I Love Cake Class!

We decorated cupcakes this week - so cute!

My mom took them to work and everybody fought over the different designs.  The nice thing about learning to decorate?  I HATE the frosting we use, so I am never tempted to eat my own creations.  Saves me a lot of calories, and the rest of the world can enjoy them.  They all seem to think it tastes just fine, so everyone is happy in the end.

Ghost of Tuxedo Strawberrie's Past

Is my blog about anything other than my baby?  Why yes, there is also my baking. 

My mom's company had a bake sale this week, and she thought it would be smashing to make my famed tuxedo strawberries (see "Did You Know Buddy the Cake Boss Has His Own Cooking Show?" post).  I happily agreed - they were so much fun to make, and I knew they would sell like hot cakes (all proceeds went to Ronald McDonald House).
When I made tuxedo strawberries the first time, I made approximately a dozen.  This time, approximately 8 DOZEN.  I finished about half during the day, and when my mom got home from work, she helped me finish the rest, slide 2 each into cellophane baggies, affix adorable star stickers to enclose, and pack into a cooler.  We were up until about 10:30 p.m., and we darn near filled the cooler.  It was quite a sight to behold

That cooler doesn't look full to you?  That's because after we cleaned the kitchen up, took this picture and patted ourselves on the back, we found another full tray hiding in the fridge, still in need of being packaged and placed in the cooler.  My poor mom was already an hour past her bedtime, but did she scream and pull her hair out?  Nope - she laughed and pulled the packing supplies back out.  The apple did not fall far from the tree on this one - we suffer for our art.

Fantastic Voyage

Lydia and I visited the Pilot family last weekend, just in time for her 6 month birthday.  She got some awesome outfits, and loads of love and affection.  Considering her struggles with stranger anxiety, she didn't do too bad (this was the first time she was meeting most of the family).  My cousin Sarah's kids were so sweet with Lydia - little Miles was all about supplying her with endless toys, and Lily was motherly and doting.  They definitely helped make the weekend go smoother.

Driving was another story entirely, and poor Lydia protested the 3 hour trek vehemently.  When we stopped at a Wendy's on the way home, I wanted to abort mission almost immediately.  Lydia was hot and crabby ( I had her stripped down to her diaper in public, SO white trash), and she was squawking incessantly.  The dirty looks from the Wendy's patrons threw me back to my pre-baby days...I was that parent with her grumpy kid, just pissing everyone off.  Not to worry, she calmed quickly with the accidental discovery of mom's strawberry shake.

God bless Sarah (not just her kids) for helping so much with Lydia.  There are a lot of things that rock about being a single mom, but traveling alone with your baby is certainly not one of them.  She saved my sanity on more than one occasion throughout the 3 day weekend.  It taught me a valuable lesson that I hope and pray I will not forget when the memory of this hectic weekend is not so fresh in my mind...

I am never traveling with Lydia again.

MY

DAUGHTER

IS

SO

CUUUUUUUUUTE!

New Career?

I know I am a big fat dork - let's just get that out there before I begin.  I am taking a cake decorating class so I can be like Buddy the Cake Boss.  What can I say, I am obsessed with cake shows, now that I watch daytime T.V.  Taking a class is the right thing to do for me, considering I had never even baked a cake before this week.  I ended up with a raw center to my cake, and my icing didn't turn out right (probably something to do with starting the kitchenAid on "high" and essentially creating a powder sugar "bomb"...THAT was fun to clean up).  Don't worry, I won't be feeding anybody my first cake; it was just for fun and practice.  All things considered, I think I did pretty darn well.

24 Carrot Gold