Tweens

Once a Month Blogging

Monday, July 23, 2012 By Sherra

After I hit the 500 blog post milestone, it certainly appears that I’m become a once-a-month blogger. Never my intention but…

Life happens.

I can’t really blog about the trivial stuff of our summer and ignore one of the worst tragedies we all woke up to on Friday last week. Sad, sad stuff and my heart goes out to all those families in Colorado.

We are all fine, fine, fine here.

It seems a little funny to think our summer is busier this year with one 13 year-old at home and the 3 college kids mostly managing their own lives than when we had all 4 kids at home. Feels weird to me anyway.

More to come because I really don’t want to abandon my neglected little blog. Until then, here are some snippets of the Humpfreeze summer memories.

Reminder/Disclaimer: Food pictures follow even though this is not a food blog which is obvious when you look at the pictures.

Even though we’re working hard to stay away from boxed foods and make homemade things as much as we can, I will confess that many convenience foods were used to make the darling twins birthday dessert requests.

I used The Best Chocolate Cake Ever recipe and cheated with a box of Jello chocolate mousse I didn’t even remember buying that I had in the pantry. Homemade no-bake cheesecake filling and homemade whipped cream. We all thought it was one of the best cakes ever!

Rachel’s dessert request took on a life of its own. Recipe inspiration came from this crazy Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreas ‘n Brownie Bars recipe. It was surprisingly edible. Even at 21, who doesn’t appreciate monkey party hats and plates I brought to as well as the princess napkins? It’s a twin thing to pick a few special things for each twin and I picked things that match their personality.

We delivered their cakes after making them cut them so we could bring 2 pieces home for Scary Baby and took them to dinner.

Forgot to take a picture of Rachel’s monstrosity after we cut it.

I bravely cooked again at 4th of July. The summer heat has us avoiding turning on the oven so I opted for crockpot shredded pork BBQ.

I used two recipes from Monica’s blog, The Yummy Life and we all loved the BBQ. I really liked it because even though “they say” the fat from pork roast adds flavor, I don’t like it and don’t like to strain it all off. Picture of the pork is before I added the Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque sauce. Here are links to both recipes:

14 spice dry rub mix
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

We also enjoyed the super sweet variation of strawberry shortcake that my friend Leigh Anne had posted. It’s hard for me to say anything is too sweet but the frosting layers on this cake were very sweet! I loved the butter almond cake but would use a lightly sweetened whipped cream with the lemon curd next time. We shared half the cake with neighbors who raved about it.

Berry Almond Butter Cake with Strawberries

It’s rare that all six of us are all in one place at one time with the 3 college kids’ summer work schedules but whenever we can capture any of them it seems to usually involve bribing them with food.

How are you surviving this summer heat?

Our Last Tween

Monday, May 7, 2012 By Sherra

We enjoyed 22 months of teenage-free living and then, darn it, if that Scary Baby didn’t go and turn 13 and put us back in that parenting mode. Again.

Though really, her tween years counted double since she had three teen siblings for those years.

The tween and teen years really put the toddler years to shame. Oh how I yearn for those cute, funny days.

Alas, we can’t turn back time and here we are with a teenager once again.

We continue to keep birthdays pretty low key around here at the Humpfreeze house and have never caved to the peer pressure of extravagant, expensive parties and typically opt for family celebrations.

After her birthday weekend was spent with the grandmothers, she ~~patiently~~ waited two weeks to have a few friends over for dinner and a movie at home.

She picked the menu.

Fruit kabob appetizers. She was inspired to make kabobs when she found the funky skewers at a garage sale the weekend before for the bargain price of 50¢.

Chinese carryout – sesame chicken and fried rice.

And a birthday cake.

Selected by her via the Publix website.

Ebony & Ivory cake.

The chocolate pudding was suspiciously missing between the layers as described on their website but the cake was otherwise good.

Side note: I’d personally recommend the Chocolate Ganache Supreme instead. I also have a few customer service tips for Publix about the bakery clerk taking the cake order over the phone. Very surprised to get anything less than stellar customer service from Publix. (Especially since my 3 darling Twenties were forced to work there by their mean parents so they could learn the art of stellar customer service.)

