It took us forever to get Caleb to actually play in the water…

…because he was way more interested in watching the train that kept circling around.

But once he got soaked, he made a game of “hugging” us to see how wet he could get us also

Above him was a bucket that filled up, and the water sloshing around plus the weight of the water tipped the bucket and poured water on you

He resumed his station waiting for the train, begging to ride.

And covering his ears when it came by

I managed to get him to play for a few more minutes.

Then he said “Okay, I played, now can we go ride the train?!”

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Last night we went over to Scott’s nephew and his wife’s house to help them put together a beautiful baby crib.  In just forty-five days, we’ll have a new family member.  They are on the brink of parenthood.  I stood there in the kitchen watching my four year old on the floor drinking milk proudly from a cup with no lid, a feat we are currently practicing.  Wasn’t that cup a bottle just a few shorts weeks ago?  Wasn’t I naively standing on the brink of parenthood just a few months before?

There was so much I wanted to tell them.

I wanted to say, you will have to relearn how to do everything. From one handed laundry to eating cold dinner because you had to change a diaper or feed a little one, not to mention trying to squeeze in a shower every few days.  You’ll forget to eat in those first days and weeks because you are in such awe that you made this little being and gave him life.  Watching him sleep is more peaceful than a massage.  Hearing him coo is more entertaining than the TV.   You’ll cry when he gets shots.  You’ll hold your breath when he takes his first steps.  You’ll get mad at him. You’ll get mad at each other.  You’ll make mistakes.  Everyone does.  But you’ll love him more completely than anyone else on this Earth has ever loved any one person.   And you will look at your parents in a different way, because you know now, they love you that much.

But I just smiled as I watched Caleb drinking his milk and listened to the last few notes of the crib mobile  drifting down the hall, barely audible in the kitchen. I simply said, “Don’t blink.  Because it goes by really fast.”

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Tsk tsk.  My poor neglected blog.  You know it has been too long when you have to log into wordpress to access your blog’s dashboard.  It doesn’t “remember” who you are (your saved login info).  And your husband asks, “When are you going to blog again?”  Two days ago.

So, a little criteria for reading this:

  • If you are a dentist, DON’T
  • If you value your teeth, DON’T
  • If you like to remain cavity free, DON’T
  • If you prefer to avoid sugar induced comas, DON’T
  • If you are on a diet, lord knows, DON’T
  • If you’ve read all this and still just don’t care, proceed with caution, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Gather your ingredients: honey, cinnamon, butter (duh, you pretty much got that from the title), and powdered sugar.  Y’all stop looking at Civil War era mixer.  She’s a beauty, isn’t she?

I’ve experimented a bit with the recipe, as the honey taste was a bit strong in the first recipe.  I used a scant half cup of honey, 2.5 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 cup of sugar and two sticks of butter.  Just dump and mix.  No special instructions.  The butter will have a nice, soft (spreadable!) whipped consistency when you’re done.

That’s all, after that, just enjoy the rush.  Warning: you may receive unreasonable demands and/or threats that you make more immediately, when supplies are approximately half depleted.

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This year, we did a photo scavenger hunt instead of a basket full of candy filled eggs and dollar store stuff.  I went around the house and outside taking pictures of recognizable places.  The stove, the clothes hamper, a toybox, the bumper sticker on my car, a ball in the yard…  I printed all of these pictures out as a contact sheet (the one that fits about 35 photos).  After cutting them up, I put one egg with a picture in a small bucket that had a few other eggs and some easter grass.  The place in the picture was where Caleb should look for the next egg…and so on.  He ran all over the house, then out in the yard.  It took an hour to complete our “hunt!”  He seemed to really enjoy himself, and it was reasonably simple, although it took me longer to place all the eggs than I thought it would.

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As promised, a game is on the horizon. Here’s the details.

I’m hosting an Easter Egg Hunt. I’ll be stashing a dozen eggs around my blog.

Who: Crumbs In My Couch

What: A Blog Easter Egg Hunt for Stellan

When: You are free to begin hunting at 6pm EST Thursday, April 9, 2009. Your deadline is 6pm EST Sunday, April 12, 2009.

Where: You’re reading the details right here.

Why: If you aren’t familiar with the Stellan’s story, head over to My Charming Kids and start reading on the right sidebar. Stellan’s SVT that he was first diagnosed with before birth recently relapsed and he has been in the PICU fighting a rapid heart rhythm. I find myself very thankful and blessed to have a healthy family. I wish to donate $10 to the MckFamily fund in honor of the egg hunt winner. I know that’s not much, but every little bit helps. A bag of jellybeans and a winner’s button (for your blog or website) are optional add-on accessories ;)

