Technologically advanced

Today StinkyMan took our new dvd player upstairs and installed it himself. I think that officially means my son is more savvy than I am when it comes to technology.

Don't be wasteful

Peanut found me in the bathroom this morning, blowing my nose into toilet paper because we are out of tissue.

"Mommy, don't use all the toilet paper. I need that" she cautioned as she got on the toilet.

Eyeing the nearly full roll I said "I don't think I will use it all. There is a lot there."

In her most impatient voice she said "Mommy! My vajay-jay is going to need it tomorrow too! You need to save it. My vajay-jay is more important than your nose."

No kissing allowed

I am no longer allowed to kiss StinkyMan.

This started a few weeks back, but I am starting to realize the kid means business.

Last week he told me I could kiss him "in three days" and, true to his word and without my prompting he told me 3 days later "It's your night. You can kiss me tonight." So I did, and I thanked him.

But tonight I asked if I could kiss him goodnight and he said "No. You can kiss me on August 17th."

"August 17th? I can live with that. That's in 4 days."

"Four days?!" He reconsidered. "You can kiss me at Christmas time. But that's it."

"That's a really long time from now. I don't think I like that."

"Well, that's the rule."

I think it's a rule I will break, even if I steal my kisses while he sleeps.

A little story

Let me tell you a little tale. A tale of two couches, two cakes and a whole lot in between.

Back in Spring my friend Melisa saved me from my ugly couches. She had a lovely couch set she was looking to get rid of and I happened to really want some new furniture for my family room. So I offered her a trade. Her girls have summer birthdays so I offered two custom made cakes in exchange for her couches. A deal was struck and the couches were moved to my living room (and they look and feel fabulous. I'm sitting on one as I type this all out.)

So the first cake order was for a Toy Story cake. It came together easily and Melisa, and more importantly the birthday girl, absolutely loved it.

So, yeah, ignore the stuff on the counter. When cakes are being made, all else falls apart.

The second birthday girl requested a chocolate cake with pink frosting and Disney Princesses. Easy enough, right?

Wrong!

And here is where the story really begins.

I headed out the Friday before the party to scout out Princess stuff and try to figure out exactly how I was going to do this cake. Stop number one, The Dollar Tree, yielded no real results. Usually full of Disney Princess items, they had nothing I could use. Undaunted, I headed to Michael's, stop number 2. And at Michael's I also found nothing but a sense of panic and a kind clerk who suggested Party City.

Party City, stop number 3 had a few options but nothing I loved. My stress level was starting to hit the roof when another kind clerk saved the day with an idea: "I wonder if a store bakery would sell you their cake toppers?"

Ding, ding, ding! Knowing the regular grocery store bakeries would be closed I headed to Walmart, stop number 4.

It was 9:05pm. Apparently the bakery closes at 9:00 because the gal behind the counter would not acknowledge my existence. Then she finally relented and informed me that yes, they would sell me the cake toppers, but I would have to come back in the morning because they were closed. Nothing I said would convince her. It was a bakery item and the bakery was closed.

So I went back the next morning, stop number 5, where a very sweet little old man handed me a pack of Disney Princess cake toppers and told me I could pay for them in the front after I did the rest of my shopping.

"I don't have to buy them here?"

"No ma'am. They have a barcode, so they'll scan at any register."

I officially now hate the bakery clerk from the night before.

Angry yet happy, I headed home, cake toppers in hand, and began to design the cake by stacking the pans when I realize the toppers won't fit on the cake layers as they are. They are too wide.

Plan B. A bigger cake pan on the bottom would solve that problem.

I start to mix up the batter for the first layer when I realize I am out of the stuff to spray in the pans to help the cakes come out of the pans.

No worries. I called Husband, who was out, and he said he would pick some up for me. No stop for me, but all in all, stop number 6.

Perfect.

Except he was gone a REALLY long time and I was SUPER behind schedule by the time he got home. And when I poured the first pan full of batter I realized that I didn't have enough batter and I didn't have the ingredients to make more.

Husband went back out for stop number 7. I decided to make the little icing flowers I was planning to put all over the cake.

I threw them in the freezer so they would harden in a few hours and be easy to apply to the cake.

Husband arrived with ingredients and I continued making batter. The baking proceeded well for a bit and I started to think I was in the clear.

You should never, ever think you are in the clear. Ever.

Because I ran out of frosting.

And those flowers? Yeah, they didn't freeze. I was going to have to do them all again directly onto the cake.

At this point I was on the edge of losing it. I took a walk around the block and pondered what would happen if I showed up at the party with a sheet cake from Walmart.

When I came home, my wonderful husband had frosted a good portion of the cake for me (he's the best, though at the time I was too distraught to properly appreciate him) and he happily went out to grab us both dinner and some more frosting stuff (stop number 8) while I stuck the kids in bed and finished up frosting and began piping.

I finished after midnight. There were moments, lots of moments, where I wondered if it would come together like I wanted. I think that, for the most part, it did.

The birthday girl and her mama were happy. And I love my couches.

But I never, ever want see pink frosting, Disney Princess cake toppers or that mean Walmart bakery employee ever again.

Hide and Seek

Peanut: Mommy! Don't see me, OK?

Mommy: Are you hiding?

Peanut: Yes! I'm playing Hide and Go Seek with you. Don't look in the closet, though, because then you will see me and I will be sad because I losed.

Mommy: So I have to find you but I can't look in the closet where you are?

Peanut: No, because you will find me there.

Mommy: Fun game. I'm going to go look in the laundry room now. Are you there?

Peanut: No, you can look there. I'm in the closet, not the laundry room.

Somehow I don't think she quite has a handle on this game, do you?

Aw

Me: Are you guys getting excited about school starting?

Curly: Yes. I'm excited to see my friends.

StinkyMan: I wish there was no such thing as school.

Perplexed because he LOVED his preschool I asked: "Why?"

StinkyMan: Because then you would never hafta go anywhere without your mom.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

We're baaaack

And we had a great time. Curly LOVED the lake. She's such a little fish and was perfectly at home in the mountains. Peanut declared "There is sand at the beach and the beach and the mountains and the trees are all perfect!" StinkyMan had a good time, but I think he is my "city boy" because while he enjoyed his time there I don't think he adored it the way his sisters did. When we all fed a mama deer and her babies off the back porch, he quickly lost interest and went back inside.

As for me, I enjoyed myself. It was nice to just focus on 3/4 of my kids. No phone calls, no computer (although I did steal Husband's phone to check Facebook. I can't live totally without my internet life) and no interruptions. I missed my BabyGirl, though and she was very happy to see us all return, despite having a wonderful time with Grammy.

Tomorrow a return to real life, but for now, 3 of my kids are sound asleep, dreaming of their days at the lake, while my baby sleeps knowing her mama is home with her.