The End Of Our Summer.

Well, it's Friday, this is the last weekend of our summer. It has been a pretty good summer for us and the boys. They got to go camping 2 times, one with us and our friends and the other time with my mom at the beach. We went an amusement park, hiking, and had a great 4th of July at the beach. They played with their friends and got new bikes. We went and saw movies and hung out at home. Overall it was good.

I think this weekend we will finish up school clothes shopping, get hair cuts, and go out to dinner. If we have time and all of our manners are minded we will go to the nickel arcade.

Oh and I found a great home decorating project that I think we all are gonna try.

You can find the details and instructions here and no that's not my pic, I don't think I could do nearly as well, but we will give it a go and I will post pics of that as well.

I am also gonna try to cook up something delicious and possibly chocolaty, so keep a look out for the recipe and pics later next week maybe around Wednesday.

Have a great weekend and please comment if you have the time!! Thanks!

Phew . . . I made it!

Well the weekend is almost here, and what a weekend I hope it will be. The boys start school on Tuesday, so this is their last summer weekend. We have some last minute school shopping to attend to and maybe a dinner out to celebrate the fact that they are another grade older. Then on Tuesday I will be seeing my little men off to 2nd and 4th grade. Awww . . .

When they first started school I was so excited that they were growing up and 1st grade seemed so cool. Now I realize how fast the years actually go, and pretty soon they will be in 7th grade and in Jr. High, then in 9th and in high school. Its hard to imagine that my oldest son only has 3 more grades to complete in elementary school. Yikes!

I want so much for them to grown up with a good heart and a strong mind. I don't want bullies, or the super shy kid (like me) I want them to explore all they can, yet try to remain safe while doing it.

So far so good. I have 2 wonderful sons. Zack my little blond haired chef. I can't cook anything without him on the counter. If he even hears the pots and pans making noise, then he is in the kitchen lickity split. He would rather watch the cooking channel then cartoons, which is actually a nightly semi-battle between the 2 of them. Johnathan would rather watch cartoons or some strange ninja warrior contest and Zack wants to watch Rachel Ray or Bobby Flay, and yes he knows all there names. Zack also love to vacuum, but don't be fooled by his love of cooking and cleaning, he is a boy all the way. We're talking big 4x4 trucks, and dirt, and flames, and anything with a skull on it. He is the perfect mix of naughty and nice. Johnathan is completely different than Zack. he doesn't much care for cooking but will occasionally help out. He doesn't like to clean much either (so far totally normal, right?) He like the Chinese warrior competitions on TV, and is really into all things Asian. He also wants to learn how to speak Tagalog and Chinese. I never thought I would have to tell a child "please put your homework away", but I do to him, all the time. He loves to do math problems, and just homework in general. He is very quick and likes to think that because he does so much homework and such that he just may be the smartest kid on the planet. Johnathan is a lover, he cares so much for other people. When he found out how some children in Africa had such a hard time, he actually cried about it. He poor little heart was broken for the lives of the other children he didn't even know. He is the perfect mix of sweet, smart, and sassy.

I love my boys more than anything in this whole wide world, and I hope to share that with a baby girl some day.

I love you guys so much and am so very proud of you.

Love,

Mom

Spanish Orange Syrup Cupcakes

After a long (but good) weekend and a sick day at work I finally made the cupcakes. It went well and they seemed pretty easy to make even though there was a few more steps to these than normal cupcakes. Here is the recipe:

for the cupcakes:
2 medium, seedless sweet oranges peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup sweet butter (I used regular sweet cream butter)
1 cup superfine sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup self rising flour

for the syrup:
1 peeled orange rind, from cupcake recipe (do this first before cutting the orange up, it saves so much time, believe me, I know)
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 cup water

heat oven to 325. Place 12 paper cups in a muffin pan. In a saucepan, cover the oranges with water. Simmer until tender, about 15 min. Cool. Drain the oranges and puree in a food processor. In a bowl, beat the butter sugar with an electric mixer until light. Slowly beat in the eggs. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, along with orange puree, until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the cups. Bake for 35 min. Remove pan from the oven and cool.
To make the syrup, thinly slice the orange rind, removing the pith. Cut the orange rind into thin strips (I used a potato peeler, it worked great). In a pan, bring the sugar and water to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the orange strips and boil uncovered for 5 min, or until tender. Spoon the syrup onto each cupcake.


