Goat Cake

 

My ten year old daughter is obsessed with goats.  I don't quite know how it happened, but it did. And now for the last two years, when anyone asks what she wants for her birthday, Christmas, 4th of July, etc, she says, "A goat."  Her Grandpa even got her a really nice stuffed animal goat for her 9th birthday.  She loves it.  She named it Fitzgerald Goatpants.  But still she asks for a goat.

As you can imagine, she won't be getting one.  We live in a suburb.  We don't have a fenced yard.  I don't have the slightest idea how to take care of a goat.  And have you looked at goats lately?  They are adorable as babies, but when they are adults - yeeesh!  Those crazy eyes aren't very pretty to look at. 

So we buy her shirts and sweaters with goats or sheep on them.  We check out books about goats from the library.  We let her set the background screen on the ipad to a goat photo.  We made sure to pet the goats at Cedar Point last summer.  (I know - who would think Cedar Point would have goats?  They do!)  My eleven year old daughter drew her the cutest goat picture for her birthday.

And me?  I make her a birthday cake in the shape of a goat, exactly as she requested.

The cake conversation went like this:
     Me: What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?
     Daughter: lemon (Good girl! Yum!)
     Me: Great.  But what do you want on the cake?  What do you want it to look like?
     Daughter: Can you sculpt a cake.
     Me: Ummm, no.
     Daughter: Can you make it 3-D?
     Me: You mean, something on top of another cake, like a cut out?
     Daughter:  Yes.
     Me:  Yes, I could do that.
     Daughter:  Great.  I want the bottom cake to be a grass cake, and I want a goat on top.
     Me:  ooooookay.

That kid cracks me up.  So I looked for a few cute pictures of cartoon goats online and found a really cute one.  I printed and enlarged it.  Then I baked two 9x13 inch cakes, one lemon and one french vanilla.  I made the french vanilla one thinner because I was going to cut the goat out of that cake.

I frosted the lemon cake green and then covered it with green frosting using the Wilton grass tip.  I froze the french vanilla cake for about a half hour.  When I was ready to cut the goat out, I took the cake from the freezer and placed the enlarged goat picture on top of the cake. With a sharp knife I cut around the picture until I had a goat shape in french vanilla cake.  I carefully pulled the excess cake from around the cut out goat and then transferred the goat to the top of the grass cake.  I initially thought I would just frost it with a knife, and then decided stars would look nicer.  I frosted the horns first, then started squeezing stars all over the goat.  I finished with a few lines to better define the legs and then the eyes and nose.

I showed it to my daughter who absolutely loved it!  And so do I.  One of the things I like most about it is that I didn't copy anyone else's cake.  I listened to what my daughter wanted and made it happen.  I love knowing that she is happy and is getting exactly what she wants for her birthday cake.

A 40th Birthday

This year my husband and I are both turning 40.  Our original plans were to not actually have a party for either of us, but to go away for 4-5 days (without kids!) while my Mom and Dad watched the kids.  We have never gone away for more than a weekend since having the kids and it has been several years since we've even done that.  Unfortunately, both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer this year.  My Dad's prostate cancer was discovered first and successfully removed and his bill of health is excellent.  Unfortunately my mom was diagnosed with stage IV inoperable liposarcoma in early August and passed away on September 16.  It has been a difficult adjustment to life without her, and on top of that her birthday (would have been her 70th) was the day after my husband's 40th birthday.

I had to wrap my head around everything and so planning for Brendan's party was put off a little until I finally got in the mood to celebrate.  When I finally did I had about three weeks to get everything together for a little family soiree.  I decided on a DC superhero theme, as Brendan is a huge Batman and DC comics fan.  I tried to make the theme both fun and not too juvenile.

What I finally came up with was a few neat decorations, a fun cake, and some themed drinks and snacks.  My kids helped by making some posters and Emma even made herself a "Super Emma" costume that I somehow did not get a picture of.  (In my defense, she took it off by the party, getting tired of tripping on her blanket cape.)

