Birthdays

Both kids have birthdays this week---the 14th and the 16th. We aren't having any birthday parties this year, but somehow I am running ragged from the preparations.

I ran around like a mad woman finishing last minute shopping for the kids birthdays. Uh, the flowers are for me.

Oliver is old enough now to have an opinion on his birthday, especially the cake. He told me he wanted a chocolate cake. He was also pretty specific when it came to birthday presents---he wants a truck, a car and a racecar bed. Every now and then we get a request for fish, but mostly the racecar bed. We're working on the racecar bed, it won't be here in time for his birthday.

Two guesses on one of Oliver's presents? Too easy?

Chloe requested a strawberry, go-kart cake. She got her kid kart for her birthday, so presents are pretty easy.

Last year I ordered Chloe's birthday cake. It was beautiful and she could have cared less. I thought about searching for a baker that could make a cake in the shape of a go-kart, but I just decided to tackle the project myself. I gathered ideas from Pinterest and off the internet. I knew it would be beyond me to make a go-kart shaped cake, so I stuck to a simpler plan, a cake in the shape of a number 8 (for Chloe's 8th birthday) and purchasing a scale go-kart (thanks EBay).

Here's the finished product:

The blobs on the left are to hold the 8 candles.

And, here's how I did it:

1. I spent a lot of money on fondant, food coloring, a pastry mat, a pastry roller and all the other necessities to bake the cake.

2. A few days before, I dyed the fondant and placed it in ziploc bags. This process wasn't as messy as I thought and I can definitely say the darker the color, the stickier it got. The black fondant was not easy.

I rolled the fondant into a ball, smashed a hole in the center and placed the food coloring in the center hole.

I then got a good forearm workout kneading the color into the fondant. I am making grey fondant for the track here.

The final fondant colorings.

3. I baked the cake--Chloe wanted strawberry and I found this recipe--

 I also used strawberries that the kids and I picked--

I mixed the batter, and baked it in two 8 inch round cake pans.

When the cake was cooled, I cut one side of each cake to make them fit neatly and then spread a layer of cream cheese frosting on the top of the cake for the fondant to stick to.

4. Fondant--I wouldn't have survived the cake making if I hadn't scoured the internet on fondant. Thanks to YouTube I learned how to dye fondant and how to properly roll it out. You have to move fast with the fondant and use powder sugar to keep it from sticking.

It took me several tries to master rolling the fondant. The pastry roller with the bands on it was a waste of money. I couldn't get it to roll very well or quick enough. The old-fashion rolling pin worked the best.

I used the cake pan to cut out the size and shape of the cakes.

I then layed the track/asphalt for the cake.

I made the grass.

I then placed the white fondant for the painted lines and to outline the cake.

 
I also frost the sides of the cake and then used black fondant to create a racing flag pattern.

5. The finished product--

Chloe doesn't know what her cake looks like. I hope she likes it. In total, I spent roughly 3.5 hours on this cake. I rushed a little as I had to go get Chloe from school and I wanted the cake put away. When Chloe came home, the kitchen looked like powdered sugar had exploded. She didn't say a word or ask what happened. I assume she knew I made her cake.

A Little Bit of Texas

Must be feeling homesick for Texas. I purchased flowers that I would have planted in my garden in Texas. I am not sure how they will do in NJ as the weather here can be a little damp compared to the dry heat of Texas, but, I'm giving it a go....

Lantana, blue salvia and zinnias. If it keeps raining in NJ, the lantana will die, but these were some of my favorite garden plants in Texas and I was so pleased to see them at my local nursery. I had to give them a go.

Lacrosse

These photos need no descriptors.

Too Many Tomatoes?

I forgot I placed an order way back for tomato seedlings. They arrived late last week, much to my surprise. I now have an extra 12 tomato plants  (6 cherry and 6 celebrity) and my little garden won't hold that many.

Since we have committed to donating our surplus from our garden to the local food pantry, I set out to plant these tomatoes as patio plants. Oliver and I headed to the big box home store and purchased some containers, cages and soil.

Lets hope this works....

Spring Concert

The start of the concert--The Pledge.

Today was Chloe's 2nd grade Spring Concert at school. I am including a video of my favorite song, "Gratitude Attitude", which features Chloe's 2nd grade class all saying what they are grateful for. The kids devised these themselves. Chloe said she was assigned her speaking part, that she was orginally supposed to say she was grateful for her little brother but was asked to help out a classmate who didn't want to speak in front of the parents. The video is blurry at the beginning but miraculously clears just before Chloe speaks.

Teacher Gift

Another Pinterest find...Chloe's end of the year gift for her teacher. Super easy and super cute. It was so easy I may make one for her to take to her new 3rd grade teacher on the first day of school (suck up).

I ordered the vinyl decal from this Etsy vendor, purchased the glass from Michael's and got the pencils in bulk from Office Depot (its filled with about 84 pencils).

All I have to do is wrap it and we're done!!

