I got out, I was able to fully see all 19 of my new bug bites. *shakes head* I hope Runza appreciates my work. ;-)

I didn't get to call my dad today. I could have just now, but it was already almost midnight on the East Coast by the time I got out of my shower. That seemed wrong, so I will try to catch him tomorrow on my day off.

We've had the same yard toys for YEARS. Not only that, but we've always stored them outside in big buckets like these, and each spring we have to clean out the rainwater that has accumulated (along with mildew/algae) from the toys. We always end up tossing some of our toys. Finally, this year, we've gotten smart, and we shopped around for a bit before purchasing a new, keep-the-toys-dry Deck Box last night - this one. Yay!

I've also been replenishing our outdoor toy supply. Currently, these Sticky Paddles are the boys' favorite new thing! I just bought them yesterday, and they played with them last night in the house, this morning before school, and they were both hounding me to play with them as soon as I picked them up from school... and we were all still in the car! Not too shabby for just $3.99, right?

Among some other toys I've picked up are these items:

- Bocce set
- a new Dodgeball (we'll probably pick up a couple more of these)
- a new Diggin frisbee
- SuperSoaker water guns
- two bright, colorful pinwheels for the yard
- new sand buckets, plus digging toys
- water buckets

And, of course, new sunscreen. ;-)

I was awakened last night around 4:30am from a very real dream. From that point forward, I had difficulties sleeping, as my stupid cold/allergies would cause me to rasp over dry chokes for no reason when I would inhale.

And you know, inhaling is a rudimentary, albeit necessary, step in BREATHING.

I ran out of sweet tea and cough syrup in the night. Both help to "coat" my throat, so I had only cough drops left as a vice. I hesitate to use cough drops while I'm to be sleeping, for fear of waking up with green, spearminted hair.

Last night, it just didn't even matter. I used 'em anyway.

Today, I am making it through, though only because I am trying not to talk. Or yawn. Or cough, or anything else that possibly would allow fresh, dry-feeling air to hit my throat. And I have to run out for more cough syrup, cough drops, milk and other things very soon. I also need to make a new batch of sweet tea.

I need a swimsuit, too. I don't feel like setting up the waterslide today, as I'm doing it tomorrow (playdate!), so swimming sounds like a better option. But my swimsuit is quite risqué, so I need to shop for a new one first. And it's almost 3pm already. Plus I worry about choking to death over that inevitable wash of chlorine-water going down my throat on the first slide run.

A good, hard boffing sounds great too, but not by myself, and I wouldn't be able to breathe through it anyway. *sigh*

I talked about it before, but I put up the Banzai Falls waterslide for the first time this summer on Friday. It was also the first time since we've lived in this house (we moved here in November), so we had to scout a good location first.


Set-up complete.

I decided on the mostly flat area to the right of our swingset, but not too far from the embankment leading up to the property-line fencing. It was a perfect spot to easily see from the house, too - I took that picture while standing under one of our trees not too far from our picnic table.

( Several more of the waterslide fun. )

I told the boys on the way home from their last day of summer school that I thought today was a good day to finally set up the Banzai Falls for the first time.

They heartily agreed, of course.

And it really is. It's fiercely hot, but it's not too windy. And we have no other plans or engagements for the rest of today, so they can be out there until they keel over from exhaustion. Or until it's too dark to see, maybe.

But... *dreads* It's not setting it up that's a problem - that part is quick and easy. It's taking it all down by myself later on that is an issue.

*sigh*

Even so, I'm off to decide on a good location in the backyard (since this is the first time to set this up since we moved here last fall), and there should be waterworks soon.

So the boys are playing in water for the first time this year. They're running around underneath the sprinkler. To use said sprinkler, I first had to find it. When the movers packed us in November, they tossed all our water play stuff into one gigantic box. And of course, the sprinkler was underneath the old baby pool, the two Slip 'n Slides *and* the waterslide. At the very bottom of the box, in other words.

So now the boys are running under the water, and I have a fun task to look forward to: restoring order to my shed now that I've dragged half the contents out just to find the sprinkler.

Oh, and there are pics. :-)

I dropped A.J. off at school this morning and came back home and tried to sleep a bit more. I shouldn't have even tried, as my rest was fitful and filled with sad thoughts instead.

I got up and got dressed. I got Jack dressed, and I woke Philip up. We took him to work, and then we ran a few errands. We ate lunch while we were out, and then we came home again. Jack received another birthday present in the mail - a Cars racetrack. We put that together and raced each other for half an hour or so before it was time to pick up Philip from work. We ran some more errands, and then I dropped him and Jack off at home. Philip began mowing the yard, and I went to pick up A.J. from school.

I dropped A.J. off at home, and he and Jack began racing each other. They haven't stopped since, in fact. :-) I went to Hallmark for some cards and to Nobbies to place the balloon order for A.J.'s party. I found some Hogwarts tattoos while I was there, and that cheered me up immensely. I'm dying to don my new Slytherin tattoo!

We're heading over to Ryan's (Philip's manager and friend from Runza) condo tonight to swim in their pool and cook out. They're grilling hot dogs and such, and we're bringing the ice. After swimming, we're heading out to Chris's house for some 4-wheelin'. The boys have never ridden 4-wheelers before, so I'll be taking the camera.

Speaking of cameras, I have to mail mine good one back to Canon tomorrow. I'm sad about that, but I am glad that they will be able to fix it.

And I've got a friend to see Snakes on a Plane with me on Thursday night now. I'm uber-excited about that. Heather2's husband Andy is going to go with me, and she's going to stay here at my house. The showing is at 10pm, and the boys go to bed at 9pm, so she'll have an easy time here, I'm sure. SoaP!

Wow, this entry really has its ups and downs, doesn't it?