Some cupcakes.

petting and feeding stingrays.

painting outside=something different

still funny.

Mystery Plant Update #3

So, clearly this is a pumpkin. We have 3 of these in the garden now. They all started the same, and they are all turning orange. Just in time for Labor Day Jack-o-lanterns.
But...this one is different. Must be a gourd? Or a white Cinderella pumpkin? The mystery continues....

bleeecccchhhhhh!

My kids are fascinated with throwing up lately. Not sure what brought this on since non of us have had the flu lately. Every animal, every baby doll is set up with a blanket and a bowl and then the sound effects start. Some of them are remarkably accurate. This happens almost every day.

two new cakes

This cake is for a girl at the shelter who is turning 8. That is how she spells her name. The only other info I had on her is that she likes purple and sparkles. Hope she likes cake!

These are some cupcakes for a little girl at the shelter who is turning 4. The only piece of information I had on her was that she liked butterflies. These butterflies are made of royal icing.

One of my favorite things about being a mom is the strange random things that I find around the house. In this instance, I came into the room with Aurthur blaring on the tv and no children to be found. Save for A's "Baby Youta" with her comatose stare eating a banana.

pool party!

These were for our block party. A special shout out to Bakerella's blog for the idea!

In the light of the moon....

a little egg lay on a leaf. One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and....


pop! Out of the egg came a very tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

Okay, I did that from memory so forgive me if it isn't quite verbatim. But we do have monarch butterflies laying eggs in our yard and we do have teeny weeny caterpillars munching away on the milkweed. Cole was grossed out to learn that the caterpillars bust out of their skin, including their face masks, and eat it, but who wouldn't be? I don't know why critters keep reproducing in our yard, but they do.

Corn pickin' at the farmer's market.

mystery plant update #2

I know you are all on the edge of your seat about this. I'm sure it occupies your thoughts to the point where you are having a hard time concentrating on other things. Well, I assure you it won't be long until we are able to put this riddle to rest. I'm still going with pumpkin, the kids & Hubs say watermelon.

this hungry caterpillar just wants cake....

On Saturday, he ate through one 9x12 sheet cake, 15 or so cupcakes, two cans of frosting, 30 Necco wafers, and a few Laffy Taffy. That night, he had a stomachache!

(This was for a first birthday at the shelter. The faces are drawn with edible ink and the antennae are made out of melted-then-formed Laffy Taffy.)

little kids in the big city

My new photo taking trick: when the kids won't cooperate by both smiling at the same time, or don't want their picture taken, I have them turn around and hold hands so I can take the picture from the back. Years from now, hopefully, I will forget that they were arguing and complaining, and I will just see a sweet moment they shared, captured on film...

Lego cake

This was for a boy celebrating his 10th birthday at the shelter. I'm told he likes Legos. This was the easiest cake I've done in a long time- no piping! The bumps on top are marshmallows. Not my neatest work, but I had fun doing this one.

rainy day = homemade crayons

mystery plant update....

We still don't know what it is, but it has these huge yellow flowers that, when it rains, fill up with water like little cups.

hatching!

I'm famous!

Okay, well not really. But my name is in circulated print. Even if it is in an article about someone else...at least it isn't the crime report...check it out for yourself here.
And the picture? What do Lil' A's sweet feet have to do with me being in the paper? Well, nothing. But it was a cute picture.

I can't believe that sparrows would be brave enough to lay eggs in our yard after the Robin Incident, but here they are. In a hosta no less.

The tiniest green pepper ever, plucked prematurely by curious little hands.

I hate Bratz

I really do hate those Bratz dolls. No particular reason- maybe their noseless little faces give me the creeps. Or maybe the trampy outfits. Or the b*tchy attitude of the marketing. Whatever. But this little girl at the shelter *really* loves Bratz, I'm told, so I swallowed my better judgement and made her this cake. I hate it so much, I almost didn't even post the picture. But it came out pretty close to the picture so I figured why not? I also made her some traditional cute rainbow chip cupcakes- because I think it is a requirement that all little girls like rainbows. (And unicorns also.) But for the record if my own daughter wanted this cake the answer would be a very strong NO.

