If you know me at all, then by now you know that I LOVE to make kids birthday cakes! This year for Kaden's birthday I made a dump truck.... and look, it's hauling candy! so cute. and so easy. I originally got this idea from Nat's niece but she forgot how she made it so she gave me a photo and I was left to scheme up the blueprint on my own.
This truck body is made up of two different cake sizes. I used a 9"X13" pan as well as a loaf pan. Note: I used three box cake mixes and divvied it up between the two. Both pans were pretty full and I was a little worried they would flow over but I wanted them to be thick so they would stand tall. It worked out great!
Once they were baked and cooled I lined them up so they were flush in the back and the big cake stuck out to form the hood.
I took a small pie shape sliver out of the top to separate the cab from the bed and shaved down each side of the big cake to line up with the dumping bed. At the hood of the truck you can angle it in just a little so it takes on the shape of a truck and not a box.
The hard part is over. Now just mix your icing to your desired color and paint way! I used Reeces Peanut Butter Cups for the wheels, Hershey Chocolate bar for the windows and chocolate Twizzlers for the exhaust pipes.
I had very little time to plan this party so everything was quick and easy to make. I got the idea for this Birthday sign from Pinterest. I just printed the letters onto card stock in different fonts and different colors. Cut them out and glue onto other card stock paper!
These yarn balls were supper fun to make..... a bit messy, but well worth it! I made a mixture of 1/2 Elmers Glue and 1/2 water into a shallow dish. Soaked the yarn in the solution and wrapped it around the ballon in all different directions. Let it hang to dry over night and then pop the ballon the next day.
I have always loved the candy bar idea at weddings so why not at a kids party!
I found these free printable labels on line but she had "cocoa" and "flour" on them so I put them into a program I have, white-out her labels and put in my own.
Look at her! Her kids are clean cut and well behaved. Her kitchen is immaculate. Her hair is freshly done, she's in a pretty outfit and.... are those high heals? I bet her legs are shaved too. hump
That is it!! I am tired of the pressure of trying to keep a perfect house, be the perfect mom, be the perfect wife and still walk out the house looking like I'm ready for a photo shoot. Sadly I have no one to blame for giving me this over the top, impossible to achieve, expectation. Because really, we do this to ourselves. What is with our involuntary compulsion to compare ourselves to every other mom. And not in a healthy way that celebrates our differences and uniqueness as women. But rather we do it to either puff ourselves up to say "I am a better mom" or to knock ourselves to the ground and say "I am not doing good enough." And really, who out there is brave enough to show their true colors? Who will admit that when no company is expected, their house is a mine field of toys. And when you plan to stay home for the day your outfit of choice is the pj's you wore that night and your hair gets pulled back by any means necessary.
So here I am ready to break the Good Mom Myth and lay out my dirty laundry in hopes that someone out there will feel normal.
This last week was busy, really busy.... I was tired. My husband was not home for three evenings in a row. The kids needed a bath before bed and Lexi was not done eating. So what did I do. Fed her pizza in the bath tub!
Kaden is a clingy boy, but only if he knows I'm around to cling to. The minute he sees me he come barreling over determined to be held or played with. I really needed to get something done on the computer and I was tired of him grabbing at my pant legs and wining. So I got him interested in some toys in the kids room and I snuck out...... and shut the door. (gasp) Common! It 's not like I let him cry in there. It's just kind of like "out of sight out of mind." Kaden is none the wiser and I get a few minutes of peace.
And here is the doozy. I went out the front door yesterday to get the mail making sure I closed the door behind me. Alexia has not yet mastered opening the big awkward door knobs at the front and back doors so I was not too worried. What I hadn't counted on was that she apparently learned how to lock the deadbolt. Both doors locked. No keys. No phone. Crap! Luckily it only took a few minutes to get her attention by banging on the door and she understood that I couldn't get in. She played around with the knobs until she got the right one. Lesson learned.
So if you have any not-so-perfect moments please share with me. Help me end this façade and show that the best moms don't have it all together all the time.
