flesh eating cupcakes

we have a tivo....however, we really don't use it to its full potential (for several reasons). one program, however, that we are religious about recording and watching is The Food Network Challenge - primarily cake competitions.

last week, being halloween, they had a Horror Cakes competition...and while this cake wasn't the winning one, it won over porter's heart.


the 'story' of the cake is that some possessed flour shows up at eddie's bake shop and the things that are baked with it have their way with eddie. look closely at those cupcakes...that's what porter wanted for his birthday treat at school.

so...being the supportive parents that we are...we decided to take the challenge.

and now starts our lesson on:

How to Make Flesh Eating Cupcakes

1. Bake cupcakes...preferably very whimsical...it makes them all that much more frightening when they become flesh eating. (porter chose strawberry and funfetti as his two flavors...)

(notice the burned oven mitt...that happened when i left jason in the kitchen earlier this week...)

2. Draw iris/pupil onto lemonhead candies to make the eyeballs (be sure to do this with edible markers!) We used red and green colored markers.


3. Pipe a black mouth.


4. Frost cupcakes in a whimsical ,fun way with whimsical, fun colors (after all, these were supposed to be friendly cupcakes...)

5. Add eyeballs, pushing them into the frosting to create somewhat menacing eyelids.


6. Pipe scary capable-of-tearing-the-flesh-from-your-bones teeth. Or something like that.

7. Add creepy red bags under their eyes...


8. Add blood to "King Cupcake" as we called it...that's the one we made for Porter (that is 'full sized').9. And you're done!


and here's an up-close look at Porter's King Cupcake.

I hope they're all he hoped them to be when he sees them tomorrow - when he turns the big SIX!

kq(s)ftd

more than one gem came from molly today....

Molly: Mom, can I have a snack?
Mommie: After snoozies.
Daddy: Molly, we've already had this conversation.
Mommie: Molly, Mommie's answers are the same as Daddy's.
Molly: My answers aren't.

and then while serving dinner - mummies (breadstick wrapped hot dogs) dipped in blood and guts (ketchup & mustard) and cheesy worms...

Molly: where are my cheesy worms???

*pause*

ooooohhhh....it's the mac & cheese.

kqotd

while upstairs in her bedroom getting ready for bed...

Molly: watch this, mommie!

pulls neck of shirt up to her forehead

*giggle, giggle*

pulls one arm out of sleeve

*giggle, giggle*

pulls other arm out of her sleeve and removes her shirt over her head

Molly: wasn't that awesome?!?!!

learning the hard way

maya and her friend, who we affectionately refer to as "little T" around here, are enthralled with bugs...caterpillars, worms, butterflies and moths....all sorts of creepy, crawly goodies...

however....

THIS

+

=

in an almost unbelievable stroke of coincidence - yesterday maya brought home another container with yet another bug and leaves in it (caterpillars have to eat, you know)....hours later I received an email from a friend warning of a caterpillar that causes severe reactions...picture included...and low and behold it is THE caterpillar that maya brought home. I send her to bathroom to wash everything that touched the bug and talk to her about who else touched the caterpillar....i google...i print and write a note to her teacher...and this morning, she was COVERED in hives...her hands swollen, red blotches all up her arm (where she let the caterpillar crawl) and all over her chest...some down her legs even....

had i not received the email with the info, i probably would have FREAKED out, to say the least...but now we know...and some anti-histamine and a few days and she'll be fine....she's learned the hard way - some creepy crawlies are cute, but should NOT be touched...

KQOTD

while playing restaurant...

Molly: what would you like for lunch?

Me: Pizza

Molly: we don't have that.

Me: Sushi

Molly: Okay, we have that!

KQOTD

Maya: You can give Molly a whole apple and she'll eat it. She may be small, but she can eat big.

KQOTD

Molly:

Mom, you and I can be princesses....

....and Porter can be my prince and Daddy can be your prince...and Maya can be Lilly's prince...

see, it all works out!

guess it wore him out...

had to send porter up to his room after his first day of kindergarten today...just being a bit too loud and rowdy shortly after getting home...

hollered to him that he could come down (after about 5 minutes...)...no response...

went upstairs....fast asleep curled up on his bed...

i guess all that learning (and gearing up for all that learning!) wore him out!

first day of school - for all four!

and so here they are, for yet another year...big year this year...all four kids are in school at some point during the day!

molly has started preschool two mornings a week

porter is in Kindergarten! he's afternoon kindergarten, which is just about killing him to be waiting to go...after we dropped molly off at school...he wanted to eat lunch (at 8:15am!) because he knows he gets to go to his class after lunch!

maya is in second grade - and actually in a classroom that is a 1st/2nd grade split...

and ms. lilly is starting 4th grade, and for the first time, she's got a male teacher...

is it just me, or do they all look too old?
oh...and cute...

fevers

KQOTD:

me: i think we need to talk to daddy about getting you some medicine...

molly: why?

me: cause i think you have a fever...

molly: do we have to put a band-aid on it?

project 365 - part seven

and the busy month of July - ah...summer!