More pictures hopefully to follow.

The cupcakes didn't rise much, and the texture was more like a corn muffin. I was surprised by the texture. They were dense and moist.
Overall they turned out great. They make a wonderful breakfast muffin/cupcake. I think that next time I make these I may try ham and cheese.

If you try other variations let me know how they turned out.

What do oranges, hiking, and amusement park rides have in common?

They all were part of my weekend. On Friday we just kinda hung out a bit let the boys play outside and paid bills. Normal stuff really. On Saturday it was pretty nice out and I wanted to get out of the house, so I made some PB & J and a few cheese sandwiches and we swung by the store grabbed some drinks and we headed off to the Mt. Talbert hiking trails, there is a trailhead about 1-2 miles away from our house. It was really nice, the weather was perfect and it was quiet. Me and Greg were really excited to finally get out of the house and go visit nature a bit. The boys for the most part were OK, Zack didn't really want to go, he would have much rather sat at home and watched cartoons or rode his bike outside, so most of the way he wouldn't really walk with us, instead he chose to walk up ahead. He saw a branch hanging down in the middle of the trail and figured it would be a good idea to give it a little shake and a brief hang on it, when he let go he whacked him right in the middle of the forehead and gave him a small quarter-size bump. For some reason that and the fact that he did manage to find a big slug that he poked for a bit, seemed to make the hike a bit better. I will never understand kids. Johnathan just went along and didn't complain about anything because he was too busy trying to be trail master. It seems that last year his class took a small hiking trip and went to the same place, so while we took a much longer route he was still convinced that he knew every turn, rock, leaf, and tree. All the while telling us "see I told you there was a turn here" "I have been here before, see" Ah, gotta love a kid who thinks he is right all of the time, no matter what.

After the hike and lunch we went to get a few groceries and then BBQ'd some steaks at home. It was a pretty decent day, good weather and even better company.

Sunday my mom called and wanted to know if we wanted to go do anything, I told her that I was sickish not really feeling up to it, but it was nice out and school is gonna start very soon. So I asked her if she wanted to go to Oaks Park. The weather was really nice and the boys are always super excited to go, so off we went. Greg and Zack were the brave ones, me and Johnathan went on the slower rides, my stomach couldn't have handled much more. Just when it was getting time for us to start wrapping up our visit, it started to sprinkle and rain a bit. Which I think was a blessing, cause not only did the rain feel really nice but no one had to be the bad guys and tell the boys we have to go home since it was raining they were closing most of the rides. That made a nice ending to our day, no grumpy boys.

I was still feeling pretty sick and seemed to be feeling worse, so we didn't do much that night. I couldn't even bring myself to get up and my the cupcakes that I not only promised to my co-workers but that I was supposed to take pics of and blog about.

Sunday night dragged on and I decided that I would be better off staying at home Monday. fast forward through a whole lot of doing nothing and then I finally made the Spanish Orange Syrup Cupcakes Monday night.

I need a week-long nap.

Sticky Orange or Chai?? Hmmmm . . .

I think I finally pinned down a project for this weekend. I looked through my cupcake recipes and it looks like it all comes down to two different choices. I have a Spanish sticky orange cupcake or a chai cupcake. Both look really good. So far I have a few votes for the orange, so that just may be the direction I head in. Altho I do love chai. I guess if it comes down to it, I may make both.

The orange one has a glaze, but the chai one doesn't have a glaze or a frosting just yet. What do you typically like with your chai? Honey? Vanilla? Plain? Maybe vanilla as a filling and no frosting/glaze?


Choices, choices, choices.


The boys came back from camping at the beach with my mom, sister, and Gramma. The boys said they had a good time, but my mom said it was horrible. It rained so hard the whole time that the camp site got a bit flooded, and the wind was whipping the tents around and all their clothes, pillows, and blankets got all wet. It got so bad that they came home a day early. It's a bummer it was so wet, but on the bright side my boys had a great time. That makes me so happy cause I don't think we will be able to squeeze anything in before they start school (Sept 2nd) Hopefully next year we won't pick the only 4 days in August that rain.

