Hi! Remember Me?

Life has been crazy the past few weeks. I haven't had much computer time, so I'm really far behind on reading blogs and writing on my own. Now that Sammy's birthday is over, I think life will get back to normal.

The day of his birthday, we took the kids to the Mall of America and did all the tourist-y things, like touring Underwater Adventures (an aquarium) and riding rides at Nickelodeon Universe. The kids were cranky and tired afterwards (okay, I admit it - the adults were, too) but it was a fun day.

The party was on Sunday, and I thought it went great! This year, we rented a banquet room at a nearby hotel, and I think that worked out well. It saved me the stress of having to clean (and KEEP clean) my house beforehand, and I think it was well worth the $100 for the 4-hour rental. My only regret is that we didn't pay the extra $50 to rent it for a full 8 hours. You'd think 4 hours would be plenty of time for a 3-year-old's birthday party, wouldn't you? Of course, the first hour was devoted to decorating and setting up food - but we had to shut things down when the party was still going strong, and I felt bad about that.

The banquet room was attached to the pool, so the kids had a great time swimming with their cousins. I discovered that Natalie is a Pisces at heart - a little water-baby. Being the second child, she misses out on a lot, and one of the things I regret is that I didn't have a chance to bring her to Community Ed swimming classes like I did when Sammy was a baby. I plan to fix that by signing her up for the next session.

So, there's my update. I promise to be around more now.

Better Late Than Never

Since Natalie's 2nd birthday is only 11 months away, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some pictures from her first birthday party.  

It was a rainy, dreary day, but the kids still enjoyed themselves.  Except for when Natalie fell off the picnic bench onto the hard cement floor.  And when she got run over by Sam on his trike.  But, other than that, fun was had by all.

Elmo Says It's Time to Par-tay!

Today when I picked the kids up from daycare, Sammy wanted me to bend over with Natalie so he could tell her "hi". Then he gave her a big hug and a kiss. Awwww. (They go to the same daycare, but they're in different rooms, so they don't really see each other during the time they're there.)

I just finished the Elmo cake for Sammy's party tomorrow. I thought it turned out okay, considering I went into this project on a wing and a prayer!


I know a couple of you might be interested in how I did this, and everyone else can skip this next part. I started with a regular strawberry cake, and used 1 1/2 tubes of red premade Wilton's icing (using the smallest circular tip) to squiggle lines all over it. I'd normally make the icing from scratch, but the kids insist on being fed & changed once in awhile, so I have to cut corners where I can. Then I found a recipe for fondant, and made up a batch. I only used about 1/4 of it, so unless I was covering an entire cake with fondant, I wouldn't do a whole batch next time. Then it was just a matter of dying the fondant, rolling it out, and cutting the shapes. I couldn't find a pattern for the shapes on the internet, so I just eyeballed it. It's not perfect, but to a 2-year-old's eye, I'm sure it will be just fine.