FAIL!

I have never made a disaster like this before.

I'm not a magical cake baker. I use the box. Nothing fancy. For $.87 why bother with homemade. I have bigger fish to fry.

Add eggs, oil, water. Grease pan. Bake. Simple.

Unless... you are not really following directions. As in, there aren't really directions for what you are doing. With good reason. Because what you are doing will FAIL! Fall! Flop!

I was attempting to make a giant cupcake cake. They have pans for that, but I was not willing to fork over $30-40 of my precious dollars for that. That could buy another gift! A couple dresses! 2 gallons of paint! I figured I would use my small 6" pan, stack a couple layers and be good. Then I decided that wouldn't be enough cake so I made one larger 10" layer to put on the bottom, like a pedestal if you will, the cupcake cake would sit on that, and the doll would sit on the larger cake, leaning against the smaller one.

Big crack. Big Crater.

The result of putting too much cake batter into a pan. Takes forever to cook. Falls in the middle. A real pain to get out of the pan. One cake mix + 10 inch pan = No Go.

This second beauty was alright in that it was actually cooked through, and didn't fall. I did, however, put too much batter in this pan also, so it overflowed. Luckily, not that it would have made much difference, I put the smaller cake on the bobbom rack, so the cake overflow spillage went on my oven, not on top of another cake. No biggie, I just cut that part off, rounded it out, in order to remove it from the pan. The issue comes in with me sliding the knife around the inside edge to loosen the cake (because I "forgot" to grease the top edge of the pan), but instead of having the knife against the pan, I apparently had it tilted, thus cutting the cake. Well, that just wasn't going to work.

The other cake I just ended up chucking, gasp, in the garbage. I salvaged some of this smaller one by cutting the top half off and using it for the rounded top of my "cupcake."

Everyone's gotta have some baking disaster story, I guess. There's mine. :o)

It's not what you think

What? Tears at a birthday party?

Sad it's not "my" birthday?

A little gift jealousy maybe?

Oh, no. Stubbed toe.

Nothing a few grandma kisses and some new jammies can't cure.

Trouble!

Nephew and George.

There are  y e a r s  of mischief ahead of us.

But I'm so glad they're buddies. It really, truly warms my heart.

Flash player

Cuz it's too cute not to share.

Playing.

Flashing.

Pinkalicious!

The second of two requested "pink" parties was Pinkalicious. If you are unfamiliar, it is a great story about a girl who loves pink. And cupcakes. Especially pink cupcakes. This worked to our advantage, providing easy cake ideas. Nevermind that the actual making of the "cupcake" prooved to be challenging. My first baking flop. I'll save that for another post. My mom found a cute little Pinkalicious doll at Barnes and Noble which provided both inspriration for the party theme and as an accessory for the cake.

The only hitch in this party seemed to be everyone's health, which kept a few guests from coming, but that didn't damper any spirits. Certainly not the birthday girl's.

 

I suppose I could have gone the easy route and just made cupcakes, but since when have I gone the easy way. And Wil-ton,  you can keep your $30 giant cupcake pan. Girls got skills! haha!

A few presents...

A good day.

**No Pinkalicious were harmed in setting the cake aflame. All Pinkalicious were removed for safe keeping.

Daily Wisdom for Mothers

Truth for today:

A diaperless baby will eventually poop on the floor.

Wisdom gleaned from yours truly. You're welcome.

Smiles

This one was a joy since she entered the world.

All pink and pretty. Soft coos and sweet lips.

She rocked the mullet for quite some time.

She has always had a love for body art.

She is oh so talented.

Very much a princess.

Fun. Spirited. Fun-spirited.

Her name means Crowned, Cherished, Adored, Spirit-filled;

God's Gracious Gift.

She's also giggly, a bear/choke-hugger, girly girl with a little get-in-the-mud tomboy, a lover, can wrestle the boys to the ground, not camera shy but does get stage fright. Loves jokes, dress-up, and creating beautiful things. She likes making beds. Hates going to the grocery store.

Everything has just a tad of dramatic flair, which makes life worth celebrating.

And we celebrate you, my sweet Kayla Jean. Happy 5th Birthday.

You know, a month ago.

Good gracious! Bits

My kids are like pirrahnas today. Non. Stop. Eating. They have eaten cereal, bagels, apples, bananas, raisins, asked for more cereal, and eaten more fruit. My kitchen floor is littered with banana peels and half eaten apples. At 10:43 am, Koko asked for lunch. No joke. They didn't even start breakfast til 8:45! Oh, and now a request for crackers. Can't you wait, people? FIVE MINUTES! The water will boil! Thank goodness mac n'cheese only takes 5 minutes.

 

It started on an, um, I was going to say off note, but off is not really the right word. Anyway. I woke up at 8:02. School starts at 8:11. Uhhh.. I think we're going to be late. Then I find the "Star Person of the Week" bag. On the floor. In the entry. Missing contents. UGH!!!! I freaked. When is this due? Where's the book? The directions say color this, draw that.. but on what??? GOD HELP ME I hope this is not due today.

 

Once I finally got boy wonder out the door, I realized I would have to GO IN to the school, and TALK to the teacher to find out what was missing. Uffda. Was I glad I put on a bra today. Nevermind I was wearing sweats, glasses, and Crocs (which are sinfully ugly IMO). And of coarse, no make-up, and a HUGE pimple I just popped still bleeding on my face. Sweeeet!