My first concern was the cake.  I have a Wilton Batman pan and have made Brendan a Batman cake with it, so I felt he needed something bigger and better.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, but he told me to make what I wanted.  So after much internet searching, I was inspired by this Cakes Infinity cake and made my own little version.  The top two tiers are pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon buttercream filling.  The bottom tier is chocolate chocolate chip cake.  Vanilla buttercream frosting with marshmallow fondant decorations.  My brother-in-law told me, "Best cake yet!"  A pretty good endorsement!

3-Tiered Batman Cake

I have also been inspired by all the beautiful tablescapes fancy party planners put on the internet and all over Pinterest, so I made a few decorations for our party table.  First, I made labels on my computer for the party beverages.  I chose four of the top Justice League Heroes and chose names and drinks to go with their hero name.  My first creation was "Flash Fizz."  Since his main color is red, I bought Jones Soda Strawberry Lime flavor and removed all the labels.  I attached the new labels voila, four bottles of Flash Fizz.  I repeated the process with "Green Lantern Soda" (Jones Soda Sour Apple),  "Batman Brew" (Guinness Draft) and "Superman Suds" (Blue Moon Beer).  After making four of each bottle, I placed them on either side of the table so everyone could see them.

Superhero Drinks

Next I made my husband's initials with paper mache letters from JoAnn Fabric.  I painted them blue then used Mod Podge and some pages from an old Batman comic book to really personalize them.  (And let me tell you - first time for using Mod Podge and I love it!) 

Batman Initials

Finally, I bought some sour apple rings from my grocery store on a whim. I called them "Green Lantern's Rings" and then labelled a bowl of pretzels "Riddler's Twists."  Overall I think the table turned out really neat and I know my almost four year old nephew thought it was really cool!

Superhero Party Table

Overall, it was a successful party.  My husband appreciated the fun little details and I had a great time creating them.  Now to figure out how to celebrate my 40th in about six weeks.

Living Far Away From Those You Love

When I moved to Aurora, IL 12 years ago, I didn't think about how hard it would be to be away from my family in Ohio.  I knew we wouldn't get to see each other as often s we had when we lived in Cleveland, but we would make it work.  And we have.

We go home at least three times a year and my parents come out here at least three to four times a year.  My sister used to come out every summer with her three girls when they were younger and my brothers have been out a few times with their families when they were making a trip to Chicago.

But now that there is a health crisis with my parents, it feels like there is a million miles between us instead of the mere 300 from here to Findlay.  In the Spring of this year my Dad was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer.  He scheduled his surgery in July, but then my mom came down with what we thought was pneumonia.  Turns out it wasn't.  Her left lung filled up twice with fluid, but no pneumonia.  The doctors don't know why this is happening.  (Don't get me started on her general practitioner - aaargh!)

What has been discovered are two large growths on her spleen.  She is due to have a needle biopsy today.  I wish I could be there with all my might.  But I have responsibilities and 300 miles between us.  It doesn't make sense for me to go until we know what is going on.  For now she is stable and doing okay.  My dad is there and capable of taking care of her.  My sister and brother are going to go up and be with her.  I am so thankful that they will be there.

I sure wish I was.

Father's Day 2012

Brendan with the three kiddos!

 Father's Day is always a fun one around our house.  This year was no exception.  With no where to go (went to church in Saturday night, my Dad is fishing in Canada and Brendan's Dad is in Turkey) we had a relaxing morning of Breakfast in bed and hanging out together. 

Emma and Zoe made ties from the Chicago Tribune for Brendan to wear.

The kids got up and made cards for their Dad while I went and bought doughnuts for breakfast.  When I got back I took the dog on a half hour walk.  The girls wrapped Brendan's gifts for me in DC superhero wrapping paper and finished up their special cards.  We then got out the tray, put two chocolate frosted cake doughnuts on a plate along with some orange juice in a glass, and went upstairs to "surprise" Dad with breakfast in bed. 