Now we look forward to the next five years with our new teenager. She has so much potential and we can only hope her elderly senior citizen parents can live through it.

Best Job Ever

Monday, April 30, 2012 By Sherra

We have recovered from the grandmas visiting last week but we’re pretty sure that the grandmas have not.

When it occurred to us that since having kids, we have had the grandmothers together 3 times in 23 years, we decided it would be a perfect time to have a family photo shoot.

Did I mention a surprise family photo shoot?

A few of us who shall remain nameless might not like to have our picture taken.

Nothing like a little last minute fun involving trying to coordinate 3 college kids and their busy schedules. Add dressing the top half of eight people and I will say that I hope to not see the inside of the mall for at least 6 months or so.

In spite of the last minute preparations, the weather cooperated and we were able to pull it off.

It had been 12 years since our last professional family photos were taken. I’m so grateful we made the time to do this.

This weekend I spent time learning some fun new things while creating story boards in Photoshop and sent them to Costco for printing.

So excited to see the finished products and send some copies to the grandmas. We are so glad we got to include Granny and Grandma in some of the photos.

Love.

My absolute favorite creation ~ these four kids.

I grumble about them and have been sharing stories about our life for over 4 years here on the blog. I probably don’t say it enough…I am so proud of them.

On the very worst day…

being their mom is still the best job I’ve ever had.

P.S. My email subscription service is not delivering my blog posts consistently. I say this in case you get Typo Tuesday on Wednesday and think I am losing my mind. I write and schedule those in advance and when the email service doesn’t deliver on time, I look more crazy than usual. I don’t think it even delivered last Monday’s little gem on PhilBillPaul’s job suggestion for me.

The Grandmothers Are Coming

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 By Sherra

They’re flying in tonight.

Grandma from Illinois and Granny from Texas.

A very rare occurrence here at the Humpfreeze house.

The tween is counting the days until she becomes a teen.

A giant challenge to get the three twenties’ schedules coordinated so we could spend one day together. College exams are coming, drill weekend, alumni activities in the cadet world.

They are going to get the big reveals of several of our DIY house projects.

The Big Basement Move

The Pumpkin had occupied his upstairs bedroom since he was 18 months old.

The now 22 year-old games online with a headset and can often be heard shouting things like, “STOP. AROUND THE CORNER. SHOOT.” at 3:00 a.m. {insert muffled, deep man voice here}

It was time for some quiet for us.

Since he is in college full-time and has a part-time job, we let him stay. We are afraid he is going to take one class at a time so he never has to graduate.

His 21 year-old carpet had far exceeded its expiration date by at least a decade.

But the 110 gallon aquarium was a sore point when we discussed dismantling it.

I finally convinced PhilBillPaul that one giant tank on the main floor was enough.

Enlisted help to drain the tank.

And transport very old fish to the fish store. Tank sold on craigslist in one day.

PhilBillPaul got to work patching and priming the dark red walls.

The help did not want to be photographed.

Nothing like a freshly painted room.

And he worked so hard putting in the leftover laminate flooring from Scary Baby’s room makeover.

The Grunter had a big job in cleaning up the basement…

…that may have turned into a giant storage room in the past two years.

With the help of his very good friend Jason, in one afternoon, they got everything cleaned up.

His new bachelor pad has shaped up.

I could do without the movie posters.

Then again, I’m just glad he’s not upstairs yelling SHOOT.

Stipulation that when Grandma or Granny comes, he must clean his basement man cave and sleep upstairs so our guests can have some privacy.

We’re still finishing his former room and I’ll share pictures when we get it done. Love it so far!

Of course, the kitchen is still not done so those pictures may not show up until 2013. Seems the older we get, the slower we go.

On an unrelated note, the grandmas have missed the azaleas blooming.

Luckily, Scary Baby had her annual photo shoot.

This darn crazy weather.

