Super Easy Party Favor

I've had a Superman silicone mold for a while and have wanted to use it but never knew what to use it for. When I was planning Kara's party I knew I wanted to make Supergirl candy for favors! I bought some pink candy melts and started searching for a tutorial. I couldn't imagine that melting chocolate could be hard, but I wasn't sure about using the mold and what I had to do. Turns out it's SUPER easy. I never did find a tutorial, but my sister in law, Kelli, gave me some easy instructions.

There are so many awesome silicone molds out there that the possibilities seem endless. And seeing as how easy this was, I think I might have candy melt favors for every party I throw!

Gather your candy melts and silicone mold. 

Microwave the melts according to the package directions and fill the mold. I used about 2/3 of the package for one tray of candies. I think the candies would have been better if they weren't filled to the top. It was a lot even for me! But back to how I did it. I filled each space halfway with candy. Then I tapped the mold on the counter to get the air bubbles out. Then I filled the molds the rest of the way and tapped the tray again.

**There was one place on my mold (bottom curve of the S) where the candy didn't seem to get inside. After I filled the mold halfway, I would squeeze each candy to make that space bigger so that candy would fill it. It seemed to work okay.

If you have left over candy in your bowl and are going to do more candies, you can just let the melted candy harden again. When you go to make your next batch it softens right up and is good as new! Or you could just eat it straight from the bowl. You know...if you're anything like me.

Place the mold in the freezer for an hour or two. Remove the candy from the mold and you're done!

Seriously...that's all there is to it. 

She's 1!

Kara celebrated her first birthday on Sunday! We had some family over and had a wonderful time. 

It was such a nice day that we decided to have the party all outside. Usually we have some people inside and some outside, but after this winter, I want to soak up as many nice days as I can! Kara was getting a little overwhelmed with the day. During presents she just wanted to play with some of the toys for more than a few seconds, but we kept taking them away and replacing them with a new package to open. She was getting a little cranky. She got so many wonderful new things! She got an awesome picnic table, lots of new clothes (flamingo jammies and flamingo shorts!), a bitty baby and stroller and some books. She is having a blast playing with all of her new things and showing off her new clothes. 

Auntie Kelly made these amazing Supergirl cookies! The kids loved them...and ate them all before I had a chance to sample one!

Kara loved her cake. My mom and dad got her a smash cake and cake to share from Weber Bakery. This little girl needed no prompting to start shoveling that cake into her mouth. Right at the start she got cake in her eye. After a quick clean up she was back at it. I think she was more irritated that she had to stop eating to get her eye wiped out than anything. Towards the end she was getting so tired and was crying as she ate. But she didn't stop eating for a second. Atta girl!

Love her reaction to seeing her dirty face!

Happy birthday Kara! You are our supergirl!

Tball Double Header

We had two tball games this past Saturday. That means twice the fun right? This was Kent's first game which was hilarious. He was so happy to be playing in a game!

Sometimes he got a little bored and had to entertain himself.

Then the fight broke out between Kent and one of his teammates. This was one of the first times Kent got the ball but his teammate wanted to get it too. She wouldn't let him throw it at all. Finally he got out from behind her and threw the ball to first base. When he looks at these pictures, he just says, "she wouldn't get out of my way."

Jason was super excited to be out on the field helping the kids out. He was the second base coach and directed them where to run next which was important because they don't always run in the right direction.

That's keeping his eye on the ball!

Running home!

Kent played shortstop, first base and pitcher. He said his favorite part was when he was at bat.

Clark also played on Saturday. He played shortstop twice, third base and pitcher. He's loving the game. His favorite play is when the bases are loaded and someone doesn't hit the ball too hard. He runs up, grabs the ball and waits at home to tag the runner. He's done that a few times and his team loves it!

There was one time he was on third base getting ready to make a run. The bleachers are right in front of third so I was trying to cheer him on. I said, "Ok, Clark, time to go home!" He started to take his helmet off and walk off the field. He thought the game was over and we were really going home! Ha! It's like an Amelia Bedelia joke.

Pop Up Camper - Part 2

We've been making quite a bit of progress on the pop up lately. You can check out part one here. After Jason took all of the cabinets out, I scraped off all of the loose papery bits then gave it a good cleaning with a TSP substitute. I don't think this is a necessary step, but I did it anyway. I guess it can't hurt. We were originally going to reuse the hardware, but they weren't in very good shape. We removed those and I patched the holes with some wood putty. After that I gave it a coat of Primer. I used Zinsser Bullseye 123 Primer. It stuck to everything which was really nice! Then I finished off everything with two coats of Behr Dark Cavern. 

P.S. It looks like I shouldn't have stopped at the doors...our garage is in dire need of some new paint!

