05.07.14

Tent Caterpillars
Came across a ton of them on the trail behind the school today.

05.06.14

Store-Bought Cupcakes...Pimped Out!
Well, I was in charge of a dessert for our ladies golf league's opening night. I had great plans of something homemade, but my plans had to change.

After looking through Pinterest I decided to go with cupcakes. I didn't have the time to make the cupcakes or frosting this week, so I decided to "pimp out" the store-bought cupcakes with toppings ideas I had found while looking online. 

The one thing you loose with this method is the custom flavored cupcakes and frosting, but it saves a lot of time and still gives you customized cupcakes! If you wanted, it would actually be very easy to add some various flavors to the frosting. You could use cinnamon, nutmeg, or various extracts. You would need to carefully remove all of the frosting into a bowl, mix in the flavor and then re-frost.

Below I've outlined what I did with my King Soopers cupcakes. One thing I did for several of the cupcakes was remove a little of the frosting...I think the store bakeries always use too much.

BEFORE

AFTER

Peanut Butter Cup
-chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting (removed some of the frosting)
-chopped up Peanut Butter Cup Minis for the topping

Caramel & Chocolate Pretzel
-vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting AND
-vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream (didn't remove any of the frosting)
-melted just a small amount of chocolate in the microwave and drizzled it over the pretzels and let cool before adding them to the cupcake
-drizzle caramel ice cream topping on top

Coconut
-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting AND
-vanilla cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting (removed some of the frosting)
-placed coconut on a plate and rolled cupcake around to top

Oreo
-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (I would use the whipped cream frosting next time.)
-I removed all the frosting into a small bowl. In a Ziploc I crushed up Oreo minis and mixed them in with the frosting. I then re-frosted the cupcakes. (I didn't actually use all of the frosting.)
-I also chopped up some of the Oreos and sprinkled them on top.

Fruit
-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting AND
-vanilla cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting (I didn't remove any frosting.)
-place the fruit of your choice on top...I used a raspberry

05.05.14

Teacher Appreciation Week
Our AMAZING PTO got this year's Teacher Appreciation Week off to an AMAZING start!

Today included bagels/coffee/juice, a handmade craft item (I selected an American flag made from a small, wooden palate - pic to come some other day), and the beginning of a raffle. There are 21 different items and each item has a cute jar (like these two) in-which to place your name.

05.04.14

Family Dinner
The Kenyon's hosted family dinner this month. The theme for tonight...Pacific Islands. Lots of yummy meat, shrimp and beverages!

05.03.14

We've Got a Nest!
Very excited...the swallows were around again today and they have begun a nest!

05.02.14

Can It Be?
This morning there were a couple of swallows flying around. Got a few pics of this one before they flew off. Unfortunately they weren't back around tonight. Guess I'll have to wait and see!

05.01.14

Lunch
Costa Vida is always better then leftovers! Chad was out and about so he surprised me with lunch...what a great guy!!