Coolest Cakes

Just wanted to share the most awesome cake website. It's called Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com
Here are some of my own creations that I've made with the help from this website:







And here's a fabulous recipe for butter cream frosting that Cristiana gave me:

1 cup shortening (or half cup butter and half cup
shortening)
2 tablespoons water (warm)
1 Tablespoon Karo syrup
Blend together till smooth

Slowly add 4 cups of powdered sugar
and blend until desired stiffness.
Set some stiffer icing aside for decoration

Add more corn syrup or water to make icing smoother
for icing the cake.

You can also add a little butter flavoring to the icing to
make it taste even better. You can find it in the
spice aisle.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Note to self: Keep the Eucerin Cream out of Andrew's reach.

The Big Three

We spent a lovely weekend with Randy's parents to celebrate Andrew's third birthday. Grandma & Grandpa's place is Andrew's heaven. There's a big yard to run around in, a tramp, lots of attention and spoiling, and Grandma & Grandpa have lots of "oldies but goodies" toys that Randy and his brother and sister played with when they were kids. In the words of Mater: "It don't get much better than this."

He got a fire truck from Grandma & Grandpa (and some other fun things), which is his new sleeping companion:

This is the best picture I can get of him with his fire truck as we still keep him in the buck when he's home.

Grandma & Grandpa Hellyar got him a Ready Bed. The first night he slept in it, he slept an extra 2 hours! Hopefully we'll have the same luck when we take it on our camping trip next week!

When I put Josh in the bed with Andrew, Josh just started giggling up a storm.

Aunt Maranda & Uncle Tyler got him his very own Spidey fishing pole. It was a hit! Another must for our camping trip:

He also got a Savings Bond from Grandma & Grandpa Carroll, a monkey hand puppet (very fitting) from Uncle Russ & Aunt Lisa, and a big stuffed snake from Grandma Doris. Thank you for the gifts and for making Andrew's day special!

On his actual birthday (June 18th), we invited all of the neighborhood kids to eat cake & popsicles and play with Andrew's new Thomas sprinkler. We also took him on a train ride to get a Jamba Juice.

Here are some fun facts about Andrew:

• His favorite color is red
• His favorite foods are popsicles and any kind of processed meat (bacon, sausage, hot dogs, pepperoni)
• He's given a new nickname to Josh, "Cuckoo"
• He loves to jump on our bed (and we let him) while singing "5 Little Monkeys"
• He's happiest when he's playing outside
• He's still obsessed with caterpillars and can make just about anything look like one

We couldn't get the candle on his cake lit because it was too windy outside, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then told him to make a wish, he then made the action like he was blowing out a candle. I don't know why, but I thought it was so cute and wish I got in on video.

Happy Birthday, Bud! We love you!

Whinefest

So I'm going to indulge in a whine-fest. If you don't want to hear it, kindly move on to the next blog.

Go on. I'll wait.





So I just wanted to complain about my stupidity. I love oranges. They give me canker sores. Usually I just tolerate the minor pain and it goes away in a few days. Well, I have a canker sore on the bottom part of my tongue and it rubs up against my teeth when I'm talking or eating-my two favorite activities-so pretty much I'm in pain all the time.

Yesterday my boys (I love saying "my boys") and I went swimming. I didn't wear sunscreen. My back is scorched. Last summer we had a pass to Raging Waters-I didn't wear sunscreen and I never got burned so I thought I was ok-and besides, I had Josh in a sling, so I thought my back was mostly covered. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Ouch! From this day forward, I vow to ALWAYS wear sunscreen. Being burned stinks.

And lastly, I really hate cleaning poop from my child's underwear.

Ok, I'm done.

Here's Andrew tormenting Josh, and Josh loving every minute of it.

It's funny that two people can get together and create two very different babies; but what cuties they both are!

Andrew at 5 months.

We had to do back flips in order for him to even crack the slightest smile.

Josh at 5 months.

He'll smile any chance he gets.

Home-grown Therapy

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

Between 6:30 and 7:00 am you will find me at my smallish 4' x 8' garden plot amidst a beautiful community garden. I feed Josh, bundle him up, and we head out while Andrew is still asleep and Randy is getting ready for the day. The sun is just up, the air is cool and breezy, and the world is quiet. I love to get my hands dirty and I love that I can be a part of creating something so beautiful.

Here's what's on the menu in a month or two:
Sunsugar cherry tomatoes
Roma tomatoes
Cherry chili peppers
Green bell peppers
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Basil
Chives
Parsley
Sage
Cilantro

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in
the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens