Is that nature calling, or the fire alarm?

Claire sometimes tries to find reasons to get out of bed after the last "goodnight." We finally found a way to make it simple for her - the ONLY reason to get out of bed is to use the restroom.

The other night, she got up (again) and Erik got on her case. To make sure she understood the rules, he asked, "When is the only time you can get out of bed?"

"To go potty," she said.

He shut the door, paused, and then opened it again saying, "And if the house is on fire. You can get out of bed if the house is on fire."

She responded, "But we don't have that problem."


(smile)
Let's pray we never do.

Southern California Snowman

My computer broke down a few weeks ago, leaving me stranded without my photo editing software and easy uploading ability. We finally got another one in place, hooked up the external hard drive (where all of the recent photos are stored) and now I'm able to get back to work!

The hundreds of pictures I've taken in the meantime is leaving me a little overwhelmed, so I thought I'd start with this - the day our front yard hosted an unexpected snowman on a very warm day. Erik had gone to Big Bear on a men's retreat with the guys from our Sunday School class and brought back an ice chest full of snow!

Claire was thrilled and promptly ran into her room to find her "snow gear." When she emerged, she was sporting a stocking cap, fleece gloves, and a long knitted scarf - PERFECT for a 90 degree day.

They got to work. It's a little hard to roll out a ball for a snowman's body when you're working with partially-melted snow and warm grass, but they did their best.

All we had were dried beans for the eyes (I think anything bigger would have overwhelmed our little snowman's face), but Erik found a gen-u-ine carrot for the nose. Now the snowman's legit, right?

Pretty cute, if you ask me! (And the snowman's not too shabby either...)

I had to put this shot in too, because I love the look on both of their faces.

Yep, that thermometer says 90 degrees. Poor Frosty...never stood a chance.

So here he is in all his glory, but it didn't take long for the sun to win.

Going...

going...

gone.

A Dress-Up Bin Full of Love

Claire said to me just now, "Mommy, guess what? I love you more than my dress-up."

That's just about the highest compliment one can receive from a 5-year old girl. But THEN she followed up with this:

"I love you more than my BARBIES."

Now I know I'm loved.

Move out of the way, kids. Cake coming through!

Many of you know that, 5 years ago, I got bit by the "fair contest bug" and have been entering food contests at the L.A. County Fair ever since. It pays our way into the fair, we have won some fun prizes (including cash!), and I have been able to experiment with different recipes. However, the one contest that I have shied away from is the cake decorating contest. The cakes on display are AMAZING (well...they are amazing for the first week - after that, they start to look a little like this.) I always stand at the glass case and stare in awe at the carefully placed gumpaste flowers, flawless buttercream frosting, and fondant masterpieces. All of this helps to explain my excitement when this came home from school in my 5-year old's backpack.

A cake decorating contest for average moms like me? SIGN ME UP!

So, armed with fondant/buttercream recipes, a bag of supplies from Michael's, 3 cake pans, and 2 cake mixes (plus a bunch of other "baking stuff"), I went to work. I baked the cakes on Tuesday and prepared the fondant/assembled the cake on Wednesday. My kitchen was a DISASTER by midnight Wednesday night, and the fondant was much harder to work with than the recipe led me to believe, but the cake turned out pretty nice in the end.

Here is the aftermath of my baking frenzy (I think I'll be finding powdered suger in nooks and crannies for years to come)...

...and here is my apron. I even found a powdered sugar footprint in the hallway.

and...

(drumroll please...)

TA DA!!

I wasn't too thrilled with the yellowish buttercream next to the white fondant. I thought I had white shortening in the house, but all I had was the butter-flavored stuff. Erik tried to make me feel better by reminding me that gold was another patriotic color, but, although I appreciate his husbandly efforts, off-white is no gold. Oh well.

Thursday afternoon I rushed home from work and got everyone ready for the PTA program/contest. Erik dropped me off at the door to the school and I proudly carried my cake right up to the cake table.

Two cakes were already there.

And then a feeling of horror struck me.

...

It was a KIDS cake decorating contest.

...

Erik took a picture of the table while I took my red face as far away as I could get. Here are the three cakes all in a row.

1/2 way through the PTA program (and prior to the "judging"), Erik saved the day by sneaking to the table in the back, grabbing the cake, and whisking it off to the safety of our car. (Whew!) A couple of kids nearby were a little concerned, though. Erik overheard one say, "Hey! I think that guy is trying to steal one of the cakes!"

Lessons learned:

1. Don't assume anything. If there is anything non-specific on a flyer from school (go back up and look at it), ASK for clarification before spending two days making a cake.

2. Fondant is not my friend.

3. Buttercream IS my friend - it hides a multitude of fondant sins.

4. Don't assume anything, EVER.

Theological Comparisons...Kindergarten-style

In the car yesterday...

Claire - "John the Baptist is kind of like Winnie the Pooh."

Erik - "Oh, why is that?"

Claire - "They both have the same middle name - John THE Baptist and Winnie THE Pooh."

More Big Bear pictures

I promised more pictures, so here they are...

To see even MORE pictures, click here.

Snowy Weekend in Big Bear

We spent a couple of days this weekend at a friend's cabin in Big Bear and enjoyed playing in the snow!


First we stopped at Paoli's Pizza for lunch...


...then it was outside for some highly anticipated snow play!



On Monday morning, we woke up to beautiful falling snow.


Claire enjoyed catching a few flakes on her tongue.


What a GREAT way to spend a 3-day weekend!


There are more pictures to come...check back soon!