Let there be cake

We've had a lot of cake recently. In preparation for Cole's birthday party (which had a 'king cobra' theme), Cole told us he'd like a chocolate cake. Well, Freeport Bakery is our go-to place for all things cake and they happen to have no less than eight variations on chocolate cake. And that is how we found ourselves going to the bakery on three separate occasions to sample three slices each time and rate them to narrow down our selection.

We ended up going with their Seville Marnier. It's an orange poppyseed cake (I love poppyseed and I had no idea they made it in cake form!) with chocolate whipped cream and frosted with chocolate whipped ganashe. We got the cake in a half sheet size which could serve up to 40 people.

The Bakery went above and beyond what we were looking for! We were looking for a cake top that would be a home to a crafted king cobra snake. We wanted some pool of water, sand, weeds or bushes, and rocks.

This is the beauty we got.

Everything on the cake was entirely edible (with the exception of the topper, of course!). Jellybean rocks (like on our hippo cake), graham cracker sand, frosting patches of grass, and I have no idea what the water is made up of but it's gel-like.

The cake tasted divine. It was a hit with everyone. We ended up having a ton of leftover cake and gifting a platter of cake to four of our neighbors and received positive feedback from them as well.

The cake wasn't over the top expensive. I went in expecting to spend a lot of money and expecting less than what we received by way of appearance. The decorations on the cake cost us $15 and the half sheet size of the cake was $63. Well worth the added expense to a Safeway bakery to me and so much yummier than anything I could make at home.

 Cole grabbing a plate to help his dad serve cake. My sweet five year old!

If you're ever in Sacramento, it is so worth the money to visit Freeport Bakery. If you want to go small, try just a slice of their many cakes (I'd recommend Seville Marnier or Fruit Basket above all else) for under $4.00. Their slice size is very generous. We always take some home for a second helping. The staff is very professional and top notch to work with. I've bought three custom cakes from Freeport to date and always been incredibly satisfied with them. They always exceed my expectations. Freeport has it all -- superior tasting goods, courteous staff, reasonable prices -- the only gripe I have is their small parking lot and tiny bakery size but then I kind of like the small town feel to it.

Family Ornaments

We try to make an annual trip to Apple Hill. It's a circuit of apple farms in Placerville, California. Honestly, there are a lot of great farms but there are some that are less impressive. Brandon, Cole, and I have a favorite farm. There are lots of private vendors selling various crafts there.

When we went after a Christmas tree in 2010, we found a vendor that makes these custom family trees. She has ornament bases or stand-alone bases for her craft. There are probably a hundred different heads with tons of different hair colors and skin colors across female and male bodies. They come in four different sizes. She even has pets!

When we visited Apple Hill again this year, we knew we needed to get an updated family ornament.

Here it is. She told us she could do glasses and bent the little wires on the spot for us. We got blue for Cole as he wears blue glasses and black for Brandon.

I love her ornaments and I want to make a little family tree for both Brandon and my parents next Christmas. She does large scale family trees so this is a possibility.

This time, I grabbed her business card. She said she takes orders by phone or e-mail.

For reference, on the tree ornament -- Brandon and me are a large sized head. Cole is medium and Collin is small.

Her name is Lila Anderson. Her phone number is 916-944-2255. Her e-mail is lila_bill@yahoo.com. I've never placed an order by phone or e-mail so I can't speak for how smooth that is but she's always been very easy to work with in person. In my experience you pay by piece with a flat rate on them. I feel good about the quality of these and love supporting a crafter! I'll continue buying our family ornaments as we change and grow.

Getting Congratulatory Cards from the President

Did you know that you can get a congratulatory card from the current President and First Lady? I didn't and wish I knew in time to get one for my first son. To those unaware as I used to be, there are select events that the White House will send a congratulations card for.

They include:

- birth or adoption of child (can be sent up to a year after)
- birthdays (veterans, 70+ or civilians, 80+)
- wedding (send after the event)
- retirement (minimum 30 years on job)
- eagle scout award
- girl scout gold award
- bar/bat mitzvah or equivalent religious occasion

You must be a U.S. Citizen in order to get a response.

