red velvet cake, people... red velvet cake!

Yeah, I finally did it! Making a red velvet cake has been a far off goal that I've had for some time but this past weekend gave me the perfect opportunity (wow, that sentence was ugly...). Anyway, Cams put on the baker girl uniform and off we went!
The scary thing about this cake is the crazy amount of red food coloring (1 oz.) that you pour into the batter... it has to be unhealthy, although once you commit to baking a cake you've pretty much thrown health concerns out the window.
A funny thing happened while making the cream cheese frosting. I was supposed to make a batch and a half of the frosting, all the reviews I had read suggested making one and a half times the given amount to properly cover the three layer cake. Well, since math isn't my strong suit I accidently TRIPLED the batch...not exactly a terrible problem to have if you ask me...

So what was the occasion for this cake and crazy amount of frosting? Why, Nanny's birthday of course! Happy Birthday, Mom!

I just had to throw this picture in... kids + goggles= funny!

the motorhome

Hello again! Sorry it's been 11 days since my last post. The days seem to blur together so easily. First I have to start with this picture: how cute are these girls?

Ok, got that out of my system. Next, a report on last weekend. Darren brought the motorhome home so we could take it to the beach for a fire night. The kids LOVE the motorhome. They gladly helped him clean it up. load it up and gas it up so we could go to Avila. Even Hayden got in on the excitement.


We picked up our friends, Tim & Corina, or as Cameron likes to say, "Tim & co-WEENA". Our kids LOVE Tim & Corina. So we were off to a good start. When we arrived Darren made his amazing avocado salsa (it's not my place to divulge the recipe, I'm going to let him share his secret recipe with the world) and we started snacking. Then we played, then we made fire. Cameron loves fire. Not in a pyro kind of way, just in an excited little girl kind of way. We roasted hot dogs and ate way too many chips & dip. Just as it was time to roast marshmallows a habor patrol gentleman drove onto the beach and started extinguishing fires. I'm not kidding, he drove to the end of the beach, stopped, talked to the couple there and then pulled out a fire extinguisher and put out their fire, right in front of them! We watched this transpire and wondered if he would do that to us... to our kids! He stopped at our fire and kindly asked us to put ours out as well, explaining that they only allow fires when the metal rings are out on the beach. We dutifully poured sand on our fire and then made sad faces, pictured here:
It was still light enough to play outside for awhile so we didn't let the lack of fire ruin our night. We played a few rounds of Whoonu and then headed for home. While driving back Darren and I talked about where we would go the next day. In the morning the kids headed out to play in the motorhome in their pajamas and we decided there was no need to drive anywhere, they were perfectly content to play parked right outside our own house!

projects

Just wanted to show a few projects to you. Yesterday we took a few over ripe potatoes, cut them up and started a little water garden. The hope is that the eyes will sprout a little more and roots will grow down into the water. Then we'll plant our own potato plants. Or, more realistically, the said potatoes will sprout, turn into a stinky mess, get planted and then be promptly forgotten by yours truly, the brown-thumbed gardener. Place your bets...



Also, I've been checking out a blog called Art Projects for Kids (right here on blogger) and I finally got my act together and did one of the projects with the kids. Here are our kitties. Cute! The blogger is an art teacher and she posts instructions for her weekly projects that she teaches in her class. Jason can follow the directions pretty well and Cameron tags along with a lot of help from mom.

And finally, a few random thoughts:

1. We are running out of wooden spoons! Somehow, the little fellas decided that 12 and a half years of use was enough and they are all bowing out of the game and heading for wooden spoon retirement in the trash. I'm also losing other utensils at an astonishing pace. Either my kitchen skills are brutal or it's time to reload the drawer.

2. I discovered Nutella. Well, not technically, but I discovered that it is a very yummy spread for graham crackers. And it makes me look cool and sophisticated when I put it in my shopping cart. Someday I'll class it up a bit and make some crepes for the chocolate hazelnut spread. Until then, just know that I am a cosmopolitan girl and very sophisticated... me and my graham crackers.

3. Who thought that a clear vacuum canister was a good idea? It's disgusting. It makes me neurotic and keeps me vacuuming constantly so I can get all the stuff I didn't know existed on the carpet.

