Father's Day Cake

For Father's Day, I picked out several desserts and asked Amy to make one of them for me. Amy decided to make an Oreo Cake that I found on Pinterest. (Yes, I'm one of half dozen guys actually on Pinterest and it is awesome. I pin stuff for the garage, desserts, and fun stuff to do with kids.)

The Oreo Cake ended up being quite a bit of work with a cake and multiple types of frosting made from scratch. Of course, Caden and Caroline helped. Caroline was very excited to wear her apron (made by Grandma) and chefs had. By the time this picture was taken, Caden was ready to take off his Home Depot apron.

 

Caroline decided to try the chocolate frosting they had just finished making and she loved it! Caroline must have stuck her finger into the frosting a half dozen times before we put a stop to it. I couldn't blame her for this, especially since I put my finger in a half dozen times before Amy put a stop to it.

 

 Here is the final product. It was delicious.

On a related sad note, I decided to take the leftover cake (more than half) to work to share with my team. I put it in Amy's cake carrier and went to work. On the walk to my desk, the bottom fell off the cake carrier and I was left holding the top half by the handle designed for carrying while my delicious cake was splattered all over the floor! I considered getting a fork and eating it directly off the floor (remember the Friends episode about the cheesecake)...

...but I decided to clean it up the best I could instead.

Feeding Baby Cheerios

Caroline has a toy for her baby that can be a baby swing, car seat, or, as you see below, a high chair. This is a picture from the first time Caroline and Caden saw it as a high chair. They thought it was really cool. They fed baby Cheerios for nearly an hour. They also helped baby eat all the Cheerios off her plate.

Making Applesauce

Grammie and Poppa gave the twins multiple toys on the lines of this blender where the blender blows confetti around on the inside as it blends. The twins love these! Caden made applesauce for 45 minutes in this blender.

Here, is a picture of Caden pouring a batch into his and Caroline's bowls.

Caden Liked His Dinner

About 15 minutes after last nights dinner, Caden walked up to Amy and said, "thank you mommy for a delicious dinner." What a sweet little boy!

And yes, I agreed with Caden. Amy made my mom's "crumby chicken" recipe that we all love. It is a staple at our house.

Round Rock Donuts

The four of us decided to go to Round Rock Donuts. I have had the donuts numerous times but I had never been to the store.
The twins liked looking at the donuts and putting their finger prints all over the glass.
Yummy, warm donut holes!

Making Sugar Cookies

The kids have become great helpers in the kitchen. They love being involved with whatever we are making. They like seeing every part of the process from the gathering and combining of ingredients to the cooking and the final product.

Amy decided to make some sugar cookies with the twins. Here is the assembled dough.
Amy's little helpers stood on chairs so they could watch Amy roll out the dough.Caroline wanted to try rolling out the dough.Now that the dough was flat, it was time to cut some cookies. Caroline did the first cookie.
There was plenty of cookie for both to cut cookies at the same time.
The kids did a great job cutting cookies and Amy transferred them to a baking pan.
Caden watched the cookies bake for several minutes.
Here are the fresh cookies.
Caroline thought it was awesome that she got to eat the cookies she made.
And she thought they were delicious!Caden enjoys getting cookies but he doesn't care to eat them. He holds it for a few minutes, licks it once or twice, and then wants to put it in my mouth so I can eat it. Yum...dirty, wet, plain sugar cookies. Ah, the joys of parenthood.

Show You the Cupcakes

I forgot to post a little story that went with Amy making the cupcakes...

Amy made cupcakes and had them on the counter. Caroline saw them, ran over to Caden who was on the other side of the kitchen, and said:

"Caden"
"Over there"
"Cupcakes"
"Show You"

How cute is that!

Second Birthday Cupcakes

Amy wanted to make cupcakes for our family birthday party. She saw a rainbow cupcake recipe she wanted to try. After making the cake batter, Amy divided it into four bowls and dyed each a different color.
She then spooned each into cupcake holders one color at a time.And baked like normal. Here is what they looked like right out of the oven.
Amy then made a homemade butter cream frosting and decorated it with sprinkles.
Of course, two of the cupcakes got two candles. Caden (yes, Caden) was very interested in the new cupcakes. He managed to get close enough to touch one with his hand. He then linked the small amount of frosting he scraped off.
Here are the birthday kids! You can see that Caden is wearing his guitar.
Caroline loved us singing to her.
So did Caden. He clapped and said, "yeaaaa" after we finished singing "Happy Birthday."
Of course, Caroline loved the cupcake...while Caden only licked his it once. :)Here is an interior shot of one of the rainbow cupcakes. Doesn't it look awesome? I think Amy should have made these for the kids party at the water park.
That is all I have for the twins second birthday. I can't believe two years have already passed us by. Soon, we'll be sending them off to college...and Amy and I will go on a large vacation (assuming we can afford it). :)

PB&J Sandwiches

I served Caden and Caroline their first PB&J sandwiches a few weeks ago. Well, actually, the PB is sunflower seed butter. We have yet to have peanuts and will put it off for a little while. Cal, one of the cousins, had a peanut allergy (that he thankfully outgrew after a couple years).

Here is Caroline enjoying her sandwich which was shaped like a flower thanks to a cute sandwich cutter from her aunt Angie.
Here is a picture of Caden and his mostly untouched sandwich.
Delicious! Wish mom had thought to serve me Sunbutter a long time ago!

Spaghetti

Amy has made spaghetti for the kids several times in the past and they were never interested. But when the cousins were here, both kids tried and liked spaghetti. Since then, Amy has served it a few times. The last time, Caden got it all over. We didn't mind at all since we are just happy if Caden eats anything.

Brownie Mixer

Caden enjoying making his first batch of brownies! He doesn't really care for sweets, so, I doubt he'll try any of them.
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Red Head Appreciation Day!

Marble Slab introduced a New Red Velvet ice cream last week and held "Red Head Appreciation" day to celebrate. Caden and Caroline treated mommy and daddy two free ice cream! Caden probably consumed less than a tablespoon of ice cream. Caroline would have eaten all four scoops if we had let her.


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Helping Mommy Make an Apple Pie

We couldn't make it to Dallas on Father's Day to celebrate with Grandpa so we decided to celebrate a few weeks later during the Fourth of July weekend. One of his gifts was going to be one of Amy's delicious apple pies. Amy makes by far the best apple pie I've ever had.

When Amy started making the pie, the twins decided they really wanted to help. Amy pulled a couple kitchen chairs over to the island so Caden and Caroline could help out. This is the first time they have ever helped make something in the kitchen. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Here is Mommy and her two helpers peeling/cutting an apple.
The twins were very interested in the slicer, peeler, cutter.
Here is Caroline giving it a try.
Caden wanted in on the action.
Caden didn't think he could wait for the apple pie to be finished. He decided to to try (aka: lick) an apple as Caroline turned it.Delicious!

Of course, if Caden does something, Caroline needs to also do it.
As you can see, Caroline managed to get a little bite.
It was so good, she went in for some more.
Here is a picture of the final product. It was delicious!Amy had a lot of fun baking with the twins. I'm sure this will be the first of many more kitchen helpers.