Another Fake McHoliday

So we've had Fake Christmas (when we went to SC right before Christmas to have Christmas with Kevin and Jenny) and Fake Thanksgiving (last year when we had our big dinner on Friday instead of Thursday) and we've celebrated birthdays early (the McMom's birthday this year) so the idea of having a fake celebration because the timing is right is starting to be a tradition in the McFamily. It's one we carried on this year when we went to Charlotte last weekend and had Fake Mother's Day for the McMom Saturday morning.

Jenny and I were in charge of breakfast. Jenny actually did all of the hard work; she made an egg-sausage-croissant casserole and a cheesy potato casserole, and she even cooked sausage and bacon. I know you'll be flabbergasted when you read that I catered to everyone's sweet tooth (tooths? teeth?) with cinnamon-sugar croissants.





















Chase was very helpful when it was time to open presents.
















Once breakfast was cleaned up (that's where the boys come in), we "kids" headed to a nearby park. Lots of swinging, sliding, and climbing ensued.
































Love these pictures of all the boys on the slide.
































Jenny got on the swing at one point, but she didn't last long before some motion sickness set in.
















Leah was content to hang out in the shade and chew on her finger.











Man, that must be one yummy finger!










































When we got back to the house, our kids were waiting impatiently for their turn outside on a beautiful day.
















That afternoon, I went on an hour-long run while people napped/washed cars/tended to kids. Just before dinner, the boys piled into the convertible...
































...and Jenny and I snuck away to run a couple errands, leaving the McMom home with a sleeping Leah. When we got home, this is what I found in the kitchen:
















Two of them and THREE laptops?

A few more pictures from before dinner. The McHusband and Chase ended up out on the front porch swing, just hanging out with the occasional lizard-lashing thrown in.
















































The McMom got behind the camera so that I could get in on the photo op.
































I don't know what Chase and I are laughing about, but apparently the McHusband wasn't in on the joke.
















Okay, that was Fake Mother's Day DAY. Fake Mother's Day NIGHT coming up!

Recipe Recap: Brownie-Stuffed Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream

Don't wait to make these. Seriously, stop reading, go buy some yellow cake mix and brownie mix, and make these rightnow.
















These cupcakes are going to be staples in the McKitchen. I made them with a caramel buttercream this time around, but I want to try them with peanut butter frosting as well as chocolate.
















After reading some reviews, I arrived at my method for assembling these cupcakes. I put a little more than 1/8 cup of cupcake batter in the bottom of each liner, followed by a generous dollop of brownie batter, then topped that with a layer of cupcake batter, which I gently spread to cover the brownie layer. Yes, it was a touch time-consuming and I don't think I'll try making them again on a Wednesday night when I don't get home until 8:00 after my spinning class, but I do have to say they were totally worth it.

Mmm, fudgy brownie layer...
















I'm still working on being a good baker. I would say more often than not, my stuff turns out slightly overbaked. I've blamed my oven before and I'm going to continue to do so - I think it runs hot. Unfortunately, I haven't developed my own gut feeling about when something's done and I'm still figuring out just how many crumbs stuck to a toothpick equal "baked to perfection."

But this time around? I don't know if it was a fluke or I'm finally getting the hang of things, but I would have to say that these were baked for precisely the right amount of time. The cupcake was done but moist, and the brownie layer was ever-so-slightly gooey.





















For the frosting, I used this recipe. It's not super-caramelly, which is good because it's a pretty basic recipe that can be used on a variety of cakes. I did have to experiment a bit with it because I only had 4 cups of powdered sugar. I did a little looking on the interwebs and it turns out you can blend (literally use a blender) a cup of regular sugar with one tablespoon of cornstarch until it's powdery and use that in place of powdered sugar. Phew, crisis averted!














So, which are you craving more right now, a cupcake or a brownie? Or maybe you're all about the frosting? I worked with someone once who would only eat the frosting off cake and cupcakes. So for her birthday one year, in addition to a small cake for the rest of us, I got her a quarter-pound of frosting from the Harris Teeter deli. She thought it was perfect.

{Cupcake recipe}
{Frosting recipe}

32

Sunday was my 32nd birthday.

32.

I don't know what I expected 32 to feel like. Twenty years ago, I'm sure I thought 32 was OOOOOOOOLD. Ten years ago, it was an age I didn't think about because it was just soooo far off.

Now I have to plug "32" into the machines at the Y so that they can accurately calculate my calorie burn. I wonder if it'll make a difference...? Other than that, this birthday didn't have much effect on me. I'm really not hung up on my age. Having a younger McHusband'll do that to you.

