We had family over for dinner, cake and pressies. Celebrating Averi and Aileen who have birthdays one day apart.
Averi’s cake was chocolate with vanilla frosting but I apparently I added too much lemon zest (said the girl who loves lemons) and they didn’t like it.
For fucks sake.
Aileen got a Julien apple pie, she is much easier to accommodate.
The girls went to bed and the adults played a fun game, before we knew it, the night was over. Happy birthday ladies.
Yes, we did make it to Great Wolf Lodge in case you were wondering. It happened sooner than we originally planned for, aka turned into a spur of the moment situation. We decided to keep it a surprise from the girls. We told them that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s and that we were meeting them at the their pool. So the girls packed the night before and let me say, Kaili wanted to pack every damn thing, she wanted to give this and that to Grandma and I felt guilty as hell for lying. Come morning, we packed up the car and headed out. Passing our normal Laguna Niguel exit, luckily they didn’t notice with their heads in IPads. But when we got closer to GWL they meaning Shayne, realized something was off.
“Why did you say we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s? Mom guilt.
We grabbed our luggage and off we went.
Our room was ready when we checked in, so we went and dropped off our stuff so we could get to sliding.
Averi’s birthday, her choice of bed. She chose the twin, no bunk this time.
We found a table to drop our shit, thankfully, that can be the biggest hurdle. If you can’t get there early, everything is taken.
We played all day.
The girls’ Paw Passes came with it all, ice cream, golf, arcade, yada yada yada. So around 6pm we went back to the room and changed and then went for ice cream.
Then they chose their stuffies, played games and then mini golf and then and then and then. For dinner, Averi wanted McDonald’s, sigh. We had it delivered (brilliance) which saved probably $125 for not eating at the resort.
The next morning we were up and down at the waterpark when it opened, easily grabbed a table and did it all again. Once the outdoor pool area opened, Shawna and I went out and had some adult beverages in the quiet sun.
Averi decided to brave the wave pool and boogie board before we went home, we were so proud.
She did so good for her first rodeo! We stayed late into the afternoon and then decided to make our way back home. GWL is always a fun time. Next up though, maybe just Raging Waters and a motel, hahaha!
We went through a handful of party themes for Kaili’s 11th party. First it was this, then it was that, and finally we landed on a Cheetah theme. Which was exciting for me because for some sick reason I like to attempt new things in the kitchen when the audience is bigger than the our household. I wanted to see if I could make a cake with the cheetah print inside, reach for the stars you guys. So that put me in crunch time to order a cake topper because even though I like to bite off more than I can chew, I don’t want like to choke; so creating cheetah prints on the frosting was out of my comfort zone. I ordered an edible topper and had it rushed delivery so I wouldn’t be panicking the day before the party. I got the UPS updates all day Wednesday telling me that it was out for delivery and would be here by 5:00, sweet. Well, 5:00 came and went and then I got a message saying that it was delivered to our front door, but it wasn’t, so then panicking ensued. I went to the neighbors like a crazy person and with no avail, decided to wait until morning. Maybe the good samaritan that had my kids birthday cake topper would drop it off. Meanwhile I racked my brain of a back up plan and the thought of having to roll out fondant to decorate the cake was too much for my mind to take. So after the kids were at school, I set out on foot to check everyones front porches for the white envelope I know so well from past birthdays. You guys, I found it, it was on our neighbors porch, hidden behind plants. But….I had already rung their doorbell and no one answered. On top of everything it was a camera doorbell and apparently I am a chicken shit, I went home empty handed. Shawna told me to man up, take the envelope and stop stressing. So I went back, grabbed the envelope and cowardly mouthed to the camera that it was mine and waved like an idiot and went home with my heart pounding like I just went through TSA with cocaine in my panties. I mean, I hadn’t even baked anything yet, sigh.
Kaili wanted her party at the Plunge in Mission Beach. The Plunge is a huge indoor pool with an inflatable obstacle course. We had never been before so it was a blind mission. I was able to order all of the food before hand, they were super easy to work with and would definitely do it again. We had a nice area by the pool that had a table, a couple of benches and loungers.
The girls went straight into the water and didn’t want to come out.
I took you through a vital piece of birthday cake background and you’re probably wondering what the hell? Let’s talk cake.
Super underwhelmed about said cake. I’m not sure I even like cake anymore.
The cake was crumbly and I don’t know why because I didn’t over-bake it.
The design sort of turned out, I was not thrilled with the outcome but my cream cheese frosting is always good period.
Three hours went by in a snap, and our time slot was up. We had to drag the kids out of the pool, they were having so much fun. Next time we will reserve for a longer period of time and maybe just Uber to and fro to avoid the parking fiasco. But, it was a good time and I’m sure we will be back, however Averi has already decided on Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday.
The girls helped me fill 48 balloons for the birthday girl.
Possibly inhaling helium here and there.
