Happy Birthday, Jack

Ellyson's wasn't the only birthday this week. Jack celebrated #35 on Tuesday. (I didn't realize I was lacking a "3" candle until it was too late.)

I made Jack's grandmother's chocolate frosting on vanilla cake. So glad I got that recipe from her several years ago.

Grant is a cake-eating beast. He didn't even need a fork.

Ellyson's Birthday Party

Last Saturday, we celebrated Ellyson's birthday party. We took a few of her friends painting with her, and then had lunch at a pizza restaurant.

The girls had so much fun painting! Some are a little more abstract, but they enjoyed it.

Ellyson wanted an Ariel birthday cake, despite my suggestions for a (much easier to decorate) paint palette birthday cake. Alas, she wanted Ariel. A 3-D Ariel cake. It was very time-consuming. The mermaid tale alone took me about an hour and a half.

I bought ready-to-use edible dough (next to the fondant at the craft store). I used a little more than half the package. I sculpted the shape, then hand-poked and traced the scales, one by one.

She wanted "colorful" cake, so I added sprinkles and food coloring to vanilla cake.

I also used colored chocolate melts to create chocolate starfish, seaweed and coral.

The cake dome actually cracked most of the way down one side when I put the Ariel Barbie into it, but it was nothing some extra frosting couldn't repair. And when complete, it was too tall for my cake carrier, so we had to store and transport it in a clean storage bin.

She had so much fun!

Hair Styling

My daughter has hit the wonderful age of wanting to play with hair. And since she has no sister, she "does" my hair.

I love it. It's so relaxing now that she *usually* doesn't pull or attempt to chop my hair.

This week, she told me she loves that my hair is so straight. Haha. Curly-haired girl perspective, I guess.

Just to Clarify

Ellyson was eating a FunDip today after school. I was in the bathroom and heard the following.

Ellyson: Mom, bring some napkins to the table! ... I spilled some. ... It was an accident.
Graham: Yeah, it was an accident!
Ellyson: I mean, not in my pants. On the table.

You know, just to clarify. Not that kind of accident.

Legos

Legos are so much more difficult to build, with these two trying to help. And by help, I mean play. Grant declared this set is the place where Jesus died, and the boys started combing through the pieces, looking for Lego Jesus.

Daddy-Daughter Date Night

Last night was Chick-Fil-A Daddy-Daughter Date Night. Jack brought flowers for his date (in colors that scream "Ellyson!"). After dinner, he took her shopping for nail polish, bracelets, and crayons. ;-)

Meanwhile at home, Grant found the Wizard of Oz party decorations from last year.

Concentration

This is how Grant concentrates. Since giving up his thumb, he hasn't figured out what to do with his mouth. So when he writes, colors, paints ... he sticks out his tongue. Also, he writes "letters" (some look like the letters they're supposed to be, but many still do not) and then draws circles around them. And why not? I love his creativity.

Ellyson, meanwhile, has gotten really good at finding letter sequences (words, but she can't always figure out the word) in word searches.

Basketball Night

Last Friday was mother-son night at Carter's school. For reasons I can't fathom, they ditched bowling in favor of a mother-son (as in, moms vs sons) basketball tournament.

Carter was so excited. I was less so. I "played" basketball for two seasons in elementary school. I was terrible. And that was a time when I was taller than all my peers.

Thankfully, the school gym was chock full of equally basketball-impaired moms and boys. I ended up running circles around the other moms on my team, and Carter had a strong showing, too. I had a moment when, seeing him dribble a ball and toss his leg over the top in hot-shot mode without even struggling a little, I wondered if basketball could possibly be "his" game? Maybe we'll revisit that idea at a later time. For now, spring soccer and running club both are on Carter's calendar for March and April.