Additionally, you must include certain details. Those include:

- name and address
- title to address to (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr., etc)
- age or years of marriage
- your name and phone number (daytime hours)
- specific mailing instructions, if any
- exact date of occasion, if applicable
- for weddings be sure to include married names of couple and new address, if applicable

The White House has announced that there is a backlog of requests so you should expect a wait. I mailed mine out only recently so I cannot give an estimate at this time. I know that some women who had babies born in May mailed theirs out and had around a 2-3 month wait period for a reply, but it did come!

This is not limited to President Obama's term. It's traditional for whatever current President is in office to do. For example, my oldest son would have received his card from President Bush.
 
Mail your information to:

President Barack Obama
White House
Greetings Office Rm 39
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500

My son was very excited about this. We've only recently began talking about the concept of a President. The election seemed a perfect time to begin discussing how we pick our leaders and what their jobs actually are. He has no bias about the politicians yet (oh, treasure it!) and really enjoyed the idea of sending mail to such an important man.

Cole even signed the letter.

I'll update this post with a picture of our congratulations card when we receive it!

Update on 11-28-2012:

We mailed off the letter in October and received our reply the day after Thanksgiving. So about a month turn-around for time. I'm thrilled to have it and Cole was ecstatic.

Making a Halloween Costume -- or two

We knew that Collin would be riding in the baby carrier facing out as we trick or treated with Cole. I wanted to have a costume that Collin could be seen in despite the carrier and I thought I should include myself as part of the costume due to the fact that he'd be attached to me.

Ideas were thrown around. I could be a log, he could be an Ewok, a frog, a bird. I could be a flower, he could be a bumblebee. I could be Mary, he could be a lamb. We finally settled on my being a web, his being a black widow.

But how did we do that?

Here's our breakdown of outfit pieces:

Collin --
1 black long-sleeved onesie/t-shirt
1 pair of black pants
1 pair of black infant socks
1 black beanie

Me --
A long-sleeved black sweater I could throw out
Black pants

Additional --
A black T-shirt I didn't care about but would wear in the future if it turned out okay
2 pairs of knee-high black women's socks
Red Fabric

Brandon painted a cobweb onto the long-sleeved sweater we bought at a thrift store. I was actually really sad about this because the sweater was SO soft.
 
We painted in acrylic so I could try washing it out. We added a layer of glow-in-the-dark paint over the top.



It should be noted that we put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt for bleed-through. When working with fabrics, in my experience there is often bleed-through.

I took the beanie and affixed eight google eyes to it with elmer's multi-purpose glue. Brandon told me that all spiders have eight eyes and the other eyes are false. Okay.

I cut up an old red onesie of Collin's, made an hourglass shape based on a photo of a Black Widow's belly with cardstock and glued the red onesie scrap around the cardstock. We turned a black T-shirt we bought at the thrift store inside out and pinned the hourglass down with safety pins.

I stuffed the women's socks with white trash bags (so that I could later use both). Unfortunately, this made them limp so we nixed them. If I could do this over, I would place cardboard or something in them to help them stand up. Collin was a four legged black widow at this point.

Overall, I think it came out okay for a costume that was thrown together in maybe a hour of work the night before Halloween.

Etsy Seller: Marleyjanedotcom Review

I received this necklace for Mother's Day. It is made of silver and hand-stamped with the birth-dates of both of my children. It has a charm featuring a silver wire nest holding three pearl 'eggs.'

The necklace was made by etsy seller, Marleyjanedotcom.

There was contact with the seller and she was easy to talk to. She took special instructions (and even offered to leave room for a potential third date -- if we should choose to have another child), gave her professional opinion of the piece and custom works' affect on it, supplied clarifying and acknowledging statements, and in the end -- did exactly what I wanted. I couldn't be more thrilled with how courteous and professional the interactions were with Marleyjane. 

Additionally, the packaging that this necklace came in was beautiful. It really looked ready to give to your recipient straight out of the mailer. The seller had the necklace resting on a bed of soft cotton inside of a nice, natural looking brown box. The box was then sheathed in a floral paper and sealed with a twine bow.

The necklace is beautiful. It shines beautifully. It is lightweight, mostly quiet even when it's shifting around, and hangs at a good length. The worksmanship looks fantastic and I anticipate this being a piece I own indefinitely with good handling and low routine care.

I would absolutely recommend Marleyjanedotcom for your custom jewelry needs.

Halloween Crafting

Wanting practicality post-Halloween, I bought a $1 reusable orange shopping bag from Michael's to use for trick-or-treating. Cole didn't complain initially but he did express sadness that he wasn't getting a cool, decorated tote as in years past.