Getting My Game Face On

Oliver has been out of pre-school for three days this week. He is the type of kid that likes structure. He likes to know what is coming next. Since he expects that he should be going to pre-school and isn't, he hasn't been the most manageable child. Add to the fact that its about 15 degrees cooler than last week and its raining. In other words, its temper tantrum central over here. And I am spent.

Oliver being silly and telling me to take his picture as he leans backwards.

I've got to get on the ball, devise a summer plan and get some activities going. In other words, I need to get my sh*t together in order to make it through the summer with my sanity. The plan so far:

1. The Summer To Do List-I went all out this year after I saw this cute idea on Pinterest. I made Chloe and Oliver tell me some things they would like to do. Oliver gave me one item, swimming, and Chloe listed about 4 things, go-karting, the zoo, lemonade stand and the pool. Not enough ideas. I added some more to insure that we avoided the "Mom, I'm bored".

2. Having Something Else for the Kids To Do- Oliver will be going to summer camp at pre-school three days a week. It's in the morning, keeps to the same schedule but incorporates a lot of outside play. Chloe will be swimming and diving on the local swim/dive team and will have practice every morning during the week. This means that Oliver doesn't have to sit through her two hour practice every day. Its tough on him, especially since the pool isn't open to patrons, only the swim team, during that time. I also enrolled Oliver in swim lessons. He's taking from a small swim school that only allows two kids in class at a time. I think this is a better option for him as he is lively and needs a lot of attention. I didn't want to sign him up for a class at our Y that has 15 first time swimmers.

4. The Garden - Boredom buster. The garden always needs tending. The kids will help with weeding and picking the vegetables. I also signed us up to help take care of our church's food pantry garden for two weeks this summer. Its a larger plot in the community garden, so maybe the kids will enjoy watering it. I also planted more than we can consume and the kids and I will be donating our excess bounty to the local food pantry.

5. Having a Plan for Dinner - I've always been a planner and I confessed how many calendars I keep. But, the one thing that helps me keep my sanity and helps me to feel like I am doing "ok" at this mom gig is by planning dinners. If I don't, it just seems the day is ruined come 4:30 p.m. when it dawns on me that I have to feed these little people. So, I was super-thrilled when I stumbled across this blog when I was planning out dinners and nearly *squealed* when I discovered that she was just releasing a cookbook based on the blog. My dinner sanity is restored.

6. Books - Chloe and I are going to have a mother/daughter book club. We picked out the Franny K. Stein series books and Chloe also wants to read The 39 Clues book series. I am in the process of finding books for Oliver that he and I can read together while Chloe is reading. He loves the iPad and I have been trying to find some good, interactive books to download on it. I also purchased him some seek and find cars books that we can look through together.

7. And then there is the really FUN stuff- The plan is that I will take Chloe on Fridays to the track so she can kart and Matt will meet us up there after work. We also have a vacation planned later in the summer to the Finger Lakes and there is always boating.

8. And there is always this- I saw this beauty on Pinterest too. I am in the process of making one!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Please Don't Come On In

A few days ago I was preparing lunch for Oliver. I was in the kitchen, and as per usual, Oliver was watching The Bubble Guppies. I suddenly heard the chime that alerts us when a door is opened and hear Oliver say, "Hi!". I turned to see Oliver and the dogs running to the door. I hurredly make my way to the living room and see an elderly man standing in my house. He was a bit dazed and informed me he just hit my car but, "only scratched it".

I escorted him out of the house to see what happened. I was pretty certain that he didn't hit my car as it was parked in our driveway, but was fairly certain he hit our neighbor's car, which was parked on the street in front of our house. Which turned out to be the case.

The damage was minor but the elderly man was clearly not coherent and an ambulance was called.

I was totally shaken up because he just walked into our house. I like to keep the door open to let in sunlight. There are a lot of old, tall trees in our area and they provide a lot of shade and make for a darkened house.

The entry in question. When I am at home the "main" door is opened and it is just the glass door to the outside. 99.9% of the time the french door that is opened is closed. I often find servicemen standing in this room after they have rung the doorbell (which is outside).

The elderly man actually walked into our house, and I know he wasn't of sound mind, but it isn't the first time it has happened. It has happened several times. We have what I would call an entry, where we have a closet and I store all winter coats, gloves and mittens. I consider this area inside my home, but it would seem many don't. On several occassions, I have heard our doorbell ring only to find a deliveryman, serviceman or neighbor standing in this area.

WHAT? Don't people wait to be invited in?

I mean, the area is decorated, why wouldn't it be part of my home? Just because a french door encloses the area, doesn't mean that that french door is my main doorway. I don't get it and it has always creeped me out when people just walk on in.

You would think people would know this RIGHT? I thought so, but apparently not.

So, thanks to the unwelcome elderly gentleman who entered my house this week, I was served a reminder to now keep my glass door locked.

