Stuff like building this adorable christmas tree from old pallets. B broke up a pallet and trimmed the planks and the boys painted each plank. Then B screwed the trimmed planks to a 2×4 and added a base.
building our tree!
The boys then painted a few birdhouses and spread peanut butter and bird seed on them.
hard work making these decorations
And voila!
tada!our new christmas tree
Also. We met santa. So that was pretty cool.
santa!
Then we spent some time in PA, which was cold and white.
yummy snow!snow kellan
Maybe there will be a seasonally appropriate post some time soon.
The invitations were printed on 4×6 photo paper. The background image is from Digital Citizen. I added text in Picasa using free Transformers Movie font. Super fast and great results.
It was a casual backyard party. B set up an obstacle course (boot camp) using water noodles and reclaimed wood balance beams. It was really cute and set up in like 15 minutes.
boot camp
The kids enjoyed it… but still wound up in the dirt.
nothing better than a pile of dirt
Burgers, dogs and chili were served at our fabulous new picnic table.
thank you, brian!
We always have some project or another in progress around the homestead, for better or worse. Lately, Brian has been hitting them out of the park. The table was inspired by the fresh exchange, with a gutter in the middle for icing drinks. It’s nice and low so we can sit on the ground and the legs are removable, so we can slide it under the house when not in use. The legs and supports are reclaimed pallet wood and the top is 16-foot 1×6 pine planks. He stained the top wood “sunbleached.” It probably needs another pass or two to get to a color similar to the legs. I adore this table. Just love it.
removable legs
I promise to take more pics when it’s decked out for a grown up party. It is so awesome.
Back to business… Obviously the party would not be complete without a Bumblebee cake.
more than meets the eye…
The bottom cake was for grown ups. It’s Colette Peter’s Bourbon Chocolate Cake (I skipped the coconut) with bourbon ganache filling and basic vanilla buttercream frosting. I have found my new go-to chocolate cake recipe. It is a crazy simple recipe – you don’t even need a mixer – and made an incredibly rich moist cake. 1-1/2 recipe made two 10-inch layers. No joke, this was still moist after a week. It was frosted with yellow buttercream using this excellent technique to smooth. The paper towels that we had on hand were rather textured, so I expect it would have been smoother with a different brand.
The ganache was simple. Chop 8 oz. of dark chocolate into your stand mixer bowl. Heat 2 cups of heavy cream to a low boil and pour over the chocolate. Cover with foil and let stand until the chocolate melts. Add 2 teaspoons of bourbon and whip until it’s spreadable. It was more than enough for the filling between the two layers of the 10-inch cake. Probably enough to actually fill and frost, but there were no complaints about eating the extra straight out of the bowl.
The top cake was German Chocolate from The Art of Chocolate. It was good, but so much more work than the Bourbon Chocolate. The three 8-inch layers were filled and crumb-coated with buttercream and then covered in the better part of 2-lbs of Fondarific Black Fondant. What a mess. Black everywhere. E V E R Y W H E R E. The transformer icon was yellow Fondarific and took forever to cut out, using this Autobot logo as a stencil. Took about 2 hours to do the fondant and it was far from perfect. Like really far. Just means I need more practice…cake, anyone?
Saturday morning, the finished cake was met with an enthusiastic, “Awww, that’s not the one I wanted.”
Sigh.
However by party time, Liam was much more excited.
my cake!
We had a great day. The kids party started at 11:00 AM and the last grown ups left at 10:30 PM. And we still had chili and cake left over!
Last, but definitely not least… Thank you, Pam, for taking all the photos! There would be no record of Liam’s big day without you.
We just had the best vacation ever. Seriously. The best. Walt Disney World really is the happiest place on earth as far as I’m concerned. Travelling with great friends made it even more fun. Thank you Ronnie, Brian, Connor and Caitlin for an awesome adventure. Let’s make it an annual event!
group shot!
The boys were excellent travelers, so the six hour drive (each way) in the silver bullet was as painless as possible.
Our adventure began at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The kids had no idea what to expect, so every second of the ten hour day was exciting.
day 1: hollywood studios
Our first stop was at Disney Junior – Live on Stage. It was so cute! As soon as Mickey popped up on stage, Kellan began waving and shouting, “Hi, Mickey Mouse!” I may have teared up a bit.