So naturally, the night before Halloween I decided to paint his tote. I don't have befores as I didn't even think about documenting the progress until it was well under way (whoops!).

Inspired by some wacky Halloween themed stickers Cole had gotten, Cole and I decided to put a black cat on one side and a black bat on the opposite.
 
I free-handed both the cat and the bat onto white printer paper. I then cut out the pieces and used a pen to trace around them onto the shopping tote.

From there I took acrylic paints and began working, taking care to place a piece of cardboard inside the bag for any bleed-through. I would absolutely recommend that as there was bleed-through.
 
My cat could use an extra coat, but here it is in all of its furry glory. The cat has yellow eyes which are then covered with glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint. Please excuse the horribly cluttered kitchen table. I was so busy that I simply didn't take the ten minutes I daily do before bed to de-clutter and the kitchen table happens to be a hot spot for junk.

I wanted something more than just animals or drawings/paintings. So I asked Cole's permission to add a message.

I then thought to free-hand "Trick or Treat" but with the letters formed as candies. It was tedious. It took a long time to draw them moderately sized and then to cut them out. I think the hardest part was painting them. They were quite small and I only had a set of children's paintbrushes to work with.

 I spent a lot of hours between coats and drying to swap to an alternate color. What was supposed to be a quick project turned into a labor of love, although not near as meticulous as the stockings I made two Christmases' past. The skull on the T, the crescent moon C and the bat's eyes all have a layer of glow-in-the-dark paint.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't love the bag. We trick or treated and had a great Halloween. I've since decided to seal the painting and retire the bag for use on future Halloweens.

Our New Couch

We laid out the most money we've ever laid out for a new piece of furniture. We purchased a sectional microfiber couch. The couch is large and comes in three pieces that can be linked together. A sofa, a loveseat, and a chaise.

Photographing the couch has proven to be quite frustrating. Our new apartment living room only has one window for natural lighting and that can cause a glare or darkness as I'm shooting towards the window.

Due to the nature of the couch being micro-fiber, it can appear two-toned when the fibers are brushed in opposite directions. It's a beautiful gray color.

And it's massive. Here's some size comparsions.

My small guy sitting up in the corner of the sofa/loveseat portions next to pillows.

Small guy and B sleeping together on the loveseat portion of the couch.You can just pat the couch cushions and they spring back to life, wrinkle free.

Such a stark contrast to our old couches. I snagged these photos from our old apartment period -- excuse the mess!
 
The red couch was covered in the last photo in a pathetic attempt to make them match better. Here's a shot of the red, floral couch in use in May 2012 at our new place. 

And the old couches covered, also snagged from our old place (Man, I miss the natural lighting of my old living room).

I feel like this couch overpowers the size of our new living room, but this is a temporary home so we hope that won't be an issue when we purchase our forever home. Do you love it as much as I do?

Specs

Purchased at: Beck's Furniture
Couch Make: Ashley Furniture
Couch Model: Alfred Collection

After notes: We're three and a half months into owning the couch and it gets hours of use daily. I'm happy to say that Cole has colored on the couch with ballpoint pen and some dishsoap and water brought it right out. We've found it very easy to spot clean with water (occasionally soap) and a washcloth. The couch cushions get pushed down over time and simple fluffing springs them back to brand new appearance immediately.

I'm sad to note that while B was moving the couch around, he smacked into my lamp and we had a casualty.

RIP hurricane vase. You will be terribly missed! No more bubble vase for me. Do you think it will be remade for the next season? *sniff* I've been using the top shelf of my lamp to hold two-three chapter books I'm currently reading at any time. It works but has much too much potential to become a clutter zone. My eyes are open for a replacement piece.

Planning Family Portraits -- Winter 2012

Well, I'm working on compiling some mood boards for family portraits. We're taking them on November 30th and I'm really hoping we'll be able to find some snow to play in. Living in central California does have its' drawbacks -- especially to those who enjoy fluffy white winters.

Here's the color scheme:

Navy blue, merlot/wine, white, gray, and black.

Without further ado, I'll post a board of the family member and any relevant picture sources below.

Brandon's planning board is the most incomplete. That's because he hasn't given me feedback on a hat/scarf or what shoes he wants to wear. Additionally, he'll be using jeans we own (or buy from the local thrift store -- Deseret Industries) and we have yet to pick or buy a dress shirt for him. The only set-in-stone item on his planning board is the sweater and it's in the mail on its way to us.