First Birthday...

I am feeling like my oven is never off lately! This one is for a little girl spending her first birthday at the shelter...it was a chocolate & pink checkerboard cake inside.

Pink Penguins?

Another cake for the shelter...they have been keeping me busy this month! This is for a 16 year old girl who likes pink penguins I guess....

Go Cubs!

This is a cake I did for a boy at the shelter. He was turning 16 and is apparently a big Cubs fan. So i had to put some extra love in this cake....

Happy Birthday, America!

Nothing says festive like a pretty cupcake.

joy!

I finally cleaned out my disposable plastic container (aka 'Tupperware' although none of it is) cabinet. This area has been bothering me since I moved the mess from the old house 3 years ago. I bought a gigantic multi pack of new stuff, with interlocking lids to boot. Then anything without a lid, or without a bottom, got thrown in the recycling bin. That bin is full now. How does this happen? Does someone else have a cabinet full of my missing pieces? I mean, *where* does this stuff go? Maybe to the Land of Lost Socks? Something to ponder.

eeek...

Yikes. This giganitc pear shaped one armed amish looking shadow is...mine.

The Mystery Plant

There is a lot of excitement around here becasue we have a Mystery Plant growing among our other vegetables in the garden. Over the winter I used the space to compost so it really could be anything. Among the guesses are pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, cantaloupe, and watermelon. The babies are so excited to see this thing grow bigger every day and are eagerly anticipating any clue as to what it might be! Any guesses?

Today father is happy...

For father's day, CT made this great paper chain and descended from it 3 circles, each one with a word. Happy-father's-day. So brilliant me, I realize that since this artwork is hanging, the circles need to be double sided. So I have CT write 'happy' on each side of one circle, 'father's' on another, and so on. We are all excited and we hang it up. Duh. From one side it looks great. It reads "happy father's day" as intended. Oops: from the back it reads "Day father's happy". So we turned it into "TOday fatherIS happy". And luckily he was!

Look at this masterpiece by Lil' A?! Can you believe she isn't even 2.5 yet? Obviously gifted!

It just never gets old.

t-ball

Look at my little t-ball player. Number 14. Like a little valentine. Tonight was his first game. He got two runs in. He played first base and got someone out. Then he ate mini Oreos like a real champ. We are so proud.

super cuteyness

Super cute little toes being smooshed by a super cute little bottom.

robin update

This is the last time I will post about these birds. But you have to understand that they are hugely entertaining and fascinating to the kids (read: uh, me). I know you have probably been on the edge of your seat wondering what their names are and after much careful thought (or spontaneity) we have come up with the names. Hubs named the dad, me the mom, CT and Lil' A got to name two babies each.

*Mom: Esmerelda VonPicklebottom
*Dad: Glucose (VonPicklebottom by default. Assuming they are married.)
*CT's babies: Funny and Not Funny (names to live up to...)
*Lil' A's babies: Pillow and Leaf

nut tree

Be careful when you walk under the trees in our yard...you never know what might fall out...

wildlife update

Does anyone care about this? I don't know. But the eggs in CT's tree have hatched and we are now the proud observers of four healthy baby robins. The kids really enjoy looking at them every day and talking to them through the window all of the time. I hope that even if you don't care about this miracle of life going on in my front yard, you will appreciate the picture since I nearly lost a finger trying to take it. Turns out robins are rather protective of their young, and they do not appreciate some crazy lady smashing her body into the tree to get a picture...

Memorial Day Parade

Both the babies loved the parade on Monday. There were probably 20 marching bands and neither of them were upset about the volume, which is *huge* for them, especially CT. (We have actually had to leave parades because of this in the past.) I think some of their favorites were Cub Scouts on scooters and the emergency vehicles of course. But CT's very favorite was the last vehicle of course....

the street sweeper!

"Look, Mom...the verwy hungwy catah-piwwah!" Lil' A found this little caterpillar in the woods. And he did look exactly like the Eric Carle version, even with a red head and everything. "And he is verwy verwy frwendwy, too!"