Our FAVE cheese Dip!

Mothers Day this year, i told you i was given the new Trisha Yearwood Cookbook- i cannot say enough about this book and will be buying it as gifts this year! If you love to cook, BUY THIS!!!

One of the best recipes for a party is the Charleston Cheese Dip. EVERYTIME i make this for the neighborhood get together, its literally gone in minutes. I never take pictures of it, so found this picture on the blog : Stirring the pot. Another great cooking blog!!

The recipe ?!!! you've got it!

*1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

*1 8 0z pckg Cream cheese, Softened

*1 C grated sharp cheddar cheese

*1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

*2 green onions, finely chopped ( we dont add that, the Mr. cant eat onions)

*dash of cayenne pepper

*8 Ritz or butter crackers, crushed

*8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

Pre- Heat oven to 350*

In bowl, mix all ingredients BUT ritz crackers and bacon.

Transfer to a shallow baking dish,

top with crushed ritz and cook for 15 minutes. Remove, and top with bacon-

serve immediately!!

Once again i'll say, this is one of those cookbooks you might as well ALWAYS have out.. i have it literally sitting next to my stove!!

NC Beach Trip With Daddy

The last few weeks of summer have wrapped, and i've wondered what happened to my idea of updating my blog on a consistant basis! I blog stalk almost daily and then am too lazy to update mine ;)

The girls went on a week vaca with their daddy to the Beaches of NC and had a BLAST - ( i'm pretty sure my week was more fun kidless with no responsibilities, but i wont tell them that!!)

I left the Mr. with the task of taking pictures of the trip so i could have them captured for the blog- as you would guess, the picture task was done, but not obsessively as a mom would've done. Hey, i'll take what i can get!

* Little Muffin buried in the sand by her sissy and cousins- poor little victim

*Mini me went boogie boarding *

I literally got caught up on crafts and things i wanted to do with girlfriends- my neighbor swore i was never home... however if she would've seen my living room she would know i was. Craft supplies EVERYWHERE- thank you cards, homemade monograms for me and my neighbors door, a wall hanging in lil muffins room, a goodwill run that produced MANY finds to make beach glass for my room, and many other things-

I'm game for having a daddy/ daughter week EVERY year!

Lil Muffin turned 3!!

Her actual birthday was during the week, but we decided to have her party on Saturday- we had our usual dinner as a family with our close friends- those pictures will be posted later. Here are some snipits from saturday- Princess and the frog was the theme we decorated for. its hard decorating at a pool!!! Not my ideal location, and not how i envisioned it, but she loved it and that's ALL that mattered!

Green punch to stick with the purple, lavendar and green theme- i'm pretty sure i made enough punch for all of the city! I used : green kool-a*d, sugar, water, sprite, and some lime sherbert.. fun punch with a kick

I made her tutu with glitter tulle and had her tank top made to match by a friend. Our neighbor just bought a new dog, so of course SHE needed a tutu to match as well! - the picture would have turned out perfect if the toddler would've cooperated, but we ALL know how that one goes.. its doesnt and you roll with the punches, take 50 pictures and pic the ONE that will work ;)

Lil muffins friends from the neighborhood- and her sissy

The end of the table- i usually go all out with food and decided to make it simple with hot dogs, chips and watermelon. NEVER have i gone this simple.

I had gone to a bridal shower a few months back- there were these mini cakes that were gorgeous. i decided to ask the girl that made them to make lil muffins birthday cake. Well, you know how you envision something to look?! this wasnt it.. i imagined glitter, lavendar, and a mini frog with a huge crown on his head. Long story short, this cake didnt have any lavendar on it, so i doctored it up as m uch as i could.. being a control freak, that's what happens. Next year, i'll just make the cake. Lil muffin LOVED the cake and once again, in the grand scheme of things, that's all that mattered!!

i chose to make frog cupcakes to accent the cake- i had visioned them on my gorgeous square cake plates and the cake on the top. but it was so blasted hot out and i was nervous toting all 3 cake stands down to the pool with the kids there. i'm pyschotic about my stuff and if one was broken by a child, i might stroke out. so.. i let my crazy perfectionism slide and put the cupcakes on a COOKIE SHEET--- gasp.. i know.( on a side note, did you know that they now make NEON food coloring?! um.. so you know that bright color of frosting you can never get?! you can now, baby.. neon is my new FAVE!)

"Make a wish!!!"

My fave part of her opening presents!! this bag was about as big as her and she literally crawled into the sucker to get her present out!

After a full day of swimming and all of her friends gone, girlfriend went back for some more cake- girl after my own heart loving her sweeets! she DEVOURED it

We were all wore slap out from being at the pool all day and decided to hit up one of those restraunts that cooks your food in front of you- notice in this picture, mini me is

MISSING?! she's in between blondie and chick with the camera UNDER THE TABLE because she hates the fire.. honestly.. LOOK @ lil muffins face.. hilarious!!!

3 rd time in a week she had people sing happy birthday to her- she owned it this year and is STILL saying its her birthday!

i cannot believe ANOTHER year has passed us by with her- she literally was DAYS shy of her 1st brithday when we moved here- look at all the great times and friends we've made since! we're so blessed!

**Happy Birthday, Lil Muffin!**

The much anticipated concert!

For Valentines Day, i bought the Mr. tickets to his Favorite artist. After months of waiting, the concert finally arrived. Guess what night it was on? my math final night. No lie- couldnt have been worse timing. But, i managed to squeeze in a final, zip back home, pick up the husband and jet back to the concert. It was a blast and i'm pretty sure the Mr. sang along to EVERY song!

Modeling for a Major Childrens store

We have a neighbor who works at a major clothing store out here. She asked the girls one weekend if they would model the clothes in the window on a saturday for an hour. They pulled thru!! ... here's some fun shots of it-


Wanting to BUST out!

These are the outfits they ended up buying- daddy's a sucker! Look at the little boy to the right. Both girls were SO bored, until lil muffin saw this little boy and lit up like a christmas tree!!!

Cute and rare shot of mini me- i love it!

Snickerdoodle muffins

Many of you know i LOVE baking. Even with my new food lifestyle, i still make all of the guilty pleasure foods, and give them away or let my guinea pigs, er i mean kids taste everything. I have SO many yummy recipes i want to share in the upcoming posts. Today, i found THIS gem of a recipe from Oopsey Daisy. LOVE her blog! These muffins are SUPER easy to make by yourself or with your kids help!!

They are currently in the oven baking and i just KNOW they'll be a huge hit!

I wanted you to enjoy the recipe as well ( brittany, i KNOW you'll try it ;)

Snickerdoodle Muffins


Muffins
2 c. flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. butter, melted
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla


Topping
1 c. sugar
2 T. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Either butter a 12-cup muffin tin or use cupcake papers.


Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a fork.


Fill the muffin cups with batter. Top each muffin with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. It can be applied heavily.


Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.