Let Them Eat Cake???

Have you ever encountered those moments where you stop and think-
Holy Cow!  I'm a parent.
???
I remember the first time we took Monkey out to Trick-or-Treat.
I felt like I was out of my body looking down on us...
It really hit me that I was 'the mom' now.
Yikes.

Over the past 4 years, there have been other 'I'm the mom now' moments...
and I just encountered one of them.

Monkey had his very first birthday party that included his little friends.
Until now, its just been family.
Oh...
we were so excited.
He debated over his cake...
Batman?  Spiderman? 
Decisions, decisions.
Here is what he ended up with...

Didn't I do a good job?
...ordering the cake from our local bakery, that is.
I was a little concerned about the gray/silver icing.
It reminded me of the 'Steel Magnolia's'...
the armadillo groom's cake...
Anyway-

So the party was in full force.
Kids were running around, having a grand time.
Presents were opened.
It was time for the cake.
Took the picture of Monkey with his cake, lit the candle, sang the song...

Time to cut the cake.
No big deal.
Cut the cake.
Put a piece of cake on the plate.
Put some ice cream on the plate.
Put a spoon on the plate.
Give to kiddo.

Right.  Not so easy.
Turns out, I have no clue how to cut a cake. 
Um... my mom has always done it.
And Monkey has had cupcakes at his previous birthday parties...
But here I was...
it was my show now.

Oh, how I failed.
Some pieces were big, some were small...
What a mess.
Another mistake---
I gave the kids choices....
chocolate or white cake?
strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla ice cream?
STUPID.
From now on, its white cake/vanilla ice cream.

Oh the pressure.
The kids were crowding around me, tugging on my shirt
there were other moms there (probably laughing at me)
My mom and dad were there... NOT helping
Poor Hubs was scooping the ice cream, and trying to keep me calm.

Fortunately, the kids loved the cake
everyone survived...

Party number two was rolling around... the one for family.
This time, we just got a simple little cake from the bakery.

Several family members ended up sick, party postponed.

Now what to do with the cake???
I sat and looked at this stupid cake.
I probably even swore at it.
Know what I did???
I cut it up.
Yes I did.
I cut it up.

Even without the pressure, I still couldn't get the pieces to end up in equal sizes...

AUGH!

Oh well, we ate it anyway.

We finally got to have the family birthday party last weekend...

what to know how the cake turned out?

Forget it, we went to the local pizza parlor!

On a sidenote--- I was so frazzled after the cake incident at the friends party,

that I forgot to hand out the goody bags.

Real nice.

Note to self-

Cupcakes for Monkey's Birthday party next year.

~Amy

I love it...what is it?

We have officially entered, "Christmas Break".
Monkey had his last day of Preschool for the year... and when I picked him up, I was handed a package from his teacher.
I knew immediately what it was.
Yep, I was right.
Inside contained one of those little ... Christmas creations that we all made as children. It doesn't matter the project, we just know its one of those... things that our kids make that we will treasure forever.
This is our first Christmas creation.
It hit me.... no matter how many times I change my Holiday decorations, this one thing will always be set out.
You all know what I'm talking about... you walk into a house and see how gorgeous their home is decorated... then you look closer...and you see these odd little, mangled .... well, you're not sure what it is... but, its... something. We then assume one of their kids made it.
Yep, I finally have my very own.
It happens to be a pinecone stuck into some sort of hard substance... painted.. and then some gold ribbon glued to it.
Lovely.
And then.... I pull out this item...



A cookbook!
Hooray for Teacher... how did she know that I collect cookbooks?
This cute little book is now my very favorite, to be treasured always, cookbook.
It is full of recipes from 3 year olds!

I'm swooning.... and giggling.

Can you read that recipe?

Mac & Cheese

You'll Need:

3 or something eggs

Directions:

We burn it and stuff. It gets hot and stuff.

~Jacob (age 3)

Here's another one...

Hamburgers With Dad

You'll Need:

this many ketchup

this much mustard

hamburger

buns

Directions:

Grab the buns. Grab the hamburger. Grab the mustard and ketchup. Grab the buns and put it on top of them.

~Boston (age 4)

To help with your Holiday baking...

Chocolate Cookies

You'll need:

sugar

what my grandma has, it was tasty

Directions:

Cook 'em when they ding.

~Will (age 3)

See ladies... I don't know why you get so stressed over your Holiday baking. It's very easy. Just get what Grandma has. It's very tasty!

Here is my son's contribution.

Pizza

You'll need:

2 pepperoni

1 sausage

2 cheese

3 crust

Directions:

Cook it 10 minutes. Put it out of the oven. Cook another pizza.

~Monkey (age 3)

He got it sort of right... we always make two homemade pizzas.... one sausage and one pepperoni...

Isn't this the cutest little project?

I hope the other Moms enjoyed it as much as I did.

Now get your fanny back in the kitchen!

~Amy