I went back and forth on a banana cream pie recipe. I love watching Bon Appetit’s From the Test Kitchen Series. One of the chefs Chris does a segment called Reverse Engineering. The premise is… a fellow chef picks a recipe, I’ll use Gordon Ramsey’s Beef Wellington for an example. Chris gets to taste and touch the original dish but he’s blindfolded. Once he has an idea of what it is, he sets off to the store to grab the ingredients to make it. Back at the kitchen he attempts the first run, then he grades himself. He gets another stab at it, tasting the original, goes back to the store, yada yada yada. His third attempt is his final result. The chef that challenged him comes and compares the two dishes. Overall he does very well and it’s fun and I enjoy watching this experiment. Why did I explain all of this to you, well I chose his banana cream pie recipe. I figured his magnificent palate wouldn’t steer me wrong. His recipe had a twist on the original graham cracker crust recipe, he threw some salted peanuts to the mix. I decided to go for it, why not, peanut butter and banana goooooood. That was my first mistake. The peanuts completely over powered any graham cracker flavor. Good, yes, what I wanted, no. My second mistake was that the bananas weren’t ripe enough. I knew this while I was making it, the bananas weren’t banana-ee enough. I stood in the kitchen contemplating adding a little banana pudding mix to the vanilla pudding I had just made from scratch, then decided against it, that was my final mistake. Anyway, the end result was fine, did it taste like banana cream pie, no, did I love it? Also no. So, now we have a pie in the fridge that will most likely meet its demise in the trash later.
What lesson did I learn? Always trust your instincts!
Goes to show, just because I like a cooking show, doesn’t mean I will like the shows results.
I leave you with this absolutely amazing video. I die laughing every time I see it.
I wanted to take a minute to try and blog. I am sitting here trying to write and the only thing going through my mind is “we don’t talk about Bruno”. The girls are watching videos of…. I don’t know what, but that song hasn’t stopped. Today is an important day, it’s Shawna’s birthday. We are waiting to celebrate her, I made her a banana cream pie and she gets to eat it before dinner, as she wishes.
We wet out to dinner the other night to celebrate her and her mom’s March birthdays, the girls love going out and I love taking picture of them.
This video is titled “how to embarrass your 7 year old”.
If you are a fan of Top Chef, or Chef Brooke Williamson or just cupcakes….Brooke partnered with Sprinkles cupcakes and put out a dark chocolate cupcake with passionfruit filling. I was on top of that and brought us home a couple. Delicious!
Things have been busy, Averi started Karate. She seems to really enjoy it.
It’s a big month you guys, BIG, HUGE! I have a birthday coming up and it happens to fall on an epic day this year. February 22, 2022 is on a Tuesday. A 2’s days. This will be known as Kim’s Two’s day.
I am not a huge birthday girl, I mean, it’s a fun excuse to go out and celebrate and we all love gifts, but it also comes along with getting older, sigh. This year though, I’m a little excited. My Two’s day is also national margarita day AND taco Tuesday. I mean, that’s fun right?
So, I made myself an early birthday treat.
Kaili and I polished them off in no time. Somedays it was dinner because that is allowed when it’s your birthday month.
Originally, these were called Creme de Menthe brownies, maybe they still are. The first time I remember falling in love with them was at a restaurant in the Stoneridge mall back in the 1980’s. I wish I could remember the name of the place. Anyhow, it was a restaurant that had the dessert options on a cart, and the waiter would wheel it up to your table so you could visualize what to drool over. Didn’t Bobbie McGee’s do that too? Someone from high school/Bay area, let me know please! Anyways, that was such a smart way to make sure the kids got dessert, parent’s had no chance.
Well, these were what I always ordered at whatever restaurant that was and they are delicious. I don’t know where we can buy Creme de Menthe or if it even exists anymore, but peppermint extract is a fine substitute.
I used this recipe and this recipe as a baseline for measurements. But I only use Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate chips, for this and anything that calls for chocolate chips.
To make up for all the chocolate that I shoveled into my mouth…
I completed my 200th ride!! Fittingly with a 90’s pop playlist and my favorite instructor!
AND can we talk about the weather? I mean, it’s been fantastic. Nothing better than a winter tan.
We even broke out the slip n’ slide.
I think that wraps it up, I am off to make my babe a delicious dinner.
Can’t wait to share all of the fun Valentine/birthdays/margarita/ taco Tuesday fun that’s coming our way!
In lieu of a party with friends Averi chose to go to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday. The two older girls have gone before but Averi whom just recently learned to swim was finally brave enough and tall enough to join in on the fun.
But first…more cake and wishes.
The girls were so excited to pack for our getaway! They wanted to bring toys, stuffies, pillows and their own blankets. Basically everything in their room. And then we witnessed pigs flying when Averi asked to go to bed early so departure time would come sooner. Ah, we never grow out of that excitement do we?
Listen, we are not a fan of car rides. Three girls in the backseat for longer than a quick jaunt is torture for most anyone. Until we are ready to hunker down on a long drive or a flight, we will commit to a quick drive up Interstate 5. One hour in the car and we were there by noon. Luckily we were able to get into the water park long before our room was ready. Not being our first rodeo, we took in just what we needed (aka swimsuits, money and whatever the kids must have) and left the rest of our shit in the car.
Equipped with their Paw Passes and wolf ears, we dove in to what would be a great two days of fun!