The morning was a success!  Brendan got an Emerald Isle Classic Notre Dame t-shirt, the new Sherlock Holmes DVD, and a bag of M&M's. 

Flank steak, buttered red potatoes and taffy apple salad

For dinner I made some of Brendan's favorite foods: marinated flank steak, taffy apple salad, buttered red potatoes and ice cream cake.  Definitely dinner fit for a king!  I will share the recipes soon!

Father's Day Ice Cream Cake

Birthday Cookies

My two oldest nieces, Rose and Hannah, turned 16 this December, 6 days apart.  I wanted to make something special for the two of them.  I also had to make something that would mail safely and taste good after being in the mail for a few days.  So I came up with these sweet sugar cookies and a little birthday cash.

Here are some of Rose's cookies:

Her favorite color is blue so I chose green as a complementing color and then made these sweet little cupcake cookies. 

Hannah's cookies ended up being very similar, but I chose orange (her favorite color) and used pink as the complementing color.

 I really love how they turned out, and I'm really happy I was able to surprise them both on their special birthday!

Summer Baking

June went by so quickly, but for the first time in a long time I can tell you I feel like I didn't let it pass me by. Every summer I have big plans of things to do with the kids, and every August I wonder what happened to both the summer and the plans.

But not this year. This year I have promised the kids that we will do one thing special every week. And so far I have kept that promise. The first week of vacation we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 in the movie theater. During the second week we went to the DuPage Children's Museum. (We have a membership.) Week three I took them all bowling. It was Zoe's first time ever and she was the only one of the four of us to get a strike! (Two strikes actually!) And last week we went to Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg.

The other big plans I made were for the kids to make desserts this summer. So I assigned each child a week, let them pick a dessert to make, and put them to work. It has been a rousing success! My middle child, Emma, went first. She was inspired by an article in an American Girl Doll magazine she had checked out from our local library. She made chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes, and then decorated them to look like our family. They were both super cute and delicious!



My youngest daughter, Zoe, went next. She wanted to make her famous ice cream pie that she has successfully made at least two times before this. She chose an ice cream that had three flavors in one container, and then topped it with Reese's Pieces. It was described as awesome and really, really good!




My oldest, Ian, chose to make Lemonade Pie. I had made it earlier in the summer and he liked it so much he wanted to make it himself. It is a cool, creamy treat, perfect for hot summer days.



I plan on continuing to go places and having the kids make desserts. They are really enjoying being in control and sharing something they make themselves with their family. I know Emma is planning some fancy milkshakes for July, and I can't wait to try them!

Feeling Crafty

I have been feeling crafty lately. I have all kinds of craft ideas running through my head, and various amounts of supplies for scrapbooking, card making, stamping and other little fun things like that.

So what have I done? I decided to learn how to knit. Something for which I have essentially no supplies for and have to go out and buy. I'm sure my dear husband is thrilled.

This really came about because my six year old daughter received a teach kids to knit book along with some knitting needles and yarn from her Great Aunt Kathy and her Uncle Kevin. Great Aunt Kathy and Uncle Kevin are extremely talented knitters and were eager to pass on their hobby when Zoe showed an interest while spending time with them.

So, I have decided to teach her (and her eight year old sister as well), but knew for me to help them, I would need to learn myself, first.


I have now knitted two things. The first is a purple rectangle, and despite the fact that I dropped at least two stitches and some of the stitches are ridiculously loose and some are too tight, I'm very proud of that rectangle. I have also knitted the first square of a banner the girls and I are going to knit after I teach them! This second piece of knitting is remarkably better than the first, and I'm now ready to learn the purl stitch! (So far all I have done is the knit or garter stitch. After I learn the purl stitch, I should be able to do more!)



I am very excited at the prospect of making little projects with the girls, and I hope they learn to be great knitters like their Great Aunt and Uncle! And who knows, maybe I'll even make a scarf in time for next winter!

Happy Birthday Post

Thursday, December 30th was my 38th birthday. And even though it is the new year, I want to talk about my birthday from last year.


