THE MANY ALIAS'S OF BABY K!

Nanna Sharyn: Pumpkin

Jason: Sweet Pea. I swaddled her in a green blanket when she was just 3 days old and Jason commented on how she looked like his little pea in a pod.

Logan: Chubbers. He was giggling at all the funny faces she was making one day and he was cooing at her about how she had such chubby cheeks...."what's in them mom, to make them so puffy?" So he started to call her chubbers.

Me: Little Lady...which evolved into Lady Bug....which has become Stink Bug (she can clear a room faster than mustard gas!), and of course my Little Princess.

Silas: Cuter Pies and Miss Stinky Stinkems!
I'm sure Si overheard someone call her a cutie pie and cuter pies is his version. I was changing her diaper one day and he said, hey missy you are stinky, stinky, stinkems!

IT'S AN ERUPTION CELEBRATION....LOGAN EVOLVES INTO 7!

Logan is 7...I have a hard time saying that these days. I said to him the other day as I was tucking him into bed, "Could you please, please, pretty please with cherries, and ice cream, and chocolate chips and whip cream on top...PLEASE just stop growing up, or at least slow down!" He grinned ear to ear and said, "But mom, I can't..I really can't you know."

He mentioned to me several months ago that he wanted a dinosaur cake for his birthday...a Jurassic scene birthday cake. He's definitely right smack in the middle of the Dinosuar phase! We visit the Dinosuar Museum at Thanksgiving point at least one a month, he watches Dino Dan and Jurassic Park movies over and over, reads books and more books about dinosaurs, has loads of plastic toys and eggs to play with, and spends countless hours coloring and creative drawing dinosaurs.

I thought it out in my head and had fun with it. I truly scored while at the dollar store 5 weeks ago when I found plastic dinosaur skeletons! I couldn't wait to make his cake. While he was at school today Silas and I went to work.
My little helper.......My little cheerleader.....THE VOLCANIC DINOSAUR CAKE:
I made 4-9" chocolate cakes using 3 different sizes of cake molds.
Frosted the cake with lots of chocolate butter cream frosting, and sprinkled crushed oreos into the sides of the volcano and around the base for rubble and pyroclast fragments. I made lava with two batches of melted white chocolate chips with butter and dyed one red and the other orange. I thought chocolate would work better than frosting for the more real look and consistency of lava. It was thicker and chunky and hardened perfectly.
I dyed a bag of coconut green with food coloring, and used it for the grass. I also made a little oasis with a lego pond toy I already had, and set up the dino scene.
My favorite part was the dino graveyard! I crushed up graham crackers for sand, and partly buried the skeletons.It was truly a simple, simple cake. 1 hour start to finish. Just a little imagination and time.Logan's face was priceless! He walked around the cake so carefully and looked at each scene. I was so happy to be able to make him feel special, after all, isn't that what Birthdays are for!
Happy Birthday buddy, I love you!

LAUNCHER LOGAN AND SUPER SONIC SI!

Brothers are for playtime and wrestling...sneaking treats and eating them behind the couch.....reading books to each other.....building lego ships together, telling stories and giggling when you're supposed to be asleep, but most importantly they are for partners in fighting crime!

Meet Launcher Logan, and his sidekick...Super Sonic Si. Yes, they each came up with their own Hero name.

Silas said as they came down the stairs...."Let's go fight da bad guys brother! Super ZZZzzzzzooooOOOOOOmmmmMMMM AWAY!!!!"...as he jumped to the second floor landing. Crack me up!

(Check out Logan in each picture. He truly does have the posture for saving the day!)

WILD WILLIAMS!

There is an educational cartoon on PBS called Wild Kratts. It's about two brothers who explore the world together.....

Do they remind you of anyone?
I can't believe how much they remind me Logan and Silas.
Silas is Martin, who is all adventure and leaping before looking; and Logan is Chris, the brains and the brakes of the duo.
LoLo and Si are best buddies right now, and I hope they will continue to grow closer as they grow older and always be best friends. Wild, Wild Williams!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRESTA!

Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will. ~ Author Unknown

My big sis Kresta would have been the big 4-0 today! It's hard to believe that she's been gone now 20 years. So much time, and life has come and gone since I've seen her beautiful face. I can still hear her voice crystal clear, and remember her amazing blue-green eyes. Seems like fate to finally have another Kresta in our family to mark her 40th birthday. We would have had quite a hullabaloo for her....black party streamers and balloons, black cake, t-shirts.....the whole she-bang!

Even though she's not here with us to celebrate, we honored her life today with Carrot Cake, her favorite. It's a recipe I created for her Birthday a couple years ago. It's delicious, hope you try it!

K's Carrot Cake
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
3/4 c oil
1/4 c buttermilk
4 beaten eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
1 t lemon extract
2 c flour
2 t b soda
2 t b powder
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
3 c finely grated carrots
1 c chopped walnuts (or pecans), Optional

Mix sugars and oil. Beat in eggs, vanilla and extracts. Add remaining dry ingredients, then carrots and nuts. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 c softened butter
8 0z softened cream cheese
3-4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c coconut
1/2 c chopped nuts

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS!

I took Kresta for a check up with the pediatrician and as I was taking her out of her carseat Silas says to me, "Mom I wanna see her litto toesies and her litto feetsies. Can I peas?" I unwrapped her feet so he could see them. He was giggling as she spread out her toes and stretched in my arms. He put one foot to his cheek and he said, "Dey are sooooo soft mom! And dey are soooo cuddly and dey smeel so clean!"

I pulled the van into a parking spot at a strip mall, and as I was busy unbuckling Silas and the baby and getting my bag Logan says to me, in a very quiet and meek voice, "Uh Mom. That creepy man in that window is just staring and staring at us. He hasn't moved since we got here. He's scaring me." I immediately turned to look at the man and assess the situation when Silas started laughing. He said, "Logan....yore so silly! Yew cwack me up! It's dust a fake person!" Sure enough, it was a cardboard cut-out in the front window of the store.

Before going to bed one night I went to check on the boys and noticed their light was on. As I went to turn off the light Silas sat straight up in his bed, "Don't mom, peas, I'm having a nightmirror!"

I've been going to the chiropractor several times a week since Kresta was born to repair a pinched Sciatica. On Wednesday as I was rounding up the boys into the van Silas says, "But I don wanna go to the tirepractor Mom." Logan started giggling and he said, "Oh Silas, you're so funny. It's not "tire-practor", it's Choir-cracker."

FAMILY PHOTOS WITH BABY K