Our week in pictures: 9.21.14

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1. Fun at the fire house!

2. Who knew we could run through a sprinkler the last week of September?!

3.This little girl does weird things in my belly!

4. We celebrated Dado's birthday!

5. Ethan had lots of fun with his cousin's at Grandma and Grandpa's!

6. Ethan and I spent our last Friday with just the two of us at our favorite place, The Morton Arboretum.

7. Michael and I had a fun date night out at a local food truck fest.

8. Ethan watching them make our pizza at our favorite pizza place, Georgio's.

9. Throwing rocks in Mallard Lake.

Family Favorite Recipe: Ice Cream Sundae Cake

I know Fall is coming and ice cream desserts are making way for pies and caramel apples but this ice cream cake is too yummy not to share. Growing up, I hated cake. Even now it's still not my favorite thing unless it's really moist with amazing frosting, ha! So for my birthday my Mom always made me an ice cream cake. This recipe is her own creation and it's amazing. I was mentioning to Michael the other day how I really had a taste for it and he mentioned he had never had it. I still can't believe in the 8 years we've been together that neither my Mom or I have made it, so I knew it was time! It's super easy to put together and the results are delicious.

Ingredients
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
Hot fudge
Cool Whip (thawed)
Nuts (optional)
Maraschino Cherries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Melt stick of butter
3. Pour your graham cracker crumbs into an 8x8 pan
4. Gradually add melted butter to the graham cracker crumbs and stir (you might not need all the butter)
5. Once all of the graham mixture is wet and can be pressed to the pan, stop adding butter.
6. Use a piece of wax paper or a heavy glass to press the mixture evenly across the pan
7. Bake crust for 10 minutes
8. While the crust is baking, remove ice cream from freezer to soften
9. Once the crust is a golden brown, remove from oven

10. Slice the ice cream and place into the 8x8 pan until the crust is completely cover, smooth ice cream with a spatula

11. Warm the hot fudge so it's not hot, but spreadable
12. Pour as much or as little hot fudge as you want over the ice cream and spread, things will start to get a little messy with the melting ice cream but it doesn't matter

13. Top the hot fudge with a thick layer of cool whip

14. Sprinkle with nuts and place cherries on top if desired (Michael doesn't like cherries, so we just did nuts)

15. Freeze for at least 4 - 6 hours before serving
16. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Boo-Yah!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It's the day I get to celebrate my favorite person in the whole world, my husband, my best friend, my everything. I hope that I can make you feel as special today on your birthday (and every day) as you have made me feel since the day we met. You are such a good Daddy to Ethan and I can't wait to see you with your baby girl. We love you so much. Happy birthday, my best friend and partner in life! ♥ 

Fun at the Fire House!

Yesterday we visited one of the local fire departments for their annual open house. We went last year but Ethan was still pretty small and didn't really get it. This year he was so excited for the fire trucks and ambulances; he had been talking about going for days! We went over to Rich and Tif's first and walked over to the firehouse from their house. The kids had a lot of fun climbing in and out of the trucks.

After checking out all of the firetrucks we headed into the firehouse. They had tables set up where you could get coloring books, stickers, a fireman's hat, etc. 

They also had popcorn, that might have been Ethan's favorite part! They had music playing and Ethan and Makayla danced it out while eating their popcorn!

When you walked outside the firehouse they had a little display where you could use a hose to put out a "fire." The fire was painted on windows of the house and the force of the water pushed the fire down. Ethan loved it!

On our way out we stopped by the ambulance to get a few more pictures before heading home.