I had a really great birthday. In the morning I made muffins to take to my husband's grandparents, who we visited in the afternoon. December 23rd happened to be Brendan's Grandma McKillip's 95th birthday. Her party, unfortunately, was the weekend we had planned on going to Ohio for my family's Christmas. I had talked it over quite frequently with my mom, and with Brendan. My mom had offered to move our Christmas, but the only available weekend would have been the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Brendan didn't want her to have to do that, and for me to miss my extended family's Christmas, so we went to Ohio and missed Grandma's party.

To try and make it up to her, we decided to take the kids and visit Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. We had a lovely time visiting and had carrot cake and ice cream that they offered us. We also had some of the candy they received for Christmas. Brendan's grandparents have to be the two nicest people in the world. I feel so blessed and lucky to have them in my life, especially since all of my grandparents are in Heaven already.

After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, we took the kids to Vaughn Athletic Center to go swimming. They have a great indoor pool complete with water slides and a splash zone. We all had a blast riding the water slides and the kids wore themselves out swimming and running across the lily pad floats in the pool.

Considering the late hour after we were done swimming, we headed to Portillo's and got take out for dinner. Ahhh, no cooking for me on my birthday! I had a fantastic hamburger and onion rings and we had some almond chocolate chip blondies for dessert.

I was serenaded with a rousing version of Happy Birthday by my kids and Brendan. and then got to open my gift. It was a pink iPod nano!!! Complete with $15 iTunes gift card! Brendan even had it engraved on the back, "To my favorite lady." It is awesome considering my iPod mini no longer would allow new music to be uploaded to it. I can now listen to my tunes again!

I have to also mention some of my other favorite birthday gifts, too. My sister got me "Cake Pops" by Bakerella. She gave it to me at our Christmas in Ohio, so it was just in time to help me with the cake pops I made for the first time for Christmas. (Pictures to follow in a later post.) I can't wait to try some of the other ideas in that book! My sister-in-law and brother-in-law got me a Starbuck's card! Woot! Woot! Now I have two gift cards to spend at the 'Bucks! It's going to be a fun January and February! And my mother-in-law got me a black zipper hoodie in a tall size! It goes all the way past my wrists! I'm in seventh heaven! (Talk to tall girls about finding clothes that fit, not fun!)

Anyways, it really was a great birthday. (Wow, I also like exclamation points!)

Summer Vacation 2009 - Part One

On July 10, Brendan and I woke up at 4:00AM to get ready to leave on our much anticipated summer vacation. More than a year ago, my mom and dad proposed a grand plan for celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary which was a milestone they met in May of this year. They wanted to take their whole family (myself, my sister and two brothers, our spouses and all of our kids) on a 4-night Disney Cruise. There would be 21 of us in all (10 adults and 11 children). And that early Friday morning we showered, got dressed, packed a cooler with various snacks, drinks and lunch items and woke our three kids up to get in the minivan to embark on a 20 hour drive to Port Canaveral, Florida.


We had never taken a road trip of this magnitude with our kids before. We were excited and a little nervous and giddy with the prospect of trying to make it to Macon, Georgia at a decent hour so we could get a good night's sleep and turn around and get back in the van to end up in Port Canaveral before dinnertime on Saturday.

The kids were excited as well. They have made many trips to Ohio, which is usually a 6-7 hour drive depending on the number of stops and traffic. So we knew they could handle the time in the car well. And they did. We ate cereal out of plastic bowls on the way and watched DVD's on our DVD player and played the ABC game where you try and find all the letters of the alphabet in order from license plates or signs along the way. We made our way through Indianapolis and to the Sunny Side of Louisville (southern Indiana). We stopped at the Southern Indiana welcome center to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. Ian decided to start a collection of pamphlets from each state we were going through and tried to find the 120 foot tall baseball bat that graces the entrance of the Louisville Slugger museum. We never saw it (we went through Louisville) but saw the stadium for the minor league Louisville Bats.