Shirt Source
Pants Source
Sweatshirt Source: Kohl's

My mood board is missing my top - kind of. I purchased a gorgeous merlot colored sleeveless cowl-neck sweater at the thrift store. It is so soft and beautiful. It's from Forever 21. I believe that the picture below is the same sweater I have, but the flash on the camera is misrepresenting the true color which is more like the yarn to the right side. The two hats on my board are inspiration photos. The yarn to the side is actual colors of yarn we've purchased to make a hat/scarf for Cole and me. The two jeans are jeans that I own but have yet to decide between on photos. And the boots are some I'm going to look for in store tomorrow.

Fluffy Hat Source
Beanie Hat Source
Sweater: I seem to have lost my source for this (if anyone knows it, let me know and I'll add it) but the shirt is Forever 21
Thermal Shirt: Kohls
Earrings: Kohls -- These are so much prettier in person than in the photo
Right Jeans: Kohls
Left Jeans: Kohls
Boots: Target

Merlot yarn swatch: Red Heart's "With Love"
Gray Heather yarn swatch: Red Heart

Edited to Add: A picture of my actual earrings

Cole's planning board -- The hat depicted is again optional and not true to purchase. I'd like to have my mother create that hat with the primary color being merlot (yarn depicted to right of hat) and the stripes being in the gray yarn to the right of the hat.

Hat Source
Turtleneck: Kohls
Sweater: Kohls
Pants: Target
Boots: Payless

Merlot yarn swatch: Red Heart's "With Love"
Gray Heather yarn swatch: Red Heart
Collin's planning board -- Everything on Collin's board is cemented with the exception of the dress shirt. They were sold out in his size! We're planning to scavenge for a dress shirt at the Deseret Industries and I have high hopes for success as dressy clothing is in no short supply there.

Fedora: Children's Place
Infant Peacoat: Old Navy
Infant Dress Shirt: Children's Place
Infant Sweater: Children's Place
Infant Slacks: Kohls
Infant Shoes: Payless

I'm always so excited to see the photos come together. It's going to be a lot of fun to have another person in our regular family portraits.

My baby is not so much a baby anymore

My Cole is five today. It boggles my mind that this child is already five years old. You hear the tired old cliches about blinking and they're an adult already and it's starting to seem like there may be some merit to them.
 
It's hard to believe that this tiny little six pound baby has added 30 additional pounds and a whole lot more height.

This whole parenting journey has been very bittersweet for me. Cole and I, we have our ups and downs. He drives me bonkers at times. He can do some seriously obnoxious things, he doesn't listen all of the time, and sometimes -- he can do things that are borderline dangerous (especially as it pertains to his baby brother); but overall, where it counts, he's a fantastic child.

He's smart. He's full of life. He lives to learn, touch, explore, and make sense of the world around him. He is turning into an inquisitive, opinionated, confident little person. He has feelings and thoughts, complex ones. He has learned how to express those feelings and ideas. He's moved mountains.

I have to remember to reward the good behaviors, the good attitudes. I'm not there yet. I recognize how much effort it is for him to go from stomping, yelling, or crying when he's unhappy to taking a deep breath, talking in a good voice, and expressing himself -- even if the words he uses to express himself aren't top notch -- they're effort and in the right direction. Cole is constantly working to improve himself -- I owe him the same.

He still makes me smile daily. He still hugs me daily. He still makes me feel warm inside and squishy. We have a good time. We talk. We read. We cook together. We race each other to the car. We do menial tasks together such as the dishes or the mail retrieval.

Somewhere in the mix of all of this -- my six pound baby who was 100% dependent on me for his life has turned into a very independent man-child. It has been challenging for both of us. It has been fun for both of us.

My sweet boy has given my life extra meaning. My sweet boy has directed my future career. My sweet boy has affected me all throughout my life in the last six years.
 
November 21st, 2007  - 0 Days old

November 2008 - 1 Year Old

November 2009 - 2 Years Old

November 2010 - 3 Years Old

November 2011 - 4 Years Old

 
November 21st, 2012 - 5 Years Old

Here's to another challenging and rewarding five years. I'd be a liar if I didn't say I hope the challenges slow down a little bit.