Mommin' It Up!

November 18, 2007

Birthdaypalooza Comes to an End!

Yesterday we had a great 1st birthday party for Sophia at our house with our family and a couple of close friends. It was very fun but I am so glad it’s over! The Ohio State vs. Michigan football game was on and the Buckeyes won – thankfully it was clear early in the 2nd half that they would win, so my brothers were in a celebratory mood. 🙂 They gave me all kinds of crap for planning her party in the middle of the game – I maintain they should’ve KNOWN that I would not check the football schedule first! Thankfully it all turned out ok!

I decided to do a super-easy cake, which worked out well since those cupcakes were such a pain. I got a pan at Michael’s and here’s what I came up with…

A cake shaped like a cupcake! Ta-DA!

Here’s Sophie showing her Elmo cupcake who’s boss…

…and rockin’ the “Birthday Princess” t-shirt (thanks Avery and Kristyn!)

The Birthday Girl was veeeeeery sleepy because she only took a short morning nap. So she only made it through the cake and half the present opening and then she had to take another nap! But the party went on without her and we all had a great time. 🙂

Oh, and guess what else? She chose her first birthday to take some steps!! My dad decided he needed to teach her to walk on her first birthday, and he and my mom got her to take four steps twice. Of course, they did that AT THEIR HOUSE when I WAS NOT PRESENT!! (They had taken the kids for a couple hours so I could finish up the cake and house cleaning.) GRRR!!! So, Bobby and I missed her first steps!! I did get her to take three steps to me yesterday morning, but that’s all I’ve seen so far. I’m sure it won’t be long ’til she is running circles around me, though.

November 17, 2007

Tag-Team Parenting

Do you ever feel like you’re tag-team parenting?

It seems Andy and I do that a lot. More often than either of us would like, really.

I bet you know what I’m talking about… an intricate plan of who’s going to be on kid duty and when, in the midst of life’s other obligations.

We had one such occasion just the other night. Andy picked Kate up from the sitter, they went home together to grab a quick dinner (or lunch-dinner, as Kate called it – I guess a bologna sandwich didn’t deserve to be called ‘dinner’ in her mind), but as soon as I walked through the door after work, Andy had to run out the door to fulfill a teacher commitment. I threw Kate in the bathtub, hastily changed my clothes, and then she and I booked it downtown to meet Andy. As soon as he saw us, he transferred Kate to his car so they could go to story time at the library and I could meet a friend for water aerobics. By the time I got home, Kate was sound asleep in bed and I was ready to crash myself.

Of course that’s not how it goes every night, or even most nights, but from time to time, we do engage in a rousing game of “Pass the Baby.” Tell me we’re not the only ones…

November 15, 2007

Greetings from the 7th Level of Cupcake-Decorating Hell

People, please tell me what I was thinking when I wrote this post? WHY do I think I need to make my kids’ birthday cakes again? WHY?????

I must interrupt this “Ode to SoSo” week to whine about how I just spend the last 40 bajillion hours making cupcakes, making icing, and decorating cupcakes! Sophie’s first party is tonight ( I guess, since it’s the wee hours of the morning right now). Yes, we are having two parties. We are having friends gather at a local pizza place tonight, and having family over to our house on Saturday. Two parties does seem a little extreme but we can’t fit everyone in our house and the first birthday is so special, we didn’t want anyone to miss it! So anyways, for the friends party, I decided to forego the big cake (which I will do for the family party. I will not reveal its identity until after the party!) and just make cupcakes.

Decorated like Sesame Street characters.

Which I thought would be easy.

I am so gullible! They were a pain in the butt!!

But now they’re done, and I can go to bed, and despite my aching feet and back, I am happy. Happy that I never have to do this again. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Just plain store-bought frosting and sprinkles sound REALLY GOOD about now!!

I’ll show you pics of the finished cupcakes tomorrow, but right now I just want to show you pictures of my kitchen counter post-cupcake-a-palooza:

Oh yeah, and here’s my other kitchen counter:

Ok, I’m going to go pass out now!