I packed some surprises to give the kids as we travelled to make the trip a little less monotonous. There were orange Tic Tacs, a new book, a coloring book for the girls and playing cards for Ian, and toys for each one. These seemed to make the time go by quickly and before we knew it we were through Kentucky and into Tennessee. We stopped at a beautiful wooded rest stop in Tennessee and took advantage of some hills to climb and some pretty scenery to take some pictures. Being from the midwest, we were all awed by the beautiful mountains.


We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner (they have one at every exit on the highway from Illinois to Florida - that's no exaggeration!) and the kids gobbled up some pancakes and declared the CB syrup the best they'd ever tasted. (It came in a little personal syrup bottle that they kept.)

We pressed on past Atlanta and decided to call it a night somewhere near Macon, GA. We stopped at what we hoped would be a cheap hotel only to find every other traveller had the same idea. All they had left were rooms with a single king sized bed. Not going to work for us. There were two other hotels with a lot less car in the lot so we checked there. The first was too much money. the second, the Baymont Inn and Suites, was initially too much. When my husband balked at the cost, the proprietor said he'd give it to us for $69.99 and we said we'd take it. My kids have rarely stayed at a hotel, so they thought this place was THE BEST HOTEL EVER!!!!!!! There was a flat screen TV on the wall!!! and a fridge in the room!!!! and the chair was a pull out bed!!!! We got ourselves comfortably situated and spent the night well. (Did I mentioned the flat screen TV!!!!)

The next day we headed into Florida. The state welcome center was serving fresh, cold, FREE cups of orange and grapefruit juice. My kids thought this was heaven and that the juice was THE BEST EVER! (Are you getting the notion that my kids don't get out much?)


We made it to the Port Canaveral Radisson Inn where my whole family already was and checked in to an EVEN BETTER hotel. My kids changed into their bathing suits immediately and went swimming with their Michigan and Ohio cousins in a pool that had a waterfall that poured directly into the pool.


We all went to dinner at a Beef O'Brady's, where they treated us well. All the kids got a frisbee to take home after dinner. My parents sat with all 11 grandkids while the eight kids and kid-in-laws sat at the table one over. The kids all got Oreos in their kids meal, and my Dad joked that he wanted some. Zoe, my five year old, took it upon herself to tell the waitress that her Papa wanted cookies. He got them!

We spent the evening watching Wipeout with the nieces and nephews and generally just having fun with each other. The next morning, the real fun began!

Baptism Weekend

My newest nephew, Declan, was baptized this Sunday. The ceremony was held in a lovely old chapel with wooden floors and beautiful stained glass windows. The remarkable part was that Declan was the only child baptized that day. All three of my kids had several other children and families baptized on the same day they did. But Declan's was relaxed and personal and the old deacon who performed the ceremony was great with children. He made sure that both my three kids and three of Declan's cousins on his father's side of his family had a good view and even let them help him after the baptism with cleaning up and turning the font off.


My husband, Brendan, was godfather. It was fun to watch him light the candle and hold Declan in the pictures afterwards. A cool little aside - the beautiful baptismal gown Declan is wearing was originally his great grandfather's. He wore it, my mother-in-law was baptized in it, as well as my husband and his brother and sister (Declan's mom), and all three of my kids.

The party at my mother-in-law's house was a lot of fun. My brother-in-law's family is lots of fun, and I always enjoy my husband's family. Zoe made friends with the Coffey cousins and spent the entire day running around with them. She has arranged a playdate for an unspecified later date.

I played my usual role, which was to make the cake. I love doing that. I spent a lot of time online looking at other people's cakes for baptisms and first communions, trying to get some inspiration. But, it was a cross that I found at a Christian Bookstore that gave me my final idea for Declan's cake. I bought it as part of Declan's gift and used it as the cake topper for the cake. It is a two-sided cross with a little baby in jammies holding a blankie. On each side is a prayer, one for the morning and one for the night. The jammies have tiny little stars on them. When I saw them, I knew Declan's cake would have to have stars. This is what I made:


It was a huge four layered 9-inch cake. It was chocolate frosted with vanilla buttercream. I made marshmallow fondant stars to encircle the top and sides of the cake. Both the cake and the frosting are made from scratch. The cake recipe is a Martha Stewart recipe - a real keeper! The buttercream is Wilton's recipe.