But that is Oregon. If I could spend my time between Oregon and Oklahoma/Texas I would be a very happy camper. I guess that's where my lottery winnings come in handy. (sigh)


Hope everyone has a good weekend, and I will post cuppy cake pics as soon as I get some!!

Street of Dreams

On Tuesday me and Greg went to the 32nd Annual Street of Dreams house showcase. First you drive up this huge hill and the view from there was so cool, you could see downtown and the mountains and the hills beyond the city. When we finally parked there is a shuttle that takes you further up the mountain through the security gates and to the street where the chosen homes are. We got our tickets and headed to house #1. It was amazing. The views from all around are even better then the drive up. On one section by the stairs they had these little metal climber guys as a kinda wall art thing, very cool. Here are a few pics of the first house.

After we toured house #1 we went to the next one, it was far more bigger, I think they said it is 11,037 sq ft on 3 stories, has 4 bedrooms and 6 full bathroom and 2 half bathrooms. I think this one was my favorite, not because it was the biggest but because it was laid out so well. the main floor had the the master bed and bath, and vaulted study connected to the bedroom, and then a office just down the hall a bit the kitchen, various living type spaces. The lower level had a fitness room, a massage room (yes a whole room just for you to be professionally rubbed down) it also had a steam room, a dry sauna, a wine cellar, and a special freezer room in the wine cellar. But waits that's not all . . . it also had a huge bonus area, another huge kitchen, a family room, a private theater (my favorite thing cause the door looks like wall paneling and when closed isn't noticeable at all so very very cool), it also have an enclosed pool and hot tube. Then you have the top floor with 3 bedrooms, all of them being master type suites with there own huge bathrooms and walk in closets, there is also a library. Good Gosh!!!! I felt like I was gonna get lost in that house, but the views and the wood. . . Ah, I know what I will be spending my lottery money on, should I win that is.

Note to self: Go buy lottery tickets!!!

House 3 was just as amazing, a bit smaller at 6515 sq ft. It didn't have a private indoor pool, but it did have it's own craft room!!!!! the top level was just a loft office and a smallish room (very cool for working at home) it seemed to have a few mechanical rooms, I am not sure if there are just space or places for all the behind the scenes wires and what-nots. It also had a wine cellar and a exercise room. My favorite part of this house was the huge outdoor kitchen, it was walled with sliding glass panels so it really is an outdoor/indoor kitchen with a fireplace, a huge BBQ, and of course a large LCD TV.

House #4 This one was pretty cool. It really didn't have any super cool things (well the whole house is super cool) like the theater or an indoor pool. The rooms were very big and plush. The Mater was probably the biggest master I have ever seen, it has a huge bathroom and a matching walking closet with it's own washer and dryer. My favorite thing in this house besides the the views was out on the upper balcony. It was a heated foot soaking tub from this company called Ashiyu. I could totally picture myself sitting out there when the snow is falling, just home from a long crappy day at work. You go out on to the patio and relax reading a book while your feet get nice and relaxed. Ahhhh . . .

Another note to self: Make sure you pick winning lottery numbers!!

#5 was very modern. I don't think it would suit a growing family. downstairs was a huge bar area, that connected to an outdoor bar area complete with TVs all over and windows that open right into the bar, so if you had someone making drinks for you, you wouldn't have to go all the way back in the house, just get it through the window. The ceiling downstairs was stepped and included color changing lights which added a very cool effect.

The last house was not as cool as any of them. It wasn't even on in the same area. It did have some amazing views tho. I did think it was pretty cool that all the bedrooms had there own bathroom tho, kinda like smaller master suites.

Then we came home. Those houses were incredible! It makes me want to start drawing my own version right now, and even tho that is what i do all day for actual work, I doubt that my boss would be willing to pay me to make my own house instead of the buildings I am supposed to do. Hmmm . . . maybe I should bring him some cupcakes!

I have some more pictures, I can't remember which house they all belong to, but here ya go. Dream big!!

This was just a hallway bathroom, but I really liked how they gave it more counter space by wrapping it around the other side.

