Eli's 5th Birthday

Okay, if you're going to give in and have a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, the ONLY way to go is to have it first thing in the morning at 9:30. Aside from a quiet family of four, we literally had the run of the place for the majority of the time we were there!




















It was worth. every. penny. Eli had a blast, as did the other kids, and you could tell Eli felt very special. Mission accomplished! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pizza!

Well today I was trying to use the leftovers from last night's dinner and repurpose it with whatever we had in the pantry...bb-que chicken + some onions + some homemade pizza dough = voila, lunch!
First, my little helper saw me get out the flour so he quickly pulled up a chair...


I was a little apprehensive of the domineering flavor whole wheat flour can give, so I added a packet of Splenda to sweeten it up a bit. Then I wondered, "does yeast like to artificial sweetners? Probably not" so I added a sprinkling of regular white sugar to give them something to feast on as they expand


kneaded it up and let it rise in a warm oven for about 40 min until it had tripled in size


then we just cranked the oven up to 475, rolled it out and went to town on what I could find in the fridge for toppings...
this one was for the kids - low-cal spag sauce with turkey pepperoni and mozz cheese


and THIS beauty was for Mommy and Daddy since the kids weren't feeling the whole bb-que chicken thing...


The good news? They all LOVED it. The not so good news? Todd says we're never ordering delivery again. Ooops.

Cinnamon Rolls

Just keeping busy around the house since we're on "code orange" and can't go anywhere with this ice storm, so Ben helped me make some homemade cinnamon rolls using my lovely break maker to make the dough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZVy1HnNSFw

Vac then Steam

For some of you peeps out there that wanted to know about this new Shark "Steam then Mop" thingy, here's the low down on the first time I took it for a spin...

E.Z. to put together...all you have to do is pop the handle in. You go ahead and put the water in to the fill tank, but do not put the mop contraption thing on while you're sweeping. You make sure the switch is flipped over to the "vacuum" option (see pic), then turn it on...



I'd say it did a decent job at vacuuming, but by no means any better than any other stick vacuum. I think the point here is to only have to have one device instead of two, and I must say it is super convenient.



(in case you're wondering, as you probably should, that is some pot roast from dinner that somehow "escaped" the boy's plates and made it on to the floor. This new vac in no way has the power or is made to pick up something that big.) Below is a picture of the debris it did pick up from the eat-in area of the kitchen:



Then you just set it on top of the mop/magnet thingy - which very easily snaps in to place:





...then you just have to switch the button over to "steam" :



...lower the arm (lean it back like when in use) to activate the steaming function, and take off! Once it had enough steam flowing through it, it did a good job



When using the thicker looped pad (comes w/ 4 total, which is nice) you have to use several passes over a spot to really get it up, but didn't have to apply as much pressure as I do w/ the older model I had, or with the Swiffer...sheesh.

All in all, I think he and I are going to get along juuuuuuust fine. :)

my love for the sky...

I have always loved taking pictures of the sky...sunsets, sunrises, storms, etc. Sometimes the cloud formations look like a doorway to something else going on in the heavens...
Tonight is no exception!


Chattanooga, May '09


November, 09 out of our front door


Fall sky, November '09, out of the back door...


Trip to Chattanooga, May '09


In the back yard of our 1st house in Royalwood, Jan '03


In the front yard of our 1st house in Royalwood, June '03


Out the front door of our MS house, June '05


...and tonight's beautiful display in Fishers...





the other guy outside with us taking it all in...

Biggest. Cake. Disaster. EVER.

Ok, so I learned my lesson. That was the last time I pridefully tell my sister, the PROFESSIONAL CAKE DECORATOR, "no, thanks, I got it" when it comes to one of my kid's birthday cakes. I thought I had solved all of my problems when I was so smart and bought the silicone Big Top Cupcake mold at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It's worked very well for me twice, but not so much tonight. No, tonight is a very different story...one in fact that might scar my oldest son Joshua (enter menacing echo) "FOR - EVVVEERRR".

All he said was that he wanted a lemon cake with Batman on it. I thought, "well, I'll just slap one on top of the Big Top Cupcake!" In fact, it was Josh's idea. So, here we go...grease the SILICONE mold just to make sure it doesn't stick, and bake away. 10pm the night b4 the party, try to unmold said cake and start mixing the homemade colors of icing. Oh...no...

So, of course both parts of the cake stuck, so I tried my best to
begin covering the all of the imperfections (um, all of it) with white icing


and the homemade colors didn't even come CLOSE to being right...


...and I had put them in the freezer to get them to harden up
faster so of course they were now too hard to work with...so
naturally the bags started to get multiple holes in them...


but I pressed on b/c I couldn't completely fail at this, right?
So, filling in the top, with the wrong color mind you, b/c the
bat symbol is supposed to be yellow and the background should
be black...


but of course it had to break some more while trying to spread it out


most people would stop now and throw it out, right? Naaahhhh...


ok, it's hideous but it's the flavor Josh asked for and at least mommy tried...
so I must press on and attempt the Batman symbol:


...and one might think to stop there and call it a night...but no,
for the sake of self-torture, I decided it clearly needed to be
filled in...my gray, not black, Batman symbol...


oh my goodness...this is now officially worse than any of the
work of any awake 6th grader in Home Ec class... so, I thought
I would just spruce it up w/ some the completely inappropriate
baby blue I made to match the color of Batman's cape,

but then, naturally, the icing bag busted open so all hope was now lost...


So, for my beloved son's 8th birthday, here is how
I've decided to bless him with utter embarrassment:



now, if all of you would please make a note on Todd's wall to
take pity on me and allow me to purchase a last minute cake
at Kroger in the morning, I would greatly appreciate it. As would,
I'm sure, Joshua.

Good night..."zzzzzzzzz"