Hash and Hotcakes....Spa Day and Cupcakes

Labor Day was a riot... we labored and relaxed then labored some more.  By the time my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.  It was filled with family fun and ended with a YSA BBQ in our backyard for 50 people.    I ate sugar, sugar and more sugar and I am now in a headache zone and regretting the sweets.

We gathered at 10am for brunch with Wayne cooking his famous HASH and hotcakes.  We had everyone but Truman, Sophia and Andrew. 

We couldn't decide just one event for this day so we decided on two.  First was a Spa Day  or more like a SPA hour made possible by my darling friend Kathleen Newman.    She has all of the equipment and the towels.     We were all in with  feet soakers, face masks, nail polish, lotion, hand wax, hot wash cloths and zen music....adding a bit of chocolate helped too. 

 NEXT..... our second event was CUPCAKE WARS!   We divided into three teams , made our cupcake plans then went to the store to get ingredients. 

 Bre, Landon and Laila created Lemon chiffon Raspberry cupcakes.   They made their own lemon curd......Very British baking show.  Theirs looked the best because the frosting was a marscapon lemon flavored whip cream which really mounded up beautifully, then decorated with candied lemons and raspberries.   

 Melinda, Monson, and Alex created a pineapple upside down type  cupcake decorated with a cherry and a pineapple slice.  We frosted with pineapple flavored cream cheese frosting and made a brown sugar crushed pineapple syrup to put on and in the center of a yellow cake.   It was DELICIOUS

 Addison, Wayne and Lexi...along with teammates Alfie and Tayla.... made a Lemon curd Blueberry cupcake.    They made a blue lemon frosting.  Wayne went to a few stores to find the lemon curd.  Addison plated  it up perfectly and the yellow cupcake liners really added. 

 We brought the Farleys up for the blind judging.  They had to score in Creativity, Appearance and Taste.  THEy were such good sports to do this or us...but they also really liked the cupcakes.

 AND THE WINNER IS...................My team with Monson and Alex and or delicious Pineapple cupcakes!

It was really fun to see everyone working together and creating something.  We all stayed interested, involved and invested.  I was impressed.  I love this family of mine. 

I don't know if we would ever do Spa day and cupcake wars all in one big Labor day celebration again, because it was a bit much..but it was fun!