(I am not sure who that lady is, I guess she thinks the shower is as cool as me, oh and behind her is the master closet that has it's own washer and dryer.)

One of the beautiful kitchens. One of the houses had a huge kitchen and a whole prepping area behind it with 2 pass through holes. I guess so you can have your hired help out of sight and still productive??

If you get tired you could always play one video golf, and there was also a huge TV, a pool table, and a card table. One of the houses also had a shuffle board table.

This is the cool outdoor/indoor kitchen that one of the homes had.

It all was really cool, and I am so jealous, but that just means that I need to keep working really hard to get what I want!!!

Who thought chores could be so cool???

I was looking through my issue of Real Simple and they had a family special edition out. I love this magazine, there is always great recipes, tip and tricks, and other family-related information. In the current issue, there is a listing of parent friendly websites. I came across a site to help organize your child's chore lists and rewards (if you have something like that set up) so I figured eh, why not see what it's all about. Man, was I surprised! It happens to be the coolest site for tracking chores, playing games, and helping kids become computer friendly all in one! It's called Handipoints.


You can set up one profile that contains all your kids (and husband if he is not doing his chores either, lol). So for me, under my login I have a profile for each of my 2 boys, that they can log into separately by themselves. I go in and chose what chores they have to do and when. Handipoints makes it so easy to chose chores, they have just about everything you can think of, including being nice to your brother, not being rude, helping with groceries, taking a shower, eating new foods, homework, and everything in between. I chose about 18 for each of my kids; they also include a few demerits, like being rude to mom or dad and not going to bed when you are supposed to. Then your kids can come in and check what they have to do and then check them as done, you can make it password-protected so they can't check everything off without verification if you want to, which like the site suggests is good if you have behavior based items on there. They get gold stars and purple stars for doing their chores. The star amounts are different based on the chore, (cleaning the cat box is a larger chore then brushing their teeth so it earns more stars). Oh, and you can even print out the chore charts if you don't want your little one using the computer everyday.

When you log in, you will see your 'parent portal' it will show each child, the amount of yellow and purple stars, a slider bar so you can grade each chore that they said they completed, and a check box to check of if in fact they did it at all. If your child is graded with a B or higher they get a few more purple stars then normal. The parent portal also shows you the last time they logged in, and how many different goals they are saving for. There is even a parent's forum.

The yellow stars are redeemable for rewards that the parent decides on, it can be money, store bought items, going somewhere, or anything else you chose. The kids can see how far they are to reaching the goal. I think it is a wonderful motivational tool, the kids can see the pic of the item, and visually see how close they are to getting it.

The purple stars are redeemable in the game section of the site. Each child starts off with a CoolCat and 60 purple stars, they can name him/her and buy clothing for it. There is a town that the cats can walk around in and see other kids' cats walking around too. In order for the kids to buy their cat new clothes and/or play games they need to earn the purple stars. Since every chore is worth yellow stars and purple stars then your child gets rewarded either way.

I haven't checked out the chat feature yet, but it did have an option when your cat is walking around. In addition to chatting, the kids can make their cats wink, dance, and do a bunch of things, they can also 'think' things and/pr say pre-formed sentences like 'I am a boy' and 'Hi', to other people or just in general.

As you can see I totally in love with this new site. If you sign your kids up, keep an eye out for my boys their cats/usernames are JohnnyBCool and Catusoptimus (yes just like Optimus Prime, clever huh?)

I would love to hear how some of you liked the site and if you found it valuable or not.

Streets made of dreams, thunder, and the beach

Over the weekend it must have been 150 degrees outside. Well, not really I think it was in the high 90's and then Sunday night it cooled down quit a bit that Monday morning it was pouring down rain and tons of thunder and lighting (Well, for Oregon it was tons, we tend to get a little over excited when we see something other than a light rainfall) close to where I work. Fun times! I do feel bad for my mom and the boys tho. They are finally at the beach after making reservation 3 months in advance waiting. It is supposed to rain the whole time they are there. Bummer. I did just talk to them and getting rained on yesterday didn't seem to damper their spirits at all, they are having a blast. I can't wait until they get home so they can tell me about all the things they saw at the beach, I already got a report of seeing a crab on the beach!
Tonight me and Greg are going to the Street of Dreams. I went a few years ago and the houses are amazing. If there is anything like this in the state you live in, I highly recommend that you go. It is a great motivational tool.
I also just got signed up with BlakeMakes. He is not only a great writer, but some of the things he comes up with make me want to get in the kitchen and create! Keep checking back for any updates.

