A Very Random Post Because I'm a Little Behind and Some Blogger Linky Love

 

Lil' Smokies Mummies--the boys loved these.  Lil' Smokies sausages and Pillsbury crescent rolls cut into thin strips.  Spooky eyes those mummies!  Wait a second, those aren't mummies, those are babies wrapped in swaddling clothes.  No.  Okay, they're mummies.

And I made mummy pizza for dinner tonight.

 

Used string cheese for the cheese.  Guess what Parker wants to be for Halloween?  Yep, a mummy.  I don't know if I can get the string cheese to wrap all the way around him.  Hmm, Pillsbury crescent rolls?  No.  Well, ya'll are no fun.  I'll have to see what else we can come up with! ;)  Okay, moving on.

I didn't take any photos, but I made this delicious Black Bean and Sweet Corn Soup with Cilantro and Lime that I found at Maria's blog, Two Peas and their Pod.  It was SO good.  I cut her recipe in half and added some chopped chicken for a little added protein.  I even made homemade tortilla strips as Maria suggested.  Love them.  Great recipe.

I also made a yummy Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Soup from Nick's blog, The Peanut Butter Boy.  It's a thick soup and I even added an extra cup of chicken broth, but it also makes a great sauce for pasta.  I enjoyed on top of some spaghetti squash and with some sauteed spinach stirred in.  Good stuff--the peanut butter in it was awesome!

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Nutella), recipe from Holly at Phe/MOM/enon, which she got from a Gale Gand book.  This is so good!  It "hardens" up a little a few days after making it, but is still spreadable.  It has a little bit stronger hazelnut flavor, but it's good.  If you love Nutella, you've gotta try this.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Taylor's birthday.  Believe it or not, I didn't post very many pictures from his actual  birthday.  He wanted to make his own cake--chocolate, and decorate it.  And decorate it he did!  I let him go to town with the sprinkles!

We  made the ever popular and simple Crazy Cake.  Where did I originally get this recipe?  None other than--Anna at Cookie Madness.  It's made right in the baking pan. 

I let him do this last year, too.  Whatever holiday sprinkles I had, he sprinkled them.  You're only 6 once, so live it up!

I love this next picture.  Parker found a couple of cool rocks at school.  He decided to wrap them up and give them to Taylor for his birthday.  He worked so hard on the "card" he made to wrap them in and give them to him and was so excited.  That's true brotherly love.

Another birthday--over.

_________________________________________________________________________________

These are some really good Blue Cornmeal Pancakes I made recently.  I got the recipe from Marye at Baking Delights.  She made hers with blueberries.  I did not.  But these are good.  Guess where the recipe is from?  Mesa Grill's Cookbook.  Marye added lemon zest.  So did I.  These were good pancakes.

__________________________________________________________________________________

This little stinker.  He was being awfully quiet the other day.  Never a good sign.  He got Kevin's laptop off the floor near the bed, got up on the bed and was working on something very important, just like Daddy does!

  

If that's not the look of a Little Stinker, I don't know what is!

He's starting to not like me taking so many pictures of him, especially when he's "in trouble".  Love this little stinker!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hang on, I'm almost done.  For now.

My friend April came to visit and brought me these awesome cookies.  The boys gobbled them up!  April has many talents, one of which is cake and cookie decorating.  I thought these were awesome!  Thanks, April.

When April brought me those cookies, another friend of mine,  Meagan, came with her.  Meagan has a fun blog called Domestic Wonder.  She brought me some cookies, too.  They are good and different.  They are made with a spice cake mix.  I've made cake mix cookies before--chocolate and yellow cake mixes.  But I'd have never thought to try spice cake.  Check out the recipe on her blog.  She also posts other recipes and lots of fun, cute, easy ideas of crafts and activities to do with kids.  She has a cute little boy who is two and another one on the way!  Thanks for the cookies, Meagan!