You're How Old!!

So Mac's big brother turned thirty this year. We were giving him a hard time about not being young any more. Mac's mom threw a small surprise party for him and asked if I could make the cake. She told me it didn't have to be anything fancy she knows I'm busy, but I just can't resist going overboard when it comes to cakes. On the invitations to the party Mac's mom put a picture of Tyler on his first day of kindergarten and said, "25 years later and still going to school!" Well Tyler is a chef by trade so I made a cake with a chef, pans, a backpack, and a textbook. It turned out better then I ever imagined it would. I was thrilled. I made the figure of the mini Tyler a week in advance. After I finished molding the character I was so excited with how it turned out I had to send a picture of it to Mac. He sent it to his mother because he thought it was really cool. Then later when I made the pots and pan Bobby told me I needed to put something in them. He said I should make an egg and ramen. I made the food and Tyler is funny about cooking ramen and always puts ice cubes in it as soon as the three minutes are up. So I put ice cubes in his pot of ramen.

The kids were so excited to show Tyler his cake that we had to have two parties. We had one on Friday night with just adults and then one on Sunday night that all the nieces and nephew came to. I had made a carrot cake for the first party so i made a chocolate cake with cream cheese and Oreo filling for the second cake. It was awesome! Anyway, I can't give Tyler too much grief about turning thirty because I'm only a year behind him!

All worn out

So it's a Monday and yesterday on Sunday we took a long nap. So then we, as in me and Bobby, stayed up late. He has this thing about not going to bed until I go to bed. I really need to work on reinforcing the bedtime policy. But some nights when I'm up doing homework and Mac is already asleep because he wakes up at five to go to work I just bring him downstairs, put him on the couch, and throw a movie in. He usually falls asleep in 15 minutes but that way he is not upstairs getting in and out of bed waking everyone else up! Anyway Mac told me there were not enough pictures of me in our family photo archive (I think there were six all last year) so here one is. The girls came home from school to find Bobby, me and the dog napping. Eliza, who is way into taking pictures, snapped this one.

The world through Bobby's eyes

So Bobby took my camera from off the computer desk the other day and walked around my house taking pictures. I didn't know this until he came and asked if he could look at the pictures he took. He had taken at least 50 pictures. It was kind of funny to look at them and see my house from his perspective. Everything looks a lot taller in his pictures then it does when I look at them. So here are a few of his better shots.

This is the hutch in our kitchen. My flower arrangement looks so tall!

Here is the sleeping dog and Bobby's feet. The floor is so close.

Another shot of the dog but what I noticed was the seats of the chair I always look down at them not across at them.

Here is Bobby's room he actually got out some of his toys so he could take a picture of all his toys.

Our Crazy Lives

So I am standing in the kitchen at the stove fixing lunch on a Saturday. And as I am standing there waiting for the milk to boil so I can add the pasta-roni I glance up at the table and see the embodiment of our crazy lives spread out before my eyes.

Here is what I saw now let me explain. The red box under the table is full of Bobby's toys which are constantly strewn from one end of the house to the other and we try to teach him responsibility by having him pick them up hence they are not put away but under my table. The papers with the pink pencil on them are Taylor's school work. I was reviewing her math test with her so she knew why she had gotten the problems wrong. We are parents 24 hours a day. Behind the table by the door is a tote with Mac's camping stuff in it. He is getting ready to go on a camp out with the young men in our ward. On the table is a brown paper badge I made it to use in a sharing time activity for primary. We are members of our church and strive to fulfill our callings. On the left side of the table is Mac's math homework. On the right side of the table is my homework. We are both students. Behind the flower pot is the Joy of Cooking, I was looking up recipes to make for Sunday dinner. On the back of my chair is my apron which probably should be in the wash. On the hutch is a roll of duct tape that Mac used to tape together Taylor's toy sword. I am a homemaker and he is a handyman just trying to make it through and keep up some semblance of order and cleanliness in our home. So there you have it in one moment and one picture something the represents almost everything in our lives. (We are missing a little bit of fun) The most important part of the picture, it's all together. Mac and I were facing each other at the table. We are together in this life and the next. Through all the crazy stuff we are doing, we are always in it together helping one another. I wouldn't want it any other way or with any other person.

Just Like MOM

Eliza got a cake decorating toy for Christmas. She has been asking if we can make a cake since two seconds after she opened it. So finally while Taylor was at school and I didn't have to work we sat down at the kitchen table and microwaved a cake. Seriously that is how you cook them. No more half cooked light bulb cakes! The kit came with the cake mix and a microwave pan. We just mixed it poured it and in 1 min and 30 seconds we had two cake layers. Unfortunately, the kit only came with 2 cake mixes. I guess that's where the real money is; the refill kits. That probably wont happen since Jiffy cake mixes are only like 50 cents and I have a couple little pans she can use for her future culinary creations. So we made the cake and then made up some powdered fondant to decorate it (yep tasted as good as it sounds). Then she piped white frosting on it using the spinning tray and frosting gun. When she was all done she proudly announced that, "I made a cake Just Like Mom!"
*Disclaimer* Please ignore the messy hair as I said we got up and did this in the morning before we had gotten ready for school. Bobby is still in his pjs at least Eliza had gotten dressed. Sometimes that doesn't happen until I start fixing her lunch. See why we wanted PM kindergarten.

Just Can't Get Enough

The kids have been out playing in the snow non-stop. My front room floor has become the official drying zone for snow clothes. Mac got a boot dryer for Christmas and we have already gotten it's moneys worth! The snow was nice and packy so we went out and built snowmen. Bobby wanted a snow cave and was trying to dig one himself in the pile of snow we have shoveled off our side walk. However, that pile was only about 18 inches high. So I dug him a "cave" in the snow pile from the driveway. That pile was about as tall as me and deep enough I could climb in it and only from my ankles down stuck out. Bobby was the only one who got his picture taken with his snow man because the girls made their snowman pregnant and it looked like it had an alien coming out of it's belly. Also by the time me and Bobby finished the snow cave they were inside drinking hot chocolate and didn't want to put their wet clothes back on.

Happy New Year!

We had a good New Years day it was nice to finally get some snow. We went out to my moms house and went sledding in the storm pond. The kids got progressively more daring. First, it was regular sledding. Then, they advanced to standing on the sleds. Next, they moved on to a toy snow board. Finally, they gave a real, albeit, small snow board a whirl. It was a blast. Everyone had a good time. Mac only went for a few rides his stomach was still pretty sore. The dogs loved being out and getting some exercise. Penny looked like a brown rabbit in a coat bounding through the snow.