Anyone for a Pan cake?

Today is AJ's birthday party, and he wants it to have a Peter Pan theme. This is easier said than done because apparently Disney has all things Peter Pan (except the movie) locked away in some mythical, magical, impregnable "vault". You can buy the movie - though that, too, goes back in "the vault" after today - and all sorts of things with Tinkerbell, but nothing else with Peter Pan.

So what's a Mom to do? Turn to clip art.

So without further ado, because I'm so darn proud of how well it turned out, here is the inspiration, and the finished cake.



The biggest challenge was coming up with black frosting for the eye brows, outline, etc. And Jeff actually gets credit for that. Working with red, blue, green and yellow food color, he mixed it to the point that it was a very dark purple. He then turned to the left-over chocolate cupcakes from his birthday, mixed in a lit of the dark brown frosting, and voila!

AJ was quite excited to see the cake last night. He started shuffling his feet in a little dance, then said, "Wow, that's pretty good! I love it!"

Messy kid corrector

I've noticed in recent pictures I've taken of the kids, that invariably some of the cutest shots are marred by leftover bits of ketchup, spaghetti sauce or some other part of the previous meal that remain stuck to the kids' chin, cheeks, etc. (Enlarge the photos above and you'll see what I mean.)

Why is it that every photo software system out there includes a quick fix 'red eye corrector', and yet no one (short of the very expensive, professional level Photoshop products) can offer a corrector for all the spills on my kids' faces? How tough would it be to set up a program that would circle the blotch and then cover it up by matching the skin tone surrounding it?

So that's my idea. But since I know nothing about how to implement it, I suppose my best 'quick fix' solution will have to be a wash rag.

Little Linus

Sydney has never been big on traditional security items. She's always refused a pacifier, has no favorite long-term toy (her moods and whims change too frequently) and hates blankets. Until now.


Maybe it's due to the recent cold spells, but suddenly Sydney wants to be covered by a blanket at bedtime. But not just any blanket. The little girl who loves all things pink and Dora and cashmere, has taken a liking to a cheap blue blanket from IKEA that her aunt Sarah gave us because she'd received it in a gift exchange at work and didn't want it.

Sydney woke up about 1:30 this morning, and silly me, I pulled her from her crib, minus the blanket. I tried to lay down on the couch with her, but when I started to cover us up with the blanket that was there, Sydney, even in her groggy state, started crying, "No, no, no".

By coincidence, another polar fleece blanket was within arm's reach so I covered her with that instead. Even in the dark, that wasn't good enough. Apparently the knots/tassles on the edge felt different. I went back to her crib for the blue blanket and she settled right down.

I've told you, Sydney, Mommy's favorite Peanuts character is Sally, not Linus.

Daddy's day

How many "takes" does it take to get a decent photo of Daddy with his kids on his birthday? I don't know, because I gave up after 11 tries. What you see here is the best I got.



Weird blinks, glares on glasses and squirmy kids just don't lend themselves well to a keepsake portrait.

I'm a few days late in writing about it, but we had a lot of fun celebrating Jeff's birthday this weekend. AJ, of course, is happy with any ocassion that involves cake. (Plus I suspect he's keenly aware that his birthday comes next, considering we've only told him about a million times that he has to wait until after Daddy's birthday before his will get here.)

So on Saturday we went shopping in preparation for having some friends over for dinner that night. At Sam's Club, we found a cute little cheesecake surrounded by cupcakes – all smothered in gooey chocolate frosting. For AJ, this was beyond exciting. He ran up to the first woman he saw and announced, "Today, today, today, today is already my Dad's birthday!"

The person with whom AJ chose to share this information was an older woman. And she clearly was delighted by his exuberance. She responded, "It's your Dad's birthday. How old is he?"

That stumped AJ. He turned to Jeff, who politely answered, "41."

The woman smiled, "Well, happy birthday. I'm 91."

How could AJ have known what an inspirational person he had chosen with whom to strike up a conversation? Here was a woman, out and about very capably on her own on a frigidly cold day, who was at least 15 years older than I would have guessed. Suddenly 41 didn't seem very old at all. At the same time, I know AJ cheered her up, because as we passed her later in another aisle, she smiled and waved to him.

On an unrelated note, as I'm typing this, a loud boom just sounded from my garage. If I lived in a rougher part of town, I might be concerned. As it is, with the current temperature of -16, I suspect we didn't get all the pop cans in after the last blast of cold weather.

Who's the fairest of them all?

Now that she's figured out that cute little girl she sees so often is really her own reflection, Sydney is fascinated by any opportunity to look at herself. That means stopping frequently in our closet to not just smile at herself in the mirrored doors, but often do a double high-five against the glass. Finding the hand-held mirror in our bathroom was an exciting bonus.

Of course, as soon as I took her picture, Sydney looked up and said, "Cheese!" She then insisted on looking at the back of the camera, because tech-savvy toddler that she is, she knows her image will pop up there, too.

Vanity, thy name is...

Winter is getting old

We're in the midst of our second really deep freeze. And it comes just a couple days after the last one, which kept temperatures below zero for almost four straight days.

Jeff and I are certainly sick of it. But I hadn't realized that the kids had reached that point too.

AJ asked me this weekend, "Why is it still snow time? When is it going to be grass time?"

If only I had an answer for him...

Kid immersion

I'm bogged down at work (I know, I know, in this economy I should be grateful for that) and I've got a couple freelance projects besides. It all added up to a pretty ugly week, and I don't expect to see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for at least a few more weeks.

So what's a stressed out Mom supposed to do? Spend a day in denial, focusing solely on her kids.


The Children's Museum had a special music/dance program Friday morning. Nevermind that AJ just wanted to play with the regular exhibits and Sydney was overwhelmed by all the people and so became extra clingy. We still had fun.

At the "campsite", AJ caught and prepared a nice fish lunch for us. Sydney, meanwhile, found a new duck population to line up in a row. Later we checked out the castle exhibit, where AJ found a new - and very appropriate - costume.

"Look, Mom. I'm a clown!"



Friday was awesome medicine for my spirits. Too bad it wreaked havoc on my vocal cords. Sydney's cold has become my cold, and right now I can barely speak above a whisper.