Water Fun

I was up to my neck in kids the other day, so Anton was kind enough to take the kids out back and entertain them. They ended up playing with water. Of course it wasn't planned, so everyone was out there in their clothes. Or lack thereof towards the end.

What a bunch of silly heads. They were having the most fun with the hose.

Anton was trying to catch the water while Alex whipped it around.

Alex thought it was really fun.

And you can't play with the hose without getting a nice refreshing drink from it.

I wonder where he learned that from?

Ella really enjoyed spraying Alex with the hose.

He didn't like it so much. But he got over it quickly.

But I think the one who enjoyed it all the most was Anton.




He's just another one of the kids.

Killing me with cuteness.

I took Ella to the doctor today to get her hearing checked, and on the way home we stopped by the pharmacy to get her medicine. I had also promised her a treat for being good at the doctor, so we hopped over to the dollar store down the way. In between the two there was a hair salon, and Ella declared that she wanted her hair cut. She wanted to be able to flip it like mommy's. I've been meaning to cut it anyways, so we went in.

It was one of those salons where the ladies are all old smokers that talk your ear off the whole time. I think she took all of 5 minutes, at the most, on Ella's hair. But after getting home and taking a curling iron to it, she looks absolutely darling.

She is so cute!!

She was having fun posing.

And I'm not one to stop her. What a doll. She's growing up so fast!

The Cake That Wasn't Meant to Be.

I was commissioned by my church to make a cake for the birthday party of our women's organization. I was really excited to try out a new technique I had never used before. It's called a frozen buttercream transfer. You print out in reverse whatever image you want on your cake, then you trace it and fill it in with frosting and freeze it. When frozen solid you flip it over onto the cake. Easy, right? Well you would think so.

I frost my cakes when they are frozen (it locks in the moisture and keeps the cake from crumbling) and that is what I did this time. However, I had been to lazy to level the cake. So while the cake seemed level while I was frosting it, it held a secret deep down inside. After placing the frozen buttercream transfer on the cake and being somewhat satisfied with the result, the cake decided to rebel. As it defrosted it settled. And as it settled it cracked. So did the transfer. Then to make matters worse, it was humid and the cold, frozen cake and transfer started to condensate. There was a lot of blue food coloring in the transfer and it began to run through the cracks. In the end it made for a not so pretty cake.

You can see the dots of water all over it too. Those eventually dried, but the green cracks running through it all stayed. Forever. I was able to patch up the cracks in the white part of the cake, but I just wasn't going to scrape off the transfer and start over. No way.

I did end up sticking stars and twirly confetti on the cake too (which I didn't get a icture of) so it kind of hid the ugly picture, but it was there for the world to see. Oh well. The cake tasted good and I wasn't getting paid so live and learn. Right?

County Fair

We love going to things like county fairs and such. So when the fair rolled around this year we made sure to go. Unfortunately, though, we managed to get there right in between all the shows and such. So we wandered a bit, ate some over-priced junk food, let the kids ride a ride, and called it a night.

But of course we managed to take a few pictures to share with all of you. The kids rode their usual ride, the merry-go-round. Though I guess technically it's called a carousel. It's the one they always choose. We like it because the parents get to go on for free.

I got nominated to be the token parent while Anton stood taking pictures.

Look at us good-lookin' girls!

And this is one of those pictures where I look at it and say, "Where did my baby go?" He looks all grown up here! Stop that. No more growing. You may become potty trained, but you are not allowed to get any bigger or speak any more words! Sigh.

The kids also both got balloon sculptures; Alex, a hat:

And Ella, a flower:

We wanted to see the hypnotist show and eat a funnel cake (what is a fair without a funnel cake?) but we ran out of money. That's really easy to do at a fair. I've decided that I'm going to open a concession stand at the fair and it will be called "Fair Prices at the Fair." None of this $4 for a hot dog thing. Get your $1 hot dogs here! I will make a bundle because everyone will buy their food from me.

Anyway. That was our fun night at the fair.