Ganache!

Lots of random thoughts this week....

All of us came down with some sort of cold/flu thing on Sunday. Well, Zeke and Zoe got it earlier than that. The point is, I haven't been feeling very well. Achy, run-down, feverish... just really yucky.

Anyway, not sure if I told you in another post, but our family is basically addicted to watching "Cake Boss" on Netflix. Beck and Kaia pretend they're on the show. They make cakes out of pillows and blankets and yell things like, "Now I'm gonna dirty ice this with some buttercream!" and "Now we covered the cake in red fonDAHNT (you have to hear Buddy say it)."

They're actually really creative. Beck made a "cake" from our leather ottoman, two fleece blankets, hot wheels cars, and his iron man Halloween mask. "That's how we make cake LOGAN style, baby! GANACHE!!!"

Yes, we're hooked. And like any reality series, I'm just as hooked on all the lives of the people on the show. Yesterday, Gabe and Kaia stayed home from school. We all felt horrible. We sat on the couch all day watching Netflix while Beck ran around making "cakes" from anything he could find and every few minutes asking us, "Who wants to eat some cake, baby?"

Needless to say, we watched quite a bit of "Cake Boss". We watched the episode from Season 4? where Buddy's wife, Lisa, gives birth the their 4th child, Carlo Salvatore Valastro. For reasons I don't even fully understand, I cried like a baby the entire time. Not sure what Gabe thought of that... there is just something absolutely miraculous and beautiful about the birth of a baby. Buddy says it's just as amazing the fourth time around. I agree whole-heartedly. It was a beautiful, although a bit ultra-personal, moment for the Valastro family. I felt like an intruder in a way, but I felt so happy for them. I've watched the show so much lately, I feel like I know them.

Speaking of watching the show so much, my kids have been BEGGING me to make cake. They've been pleading with me to make fonDANT. So, on Monday, we gave it a try.... now please, this was my first attempt. I wasn't feeling well and this was after dinner...

Okay, we'll call it a caterpillar, I guess. I wanted to do a cake, but well, since we moved, I can't find the box with my cake pans, so we did cupcakes. I found some red hots and slivered almonds in the cupboard... yeah, I didn't really have a plan. This caterpillar doesn't look like much, but it was a LOT or work, dirty iced, and covered in a layer of pink fonDANT. Why do I feel so cool saying that?

All of the kids helped me (well, Gabe, helped EAT it). It was fun and now I'm really excited to try more things. Zeke's 40th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I have a really cool cake in my head... oh, if only Carlo's Bakery was ready to ship cakes to Utah!!! I'll have do it Logan style, baby!

16 girls, 1700 square feet, and Sardines!

Zoe, age 10: decorator of cakes and instigator of chaos

Well, I survived Zoe's birthday party Tuesday night. Why oh why did I let her invite so many girls? Because I'm her Mom and I just can't resist that face. It was really fun, just crazy. I think Zoe was the loudest one of all. I didn't get too many "action" shots either... I was right in the middle of it all!

Poor Beck, he was SO tired, but he REFUSED to nap. He was very grumpy and crazy. Thank goodness Zeke was there to help me. He's so wonderful. He even cleaned up after the party while I was taking girls home. Yep, he's a keeper. :)

Opening presents:
Kaia made Zoe a really cool 3-D paper flower garden

Zoe wanted to decorate her own cake this year.
I think she did a really good job.

The girls wanted to play Hide and Seek and I talked them into playing Sardines instead. Our house isn't very big and I wasn't sure there would be enough hiding places for 15 girls. Especially since Gabe threatened us not to let any of the girls in his room NO MATTER WHAT! He was lucky enough to go to a friend's house during the party! (Thanks, Nicole)

Sardines is WAY more fun than Hide and Seek anyway. Please tell me you've played Sardines before. You haven't? It is SO much fun. Back at Snow College, my roommates and I and whoever was at our house at the moment wasted several hours playing Sardines. And we were so good at it too! The trick is to be very quiet. I never thought our little laundry room could hold so many people. Good times.

Okay, so it's kind of like the opposite of Hide and Seek. You have ONE person hide and then everyone else splits up and looks for the one person. If you find them, you don't say anything and the game isn't over yet. Instead, you quietly hide with them. So one by one, each person finds the little group of hiding people and joins them. Depending on where you hide, it can get pretty squishy, hence the name "Sardines". Oh, I wish I had a picture of everyone hiding behind the shower curtain in the bathtub... it was awesome. Thanks girls, I hope you had as much fun as I did!