We really love the color. We weren't expecting it to have brown undertones but are very happy with it! We're keeping the white countertop for now. It's in pretty good shape, and I don't think it looks awful!

I'm so excited to see it come together. We had to get these big countertop/bench pieces out of the way so I can spread out to paint the doors, drawers and trim pieces.

Look - I'm helping! I think I've actually done more than Jason on the camper so far. Shhhhh, don't tell him!

While waiting for the paint to dry, I decided to tackle the cushions. We chose this awesome stripe fabric from Jo-Ann. It's an outdoor fabric so I hope it holds up okay. I used the old cushions as pattern pieces and reused the foam as well. The foam was in really great shape. I think I might wrap it in some batting though. That might help it fill out some of the corners. It seems a little loose since the cushions were already squished a bit on the corners from the old covers. I was going to use the old zippers, but we ended up finding some zipper by the yard in the upholstery section. It was about $5 to replace all of the zippers and now they match a bit better than they would have if I used the old ones.

The bottom of the cushions is a flannel backed vinyl. The original cushions used this same type of vinyl, but I'm still not sold on the fabric. It feels a little too flimsy. I hope it wears well. Note to self - next time use the walking foot like I knew I should have! The vinyl stretched quite a bit with the regular foot.

Stripes are tricky, that's for sure! I had to remember to line them up so that when the cushions are sitting on the bench the stripes will be in order. I also had the zippers all close toward the camper wall. The corners were a headache too. I could not figure them out for the bottom cushions. I finally found this post from another camper that posted pictures of what I knew was the way to do the corners. Sometimes you just need to see it. At least two of our cushions look nice and square with no puckers...we're just going to have to live with the other two! I don't think I'm going to redo them.

More camper reno to come!

Kara's First Birthday Shoot

I had a really hard time settling on something to do for Kara's first birthday photo shoot. Finally I decided to go with the obvious Supergirl theme with some spring flowers! Finding a nice little place with flowers in bloom this year was pretty tough. These pictures are from Meson Sabika. I'm not crazy about her hair in these pictures, but what can you do? Wind will be wind.

I can't believe how big she's getting!

She's making all sorts of funny faces now. She's very expressive. Cracks me up.

This is what she wanted to be doing the entire time. She wasn't interested in sitting and smiling for me. I guess I can't blame her.

Can't believe she's one!

Game 2 - Saints vs. Bulls

T-ball is so much fun! It takes up a lot of time, but watching the boys play is so worth it! 

Clark played pitcher and shortstop this game. He really loved shortstop and did a fantastic job. He tagged two people out which was pretty awesome. I think he's enjoying himself which is the best part!

Clark running into home!

A cheer for a great game!

Game 1 - Saints vs. Slammers

Clark's first t-ball game was so much fun. It was a beautiful Saturday even if it was a little windy. There are four fields and the games all start at the same times. They start each set of games with the national anthem which I think is so cool. Then the games last for 4 innings or 90 minutes. They play 9 batters per inning. Our team has been playing outs but I guess it is up to the coaches if they want to do outs yet or not.

Clark at bat 

Clark played left field, third base and pitcher twice. He really liked being pitcher. He said that he was able to do a lot more than in the other places. Jason was a proud dad. He loved watching him field the ball and throw to first. It's fun to see him playing hard and having fun.

Love this part of the game!!

Riptide Practice

Kent is loving his time at t-ball. He does pretty good paying attention and trying to follow directions. Maybe this hit wasn't home run material, but it at least got him to first!

Fielding some grounders

Playing catch with Clark. Clark was so excited to help out at Kent's practice. He was really good at trying to get them to learn how to play.

C2E2 - 2014

The boys have been anxiously awaiting C2E2 since they came home from the event last year. Jason "encouraged" them to take pictures with characters by telling them that whoever took pictures with the most characters would get a special prize. Clark just barely won with 12 different characters. Kent had 10. I think Clark ended up getting $1 or something. Not sure if that bribe is going to work again next year...

The highlight of Jason's day was meeting Tom Cook. He's an animator who worked on the original He-Man series. You can see Jason's excitement...the kids seem unimpressed!

Pictures with Ecto 1

It's pretty amazing that people create these costumes and attend the convention just for fun. The boys loved that they were able to hold some of the weapons for the picture. Hawkgirl's costume is pretty awesome.

This year the Friends of Scales Reptile Rescue was there drumming up support. Let me tell you who is excited about this...it's NOT me. Of course these three loved it.

Thundercats, Ho!

Love this picture even if it is a little on the blurry side - Clark always the performer; Kent pointing just cracks me up.

In true Wilde form, they are already looking forward to next year's show...