First, a tiny bit of recap. We went to the beach one last time before school started. The beach quilt made it out on the sand for one final time of the season.
I will miss our long and lazy summer days. I'm glad we lived it up as best we could. I will miss staying up late and sleeping in just as late. I will miss taking road trips and visiting with friends. I will not miss the heat or the humidity. I will miss their summer bronzed skin.
Long Live Summer!
The day after we went to the beach, my sister Rachel was pinning smoothie recipes over on Pinterest. One pin in particular required me to call her immediately and make sure she was feeling okay. It had spinach in it.
Me: "Hey, that monster smoothie is full of spinach. Are you sure you want to make that?"
Rachel: "Yeah, I think we need to eat more spinach probably"
Me: "Okay, I'll try it for you and give you a full review. But it sounds gross".
Rachel: "Okay, let me know".
The next day, I made the monster smoothie. It was not gross. I have made it again since. I think eating more spinach is probably super important. Maybe. I have to say, when I made it the second time, all my berries were frozen berries. It tasted a lot better. I just think it's the kind of drink that should be cold, not room temperature. Just trust me on that one:
I couldn't let summer end, and the kids go back to school without one final celebration. I sampled my crowd to figure out what most would be excited about. It came down to our cookie dough cupcakes. Though I bought vanilla frosting to top them with, to simply avoid the whole "I hate cream cheese frosting" debate, when it came time to frost them, I just thought to myself that I could do better than store bought vanilla. I did a quick google search on the infamous cookie dough cupcakes and found one clever girl who invented a cookie dough frosting to go on top of them! Friends, it is frosting that tastes just like cookie dough batter. It is the most clever frosting I have ever tasted. Please try some soon.
You need the recipe? Okay, here you GO! You're welcome.
(Just so you know, I used a plain old box mix for my cupcakes, and toll house cookie dough in a tube for the filling. The only part of the above recipe I used was for the frosting. Someday I'll go all out. But I'm not sure if it's necessary.)
The day after the cookie dough cupcakes was the first day of school. Can you believe I sent my oldest off to middle school? He seems completely unfazed by the experience. I guess that means it's a success so far.
Here's my cute crowd all full of summer memories and cupcakes:
Middle Schooler:
4th Grader:
1st Grader:
Other 1st Grader:
I am slightly biased, but I think these are the greatest kids on the planet. I love spending my life with them, and I love watching them grow up and blossom into who they were meant to be.
Long Live School Year 2011-12!
8 comments:
I was just talking to a friend about how I was thinking of putting spiinach in my kids' smoothies to trick them into eating spinach. I'll have to try the Monster smoothie.
Before I try the smoothie, I will be trying the cookie dough cupcakes!!!
You kids are so darling. I can't believe you have a middle schooler, and I love that he is off to school with a copy of Harry Potter in hand.
I love Jane's cute bob, and both Jane and Ruby's Toms. They're both look so old and so chic.
And I love the first day of school favorites. Such a clever idea! Haha!
We've been doing spinach in smoothies for quite a while. My kids love them and when I tell Skye we're making smoothies, she actually gets upset that I'm not making them correctly if we are out of spinach! Our favorite is blueberries and bananas because we always have frozen blueberries and bananas in the freezer.
Your kids look great! I'm happy that I've finally met them all! -Eliza
Stop it, your kids look so old. I can't believe it!
P.S. Please tell Henry his hair looks so great. Very middle-school-ish and grown up. :-)
Good answer Ruby on the fav activity, make a momma happy. What great smiles in the first day shot, especially George's.
I am so trying the cookie dough frosting at the shopper tomorrow....sounds delicious! What do you think about a cake batter flavored frosting? It's been rolling around in my mind for a while now.
Oh your kids are so cute...wish we could see you more often! And I specifically remember Darin coming home from school, getting a package of spinach out of the freezer, cooking it (somehow-I still wouldn't know how to do that) and just eating it...like a snack or something. I mean, do other people do that? Does he still do that? And what about Irene? Surely after a week of television news on the subject, you have something to say about it. Did it affect you at all?
Okay, enough questions from me!
Good post...it makes me happy to see a mother enjoy her children!
Annee--I think your cupcake shortcut ideas are fabulous! A friend was just telling me how she made a double batch of cookie dough cupcakes and it took her HOURS and a full pound of butter and she said it was NOT worth it. You're a genius! What beach have you been going to? Wrightsville was our fave in NC.
Your kids look so happy and adorable on their way to school! And those cupcakes are next on my list of things to make.
Oh and I tried the cupcakes (I made her recipe for the actual cupcakes and frosting but used store bought cookie dough). They were delicious! I wonder what bump it got from making we cupcakes and not from a mix. The batter definitely tasted like cookie dough, but I only did it cause I thought I had a mix but was wrong and didn't want to leave the house again. Delicious! Thanks for sharing!
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