Memories of Soccer Season

I made these cupcakes for my daughter's soccer windup party last spring. Now that school is back in session I am wondering where the summer went.

Yo Gabba Gabba Cake

Here is my finished "Plex" the robot cake! It was a big hit at Hayden's 3rd birthday party

Whimsical Bakehouse

A few weeks ago I sent an e-mail to Liv Hansen of the Whimsical Bakehouse. I have been using her chocolate method to make some great cakes and thought that I would send a quick thank you and a few photos.

Liv was kind enough not only to respond but to also use my photos in her blog.

http://whimsicalbakehouse.blogspot.com/2009/04/amandas-hollywood-cake.html

Tying up Loose Ends...

I have been so busy the past few weeks that I am going to cram a whole bunch of stuff into one post.

Cupcakes!
Last weekend my amazing sister Jess turned 35 and cupcakes were in order. Here they are, courtesy of inspiration from Whimsical Bakehouse.

Crochet!
Also this week my brother and sister-in-law celebrated their first anniversary. When they got married I made sand castle cookie favors but Josh (my brother) wanted an octopus instead of a sand castle.

Since the wedding, octopi have become a bit of a theme. When they had their wedding reception with their Canadian friends last summer, everyone had cupcakes with fondant seashells except for Josh and Celina. You guessed it, they had purple octopi.

This explains why I spent the last little while crocheting purple octopi for their first anniversary. Thanks to Rosemary Newman (RosieOK on Etsy) for the perfect crochet pattern :)

Easter Bunny Cake

The 3-D bunny cake is complete! As usual It took no time to get the body and head together and then I spent hours on the details.

The head is white cake, the body is chocolate cake and the whole thing was masked with vanilla buttercream.

Technical Difficulties

OK I am pissed. I was so excited to show off my crochet prowess but my camera has been coughing up blood and I may have to call in the chaplin (hopefully someone other than me has seen M*A*S*H* a few times). When we were on our recent Mexico trip my husband zigged when he should have zagged and dropped the camera on the beautiful, but treacherous, marble floor. Ever since that "incident" it makes God awful noises and refuses to focus.
This is really too bad because I finally completed my first Elisabeth Doherty project (best crochet book to date) and was totally excited to post some pics. I was so proud of myself that I even sewed a crochet hook holder in celebration. CRAP.
Oh well, when I find a photo taking replacement I will make sure to give these projects their due.

The Pink Dinosaur

My niece Olivia called me herself to request a cake for her 4th birthday party. The conversation went something like this:

Liv: Auntie Manna will you make a cake for my secret dinosaur party?

Me: Of course! What kind of cake would you like?

Liv: A dinosaur.

Me: What kind of dinosaur?

Liv: A T-Rex.

Me: What color should the dinosaur be?

Liv: I think pink.

Me: A pink T-Rex?

Liv: Bye Auntie Manna.

I was really pleased with the results and Olivia was PUMPED!

Out of the Fog

After living in a cold-induced fog for the past week I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

It always seems that I am the busiest with baking right when I feel the crummiest. Last weekend I made a dinosaur cake for my niece, earlier in the week was a catered breakfast meeting for 20 and finally 2 cupcake trains for today. The trains turned out better than expected and will be choo-chooing their way to a little guy's first birthday party very soon!

On February 26th we got back from a very last minute week away in Mexico. Since then it has been a strange couple of illness plagued weeks. The first week back Parker got travellers diarrhea (to date this is still going strong), then Ryan started throwing up.
Last week Ryan got a cold and her little brother upped the ante by adding a cold to his repertoire.
Finally two days ago I got sick. My husband, not to be outdone, started throwing up yesterday and spent the day in bed. I was looking forward to the break while my daughter was at school and thought dreamily of having a little nap to clear my head. BUT the school called because Ryan was complaining of stomach pains and promptly started throwing up within minutes of walking in our front door.
This brings us to today...

• Husband is back at work
• Son is super clingy and will not leave my lap
• Daughter is riding the couch
• I feel like a sack of hammers

Special thanks and love and smooches go to my mom who brought over turkey-noodle soup, took Ryan to skating and stayed an extra 45 minutes at my house so I could continue my nap. Yaaay Mama!

First Little Ami Buddy

Here is my first little Amigurumi creature courtesy of a free pattern from http://www.lionbrand.com. My kids have been calling him "Pinguie" so that is the name that will stay. After my early success I had wanted to keep crocheting every possible pattern I could get my hands on but, to my dismay, I had run out of eyes. You would not believe how hard it is to find child-safe 9mm eyes locally. Once again, thank you internet - there are eyes on the way and my sanity will be preserved.

Dolly Clothes

My daughter received an anatomically correct boy baby doll (Paul) for Christmas from her Dad. When my husband called from the toy store during the doll shopping experience, his only question was, "boy or girl". Also we were trying to keep the creepiness factor to a minimum. Have you seen some of these dolls? Yeesh.
Long story short, clothing made for 14" baby boy dolls is next to nil. This means that Mommy is now on the hook to clothe her new "grandchild". Let me tell you that ability for 5 year olds to comprehend time passing is negligable at best and I have been getting the guilt trip for the past few days. "Mommy, Paul is cold and needs some clothes." "Mama, Paul needs to go to a birthday party and needs some clothes. The birthday boy has had to postpone his party and is not very happy about it."
Well, I am pleased to say that Paul now has a lovely pair of corduroy pants with a very stylish dress shirt and a celery colored sleeper with a sweet little knotted cap.
My daughter's response?

"Mama, have you finished Paul's socks yet? His feet are cold."

Organized Disorganization

Today was a bit of a mess. My daughter was complaining that her stomach was upset this morning. Usually I can pick up the "faking it" signs a mile away but today I must not have been on my game. I called the school to excuse her from kindergarten and she was up and bouncing by about 9:30. My son, on the other hand, had his 18 month immunizations with the added insult of a flu shot yesterday evening. True to his usual form, he developed a fever today and would not leave my lap. Nothing like a moaning toddler to make you feel like a jerk.
Needless to say this severly stifled my "New Years Purge". Every year I take a few January days to clean out the clutter. This year I have the blessing of a new closet renovation to help lose the old crap. If all goes well, I will be able to sleep tonight without a whole bunch of old crap on the floor next to my bed.

Amigurumi...

OK, so I just figured out what this is. My amazing sister-in-law sent me a link to a crochet site that dialed me into the Amigurumi phenomenon. I have crocheted for years but got bored of my projects about half way through (also my hands tended to fall asleep) but this time I think I may have found something cute enough to keep me engaged. Wish me luck!