The Dark Lord

The Dark Lord lives! In cake, anyway... I was asked to do a Darth Vader birthday cake for a church member's son. Here is a brief overview of his creation and what he looks like now, sleeping quietly in the refrigerator until morning....

(not too Darth looking, eh?)

(OH! there is some Darth-ness)

Templates for fondant cutting.

The finished product....

Happy Sabbath!

We celebrated Hubband's birthday today in a noncelebration of a nonbirthday way since he has requested that we not DO anything for his birthday... So we went out to eat as a family and no one sang or gave him presents or anything. His actual birthday isn't until next week, but next Sabbath is YAS so we'll literally probably be at the church for, oh, an eternity or so. Ella wore her "Laura Ingalls" dress to church today, as her Daddy calls it. I thought it warranted a photo. She is becoming eternally more cute. Its hazardous to the health!

Springtime Outings: Part 2

Catherine and I have been trying to get together for a couple of weeks but schedules and weather keep preventing it. Finally today we made it to the zoo with all the kids! Even Claressa, who I'd not met before, is here visiting her mom and sister and brother and was able to join us. Here is the gang, excited to get going! David and Ella are trying to go opposite directions though. He appears to be fascinated with something behind us...

The orangutan was playing with his ropes and eating animal crackers. He was Ella's favorite of the day.


Although the Ducks and Flamingos weren't far behind.
At the bear enclosure, we find a nice cave. :-) Well, sort of a cave. It was big enough to fit Claressa, Emma, David, and Ella though!

David and Ella were happy about the sunshine. And both of them fell asleep about 10 minutes after this shot.

I got home and realized I'd not taken any pictures of the RESIDENTS of the zoo. Oops. Maybe next time! Thanks again to the Spencer, Sims, and Hodson clans who gave us our membership as a Christmas gift! WOW!

Springtime Outings: Part 1

The other day we had gorgeous sunshine and an hour or so with the car before we had to pick up Hubband at the school. We decided to go to the park.

We had lots of fun.

Except for the swings. I don't think I like the swings.
But I like everything else! The park is fun. :-)

The answer...

...was to send me on my job-hunting way again. Im trying to look on the bright side--I won't need to get childcare for Ella right now, and...well, that's the only one I can think of right now. Please pray that other opportunities come up, I'm running out of unemployment benefits...

Slow Sunday

I'm feeling more than a little anxious the last couple of days--on pins and needles over the job (will I get an offer? will they send me on my job-hunting way again?), worrying about the baby (she had a fever last night of near 103 after a full day of high fevers no matter what we did...thankfully today, no fever!), worrying about Hubband (he's been sick), fretting over the house not being PERFECT (I'm supposed to have a perfect house, doncha know), etc. Finally it all came to a head today I think and I was pretty blissfully lazy! It was very nice to have a slow Sunday...Hubband may not agree that it WAS a slow Sunday, as he's been out in the backyard building a custom desk and rack for his new studio computer (which he is also in the process of building). However, Ella took 2 naps of >2 hours today, which means that I got a nap and some computer time and some straightening time and dishes time and reading time and...it felt like 6 days all rolled into one! Amazing what naptime can do. Between naps, El and I played with her toys and listened to music, watched Daddy work on his desk, and took an excursion to the library. Now just to get through tomorrow (Monday's are horrible for us this semester AND its the day of the final interview for the position that I'm still under consideration for GNASH GNASH GRIND TEETH.

>deep breath<

Ok. Back to my zen state. I think I'll watch me some food network and read a book this evening while Hubband is outside working on his desk and such. And even though my new pills are giving me stomachaches and I should probably eat mild food, I'm going to splurge myself and have a big plate of nachos with veggie beef and homemade salsa. Adios!


(the obligatory overdose of cuteness!)

The Great Outdoors

Our backyard is a mess. I mean that literally (fallen tree from a winter storm, leaves, debris from the exploding pool [the tree fell on the pool], etc.). Because of said mess we have been quite leery of letting Ella play out there. Today, since we both were home and Hubband was working on the clearing of the yard, I took El and the camera out to play. Here are a couple of my favorites.

A 7-Up Soup Moment

I had another of those moments today. You know the ones, they make you blush, shudder, and/or cringe in memory. Any long-time reader of mine knows the saga of the 7-Up Soup...well, today's episode can't be placed at someone else's kitchen, thank goodness, but it IS a clear indication of the state of my brain lately.

A few weeks back my friend Kristy gave me some Friendship bread starter. I made a batch and was quite impressed with the yummy stuff. Yesterday, my starter was due for a bake off again, but I forgot about it. This morning I attacked it first thing, measuring and stirring and feeding the baby and making coffee (those other things are my excuse for what happened). I got it into the oven, set the timer, and went blithely on my merry way. The timer duly went off and I went to check the bread. Lo and behold, it hadn't risen! Hmm, thought I, perhaps it needs to cook longer! 20 more minutes went on the clock and when I checked again.... nope. Still the consistency of a... well, baked pudding is the best comparison I can give!

Disgusted, and wondering if it were the fault of my baking powder, or perhaps the starter being a day late for bake? I wrote to several friends expressing my frustration with the stupid stuff (WHY WOULDNT IT RAISE!) As I went through the kitchen to put away a few things on the counter I noticed the bag of flour sitting there. I had opened it to use for the bread and when I put in the amount needed for the starter I'd set it aside for use in the bread. Wait. Did I use it in the ....Oh. Crap.

Yes. It was one of THOSE moments.

Sabbath Birthday Girl

 

I'm ready Mama, what's taking you so long?

Happy Birthday, Ella!

A quick overview of the party in photos. Documentation will continue after we've all gotten some sleep. For now, enjoy!