Planet Earth Cake

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I just realized that I never showed y’all my cute little Planet Earth cake that I made for Bluebird’s space birthday party. Here it is!

If you’re interested in making one for yourself (as in, next Wednesday is Earth Day…), it’s quite simple:

Take a regular ol’ box of cake mix, mix it up and pour it into your pans–I used Wilton’s Sport Ball pans, but I’ve heard of people using Pyrex bowls. Bake it. Let it cool. Frost it with some blue frosting (I used the stuff from a can…many of you are already aware of my disdain for making frosting.)

Now don’t get scared, but this next step requires a map or an atlas:
Make some green frosting and put it into a decorator’s bag with a #3 or #5 writing tip on it and freehand some continental outlines. (Don’t worry too terribly much about accuracy, it’s a blinkin’ cake…you’re going for recognition, not masterpiece.)

Once you’ve got your outlines, put on a star tip and start filling in your land masses.

Voila! Planet Earth Cake!

I laugh every time I see how close Japan is to Alaska, and I was thisclose to leaving Australia and New Zealand off of the whole thing altogether because it was really hard to get the frosting down there, but I figured I owed it to my brother (who resides in New Zealand) to represent his place of residence…oh the fun of frosting creations.

Finished: Cheerful Baby Quilt

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My dreams have finally come to realization! I am a completely finished blanket! Oh, it’s wonderful!

The oldest girl really likes me and I’ve victoriously been added to the necessary accessories needed for her to go to sleep each night. It also appears that I am her go-to television blanket. She wraps me around her like a shawl whenever she watches TV.

It’s really happened, I’m finally finished. It’s taken years to get to my completion, but it’s been worth it when I’m lovingly dragged around the house and demanded for each night. Life is good; downright cheerful, I’d say.

Cupcake Apron

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Yes, I am slightly disturbed that she knows how to pose like that.

Pattern: Little Retro Aprons for Kids, by Cindy Taylor Oates, Pattern A-2
Fabric: Cupcakes–I’ve managed to discard all the selvage from this except for one piece that says “Robert Kau…”; Dots–from the “Smores” collection by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda, Pattern #22074

I am loving this apron, and Bluebird has warmed up to it since her lacklustre reception upon its completion. I am totally looking forward to making more of these babies! The pattern is very well-written, except for one tiny mistake that tells you to put the wrong sides together near the end, but it’s easy to catch and correct. I’ve also purchased the designer’s other two apron pattern books for adults…mwahahahaha, aprons galore!

The Thanks I Get

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I committed to sewing up an apron for both Bluebird and Rabbit. We’ve picked out fabric (Bluebird went with pink, cupcakes and rainbow bubble dots; Rabbit is still deciding between cherries or sock monkeys…oh, to understand the decision-making criteria of a two year old), I washed Bluebird’s fabric and got it ready to go and I started cutting and sewing this morning.

I really enjoyed sewing up the little apron, which is so adorable and perky; but after seven collective hours of sewing and sticking pins into my fingers, I was pretty glad to be done. I proudly produced the tiny apron to my family, and Mr. Brooke expressed his admiration and Bluebird was happy to put the apron on so I could take a picture of her in it. I then took it off of her so I could do some “Finish Project Shots” and when I was rudely cut off from that endeavor by my lazy camera batteries, I offered it back to her to put on again.

Her response: “No thank you.”

I think the next apron will be for me. ONLY ME.

And I’ll be sure to probably thank myself for all the trouble I went to in making me a present!

(Pictures will follow when: 1. I get new camera batteries, and 2. I find the cord that allows me to upload my pictures to my computer.)

Heart Cookies

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We had made up the cookie dough needed for Bluebird’s birthday party cookies when everyone got sick; and since it’s only good for a few days, we decided to go ahead and make heart cookies instead!
We didn’t deliver them to anyone out of fear of passing on the myriad of symptoms the family was experiencing.

Super Creative Friday

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We have “Creative Time” in the afternoon after naps. On Friday, we do music appreciation during Creative Time, which is just playing with Play-Doh while we listen to a specific piece of music (we’re listening to Peter and the Wolf this month). Naptime was a little short on this particular Friday, so we got started on Creative Time early and found ourselves with tons of afternoon left when we were done with the Play-Doh.

So we made some cupcakes.


The girls ran off as I was cleaning up the kitchen and started doing the things that young children do to make each other scream and cry, so I asked them what they wanted to do instead of irritating each other, and Bluebird exclaimed, “Have another Creative Time!” What do you want to do? “Make puppets!” Alright then, get out your art caddies…

Frog (they insisted that he needed ears)

Yellow Rabbit

Peacock (that one was pretty fun…)

(Now Bluebird wants to build a puppet theater. I told her to ask Daddy about that because I am not about to begin juggling three kids in the garage while I operate the table saw! Perhaps we’ll draw up some schematics in the near future and ask him to cut them out.)

Overall, a great afternoon. I don’t know why I don’t generally take more time to do stuff with them in the afternoon…it keeps them in one spot, no matter how messy the project, so there’s hardly any clean-up to be done before dinner. It was nice. And we got cupcakes out of it as well…literal icing on top of a good thing.

During dinner, while we were talking about our day, I asked Bluebird what her favorite part of her day was and she responded, “Having two Creative Times.” Awww.

Patching Up the Blankie

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If you have a child who carries a blankie, you’ll totally understand the necessity of tending to whatever injuries the coveted item encounters. Rabbit’s blankie has had this ouchie for a while, but then it caught on something the other morning and tore some more and she seemed rather distraught about it–so I decided to do something about it.

I located some random pink gingham flannel (which isn’t too terribly random when you consider that this a house with three young girls living in it!), cut out a heart, hefted the sewing machine upstairs and started some intense blankie surgery, while Rabbit anxiously looked on.

End result:

Cold Evening Musings

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The evenings of early winter are one of my favorite experiences. Darkness approaches at an earlier hour, and somehow, it becomes easier to turn my energy inward and keep it contained within my family.

The girls got their second round of flu shots this evening and I allowed them to have Burger King drive-thru for dinner as a reward. As we drove home, I found myself basking in the comfort of the early darkness–how it seemed to separate us from everything else and made it feel like we were our own little world, encapsulated in our warm vehicle, with only our thoughts and feelings to worry about. I like feeling that feeling–that we’re all that matters in a particular moment.

The earlier approach of night empties the streets of bikers and walkers; when I’m at home on a winter evening, there are fewer distractions outside my window to remove my focus from my precious brood. I love to stand at a window and not see anything outside–only the reflection of my home behind me in the glass in front of me. It seems to sum up what really matters in such a simple way.

Add in the glow of twinkling lights and warm traditions of the winter holidays, and it’s no wonder why this time of year enlarges our hearts and magnifies our desire to spend time with our loved ones. Perhaps we love harder in order to feel warmer and counteract the chill in the air?

Thank goodness for winter. If life was one summer day after another, there would be no time to slow down and ponder when the shortened days of winter keep us close to home. This is a special time, a time to sit still and really see and feel what matters most–our families, our homes, warmth, love, peace and contentment.