Cupcakes & Horses

Monday, April 16, 2012 By Sherra

I’ve read in several places that a blogger should take time to write good headlines. Seems it can help your SEO and Google ranking and what not.

Pretty sure no one will be searching for cupcakes and horses but it is the first thing that came to mind when I sat down at my laptop to write this.

The cupcakes and horses are actually unrelated except for the fact that I wanted to share pictures from Easter weekend and Easter weekend seemed like a really lame headline since I’m writing about it a week later.

I know you like to get a glimpse of the inner workings of my mind.

Horses

Friday night that sweet sister Roger Leroy came to the house and picked up Scary Baby and took her up to her college dorm to spend the night.

A twelve year-old’s dream. She might have changed outfits 3 times before her sister arrived.

I reminded her she wasn’t going to any college parties.

Ahem.

Instead, her sweet sissy was taking her horseback riding.

This is a HUGE deal because she has had this ~~obsession~~ idea since Thanksgiving and is relentless about not letting an idea go until one of the Humpfreeze family members gives in to silence her begging.

Does she look excited? I love that she accessorized with a scarf.

She said she was eight feet in the air.

The trail ride was in the beautiful North Georgia mountains.

Parts of the trail up the mountain were very narrow. I heard it was a bit challenging to snap pictures from the saddle.

Apparently, Meadows’ horse had some personality and she had to pull over to adjust her saddle.

And Rachel’s horse had no personality and was a bit of a slacker in keeping up with the group. Our speed demon circus baby is not familiar with coming in last.

Thank you Roger Leroy. From the bottom of our hearts.

Cupcakes

I cooked my heart out for Easter this year. The twenties and the tween each invited a guest so we were feeding ten.

Cooking all day on Saturday so we could enjoy a meal together was my plan.

Our menu included a marginal Costco ham but the side dishes made up for it.

If you haven’t made Pioneer Woman’s Au Gratin potatoes yet, do so immediately. Your family will thank you.

PhilBillPaul said the macaroni and cheese was the best ever. Big compliment because I’ve always made fabulous mac & cheese. I tried a new recipe that I’ve had for years but just got around to trying. It’s a keeper.

Love that you don’t have to make a roux or melt all the cheese. My changes to the recipe: I used muenster and mozzarella in the pot with the noodles and then topped it with shredded cheddar before baking. I omitted the onions and added a little onion salt. Loved the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. Yum!

Mose-e-ack jello a.k.a. mosaic jello was a special surprise for Roger Leroy. My little thank you for taking Scary Baby horseback riding.

I did manage to snap a quick picture of the Easter treats. I even whipped up little cellophane bags for the guests.

Don’t worry, that concludes any attempts at craftiness from me for the year.

Obviously, I failed in Easter picture taking this year since I didn’t take any pictures of the people. But I think I passed in the cooking category.

It might be because I have cut way, way back on sugar and the idea of making TWO desserts made me dizzy.

Or not.

Just know that in addition to making my absolute favorite and perfect lemon cake, I made the best cupcakes I have ever made or eaten.

Please admire the white, wrinkled sheet we used as a tablecloth.

Fan-cee is how we roll.

Special thanks to My Baking Addiction for the Chocolate Malt Cupcakes recipe inspiration on Friday night.

The cupcake recipe is very close to our favorite doctored up cake mix recipe which is the one I used. One subtraction: I left out the espresso granules. One addition: 2 cups of chocolate chips.

The buttercream frosting is so freaking good that we are still talking about it this week and I’m making them again on Wednesday. One change on frosting recipe is that I used 1/3 cup of regular baking cocoa and 1/3 cup of Hershey’s® Special Dark cocoa…only because I ran out of regular baking cocoa. Pretty sure it will be sublime with what ever cocoa you use. Maybe it’s the 4 sticks of butter and/or the 5 minutes of beating.

I recommended them to my friend Leigh Anne and suggested she might just want to make the frosting. No cupcake necessary.

But if you want something to hold the frosting other than a bowl, go ahead and make the cupcake too.