Sunday was pretty routine: cereal for breakfast, TV, laundry, exercise, some cleaning, a home-cooked dinner with my hubby. I normally go to a spinning class at the Y on Sundays but the Y was closed for Easter. Instead, I went to my friend Heather's neighborhood and ran 6.5 miles. I made the mistake of not getting started until 11:30 with the sun high overhead and the humidity at a summertime level (ahhh, you gotta love "spring" in NC) so I wasn't feeling "it" and couldn't finish the 8 miles I really want to do. Oh well.

The McHusband got me the cycling shoes I asked for as well as a Subway gift card. I eat lunch at Subway on Wednesdays. It's the only day I eat out for lunch. Did you know they offer a mini? It's not that much smaller than a 6" sandwich, but it takes about $2 off the price of my turkey combo.

I'll get to try out my new shoes tomorrow night during my spinning class. Keep your fingers crossed that I remember I'm clipped into the pedals and don't try to get off the bike like I used to...

Even though Sunday felt like any ordinary day, I had a table full of cards to remind me that it wasn't.
















Bri's card came with bling and much fewer calories than the cupcakes that've been in my kitchen lately.
















I have to share the card my dad sent. It made me laugh and then I immediately took it out to the garage to share with the McHusband.





















And on the inside:





















The McHusband made dinner for us. He'd bought a Bird's Eye frozen teriyaki stirfry meal and we decided to give that a try for dinner. It was actually really good. It was just veggies, noodles, and sauce and we decided it'd be good to have some chicken with it next time.





















I had dinner with some girlfriends last week on Thursday, a group of us went to dinner and a movie on Saturday, I had a birthday lunch with work yesterday, and I have one last (but definitely not least!) birthday lunch this Thursday.

Yeah, I definitely need to put those cycling shoes to good use with all this celebrating...

The Storm: Extramacise and Sunday

After naps, we pretty much just hung out around the house. Owen and Lyla kept each other busy in "her" room (the front bedroom), and the McHusband squeezed in a P90X workout. The kids checked on him from time to time and had a front-row seat on the dog beds.
































Lyla eventually calls out from upstairs: "Gma, I need to change clothes so I can do my extramacise." She'd had enough of the sidelines, it was time to join in the fun.
















Of course, Owen had to change into his gym clothes, too, but he wasn't that interested in doing any extramacise. You know, kinda like those perfectly made-up girls in the coordinated outfits at the gym; they aren't there to break a sweat.
















Between the park and the extramacising with Tony, both kids slept great Saturday night. Even Olivia, after Aunt Steph worked her magic, had a good night. The kids wanted to be outside practically as soon as they got up on Sunday and, well, when you're at Aunt Steph's and Uncle Ryan's, you don't need actual clothes, or, you know, shoes to go outside.











Of course, we had to check out the patio...





















I know what I'm getting Lyla for her birthday in June.





















We finally got them to go back inside. There was some petting of the baby...





















And I can't remember what the cookie bribe was for, but I'm pretty sure Owen earned this cookie doing something he didn't want to.





















We had a great weekend with everyone. The McHusband and I will be ready to do it again...this time NEXT year.

The Storm: Saturday day

Saturday day. Not to be confused with Saturday night. I could do all of Saturday in one post, but it's almost 9:00 on Sunday and I have TV to watch, plus the McHusband will be up here soon, looming over me in a "IhavetogetonthecomputernoworI'lldie" way.

The weather wasn't great last Saturday, but it could've been much worse. It was overcast and cool, but at least it was dry and that's really the only condition that we cared about. You know, kinda the same philosophy we have with the dogs - so long as it's dry, we'll venture out.

We went to the park by the old house, the one we went to last year when everyone visited. There wasn't anyone else out there so we had the run of both playgrounds, which was nice. It can be a pain when you're little and fighting to gain your footing among the six-year-olds.

There was tire-swinging...











And horseback riding, which Owen took very seriously.





















Not the McHusband and me though. We were having fun reaching out to our inner children.











Of course, there was a LOT of sliding.
















I think the best caption for these next two pictures is, "Weeeeeeeee!"










































The kids did lots of climbing.











Owen mastered this ladder after one trip up.











Lyla took a short break from the swingin' and slidin' to do some sitting as well as what appears to be some cheering.
































Soon enough, it was time to head over to the pond to check things out.











We found a dead minnow on the ground by the pond. Lyla isn't her mother's daughter nor is she either of of aunt's nieces; she picked that little dead fishy right up.











Guess what else we saw while we were out there? A mean ol' snapping turtle!
















At one point, Calvin called so Owen was walking around talking to him. Doesn't he look like he's conducting important business?





















Okay, that wraps up Saturday day. Still to come: working out with the McHusband.