And Hi, How Are You?

It has felt like our household has been really busy these past few months.  I mean, we are, and we aren't.

It isn't like I'm off at board meetings a few nights a week, or like my husband is out training to run ultra-marathons.  But life with these two boys of ours just seems so full.

Most days we end up together as a family somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30, depending on if I squeeze a Target run in after work.  The boys make up for all of the time they lost while j was at school and they run around the house (or outside now that it nice in Minnesota) playing nicely.  And loudly.  Big J and I stare off into the distance and decompress from our very different days.  Often J nods off on the couch, a result of his early mornings and hard work.  Eventually we realize we need to feed the locals so one of us heads into the kitchen to cook up something that I'm sure isn't particularly great for their little growing brains and bodies.  The boys eat, run around some more, and eventually I get them settled into bed.  Often I'm asleep before the youngest is.

And just like that, another day is over.  I lose entire weeks and am shocked to realize we're heading for the 4th month of the year.  Already.  Speaking of which, when did tomorrow turn into Friday?

And now, while I'm stealing a few minutes, I realize that I don't want it to be any different.  I wouldn't give up this full house for an empty calendar or blank to-do list.

Although I would prefer to not have a spring cold right now, and I would like a few extra minutes each day to catch up.  I've missed a few birthday greetings in the past week and feel badly that I never even got a birthday greeting tweet out to my ladies.

But, I know your lives are just like mine, so let's catch up.

How are you? 

Cut Straight to the Heart With an Off-Set Spatula

Over the course of the past Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon, I spent twelve hours in my kitchen baking and decorating my oldest son's birthday cakes so they would look like this:

That doesn't count the hours I spent planning, researching and shopping for supplies. 

Or the time I spent tweeting the whole dang process.

When it was all said and done I felt like a pretty kick butt mom.  His cakes look like Legos for goodness sake! 

But, this kick butt Mom got her own kick in the gut when last night in a sobbing melt down, our new six year old informed me that it was the worst birthday ever and I surely didn't love him.

Why? 

Cake aside, gifts aside, people who loved him gathered to celebrate his birthday aside, our boy considers it a major tragedy that there were no streamers.

Streamers people.

Next year he's getting a cake from the grocery store bakery.

A Busy Weekend in my Kitchen

It is almost nine o'clock on a Friday night.  

J is nearing sleep with a boy on either side of him, and those little ones are watching Planet 51 before they head off to their own beds.

I'm getting these few words out while I wait for two cakes to come out of the oven.  I put them in a few minutes ago after I took the first two cakes out.

Yep, you read that right.  Tonight I am baking not one or two, but four cakes.

My four cakes will cool overnight and tomorrow I will cut, frost, shape, and fondant those cakes.  Yep, I'm going to go all Ace of Cakes on them and take normal cakes and make them bigger, make them badder, make them awesome.

I'm planning on making my own marshmallow fondant and I bought a fondant roller and a smoother today.  I've got cake boards and gel colors and even some food coloring markers for my detail work.  I'm pretending to be a decorating expert but if I pull this off it will only be the second time I've ever worked with fondant, so we'll see how it goes.

Little j is turning six on Tuesday and we're having some family over to celebrate Sunday evening.  I really want my cakes to be impressive, but I'm planning to have all of the work done tomorrow so that if it all goes down the drain I can run to the store and buy a cake on Sunday.

I'm all for having a back up plan.  And either way, it will be blog worthy.  Either these cakes will be the envy of all who have picked up a pastry bag, or they will be a big fat FAIL.

Stay tuned.  (And chances are good I'll have a play by play going on Twitter because I have a feeling it is going to be entertaining.)

It's Not Wednesday and We're Not Wordless

It has been a long time since I've talked about e, our youngest son.

If you've been around a while, you may know that e had some ear issues that were diagnosed after we noticed a significant delay in his speech.

He had tubes placed and qualified for special services (speech therapy) through our school district.  

It has been a year of home visits and this January he started in a pre-school like environment in addition to his weekly speech therapy.  

And while this child of mine hasn't been reciting Shakespeare, he has been making what seem like GIANT strides in the past few weeks.  

A few Sundays ago in the car on the way to a family gathering, something remarkable happened.  j started prompting e to say various words, and e made an attempt to say every.single.one.of.them.

Words we'd never heard him make an attempt at before.  For the first time ever I heard my son say the word Grandpa.

And you can bet my eyes welled up with tears.  

He said house and the names of a few of his daycare friends.  The other day he said car wash two hundred times before my car emerged clean, at which point he clapped and said more car wash.

He is starting to string words together, and while some words are still very hard to understand, he is making progress.

Progress that a few days ago had me hearing the words I love you from my son for the first time.

And you can bet my eyes did more than well up with tears, those tears fell without abandon.