Ice Cream Cupcakes

Yesterday for our fourth of July dessert, my mom made ice cream cupcakes. Basically she made chocolate cupcakes and froze them after they were done baking. Then after sitting in the freezer for a while she scooped out the middles and scooped in some ice cream. Freeze again (preferably overnight). Then before everyone came over my dad whipped up some whipped cream frosting and frosted over the top of where the ice cream hole was (the ice cream dropped into the cupcake a little over night but it was perfectly okay). Add a little sprinkles and there you have it ice cream cupcakes.

Festive Fourth Nails

Did my nails last night for the fourth of July. My thumb nail is a plain blue color (I can't figure how to do white stars on them with what I have around the house). Then all my other nails are white and I put red stripes on them. I was going to make the stripes go all the way down the nail but after I did my first pinky nail, I decided on just 3 red stripes. Hope everyone has a good holiday!!

Swim to Daddy

Lucy is now 12 weeks old, and is learning to swim. She has loved the pool since we brought her home, thus making it neccessary for us to reinstall the child fence around it from when we were little. She and my dad have become best friends and he loves to take her swimming. Thus, I present to you, a video I shot earlier today, of Lucy learning how to swim to people.

Overexposed

So I just picked up the new Maroon 5 cd, Overexposed at Target (special edition) and I'm so excited!! The cd just came out yesterday and the regular version features 12 tracks. The special edition has three bonus tracks plus Target added two Payphone remixes.
1. One More Night
2. Payphone (featuring Wiz Khalifa)
3. Daylight
4. Lucky Strike (listening to this track right now)
5. The Man Who Never Lied
6. Love Somebody
7. Lady Killer
8. Fortune Teller
9. Sad
10. Tickets
11. Doin' Dirt
12. Beautiful Goodbye
*13. Wipe Your Eyes
*14. Wasted Years
*15. Kiss
* denotes bonus track
Target Exclusive Tracks:
Payphone (Supreme Cuts Remix) featuring Wiz Khalifa
Payphone (Cut More Remix) featuring Wiz Khalifa

I have now listened to six songs and it is amazing. Best cd of the summer and definitely worth $13.99 (the regular version is $9.99)

The Secret Speech

When it's baking hot outside, sometimes it's nice just to sit inside and read. Yesterday I finished an awesome book, The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith. It's the second book in the Child 44 trilogy which is set in Soviet Russia. No spoilers in here, I promise, just a decent book review. The Secret Speech was not as good as Child 44 because it had less mystery to it, which I loved about the first book. However, it's still a thriller and Tom Rob Smith's brilliant writing style makes it hard to put the book down. Both books have been very fast reads. I can't wait to get my hands on the final book in the trilogy, Agent 6.

Beating the Heat in the House

Yesterday Texas weather got up to 112! Plus any humidity. Today it didn't get as hot but we have been in the triple digits all day - quite difficult for quadruplets to play outside. So today we thought of the poor birds who have to live outside 24/7 and built them some bird houses (plus the nanny here didn't really feel like sitting outside in the heat for hours when there was a human house to sit in. We had some empty milk cartons so I covered them in construction paper and cut two holes in the front an let the kids decorate them. While I cut the holes I had the kids make their own birds to keep them busy and then we put them on the birdhouses with some orange pipe cleaners for legs. I punched a hole in the top and put some yarn through it so we could hang it in the tree. We also thought it would be nice if we provided the birds with a snack on such a miserable day. So I put some peanut butter in the bottom and had the kids sprinkle in some Cheerios. And there you have it two birds houses to beat the heat in.

Kids Crafting Pinwheels

It's a bright and sunny day so today I helped the kids make pinwheels. There were several things they couldn't do (like sticking a pin in the center) but it proved to be a good lesson in shape recognition. First we folded a rectangular piece of paper into a square and cut off the excess. Then by folding the paper we created an "x" in the square. Next, I helped them cut each fold of the "x" about halfway to the middle. Then we folded four flaps up and I pinned it all through the center to a chop stick. (it's good to already have made a hole in the chop stick because trying to make one with a pin that has paper on it is a wee bit hard).