Day two was laid back. We caught up on a tiny bit of missed sleep then spent the late afternoon and evening at the campsites at Fort Wilderness Resort. We didn’t sleep at the campsite, but we grilled burgers there then spent the rest of the evening at the pool, eating s’mores and dancing at Chip’n Dale’s Campfire Sing-a-long and watching Homeward Bound, the featured Movie Under the Stars. It was a great way to sneak in a low key day to help the kids (and grown ups) recoup some energy. Plus, we received resort privileges and a parking pass that was good at all the parks.
We hit Animal Kingdom on day three. We immediately went to the Kilimanjaro Safari. Everyone loved seeing the animals as we bounced down the road and the animals were all up and moving in the morning. Naturally, Dinoland was a big hit. The kids played for ages in the Boneyard. Honestly, for all the cool stuff to see, the play areas may have been the biggest hit.
dinosaur bones
Liam was crazy about the Dinosaur ride. I worried that it would scare him, but he loved it. It’s his favorite part of the trip. We ended the day at the Festival of the Lion King, which was absolutely amazing. Sadly, Liam chickened out when invited to join the performers, but luckily for us, Connor jumped right in!
finally meeting the big cheese
I must admit, however, that my favorite part of the day was spent in the shade  behind the Dawa Bar sipping mojitos with my Brian while the hooligan’s napped!
It was a super late night and though Liam slept through it all, the Kel-Kel monster partied like a rock star.
click to see some moves like jagger
The Boo to You Parade was really cool as were the amazing Happy HalloWishes fireworks. Plus, I got to do my first zombie makeup!
cutest. zombie. ever.
On our last park day, which was also my birthday(!), we ate and drank our way around the world at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. I love, love, love the F&W Festival. Like alot. The boys seemed to have fun too…
i wuv sweedish meatballscheeeeeeeeese!
Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any better…we met up with Shawn, Ashley, Emory and Mr. and Mrs. G.
chillin’ in new zealand
Alas, the boys crashed crossing the bridge from France to England so B and I were forced to sit on a bench next to the Ireland Marketplace. Hard as it was to nibble Irish cheeses and Fisherman’s Pie and sip Guinness, we sacrificed two hours so that our cherished children could rest.
cheers!
What an amazing (and exhausting) week. Can’t wait to do it again!
Our baby’s not a baby anymore. WAAAAH! If I were younger and much, much less lazy, I’d totally have baby fever right now. Alas, I am old and very lazy, so I’ll just have to befriend some pregnant ladies.
Back to the subject at hand. Kellan celebrated his second birthday in style. Grandma and Grandpa came to brunch with delicious coconut cupcakes.
vees are reary yummy
And after naps the neighbors joined us for some cake (and adult beverages). It was a super fun day.
happy birthday, kellan video
So, now we have two big boys and no babies. Guess it’ll have to do.
buzzy and batman
The cake was inspired by a post on somewhere in the middle. I used Pilsbury’s box mix with an extra box of pudding and an extra egg, spread pudding between the cake layers and used a Betty Crocker tub of frosting. I figured the whole thing is going to be dripping in M&Ms and Kit-Kat bars, who’s going to notice the cake?
cake and candy!?! oh yeah!
Words of warning: the M&Ms got cloudy after spending a little time under the cake dome. The cake was totally cool and it wasn’t terribly hot in the house. Perhaps refrigerating the whole thing may have helped? Anyway if you make one of these either add the M&Ms right before bringing the cake out or leave it uncovered.
Man, it is HOT. But these boys are movers and shakers, so we are outside all day long. The backyard is a mish-mash of canopies: an umbrella over the pool, a sun sail over the swing set and a castle (gazebo) at the end of the driveway.
Dining is alfresco and fluffernutters are frequently on the menu.
lunch time in the castle
Cleanup is a breeze. We just chuck the boys back in the pool and voila, marshmallow no more.
cheeeeeeeeeese!
Our Kel-Kel monster still naps in the afternoon (knock wood repeatedly). And, occasionally, when the new guy is down I can con the old baby into a snuggle in the hammock.
hammock time
Although hammock time is the best part of my day, Liam still prefers Godzilla time. He puts on “Godzilla Shows” regularly.
