Chiefs n Chopper

Yes I know Price Chopper is no longer the sponsor for the Chiefs. But that's a big mistake in my book PC, you just can't beat Chiefs-n-Chopper!

Anyhoo! A couple weeks ago I went to the Chiefs game with my siblings and brother in law. It was actually perfect weather, cool but sunny. We started out bright and early to tailgate and I about choked when I saw it was 27 bones to park. I mean really? For the Chiefs? The first thing we saw upon entering the gates was a huge sheet someone had hanging that said this is an embarrassment. Now we all know the Chiefs suck. But I have to admit that KC has some of the greatest fans in the NFL, so to see that sign you knew it was going downhill quickly.

We grilled some dogs, drank a few beers, and chuckled as a plane flew overhead that read Bench Cassel, we deserve better. Now I don't know much about professional football politics, but the fans were not happy. It was kind of sad because I have a lot of really great memories of Chiefs games despite them sucking for as long as I can remember. A few years ago me and Stephanie went for her birthday at the end of December, were in the nose bleeds, it was FREEZING and it was still a total blast. I don't think I could say the same thing in a few weeks if I went to another game.

We had pretty great seats, and sat by some really rowdy fans. This was the game where Cassel got hurt and Quinn finally came in, and started the whole controversy of our fans cheering for an injured player. The only thing I cheered for was Quinn coming in the game, but I can't speak for everyone. He got hurt at the other end of the field, so we had no clue what was really going on until he was walking off and they announced that he was injured. Overall it was still fun, and I had a great time with my fam. I just hope the fans return to days of cheering our hearts out despite how bad they are.

That's great, but who are the chefs? Hahah one of my all time fav commercials. Snickers you get me every time!

A purple birthday party

This year for Hadley's birthday party I went with a color instead of a theme. Not only was it easier to plan, but a lot more fun. We had it at the park again since our house is so teensy, and I decided to do a dessert table instead of a bbq, again mostly for simplicity, but it's a lot more fun to plan that too. I decided on purple/turquoise since we already had a lot of purple decor to reuse, and her super cute invites were purple and turquoise.

The birthday girl getting ready to head to the park! I made her that rosette shirt, for like 25 cents. We already had the white long sleeve shirt, and I made those rosettes in seriously less than 5 minutes (all 3!) and then just hand stitched them onto her shirt.

The dessert/presents table (minus the cake - we'll get to it!). The purple and white roseballs are left over from the bridal shower I helped my sister plan. I bought the silver and plastic platters at the dollar store.

Close up of the rosette balls. Those suckers took forever. So if you'd like to rent them out please let me know, but don't ask me to make you any ;)

Chocolate covered marshmallows were a huge hit with the kiddos, and super easy to make. Much easier than cake balls, and pretty inexpensive. I'm sure all the parents are very thankful for the sugar rush I sent their kids home with!

Aside from the cake, this was definitely my favorite thing I made. I just made rice krispie treats the normal way from the box, and pressed them in muffin tins to get a cupcake shape, and frosted the top and added sprinkles. Talk about easy peasy and super cute!

White chocolate covered pretzels are one of my all time favorite treats, and oddly enough were the most time consuming thing I made (along with the lollipop cookies).

And now for the piece de resistance - the cake! I am soooo proud of the cake and how it turned out, and that I didn't stress out over it at all. Even though it looks really difficult to make, it was actually super easy, just took a lot of steps. I made it over a period of 3 days, mostly to allow room for errors :)

 

It's a 4 layer purple ombre vanilla cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream frosting! (Now that is a mouth full)

If I make an ombre cake again, I'm going to try and make the colors a little more defined. It felt like I was using a lot of the purple dye, but when they came out of the oven they weren't quite as prominent.

The rosettes were actually really easy with a pastry bag and tip. Frosting the cake first was what was annoying. Frosting kept falling off my knife and getting EVERYWHERE. So for my next cake I will definitely be purchasing one of those fancy frosting spreaders (whatever they're called).

All in all we had a great party. The weather was absolutely perfect, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Hadley was spoiled beyond belief, and filled to the brim with her favorite sweets!

Hadley Jean is 3!

Here's a few photos I snapped of Hadley around her 3rd birthday since I didn't know when we'd be getting our family photos done. She was such a little cheese ball for me, which I'm glad about since the day we took our family photos she was not very cooperative. That's what happens when you're the big 3!

 

 

Doesn't she just melt your heart?! I can't believe she's already 3. Let's not talk about it, I'll just be happily in denial until she turns 18 and I have to deal with reality :)

We are the Champions

This year I had the privelege of coaching Gracen's soccer team. And let me just tell you 4 year olds are awesome. I played soccer my whole life, and nothing could prepare me for pre-k soccer.

Gracen had a blast playing. Each Saturday they had a 30 minute practice with a trainer, and then a 30 minute scrimmage against another team. I really like how they got to practice with a trainer, because they're attention spans at this age is slim to none. The trainer knew a lot of great games to play with them to keep them attentive, as well as learning basic ball skills.

Gracen had quite a cheering section at each game. Every morning before her games she would ask who was coming to watch her. She may or may not like attention.

Luckily they don't have goalies at this age, or keep score. Pretty much every time there was a kick off they ran down in a clump and somone either scored or kicked it out of bounds. It was also quite humorous to see some of the kids just pick up the ball and try to move it and then keep playing like it was no big deal.

We were pretty lucky with weather, we got to play all of our games. It rained one day but we got to finish out the game and the kids thought it was really funny that they got to play in the rain while all the parents sat under the umbrellas. Only one week was it very cold, but it didn't same to phase the kids very much except for of course Gracen. She refused to play or even practice at all. She kept begging to go wait in the car. But I don't blame her, it was VERY cold.

Hadley had just about as much fun as Gracen did, and enjoyed playing on the sidelines with other siblings and of course Gracen's cheering section. She can't wait to play next year!

Gracen told me snacks were her favorite part, that and the medal she received at the end of the season.

I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids to coach, or better parents. Everyone seemed to have a great time playing, and I can't wait to do it again in the spring!

Baby you're a firework

I have a love/hate relationship with the 4th of July. I personally love fireworks, watching them anyways. I'm not exactly what some would call adventurous myself, and I am just fine watching the professionals put on a fantastic show and calling it a day. I may or may not have been tramautized when I was around Gracen and Hadley's age when I got burnt by a sparkler at the lake and it melted my shirt sleeve to my arm. You could say that makes me a wee bit hesitant to let my own kids run a muck with things on fire.

The Mr. and I are not necessarily on the same page when it comes to fireworks. Keeps things interesting ;) this year we headed over to his brothers house that lives outside KC, so fireworks are legal. The girls thoroughly enjoyed stomping on the poppers, and watching Daddy run around the driveway trying not to catch on fire, or make us go deaf.

What did I do you ask? Try not to have a panic attack, heart attack, anxiety attack, any kind of attack really. I'm incredibly overprotective of the girls, so this is not my favorite holiday.

 

That would be me directing the girls to sit as close to me as possible and as far away from Daddy as possible ;) Luckily the girls got tired of it quickly, mostly the loud booms. I'm of the opinion that they should definitely be illegal in all residential areas. I get tense just thinking about it.

Not to mention we were in the middle of a drought. and people were sending chinese lanterns into the sky. Do you know how livid I would be if that landed on my roof? Not very smart.

This sounds like a lot of complaining, but really I love the 4th of July. America! I just like to be safe, some may call me a nervous nelly, but being a Mommy does that to you. Next year I think we'll just head to the park to watch the pros! Happy 4th of July!!