4. Jason has a corny sense of humor. This weekend I asked him to make cards for his AWANA leaders for Leader Appreciation night. He drew a dump truck and wrote "I've had loads of fun!" Get it? I couldn't stop laughing... I guess that means I have a corny sense of humor too.

school days

"Gee, Jen, it's been awhile since your last post. Where have you been?"
"WII FIT ISLAND, BABY!"

Over a week ago Darren came home from a day of meetings and errands with a little surprise for the whole gang. (I know, I just used the words "gee" and "the gang". We recently finished a book about some kids set in the 1950's so it's been a little "Leave it to Beaver"-ish in my head.) The thing about Darren is that he's an impulse buyer and some days those impulses are really fun! Wii Fit is that game with the balance board, it allows you to do yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games right in your living room. The board also acts as a scale and keeps track of your fitness progress, helps you set goals and acts as a coach. Some days Wii Fit is downright snarky and gives you a hard time if your weight climbs up. Some days Wii Fit is my friend and I love it. Everyday, Wii Fit gives a chance to realize how uncoordinated and unbalanced I am! We've also discovered that Jason is a running machine and Darren has got remarkable dance abilities. I'm hoping to figure out how to get a video out to the masses... maybe I'll call the guys from You Tube and see if they can come out t film it...

In other news, Cameron has been participating in school. She has decided that she wants to do school work (I know this sounds familiar... her interest in "kindergarten" faded after 3 days so this is different). She sits down with us at the table every day to do workbooks. She knows how to spell her name but refuses to learn how to form the letters. Instead she scribbles at the top of every page while reciting "C-A-M-E-R-O-N! There, that's my name!" It turns out that she just knows a lot of stuff. I never taught her how to spell her name or which hand is right and which is left but somehow she just surprises us. I guess she's really paying attention when she seems to be in her own world.

We're studying ancient China right now so Jason and I have decided that we'll probably need to eat at Panda Express a few times to really appreciate the culture and get an understanding for all things Chinese. It's a tough subject but we'll tackle it one bite of orange chicken at a time!

just for fun

No joke, we studied the Persians today. The kids love this video and I hear Jason singing it every once in a while. I don't mind poking a little fun at ourselves!

i'm learning so much!

Jason nearly fainted when I told him this the other day. I think he was shocked to hear that 1. I don't know everything, 2. I forget a lot of things, and 3. his schoolwork is interesting to me. Last week our school schedule was thrown off because of illness and holidays so we spent some time playing catch up. We did a few projects, read a few books and the best project: a timeline! I've always wanted to integrate the history that I've learned with the Bible so since Jason is studying the ancient world we did just that. He's been helping me with my Bible studies this year, together we've read through Joshua, Judges, Ruth and now we're in 1 Samuel. In school he's read through a kid's Bible and together we've read through Genesis and now we're in Exodus. So this kid has also been studying ancient Egypt, Greece and now Rome. So last week we made a huge timeline and wrote in all the major events from creation to Jesus. I love the pictures that he drew: a few pyramids, the ark, a Trojan horse, Alexander fighting the elephants in India, Odysseus vs. the Cyclops, a very muscular Samson, Romulus and Remus and their wolf-mother and some heirogylphics. Ever since we've put it up on the wall we've used it as a reference, added to it and totally enjoyed it. I don't know who likes school more, me or Jason!

On another note, here's Cameron at four o'clock in the afternoon. Some days are rough!

sickies win

Look at this sweet face. Now imagine that this cutie has had a two-pack-a-day habit for the last 30 years. Yeah, that's the sound of RSV. Sweet little Hayden caught her brother and sister's cold from last week. We thought she would fight it off but Monday night she developed a cough and on Tuesday morning I knew I should take her in to the doctor. Just as I suspected the snot test showed RSV (that's the roto virus... I'm sure there's more to the roto part, but I don't want to look it up). Since it's a viral strain there's nothing to do to treat it except make her comfortable. She sleeps in a room with a humidifier and I sacrificially take super long showers so she can breathe in the steamy air (I know, I'm a saint...). Now why in the world did we have to give Cameron nebulizer treatments when she had RSV? I think it was a cruel trick... making us pin down Cameron who remarkably, has the strength of 10 men. I think I may have blogged about it- I can't believe that I've been at it for so long! Anyway, Hayden is a trooper. She is handling this illness very well and it's quite nice to have an excuse to hold her a little more often.