As I wasn't sure if this would be enough cake, I made a second, smaller cake. I made another Martha Stewart recipe, and it turned out fabulous. It was a vanilla cake that I brushed with an Amaretto simple syrup. The frosting was an Almond Swiss Buttercream. It was the first time I made a cooked frosting and I must admit it turned out great. I have long been intimidated by cooked frostings, but with my trusty Kitchenaid stand mixer and my candy thermometer, the frosting turned out really good. What amazed me most was that the frosting for just one cake took three (3!) sticks of butter. That's a lot of butter. But it was good. I decided to coat the sides with sliced almonds. The cake turned out really dense, but really good.


This is the godfather with his godson. They're both pretty cute, don't ya think?

Happy Birthday, Brendan!

Today is my husband's birthday. He is the love of my life, the father of my children, my best friend, my confidant, my rock.


He is an amazing dad, son, brother, husband and man. I am so proud and lucky to have been married to him for almost 13 1/2 years now. I also have now known him for half of my life. I feel so blessed to have him. Happy Birthday, Brendan! I love you!

Now, head over to his blog and wish him a happy birthday!

Wii have a Wii

Ok, not a lot of time to post so I'm going to keep this short.

Last week the kids (all three of them) were in Ohio for the week. They were happy as clams because they were spending the week with my parents and their eight cousins.

I was a happy mom because I had the week off. First week off in nine years. It was a fun week. I had coffee with a girlfriend, had a scrapbooking night with a bunch of ladies and spent my week not having to clean and reclean the downstairs of my house. I decided to get all my hair chopped off on Wednesday, and donated the hair to Locks of Love.

But on Tuesday night, Brendan and I decided to buy a Wii. We've been discussing it, and not having the kids around was the perfect excuse to go out and get one. We only have Wii sports, but for now it's enough. The kids are thrilled (and incredulous that we actually bought a Wii!)

So today Ian downloaded the Nintendo channel and we discovered that he can do DS downloads right from the Wii! He downloaded Wall-E today. It's cool since in the past we had to go to Toys R Us or Gamestop to use that feature of his Nintendo DS. Now right from the comfort of our family room, virtually anytime he wants, he can try a sample of a new game. Pretty nifty, in my opinion.

Now, I just have to figure out how to get the bathrooms clean while still getting in my Wii playing time!

Cupcakes and Cousins

Last week my sister, Leanne, came from Ohio with her three kids and our mom for their annual visit. Ever since I moved out here in 2000, she's come every summer with her girls to visit. And it is such a blessing as my kids have gotten to know her kids well, and we get some well deserved sister time.


Leanne has three girls, ranging in age from 12 to 8. I have one boy, almost 9, and two girls, 6 and 4. Amazingly, they all pretty much get along great. Ian and my niece S get along great, or they don't. There's no in between. One year we saw them laughing and playing with each other one minute, and then literally rolling on the ground wrestling the next minute! But they always have fun, and despite being outrageously outnumbered, Ian finds ways to have fun with a bunch of girls. (I think it helps that he has two sisters.)

We had a fun week with two visits to the pool, playing on the "new" backyard playset my husband and father-in-law put together, going to the DuPage Children's Museum, making s'mores with our s'more maker and being treated to dinner out at TGIFriday's by our mom.

Every night the kids got a snack before bed, and being a cool and fun aunt, I wanted some yummy choices. One night it was the s'mores, another night it was ice cream, but on the first night I made special cupcakes for everyone. I always like to make at least one fun treat for their visit and this year was no exception. As I was searching for ideas on the internet I came across directions for making frog cupcakes. As soon as I saw it I knew that was what I was going to make. My niece, S, loves frogs. So it was a no-brainer. They turned out absolutely adorable and everyone was happy to gobble one down.