Gymnastics

Chloe's gymnastics school hosts a mini-o for the parents each spring. Last year I didn't get to see much because I had an uncooperative Oliver with me. I learned from my mistakes and had a babysitter come and watch Oliver so I could give Chloe my full attention. Oliver would have fit right in because there were lots of unruly siblings bouncing around and blocking photographs.

Each class with their instructor, is divided into countries. Chloe's class was Great Britain. Each student in the class takes turn being the flag holder and as they switch from station to station they play the Olympic theme.

Chloe on the beam.

On the beam.

Chloe as flag holder.

I had to take this photo for her father.

Chloe receiving her medal.

Another Win!

We spent another weekend at the track for club racing. Chloe took first place and continues to improve her lap times in her kid kart. Before the weekend was through, Chloe broke into the 49 second lap time. Chloe pumped her fists into the air when she took the checkered flag in first which then caused her to spin out. It was pretty cool and I believe she meant to do that ;)!

We learned this weekend that people tend to cheer and support the girl competiting in a male-dominated sport, especially when she is winning.  Chloe was a crowd favorite and got lots of cheers and applause from the paddock and grandstands during her races. But, we also learned that your male competitors and their parents may not be so gracious when a girl beats them.

Oliver declared that he wanted to ride "this bike!".

Oliver, always looking for ways to get stitches.

Matt and Bryan taking Chloe's kart to the track.

Chloe during the warm-up lap.

Chloe takes the checkered flag!!!

Oliver, who refused to go to sleep at a reasonable hour the night before, sleeps during the entire kart race---over 3 hours.

A proud Daddy brings Chloe's kart back to the paddock.

Chloe receives her trophy from Tim.

1st Place!

Matt brought it to my attention that Chloe reminds him of Sarah Connor in The Terminator because she runs around the track in her race suit pulled down showing her rib protector like she's ready to do battle. It cracks me up.

A No-Nap Summer? NO WAY!

For the last two weeks Oliver has not been napping. I am not ready for nap time to be over. Summer's coming. No naps? No way.

I laid Oliver down for a nap today and went to the basement to tackle the 100 loads of laundry we've amassed. I was carrying some folded clothes upstairs when I noticed the main bathroom light was on. I opened the door to find Oliver on the floor playing with his sister's iPad. The thing is he got out of bed, came downstairs, got his sister's iPad and went back upstairs. That's sneaky. Last week I caught him in the half bath with his sister's iPad when he was supposed to be napping. Day before that, he was sitting on the stairs with his sister's iPad when he should have been napping. He's getting better at hiding and he's already super-quiet climbing out of bed and opening his door.

I took him back to bed. Put the clothes away and went back downstairs to keep washing clothes. After another load, I turned to go upstairs when I was greeted with a grimacing Oliver looking down at me from the top of the stairs. He had his finger pointed at me and informed me, "Oliver is not napping, ANYMORE! Oliver doesn't like naps, ANYMORE! You not make me nap, ANYMORE!"

Can you tell he really likes to use the word anymore?  I need to record him saying it. It comes out of his mouth in three distinct syllables, "ANY" and what sounds like "MOW-ER". He is super-expressive when he uses it, oftentimes saying it with his hands on his hips or my personal favorite is when he says it and looks like he is pulling a sword from a scabbard at his hip. It's too funny.

Despite his declaration, I am still attempting nap time. Perhaps we shall just call it a quiet time? And I am putting the bathroom on lockdown and hiding all iPads.

Oliver, sporting his Union Jack shirt in honor of the Queen's Jubilee. He's all smiles despite not having a nap. Grrrr....

In the meantime, we are prepping for summer. Chloe STILL has three more weeks of school. It is so painful to read all the postings of people's summer fun on FB. It wouldn't be so bad if we started school three weeks after them too. But, we don't. We somehow start a week to a week and a half after everyone but get out three to four weeks after they do. Our school has too many holidays in the calendar!!

Tomorrow is sign ups for the summer swim league. I had to go to the municipal office to re-join the pool for the summer. I stood at the window for 10 minutes waiting and watching the secretary drink coffee, eat a bagel and read a book. She still didn't get up when I politely asked if I was at the correct window for the municipal pool. She only responded with "yes". I kept looking behind the window to see if we were waiting on someone else to come and help me. It wasn't until someone else walked up to register for the pool that she said, "Ok, I'll help you now." Honest. I would have said something but we don't live in the town, we just go to their nice pool, and as an out-of-towner she has the right to deny you membership. And that membership is our summer weekday plan. So, I bit my tongue and she renewed my membership.

Of course, after I do all of this, Chloe says she doesn't care if she swims this summer. She wants to "chill out and relax" and go-kart. Yea, that went in one ear and out the other. I'm signing her up tomorrow for the swim team and diving team. Chill out and relax....whatever, I'd give her one day before she was declaring she was bored.

Chloe, chilling out watching go-kart videos after a hard day at school--they went on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. Apparently she was stressed out because they wouldn't let them ride the camels and she needs to relax after that injustice.