Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Cake -9

For my son’s 9th birthday, we tried a new ice cream cake recipe. He loves mint, chocolate, and ice cream… and Andys Mints as well! This cake has a brownie base and ice cream and other delicious toppings!

Ingredients:

  • 1 box Brownie Mix
  • 1/2 cup Oil
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 1/2 quart Mint Chip Ice Cream
  • 1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon Pure Peppermint Extract
  • 8 oz. Cool Whip
  • 1 bag Andys Mint pieces
  • Green Food Coloring
  • Andys Mints

Directions:

  1. Make brownies according to directions on the box. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake according to the box directions.
  2. Cool completely, then place in the freezer to chill.
  3. Stir the ice cream until it is smooth enough to spread.
  4. Gently spread evenly over the brownies, then place in the freezer again.
  5. Heat the cream over medium heat until hot and bubbly.
  6. Add chocolate chips and stir until smooth, then add peppermint extract.
  7. Let cool to room temperature (so it doesn’t melt the ice cream).
  8. Drizzle an even layer over the ice cream.
  9. Sprinkle some of the Andys mint pieces over the chocolate and freeze.
  10. Add a layer of cool whip and more Andys mint.
  11. I made some of the cool whip green to write “Happy Birthday” on the ice cream cake.
  12. Freeze for a couple hours. Pull out the ice cream cake to sit out about 15 minutes before cutting to serve.

Purple Succulent Wedding

We had a beautiful rustic wedding with lots of purple and succulents. I created a lot of DIY items for the wedding and my family helped with all of the food as well. I ordered most of my larger Succulents on Amazon. I also ordered some smaller Succulents on Amazon too. I also made my own wedding cake.

Cousins

Wedding Announcement

I made signs with my Cricut that said, “My mom”, “and My dad”, “are getting married”! Then we took the kids to the farm where we wanted to have the wedding and took pictures with them.

Family Unity Sand

I found some champagne glasses at Goodwill to use for our individual sand. Then I found the large clear glass vase with the marble topper at Goodwill as well. I added a scrapbooking sticker that says “Family” to the vase. I bought the colored Sand on Amazon. Then during our wedding ceremony we took turns pouring our individual sand into our family sand vase!

Place Setting Jars

We placed rocks in jars and wrapped the jars with burlap and lace. Then I printed our names on the cards and attached them to craft sticks, and stuck them down into the jars.

Drink Table

We had lemonade, tea, and flavored water at our drink station. I found clear plastic glasses with sliver glitter on them. I also found the black “LOVE” sign and spray painted it with silver glitter. We used pails for the sweetener and stirring spoons. The large white pail in the back that says “BLESSED” has the ice in it.

Cake Table

I decorated my wedding cake with succulents and twine. I also made purple cupcakes with buttercream frosting and added blackberries to the tops. We got our white plates with silver rims from Amazon along with the silverware.

Taco’ bout LOVE

We had Qdoba cater our wedding since we just LOVE tacos! We also brought some extra things like black olives, jalapenos, diced onions, and tomatoes to add.

Center Pieces

I found small dishes and bowls at the Dollar Tree. I filled them with purple and green chocolates. Then I planted some of my succulents in some small pots. We sliced a log tree from the backyard to place our succulent plants on.

Here Comes the Bride

My oldest son played the Wedding March on his keyboard as I walked into the barn. My youngest son and my step daughter held signs that I made that say, “Here comes my Mom” and ” Here comes the Bride”. And my dad got to perform our wedding!

Dancing

My oldest son has always LOVED music. Since he was a toddler he has played instruments and danced when he heard music. He helped my husband and I create our playlist, and he stunned us all with his amazing dancing skills as well!

Monster Truck Birthday Cake -4

My nephew came for a visit over his 4th birthday so I made him a #4 Monster Truck cake.

Ingredients:

  • Yellow Cake Mix
  • Eggs
  • Oil
  • Chocolate Mini Donuts
  • Chocolate Frosting
  • Oreo’s
  • Green Icing
  • Monster Trucks
  • #4 Candle

Directions:

  1. Bake the yellow cake according to directions in a 9×13 baking pan.
  2. Let it cool and cut the cake in half longwise so you have 2 long pieces of cake. Then cut one of the pieces in half. Shape on your cake board in the shape of the number 4.
  3. Cover the cake with chocolate frosting.
  4. Crush up some Oreo’s to create a Monster Truck track on top of the cake.
  5. Place the donuts around the side of the cake and us the green icing to add some grass between the donuts.
  6. I also used the green icing to write “Happy Birthday”.
  7. Place the number 4 candle and the Monster Trucks on top of the cake.

Chocolate Freezer Pies -13

My son just loves his grandma’s family recipe for Chocolate Freezer Pies. He doesn’t like cake very much, so he usually prefers pies for his birthday.

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. Hershey’s bar
  • 8 oz. Cream Cheese
  • 16 oz. Cool Whip
  • 2 Prepared 8 inch Graham Crust
  • 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

  1. Heat the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted.
  2. Beat the cream cheese and add the remaining milk. Add chocolate mix and beat until smooth.
  3. In a bowl, fold the chocolate mix into the cool whip and blend until smooth.
  4. Spoon the mix into the crusts. I decorated the pies with some extra cool whip and shaved chocolate bar for my son’s birthday.
  5. Freeze for 4 hours.

NERF BOY

He still loves all things Nerf, so he had a few friends over the play Nerf again this year!

Latchkey Art Show

We saved the kids art work at our after school program and put on an art show for the community. We has art stations set out along with displaying the kids art work. We had cookies and juice for refreshments too.

Art Work Display

We folded the tables up and hung up the children’s artwork that we has been saving.

We also displayed 3-D artwork onto boxed that I covered with colored paper.

Family Art Stations

We had 6 stations set up. Each station took up half of a table.

Coloring Station
Drawing Station
Painting Station
Dot Art Station
Emoji Face Station
Slime Station

Living Photo Frame

I painted a living photo frame out of 2 large cardboard boxes that I found. I put chairs in it so that kids can sit there while they get their pictures taken.

4th of July Tie Dye

My youngest son and I tried to tie dye some 4th of July shirts for our family.

Materials:

  • Tie Dye
  • Paper Plates
  • Rubber Bands
  • Plastic Bags
  • Something White to Dye
  • Bucket of Water
  • Plastic Gloves
  • Paper Towels

Directions:

  1. Place the shirt in the water and squeeze out all of the water.
  2. Twist or tie the shirt with the rubber bands.
  3. Put on gloves and pour different colored dye onto the shirt.
  4. Place the shirt in the plastic bag and keep it there for 2 hours.
  5. Rinse it out in the sink before washing alone for the first time.

Independence Day Fruit Pizza

Ingredients :

  • Crescent Roll Dough
  • Cream Cheese 8 oz.
  • Marshmallow Cream 1 can
  • Banana’s, Strawberries, Blueberries

Directions:

  1. I spread the Crescent Roll dough on a rectangle baking pan.
  2. Then I baked it according to the directions on the can.
  3. Mix together the Cream Cheese and the Marshmallow Cream to spread on the Crescent Roll.
  4. Slice the fruit and place it on the pizza in the shape of the American flag.

Laser Tag Birthday -8

My boy is 8!!! He took some of his buddies to play laser tag and then we came home for chocolate “8” cake.

Laser Tag Cake

I baked a 9 inch and an 8 inch chocolate cake with a cup in the middle to create a donut shape for each circle cake. Then I put them together and added chocolate icing. I used blue icing to write on the cake and added glow sticks to look like laser tag! AND of course 8 candles too.

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