I guess now I need to start looking for fun snack ideas for next year!

What Was I Thinking?

Why did I vacuum the carpet underneath the kitchen table and then decide to make 4th of July sugar cookies with my kids?

Yesterday was my anniversary. Thirteen years ago we got married in my hometown of Findlay, Ohio and started on an amazing journey together. Brendan is my college sweetheart. I met him the second weekend of our freshman year at John Carroll University. We started dating later that month and by our junior year we were engaged. Three short weeks after graduating, we tied the knot.

Brendan and I before the winter dance 1993

Looking back I am sometimes amazed at what we've done. I didn't have a job (well, I had a summer job in the financial aid office at JCU, but no permanent job.) Brendan was starting his job working nights at a little internet startup company the Monday after we got married. They say you can't live on love alone, but we came close!

Our Wedding Day

I still remember his reaction when he came home that Monday night and I had made tacos and corn for dinner. It was like he had hit the jackpot. Walk in the door and food was there, on the table to eat. It was the beginning of a very traditional marriage in the roles we took. I grocery shopped and made dinners. He washed the dishes. But outside of that we weren't very traditional. He helped clean and do laundry. He accepted the cat I had picked up on my way to work in the fall; she had been hit by a car. I searched for our second apartment. I helped mow the grass when we bought our first house. He planted roses and made sure they were fertilized regularly. I marinated the meat, he grilled it on his Weber grill.

Then after four years of me teaching, him moving to days and changing jobs twice, we had our first child, a son. I stopped working to take care of our baby and Brendan looked for job he would actually enjoy after the internet company was sold. We moved to the Chicago area when our son was about five months old. We lived with my father-in-law and his wife for four months until we found a place of our own here. One miscarriage, two more kids (daughters), and eight years later we find ourselves in yet another house (our third since getting married) and celebrating our 13th anniversary.

It's been a long and wonderful ride. We've seen so many changes, but one thing has remained the same. Our love for each other. It has remained steadfast and true.

May Qualify Him For Uncle Of The Year

I have a brother-in-law who has many talents. He is a twice nominated Jeff actor (fifth down on the list) can do magic tricks, ride a unicycle and juggle, and he can knit, to name just a few of his many skills.

In past years we have been on the receiving end of his knitting flair. One Christmas my son received a hat, my middle daughter got a matching hat and scarf (now being utilized by my youngest daughter, who wasn't around yet at this particular Christmas), my husband (brother of the brother-in-law being presently discussed) got a scarf (and maybe a hat, not sure) and I received a beautiful scarf as well. All of these items were hand knit with love by my brother-in-law, Kevin.

Now, fast forward about four or five years. My youngest daughter requested a baby Elmo for Christmas. I wasn't sure what she meant, as I hadn't seen any in stores. Neither did Kevin. However, creative to a fault Kevin decided he would not allow my baby to go without her heart's desire, a baby Elmo.

The man knitted a diaper and baby bonnet for an Elmo he bought and gave it to Zoe. It is unbelievably cute, and obviously very unique. Zoe loves it, and so do I.


Take a look for yourself. If this doesn't qualify Kevin for Uncle of the Year, I don't know what does.

Weekend Christmas Fun

The girls and I decided to make a gingerbread Christmas tree this weekend using a Wilton Cookie Cutter Kit and Betty Crocker gingerbread cookie mix.

The gingerbread cookie mix worked awesome, although I didn't have quite enough to make two of every size cookie, so I only made one of the two largest size stars. The girls helped me cut the cookies out and mix the frosting after the cookies were cooled. We made royal frosting and I applied it to all the cookies and stacked them one by one. After that Emma and Zoe added mini M&M's for ornaments and I added the yellow star and white snow frosting details.


The tree ended up a little lopsided, but we had so much fun making it that I think we might make this a yearly tradition. We are going to eat it for dessert tonight after dinner, and I know everyone is looking forward to that.