What-What?! Week of December 23rd

Last weekend was Corwin's 9th birthday!

Recently, he's been big into Tolkien, reading The Hobbit and being very excited about Smaug.  To that end, he wanted a cake with a mountain on top, with a cave for a dragon.  I was able to deliver:

It's a simple vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, topped with a rice crispy treat mountain.  This is my first cake that required engineering skills; there are supports in the cake holding the mountain up, keeping the whole thing from squishing.

 

It was good!  Corwin got the mountain top.

 

And then presents!  He got some really good ones.

 

The folding green was greatly appreciated -- but it's burning a hole in his pocket!  I've talked him into waiting until after Christmas before spending it.

 

This was when he realized this present was going to be Lego.

His eyes tell the story here -- really, really excited.  I don't have any pictures from the other side of the table, where his siblings were sitting, but the reaction was similar. :)

This is a Hot Wheels mechanics shop with a gator in it -- the gator pops out and eats the cars (and your fingers too, if you're not fast enough!)

Hilda and the Midnight Giant

And the present the husband and I got him -- a Gameboy!

He has definitely enjoyed having this -- we got him one that has Zelda: Ocarina of Time built in, and a Pokemon game to go with it.  The requirement for playing on it has been to get his homework done, which he has been doing in record time (without mistakes!)

He also got this cute Minecraft set with a bunch of chickens.  There's a release on the back that makes the eggs fall into the chest!  It's pretty funny.

 

Building!  We've had his big set of Lego out in the living room for the past week, and it's gotten a lot of use.  I like the combination of pieces -- there's enough basic blocks in there that you can make whatever, but then enough eye balls and other unusual pieces that you can make it really wild too.

 

His first creation was a dragon!

We went out to Sonic for late lunch/early dinner, which is one of Corwin's current favorite restaurants.  This was the first time we all had gone to Sonic for food, and I believe my first time eating one of their burgers.

Oh, also:  Saffron decided to get a pixie cut:

It's so short!  I don't know what I think of it.  It's her hair though, not mine.

What-What?! Week of December 9th

Just wanted to post that we are still alive.

We haven't done a whole lot lately -- we've barely done anything for Christmas yet, but we're going to get a Christmas tree today.  Next week is Corwin's birthday, and he'll be turning nine -- he's very excited.  He's just recently lost two front teeth, and may just lose a third one this week, so be prepared for some toothless pictures!

What-What?! Week of November 25th

I don't really have anything to write about; mostly just wanted to post that I am still alive.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving just us here at the house; the husband and I made turkey, cornbread stuffing, orange-cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie.  This year we bought a cooking pumpkin and made out own pumpkin puree for the pie -- it's interesting how different the pie is than using the canned stuff.  It was a little more bitter and had more of a grainy texture -- texture might have been my fault though, as my helper didn't mash it all that well, and I didn't make them do more.

Yesterday, we headed to an SCA meeting to make Chinese mooncakes for an upcoming feast.  This was pretty fun, and fairly easy actually.  The filling was kind of sticky and the dough was kind of crumbly, a bit like pie dough.  Saffron helped form the mooncakes by putting them in the mooncake press.  The boys weren't interested in helping, but had a good time on their tablets, and also sampled the wares.

Not too much else going on -- the plan is to hang out at home and relax.

What-What?! Week of November 4th

Lots to cover this week!  We had both Halloween and Saffron's 11th birthday.

First up, Halloween costumes:

I spent a lot of time trying to talk Saffron into having a cape for her Vampire outfit, but she just wanted to wear black clothes, and only black clothes.

Osric was a dragon.  He scared a toddler wearing this.

He wanted to show off the tail, which spent a tons of time whacking on stuff.

Corwin decided to be a pancake, complete with pat of butter and pitcher for maple syrup.  It took me several tries to get his costume to actually stay together.

In addition to Halloween, Saffron turned 11.  I feel so old.

The husband and I spent a few days telling her that this cylindrical present from her brother was a frozen burrito.  So she opened it first.

It was a super-cute shirt.

This is a Dungeons & Dragons "Endless Quest" book, which just means that it's a choose-your-own-adventure book.  Very popular in this house.

Art supplies, oh yeah!

Daddy also got her flowers

No birthday is complete without Lego!

A pokemon toy that shoots the pokemon out.  Osric chose this -- can't you tell?

Little MLP guys

Chef's cookbook -- haven't gotten time to look through this with her, but planning on making some recipes from it for sure.

She really wanted this Barbie baking set.  I don't usually buy dolls for her anymore, but she kept going to see it at the store.

The husband picked out a Squirrel Girl doll for her, too -- she recently read a Squirrel Girl comic, and fell in love.

This picture came out poorly -- this is a comic book called "The Sisters".  It's about an older sister with a younger sibling who is annoying.  It speaks to Saffron's older sister self.

Hilda and the Bird Parade comic -- we'd read a few of these before the show came out on Netflix.  The books are a bit different, but I would highly recommend both the books and the show.  Kind of strange, but quite entertaining.

I made her cake again this year -- she wanted flowers on it.  I could've done better, but cream cheese frosting isn't the best for piping.  The cake itself was delicious -- lemon cake with a blueberry jam filling, topped with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting.  It was fruity and creamy, and so so good.  We will be doing this again.

And the crown goes WILD! YEEEEEAAAAAH!

What-What?! Week of October 21st

Last weekend we went hiking at Deering Wildflower Acres, and saw a lot of fungus.

Shelf fungus of some kind.  These were actually very pretty.

Mouse-eye view

Teeny-tiny guys

Lots of mushrooms, even in the trees!

I am still always surprised by how much Oz does not like hiking.  He likes walking, he likes being outside, but for whatever reason, he does not like hiking.

These ones had a really waxy texture -- kind of like the rind on parmesan cheese.  Yeah, I poked 'em.

There were a bunch that had these sawtooth edges.

These shrooms were papery.

I CAN SEE YOU!

Coral fungus, which is very cool.

This one is the perfect umbrella for a mouse or a snail or something.

BONUS!  This is my son reading a book.  You see how he's not holding himself up with his arms?  That's because he needs his arms to keep his shirt out of his face.  Well, at least he's reading.