“heeshhh, aaaaaaargh”
Liam has been mad about Godzilla for more than a month now. We let him watch Godzilla vs. Mothra on Crackle several weeks ago (so that B and I could stay in bed past 6:30 one Saturday morning) and the boy loved it. He immediately began asking for a Godzilla toy. So we made a deal with him. Liam had to clean up all the toys in the living room before bed to earn a check mark on his Godzilla chart and after five checks we’d buy the toy. Low and behold he cleaned the living room every night before bed.
You have never seen a kid so proud. He still has the chart and the box that Godzilla came it.
In the past couple months he’s watched all the Godzilla flicks that Crackle has to offer plus the 1998 American version.  However, the poor, neglected child only has one “real Godzilla toy” and so must pretend his robot is Mechagodzilla and that Red Death is Gigan and a dragonfly puppet is Mothra. Sad, right? He’s scamming for more “real” monsters through various charts, birthday and Christmas lists.
dragons, dinosaurs and monsters, oh my!
In other news, there is an escape artist in our midst. Kellan slips out of his crib like a ninja. Seriously, the boy does not make a sound until he’s opening the bedroom door or trying to wake Liam.
yeah, i’m smooth
We moved Kellan into Liam’s room for Aydan’s visit and it worked. So, they now share a room and we are converting Kellan’s old bedroom back to a craft room. It’s been pretty smooth sailing until now. The past two nights himself has exited the crib several times at bedtime. He climbed out four times on Tuesday night. The first three times Liam shouted over the monitor, “Mommy, Kellan’s out of his crib!” As Kellen does EVERYTHING Liam does, he immediately piped in with, “Mommy, I out of crib!”
Oy.
By the fourth escape, an hour later, Liam was asleep. Over the monitor we hear, “Nemo*, wake up. Godzilla time.” Then a few minutes later their bedroom door opens and closes, little feet pad down the stairs and then big blue eyes peep around the corner into the living room. Luckily that was his last escape of the night at around 8:45. He let himself out of his crib in the morning and sauntered into the dining room like it was no big thing. The boy slays me.
Last night was better. K stayed in his crib after only three escapes in twenty minutes. We’ll see what tonight brings.
brothers
The brothers get along really well most of the time. Naturally, skirmishes break out occasionally (and sometimes often), but at the end of the day they’re pals.
Life is good.
*Liam still pronounces his own name “Lima” and Kellan mispronounces it further into “Nemo.” Ridiculously cute. However Liam is a bit sensitive about it and doesn’t find any humor in adults purposely mispronouncing his name and calling him Lima. Consider yourself warned.
We didn’t let the outrageous heat stop us this weekend. Thanks to our new Intex Ultra swimming pool the boys and I spent the whole weekend playing and finishing projects in the backyard. Please note that I will be using the royal “we” throughout this post as my contribution to the work effort was nothing more than pointing and barking directions.
The boys are absolute fish! They love the pool and have no fear. Seriously, the pool is the only way we can stay outside for extended time.
i’m a fish
First, B built the boys a teepee (tipi) using a 12’x15′ cotton drop cloth and some 10′ lengths of conduit hanging around since last year’s garden. We followed ZiggityZoom’s instructions and tucked it in a shady spot in the yard. So far, the boys have shown little interest. Go figure. I think it’s very, very cool.
next step: paint
Next, with the aid of our neighbor Cullen, B made our reclaimed pallet rolling table. The idea came from Joy Ever After. We ignored all measurements (much to B’s horror) and made do with the materials on hand. The casters are from Lowe’s, but everything else is reclaimed. We used two locking casters and two regular, so the total cost of the project was about $25. Can’t beat that with a stick!
rolling pallets
We’ve been collecting pallets and crates destined for trash pickup for a month or so now and had the perfect pallet for the table top. We couldn’t find a match for the bottom, so B and Cullen broke up another pallet and crate and recreated a pallet for the bottom. They didn’t bother with L-brackets, just toe-screwed the legs to the top and bottom.
perfect size (and price!)