When the egg hunt officially starts, use the entry form found here.

~~~

You are more than welcome to snag either button here by copying the code and placing it on your blog. And if you’d like to write a short post to draw in fellow hunters, all the better! I can make that extra easy for you… Grab the code for a button below and paste it in the html section of your new post. Then grab the code from the larger box at the bottom of this post, and paste it in the html section as well. Click Post/Publish. That’s all you have to do!

Large Button:

Small Button:

Please copy this entire code to post the details on your blog:

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Sorry for the traffic backup around here.  I have tons of pictures to post, new birthday items to review and I’m in the process of creating a game that I hope to have posted this weekend!  You’ll just have to check back for details, I’m not giving any specifics right now :)

I spend a part of Monday cleaning Caleb’s carpet with a big wet vacuum deep cleaner thing.  It worked out as a convenient excuse that night…since his carpet was still damp, I suggested he sleep in our bed.  Of course, I knew I’d be in his room late putting everything together.  I was absolutely thrilled with the way things turned out.  I debated those wall stickers, but I’m so glad I got them, I think it added a cute touch!

What a reaction!

He didn’t know what to think, he came over an buried his face on me, then looked around taking everything in.

We decorated the door, then told him we were hiding, count to ten, then come find us.

The car is a bank

We’re even making his bed.  It’s that cute.  Maybe I should get a comforter I really like.  It might convince me to make my own bed.

Cars driving along the dresser (and his rest time timer)

The bear in the left corner was mine as a baby.  His name is Klondike, my mom layed him away while she was pregnant.  Instead of using a pillow, I used Klondike.  He used to be fluffy, now he’s more like a pancake!

The top bunk, more just for looks right now.  We did get up there and read the other day.

How cute are they?

Toothbrush holders don’t make much sense to me.  So many people have electric toothbrushes or a various style of toothbrush, etc.  Probably less than 25% of the population actually uses a toothbrush that will fit in the tiny holes.  The helicopter is the one that comes with this set, but I knew it wouldn’t be usable, so I turned the bathroom cup into a holder.

I found this Little Golden Book on Amazon Marketplace.  I paid $16 for a book that originally sold for $0.49.  Something about that just doesn’t seem right.  But he was thrilled.  I’ve since read it 72 times.  Oh I kid.  Really only 26 or so, but who’s counting.  They copyright on this book is 1974.  35 years old.  It is in excellent shape and he absolutely adores it.  And I love that it is an original story not based on any of the old movies or characters.  Ironically, Herbie’s ‘girlfriend’ in this book is an old yellow beetle.  Sound familiar?  I would love to know if that idea came from this old book.

Like my under the bed trick?  These bunkbeds came with a platform/boxspring type thing.  It was sheet of padded plywood on a frame wrapped in this sheer stuff that had annoying fuzzies all over it.  So I bought a fitted sheet at Walmart and put it on the platform upside down.  It just worked out nicely that the blue matched perfectly.  And now I don’t have to look at the ugly part while I’m reading.

Hanging out with Charley

Helloooo

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I know it has taken forever…part of me has been very busy…and part of me just hates the cake so much that I don’t want to post pictures of it.  I was so disappointed that the fondant didn’t work out.  But anyway…here they are:

I asked Caleb if he was having a Thomas party and what he was doing wearing a Thomas shirt if he was having a Herbie party.

My Love Bug

The Herbie cookies, wow that mammoth one in the top row jumps out doesn’t it?

And the ‘girlfriend’ cookies…

I think I spent longer on these than I did the cake if you subtract the failed fondant time.

There were 9 sets of white/milk chocolate couples

The cake fresh out of the oven

My Love Bug fridge…top shelf: candies, middle shelf: cookies, bottom shelf: cake.

The crappy result of all that hard work.  I still want to do it again and use the fondant…just not anytime in the immediate future.

Oh yeah, the lollipops, I kinda forgot about these.

Hubby reminded me…these are Reeses…filled with a peanut butter mixture

The reason the party wasn’t at our house.  My sweet husband actually cleaned all that up.

The food table

The birthday boy

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I went to the mall to try to induce labor walk.  Nearly every person who came close enough to speak said, “Aww, when are you due?”  “Today!” I answered longingly.

I’m one of those people who enjoyed being pregnant.  Once I got past the morning sickness and started showing, I loved feeling him kicking and moving around inside.  I never once worried about how to take care of a baby.  Somehow, my mind was completely at ease.  I worried more about the delivery than anything.  I look back now, I seemed so young and naive.  Like that was a different person.  And I was really.  Parenthood only leaves a glimpse of your former self.  Sleeping soundly is a thing of the past.  You worry about vaccines and violence in schools instead of clothing and Friday night plans.  You wear a shirt covered in spit up just for the sake of your laundry pile.  You handled tasks you previously thought best left to the Hazmat trained professionals.  But with all these changes in yourself and your life, you find the biggest change of all is the size of your heart.  I never knew how much love a heart could hold until I was a mother.

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…It wasn’t pretty.

There was foul language.  Spelled outloud.  My kid won’t know the words, but he’ll be spelling them.  Or saying one particular word beginning with S and ending with T in German, because somehow that makes it not a bad word.

There were hours of frustration.  Six to be exact. (That’s just the failing icing, not the entire cake.)

In the end, the fondant won.  I threw in the towel.  I was trying to make marshmallow fondant in five colors.  Red, blue, white, gray, and black.  Red and black were the death of me.  I had no gloves to wear, and if you’ve used Wilton Food Coloring Gels before, you can imagine how my hands must look.

I can feel every tendon and muscle connected to my fingers or my right hand.  My fingers and fingernails are rainbow colored.  And when I bent my finger, my knuckle split open (you have to knead it forever).  That was when I gave up on the fondant and decided to stick with buttercream.  I am my own worst critic.  I hate the way the cake looks.  Believe it or not, I feel like I disappointed him.  I know that sounds crazy.  But he had ideas about the cake, and I just knew I could do it.  And then it didn’t work.  So yeah.  That sucked.

Pictures are coming.  I promise.

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Bake your cake (use leftover batter from trial Herbie hiding beside the coffee maker).

Decorate your cake.  Have fun with icing.


The Best step: Eat your cake.

Yummy.  My mess up – turned heart.
Clean up after your cake and fellow “celebrators”

Either that or just eat the remaining icing with a spoon.

Bonus recipe.  Never use store bought icing again.  1/2 stick of butter, 8oz pack of cream cheese (both softened), and powdered sugar to taste, half a bag or so.  Best.  Icing.  Ever.

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