At a chocolate tasting in Hershey, PA!

a few days camping with my parents...resulted in this close encounter with a swan

molly and i at the beach...one of our favorite hangouts this time of year

at the funeral visitation for my great-uncle bob...diagnosed with liver cancer and passed away
9 days later

our summer vacation included a celebrity sighting!

passing

and so the passing of my family's elders continues....

while at fowl fourth we received a call from my mother's cousin, letting us know that her uncle bob was diagnosed with liver cancer...

here's a picture of my Great Grandma B, and my Gram and Uncle Bob....many years ago...Grandma B passed away in 1989...almost exactly 20 years before her only son...


we recently visited with uncle bob at my grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary celebration...as my grandmother's only sibling, she was thrilled that he and a few of his children were able to join us for that special dinner.


just nine days after he was diagnosed, having never left the care of the hospital or hospice facility, my great uncle bob passed away.


while i visit regularly with extended family on my dad's side....but that hasn't been the case with my mom's side...it had been many years since i'd seen some of my distant cousins, and, as always, i wish that it wasn't for this reason. this occasion gave my grandparents an opportunity to go out to dinner with just their four children...and my mom couldn't remember a time that they'd ever done that...just the six of them...

and it gave me a chance to visit my grandparent's house...some place i hadn't been in many years...

it's still very much like i remember it...though the rooms are more filled with signs of my grandparents' travels and collections of who knows what from who knows where...it's a house my grandpa built himself. it's a house i spent visiting every Christmas Day, for many, many years. and Uncle Bob and his family would come over after Christmas dinner...they lived just down the street. as with every passing, it is a time to reminisce, reflect and remember what has brought us to this point in our lives. the places we visited. the people we knew. and the family we love.

geocaching

what is it and why do we do it?

well, we've had friends who have been geocaching - and it was intriguing enough that i figured out how to make the garmin we have for our car (as opposed to a handheld that is traditionally used for hiking and geocaching, etc) work for our purposes...

and so we now enjoy this 'treasure hunting' hobby - by downloading clues and coordinates for 'caches' that we hunt for...sometimes it's just a log book (or a small scroll!) - other times we find rubbermaid containers that have tradeable items (dollar store type items, or happy meal toys, etc) it's a fun, 'free' activity that our whole family enjoys...and we have some GREAT geocaching stories (like the 8 bee stings maya got at one location....or how we drove to new jersey just to find a cache....)

here's some pictures of us out and about (we try to remember to take one of every cache we've found...)

fowl fourth xxviii

and so another fowl fourth has come and gone....

there was some good godfather/godson bonding...

and i will never forget the dreams that came true at the annual softball game...if only i'd had the video camera on for porter's first 'at bat'...which quickly turned into a home run!

girls young and old entertained each other on the playground during the game...

and lots of fun was had at the 'port-o-potty' lake...despite the color!

and the recent adult entertainment addition to the festivities....


the pictures are 'blurry' to protect the innocent and the guilty...and i only have two words - plum cordial....

we also got in some geocaching, in a larger family group, which was fun, too!

molly found her first geocache all by herself....she's not proud, or anything!

the kids in their 'camping shirts' having a light lunch before the family potluck dinner...

and some unusual sightings as well...


over the course of twenty-eight years, this event has changed very much....from a tent city with our backyard pool and a screened-in garage game room that was open 24 - 7 to family camping throughout the Great Lakes...and while it isn't the same as it was when it began....it's still the same great people who gather and have fun as a family...and this is one tradition that i wouldn't change or give up for the world...

project 365 - part six

June is busting out all over...

A visit from my cousins from Georgia

Celebrating Molly's 3rd birthday at the Great Lakes Loons game...complete with fireworks!

a picture of the kids in Dow Gardens

group shot with my brother and his kids from my parent's 35th anniversary party
(and dad's 60th and 15 and 6 year survival!)

baker cousins getting ready to run the 1 mile fun run at the Dow Run/Walk