Once we found a spot to call “home base”, we dropped our towels and shoes and went over the rules. Then the older girls went off and we took Averi on her first real waterslide.
Nope, not fun at all. SO FUN!
Canyon River Run was the one ride ALL five of us could go on together and we did, many times.
This was the first time in my life as a mom that I felt comfortable giving the girls their freedom without worrying every other second. They were so independent and it made it that much more fun.
We did it all and they didn’t complain and they didn’t tire.
The ten year olds even went on Wolf’s Tail, on their own. This ride is where the the bottom drops out from under you sending you straight down the slide.
Of course I had to follow them back up to record the bravery.
Enclosed in a capsule, then the countdown begins.. 3-2-1
We almost closed the park down and by 7:30 pm we had to tell the girls if they wanted to do anything else, we had to move on.
After a quick change up in the room, we went on a hunt for magic and pizza. While we waited for our food, the girls hopped around the hotel doing whatever magic game is so popular amongst the kids.
The magic quest wand even moved objects in the girl’s kid cabin.
Around 10:30, it was quiet and then I heard a small voice that said “I have a night light for you”. I thought to myself what? Who said that? And then Kaili came out and asked the same thing. F sakes. I climbed up and unplugged whatever I could see in the dark not to wake the others. It turned out that one of the wands must have summoned the critters of the lodge, sigh.
I prefer my rooms not to talk thank you. And I am pretty sure, nope I am positive that I would have NOT liked that as a child.
It was a late night but luckily they let us sleep until 7:00 in the morning (big deal you guys!). Then we were up and ready to go do it again.
{One tip I can give you; if you have a trip to GWL on your radar It’s this, bring food, there is a fridge in the room. And, pre-order on their app or walk out of the hotel and find something to your liking. Because the lines are ridiculous and it’s terribly overpriced.}
The next morning we were at the waterpark as it opened and we knocked out all of the best rides as many times as we could before the crowd grew bigger.
Hours and hours of rides and I was beat. Averi and I did one last ride together and the slide shot us down the chute backward, we flipped and that was about it for me.
Shawna and I went out into the sun for a bit and then before we knew it, lunch came and went.
The girls Paw Pass came with: a magic quest wand, a glitter tattoo, goggles, candy from the candy shop and a build a bear stuffy. So we had to get them out of the water if they wanted to claim the rest of their goodies. We did, they did.
Two hours later and full of candy, we headed home.
Nothing like the comedown from a high, am I right or am I right?
Between attempting to get the family together mixed with the fourth of July and summer camp turned Averi’s 7th birthday into a two part series.
Part 1-The Lion King.
Averi’s latest obsession is all things Lion King. After hours on Pinterest, I finally had a vision for the cake.
We got all of this from Party city and Amazon. Shawna’s talented fondant work made this cake. I am digging the ombre frosting look, I thought it worked great for the African sunset and the sky. I think It turned out pretty good.
How cute is this dress?
We have a tradition where the girls are NOT allowed into the kitchen and especially the fridge when we are making their birthday cakes. So it’s always a fun surprise.
Once the sugar went down we set up the slip n’ slide for the kids. Then we moved on to footy golf, which Casey dominated and Kaili didn’t do half bad.
A full day of too much sugar and over stimulation. I found Averi hiding out in the pantry.
Kaili ended up with a sour stomach and this is what I walked into when I checked on her that night.
Part II consists of more cake, more presents and the best part…. Great Wolf Lodge!
I can’t wrap my head around the fact that my baby is turning 6 years old this week. It doesn’t seem so long ago that she was still in the NICU.
This one has definitely kept me on my toes. Aside from being one of the cutest f*cking kids, she is stubborn AF.
But Seriously, this face.
She wanted a My Little Pony party again this year.
We stayed up Friday night grinding out the cake, it’s all chocolate under the fondant, she doesn’t want anything but.
We spent the afternoon playing pin the horn AND tail on the unicorn, made the family play The Floor is Lava and Uno, we ate cake, opened presents and then she requested cheese pizza for dinner.
It’s been a sweet six years baby girl. I love you to the moon, around the universe and back.
To celebrate the February birthday’s in our family we all went to Little Italy for dinner. Although the food wasn’t anything to rave about, the company was well worth it. The best part of Italian food is that we know we can order the girls pizza and skip the dramatics. You guys, they are getting older, when does their pickiness go away?
Later that night Kaili started to deteriorate and ended up with a bad cold. It has now hit the entire house, besides me; takes a bow while simultaneously knocks on wood.
A week or so later we headed to Vegas. While we were waiting to check in, we saw Jesus, probably.
We hit the arts district where we had an incredible lunch at Esthers Kitchen.
So good in fact, that we went back once more before we left.
Once my brother flew in, we hit the town. Music, food, dancing and all the fun that we have there.
The next day we decided to hit up Frankie’s Tiki’s Lounge before heading to the strip.
We were almost committed to riding on the high roller, but then beer pong caught our eye.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw the most amazing rainbow.
With that we headed to a casino to test our luck. Some of us were luckier than others. We met some nice folks, crazy characters and spent the rest of the night singing and dancing.
The Art of Thyming 