Alexia half dressed and totally clashing.
Hiding from me in the the grocery store
falling asleep on the floor
Left this mattress on the floor for three days and the kids loved it!
I have been coming across a lot of posts on pintrest that have to do with buying foods in bulk, preparing them in some form or other and then freezing them for later use. The idea is that doing a large amount of work up front will save you time in the long run since essentially you would be able to just pull the meal of your choice out of the freezer and cook. I could use more time.
Also, as we all know, buying in bulk often saves on the pocket book. I could use some money.
But I really wasn't sure if I was ready to go all out and make 40 some meals in one day. So I procrastinated. And I still am.
However, I was recently at the Corn Wagon, which is a well known farm in my area that sells corn and other fresh produce at a ridiculously good price. I stopped in to get a few peppers which are usually 3 for $1.00. And these are good size peppers. Well my eye caught this bag.... seconds for $3.00!! I thought.... "Hmmm, I can do this."
So home I went with my big bag of peppers! According to the one-line-experts, all you have to do is cut and freeze! Easy enough. Found some great advice on how to prevent the pepper slices from sticking together. If you lay your slices on a cookie sheet and freeze them first before putting them in a ziplock freezer bag then they don't stick together when you go to get some for your next meal. Works like a charm.
Even did some diced... a lot more work but it is so nice to pull them out already diced!
O.k so the big question... was it worth it? I figured that, because they were seconds, there would be lots of mushy unusable sides that I would cut off and discard but to my surprise I hardly threw out anything. Most of them were on the smaller size and a little odd shaped but were extremely crisp and fresh. I measured every thing I cut and froze and I ended up with a grand total of 11lbs of peppers for $3.00. Do the math and that's $0.27 a pound. Compared to $1.49 at my local grocery store, I'd say that's a pretty good savings. And not to mention I probably saved myself 10 trips to the store just because my recipe calls for peppers and I don't have any!
And a little on the family!
I absolutely love fall. Bundled up with touks and sweaters, breathing in the cool crisp air!
That smile melts my heart every time.
Had to get a teeth shot for Grandma P!!
Alexia looks like she is off to school. Lord help me, I can't bear the thought.
As some of you know we just recently went to Killington, Vermont for a family vacation. Little did we know that Hurricane Irene was going to pay us a visit.
This video was taken just down the road from us. The rain began some time Saturday evening, real late. Sunday morning was a typical rainy day, no heavy winds so none of us thought much of it. Larry and Nora decided to head into town to return a redbox move and get a few groceries that we needed for the meals we had planned for our weeks stay. When Larry and his wife drove down this road there was a small amount of water running across. Nat and I went for a walk down this very road the morning after the downfall and saw the destruction. The road was literally taken out, right in front of a house, and there was no longer a drive way for them to get out of. Their cars sat on crumbled ground.
This photo I got off the web. It is of Rout 4 running between Killington, where we were staying, and Rutland, where Larry and Nora went for food that Sunday morning. They spent about 20 to 40 minutes shopping and came back to this road that was closed down due to the water damage. The gut-wrenching part is when they were crossing Larry told Nora that the road felt weird. It is believable that the water was already doing its work at that moment.
(I got this photo at the OnEarth blog off a post from Ben Jervey's who happens to live in the area. To see his amazing photos and videos just click on his name.)
Back at the cabin we had lost power shortly after we found out that Larry and Nora would have to spend the night in Rutland. Thanks to the Nat and his brother Nadon they damed up the creek in the back yard to collect water for flushing the toilets.
Ok this was really not my favorite part. We had to wash our dishes in cold creek water. I am one of those water-has-to-be-scolding-hot-or-it's-not-clean kind of girls. I just tried not to think about it and remind myself that I did survive seven months in Africa once upon a time.
Now this was a glorious moment! The next morning, after spending the first night in complete darkness, we were outside enjoying the outdoors, chatting it up with the neighbors when they asked if our fireplace was working..... say what??? The fireplace was gas not eletric! whoot whoot!!