Adventure with cupcake pops

On Saturday our laptop finally went all the way down the crapper and we went out and got ourselves a new fancy desktop. Not to shabby, more than I wanted to pay but beggars can't be choosers, right? The boys and Greg are happy with it, so by extension I am too.

I also made my little cupcake pops that I saw on HowAboutOrange. It went well, altho I didn't realize how long the process actually takes, so I didn't make a whole bunch, but I did freeze the rest of my cake mixture (I have had good results with freezing batter before). Here is the first pic of the mixture and the few balls I rolled, I also out some in a shallow dish so I could use some cookie cutters.

After they sat in the freezer for a bit I used a small candy mold that is shaped for peanut butter cups and filled about half way with melted chocolate and put a small cake ball in the middle, I also cut some flowers and leaves out of the shallow dish. I put sticks in the flowers and put them back in the freezer (it was really hot this week and everything was melting just being on the counter, so most of the stuff sat in the freezer when it wasn't being used right away) after the mold had it's chocolate and smalls cake balls :) in it I put it back in the freezer. I heated up some diff colors of candy melts and go my sprinkles out.

I dipped the flowers in either pink or purple candy and the leaves in green. They needed to be held up in the fridge so they can harden again but since I forgot to get some Styrofoam at the craft store and it was way to hot to keep leaving I came up with a brilliant idea!!

I used a strainer to stick the sticks in. I worked really great! for the cake balls in the molds, I took them out and stuck a stick in them and dipped the tops in white candy melts then added sprinkles or whatever. I was rather happy with the way they came out. I was gonna do a bunch more but everything was melting so quick from the heat I was covered in cake and melted chocolate just from the ones I did. But all in all it turned out great, and I am totally gonna do the rest of them. Here is the finished result with little bags and a ribbon.

And yes they are being help captive in my freezer until they meet their demise on Monday when I take them to work.

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!

Finally the weekend is here!

I am so glad it's finally Friday! I get to pick up the boys from their dad's house tonight (he is baby-sitting them for me while they are out of school) and hang out with them before they leave with my mom on Sunday to go for a week camping trip down at the beach. We don't have any major plans for the weekend, just cleaning up a bit, doing laundry, packing the boys' stuff, and I think I am gonna try this cute little cupcake pop recipe I found from HowAboutOrange's blog from Bakerella. Looks fun and the boys will like to help coat them in the candy melts. I will try and post pics if I get it done right.
I can't believe that school is just around the corner. This summer went by so fast, way to fast in my opion. Altho I will be glad for slightly cooler weather.
Anywho, have a great weekend!!

What is a "Koekje Mom"? Well . . .

Hey!! it looks like you (my delightful readers) have landed in quite a nice little spot (my blog). Let me start first by saying welcome and I hope you enjoy!!
A little about me: I am a mother of 2 very strong minded/willed/smelling boys, ages almost 8 (Zack) and 9 1/2 (Johnathan), and I am a girlfriend to my very wonderful better half (Greg).
What is “Koekje” you ask? Very good question. It is the Dutch word for ‘cookie’, or ‘little cake’ it’s pretty much the closest thing to ‘cupcake’ that I could find. I wanted something unique and since I an 90% Dutch with a sprinkle of Scottish I figured it would be a great way to be slightly in touch with my roots not to mention I think it just looks pretty cool. It is pronounced cook-yay, but there could be better way to explain how it sounds and I am all ears if someone has a suggestion.
I decided it was time to start writing about some of the things that I have created, would like to create, things that helped sort out my busy life, family stories, and who knows what else. Since I am trying to start a small cupcake/other random baked things shop I might as well start here and share stuff along the way. So here I am.
I hope to write tomorrow about what foodie thing I may attempt and hopefully post some pics of the outcome.

Thank you all for stopping by and have a wonderful day.