 

Get to the class, class has already started. Awesome. All the kids turn around and look at me. sigh. But a student teacher must be there or something so George's teacher was at her desk and also puzzled as to why there were missing contents, got me the right stuff, I left.

It's not even NOON, people. It's gonna be a good day.

 

I'm still trying to recover from the last 11 days of traumatic/dramatic events.

1. Sickness. All SIX of us. yay.

2. Lots and lots of puked on, peed on laundry.

3. A birthday party.

4. An all-nighter required to pull off said bday party since Kong was sick for the prep time.

5. Teaching Koko to ride her bike.

6. Running my booty off next to her in order to give her a sense of safety while learning to ride her bike.

7. Room make-overs, involving hours and hours of painting, and way too many paint fumes. (this is not done yet, either)

George Jr, aka Baby Boots is dead set on torturing his mother and sisters.

Favorite word: NO! (Even when it means yes.)

Favorite things to do: attempt to escape outside, shoe-less with socks on (now muddy socks). And when he's distracted from that, it's turning the lamp on and off, or fiddling with the tv controls on the back of the tv (our new tv has hidden controls - they're on the back/side, which I both like and dislike). Or hitting people with whatever implement of destruction he can find - drumsticks, light sabers, pvc pipe (don't ask), hockey sticks.

Oh, and how could I forget the throwing of the nukie (pacifier). Across the room. You know. Even when he wants it. So he procedes to scream bloody murder til you give it back to him. Sometimes I let him go an hour. But after an hour, I figured I've had enough.

The redeeming cute thing he now currently does: Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. All day long. In the store. In the middle of the night. At the table. When he plays. Everywhere. And it's is soooo cute. I have tried to video it but my memory card when caput and 16mb doesn't hold much more than about 8 seconds.

I feel like I'm in a frenzy, a daze. It's a little hairy around here. In part due to lack of sleep, surely.

I'm so glad Saturday I get a day off. I think I might go rent a hotel room and sleep.

 

Ok, water's boiling. Gotta go.

 

 

Odd Bits

I found 2 saucepan lids and a can of beer on my nightstand a few days back. Interesting combination. Interesting choice of location.

This, at a nearby neighbor's, left me puzzling for days:

She had a few outfits, changed once every couple of days. I think this was her third outfit. The stars and stripes bikini was my favorite. There was also a sarong.

Yes, please note, that is SNOW, that has been spray painted to look like water. (Made me think of this, for those of you who follow her too.)

Then I saw the sign. It all made sense then.

Well, ok then.

A week later, all this snow was GONE. Guess it worked.

And lastly,

My three year old, who rarely naps, just went upstairs and put herself down for a nap. I only noticed she wasn't around, and inquired of her sister who told me. Checked it out for myself, and well, it's true. Weird.

**NOTE TO NEIGHBORS - I loved this display. A sense of humor is a good, good thing.

Determined

-to see the world

-to not be left behind

-to not be left out of the fun

-to explore the mud

-to ride "caaaa(r)"

This kid bolts for the door (and what lies beyond) whenever anyone else goes outside. Shoes or no shoes, with no consideration for whether mommy is wearing pants or not. We have all chased him (sometimes wearing pants), and the boy runs fast. Out into the street. Down the sidewalk. Wherever he can go as fast as his little legs can move. So who was I to begrudge him of the pleasure of this experience, the outdoors, despite having been rather sick the day before. It is of the worst kind of torture to make a child watch from the window while his buddies are having fun.

Down and Dirty

**Sorry about the wonky layout. The new way blogger adds pics, and what it doesn't allow you to do with them is irritating. Someday I'll figure out PS and just make photo collages. But not today.


Koko was begging for a craft activity today. I knew it was needed. One can only stand so many days of mud and dreary weather. Kids start to get antsy. Adults get lethargic or grumpy (or both).

So I busted out the paint, big sheets of paper (in lieu of 15 regular pieces of paper each)(end rolls at the local newspaper cost only $1!!), cleared the floor and let them have at it.

I also took this opportunity to get down with them. And though I didn't paint, I got right down on the floor and watched the masters create. And snapped a few pics, of coarse. (Photographer's trick: get right down at their level. Not that I'm a real photographer. Just something I read yesterday.)

Tangles of legs and arms, intense concentration, bursts of color, smudges on toes.

I find amusement in the difference of style. The orderly, the chaotic, the intentional.

Creativity. Bringing life to dull walls.

blech

I have a problem.

It is...

that I think my blog posts, usually while doing dishes. I have such great ideas, funny, serious, contemplative, whatever, and I write them in my head. I have so much time, doing dishes.

The problem with that is that it's then so anticlimactic to write them. I lose my steam, my motivation.

It's totally a bummer.

The other problem I have is...

I just took my vitamins. I should be in bed now, but I'm not. And the problem with that is that one of my vitamins, being fish oil capsules, is causing me to breathe and burp fish oil smells. It's totally, totally gross.

Do you know they make burp-less ones, though? I just found that out. They didn't have that option at Aldi.

Maybe I should see if some Samoas would cover up that fish flavor. Hmm.... :D

That's all.