Ha ha, who knew a gas fireplace could work as a stove!
Because of this state of the art worming device we were able to worm water for Kaden's bottles and and everyone got a worm bath..... well, they got a large pot of worm water; I'm sure you can figure out the rest :) But thank God we didn't have to wash our hair in the cold creek! The fireplace was even hot enough to cook a full corse breakfast! Primitivism didn't prevent us from living like kings!
Kaden was the only one who was able to have a full bath.
And he enjoyed it very much!
By Monday late afternoon Larry and Nora decided to abandon their vehicle and hike though the woods to be with their kids. They had a GPS which helped them keep on course and they walked parallel to the road that had been washed out. Once they were across Nat and Nadon met them to drive them back to our cabin. When they arrived we had worm water boiled so they could wash their feet. It seems ironic that they left a town with power, hot water, and plenty of food to join us with no power, and no idea when or how we were going to get out ...... now that's sacrificial.
This is us having dinner in the dark. Not that you can tell we are in the dark, with the incredible cameras on the market these days that have a flash that can light up the darkest corner. However, if you look close you can see a small flashlight hanging from the ceiling lights. THAT was our light.
This is a little more accurate!
Despite all the misfortune we had we were still able to have loads of fun!
(roasting mini marshmallows)
Walks
Goofy photo shots
On our way home we had to take Rout 4 out of Killington heading east, away from Rutland. That road was still not drivable. The road we took had been fixed enough to have a one way lane open, so between 6:30 and 7:30 traffic could come into Killington. Between 7:30 and 8:30 you could leave Killington..... that was US!!!!
This is a gas station we passed on our way out.
A truck sat in the parking lot of the gas station
while the flooding waters shifted and broke the pavement beneath it.
Passing all the destruction made me realize that our situation could have been so much worse than it was and my heart went out to all the people who were greatly effected by this tragedy. As we drove I simply had no words.
Honestly, girly girl is definitely not the words I would ever use to describe myself.... until today. I was browsing the web to find out how to make flowers out of fabric. I have boughten Alexia head bands with them and they looked easy enough to try. I found some tutorials and set to work. I literally made these flowers in about 10 minutes!! I was so excited I made three more and was filled with glee when we had an opportunity to wear them that very night. Is it possible that I have a girlish side that is beginning to ooze out?! And all because of a two year old!
Here is how to make your own frayed flowers
First cut your fabric 44 inches long and 1 inch wide. (FYI- I had scrap fabric that was only 22 inches long and they still looked nice so if you have some old fabric to use up don't be afraid to alter the measurements a little.)
Begin by folding the edge and secure it with a stitch.
Then start doing a gathered stitch along the edge. For those of you who are as clueless as I am when it comes to sowing, here is a photo of what a gathered stitch looks like.
Pull the thread so the fabric gathers and bunches up.... hence, a gathered stitch!
Twist and over lap the fabric into a flower.
Hold it securely and stitch from the back to the front and continue until you feel it will hold in place.
Sow on your button.
At this point you can sow the flower onto a ponytail hair bands, your favorite shirt or a hand bag or hot glue it to a headband or hair clip.
Once you are finished here is a easy way to secure your thread. I don't know if it is the best or most current way to do it but it's how mom taught me. Slide your needle through the fabric.
Wrap the thread around the tip of the needle a few times. Use your thumb nail to hold down the thread while you pull the needle the rest of the way through. I do this a few times just to be sure.
My husband and I are missionaries at heart. We met on the mission field and we plan to spend a good portion of our lives doing what we love and what we feel God has called us to do. However, for the time being we have been living here in PA building a little family together. And since we plan to some day leave everything and go back to the third world I have been trying to decorate our nest with as little mulla as possible. I was never much of a do it yourself girl but out of necessity I had to learn and I have grown to LOVE it!! I have decided to blog about my successes and mishaps in home decorating. If you are no good at it then I am your hope...... cause if I can do it, anyone can!