It probably took the guys about two hours start to finish and more than half that time was spent busting up the pallet and crate for the base and looking for long wood screws in the shambles of our garage. I positively love it. It’s the perfect size and the ability to roll it around the yard is sweet. We didn’t do anything to the wood, though I may have B sand off a few of the really rough edges to be sure nobody gets a splinter.
cutest helper ever
After all that hard work, a shady spot to rest was in order. So, B hung a hammock using an old 9’x12’cotton drop cloth folded in half and some rope from the (still messy) garage.
shady haven
B followed Tim Anderson’s video on instructables.com. It went up in minutes and can be taken down just as quickly. It’s the perfect size for me, but too small for B. So nice. So, so nice.
Next on the outdoor project list is a picnic bench for the boys. As you can see in the image above, they currently picnic on old plastic milk crates. Surely we can do better than that.
And now for a gratuitous photo.
doin’ my best James Dean
The remainder of our weekend was spent testing tiki drink recipes such as:
Trader Vic beat Don the Beachcomber
and
easy and delicious!
and
i initially liked this, but by the end wasn’t digging it…
This is a huge favorite at our house. It’s quick and spicy and yummy and requires no cooking and pretty healthy. As a main course, this serves 2 at about 320 calories per serving.
Ingredients:
1/2 tbsp gochujang
1/2 tsp hon dashi
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp minced ginger
4 medium scallions, sliced
16 oz tofu
Directions:
Press tofu under weighted plate to drain for 30 minutes.
Mix together gochujang, hon dashi, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic and minced ginger.
Slice tofu into bite sized pieces and pour sauce over the top.
The boys are bigger and badder than ever. They’re best friends, until they’re not. The little one can do anything the big one does, until he can’t. The big one is “NOT a baby!” until he is. Every day is an adventure. It’s a wild ride, except for when it’s peaceful.
They boys keep us hopping and we’re trying to enjoy every minute of this lovely weather. Charleston pretty much skipped winter this year and it’s been really nice.
We spent a great day at the Riverbanks Zoo last week. The boys loved it. Truth told, I did too. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a zoo. Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to random animal photos. Mainly because they are dreadful. Here are the boys instead.
livin’ large at the zoojust monkeying around
Gardening started in March this year. Child labor laws be damned. We put the old baby to work in the yard. Aunt Kelly, that wheelbarrow is the BEST gift ever.
Liam is really helpful with the yard work. Kellan is trying. He’ll be up to speed soon enough. When these goons are teens, we’re going to make a mint hiring them out for landscaping jobs.
rake, rake, rakeload, load, loadhaul, haul, haul
Don’t worry. It’s not all work and no play. Every once in a while, we have lunch dates at the Brittlebank Park playground. These two can pack an awful lot into lunch hour.
There’s always…
climbingand climbingslidingand jumping
I have no clever segue for this last bit…
So, in the better late than never file, here are your gratuitous kilt shots. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
laced with yarn and made of paper. That’s how we roll on V-day.
Liam laced a few hearts for his extra special valentines.
laced with love
The cards really are cute. Red bird crafts provided the inspiration. I just put the top card on a cork tile and punched holes in the shape of a heart with an awl, making sure the tails ended up on the front of the card. Then Liam went to work lacing a folded strand of yarn through the holes with a darning needle. We tied the yarn ends in a bow. Finally, and this was not really needed, we glued the card top to a backing square of card stock.
lace away
We made some coffee filter flowers too.
crumpled with love
Peaches tutorial inspired our flowers, but we used Rit dye and skipped the trimming on most of our flowers. It was really easy, just added a splash of yellow liquid Rit to a bowl of hot water and submerged coffee filters one at a time until no more would fit in the bowl. Wearing rubber gloves, I squeezed the excess liquid from the stack of filters back into the bowl, then added a bit of wine Rit to the yellow water and dyed a bunch of filters peach. Added more wine (dye to the water, zin to my belly) and made a bunch of fuscia filters. After squeezing out the excess colored water I separated each filter and laid them in loose pile to dry overnight.
Next day, we made the flowers and tied them off with green pipe cleaners. Didn’t use any tape, just twisted the bases really tight and wound the pipe cleaner around as tightly as possible.
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