Happy Birthday, Davis!

It's that time again - birthday for my monkey boy. Happy 8th, Davis!

Dean's taking him to the music store to play with the drums, electric guitars and whatnot for a while so I can wrap presents. I'm sure he'll enjoy it because that boy LIVES to be loud. *grin* We're having the whole family birthday party later tonight and I know he's on pins and needles trying to figure out what gifts off the list of things he'd like (that grows exponentially every day, I might add) he's actually getting!

Happy Birthday, Tilly!

Happy 13th Birthday, sweetie!

And no, that crazy/gorgeous confection isn't Tilly's cake, but I bet she'd like it! Tilly (and Davis both) have requested carrot cake this year. Yum! (We're all for stealth vegetables in this house - it's the only way my husband will eat them!! *snort*)

Anyway, welcome to your teenage years!!




Now, if anybody needs me, I'll be in Tahiti...

Happy Birthday, Elinor!!

Today at 12:34 p.m., Ella, my darling middle child, turns 10 years old. I have always thought that the time of her birth was cool but as she grows older, it's obvious that the universe was trying to tell me something.

Elinor is a fantastically different person than me and I'm in awe of her. She's a highly logical person who likes things to go from point A to point B (I usually fly by the seat of my pants.). She prefers when everything is put away and her immediate surroundings are clutter-free and has even been known to spontaneously start cleaning things. (When my work bench is clean, I feel as though my brain has somehow been thrown out with the clutter.) She likes to plan everything out ahead of time: she lays her clothes out - sometimes days in advance, she wants to know what I'm planning for supper before she's even finished eating her breakfast and she always knows what the school schedule will be at least a week in advance. (Uh...me? I roll with the punches and work with what I get on any given day.)

And yet, Ella is still very much my child. She is a voracious reader and spends nearly all her spare time devouring books. She has a fabulous imagination and is very creative, always making art projects and coming up with ideas for new things. She has a hot temper and a sharp tongue but also quickly forgives or apologizes. She's got an amazing sense of humor and has a tremendous talent for voices and mimicry. She can make me laugh even when I'm furious, which is no easy feat! Elinor is definitely the most self-reliant (I guess you kinda have to when you're the middle child!) but she's also the most loving of our 3 kids. She'll snuggle right up to you on the sofa or in our bed or - my favorite - walk up and give you a hug 'just because'.

It is absolutely amazing to watch Elinor grow up. I love seeing little glimpses of Dean and me in her, but I'm fascinated by the way she blends the familiar and the foreign in her unique personality. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring!!

She has requested chocolate zucchini cake for her party tonight, so I'd better go pick up the stuff I need to bake her cake.

Check out her main birthday present:

It's the Trek KDR 7.2 FX - a hybrid bike (kinda half road, half trail bike)
She's been working so hard to master riding the last bike she got so that she could graduate to a "big girl bike". This one is niiiiiiiiice!!

Getting Into the Swing...

...of things.

Now that we're a month into school, things are beginning to calm down as we settle into our new routine. Interestingly enough, I find that I actually have less time to work in my studio now that the kids are back in school than I did over the summer! It mostly has to do with the middle and elementary school schedules, but my daily exercise routine and the kids' tennis drills (*sigh*... of course) also play a part. I've never been very good with time management so it's turning into a kind of "trial by fire". What fun! And why yes, that is sarcasm.

My birthday was this past Sunday - wahoo! I celebrated turning 36 in my normal, low-key style. Dean and I went to the movies and saw The Dark Knight - LOVED it! Then we picked the kids up from my parents' house and went out to dinner as a family. Dean wanted to go to Longhorn (and I didn't have strong feelings in any particular direction), so that's where we ended up. I ordered the salmon, which was delicious, and a pomegranate margarita - Yum!! After that, we came home and put a serious dent in my b-day carrot cake and then fell into a food-induced stupor.


I also got an awesome card and this giftie in the mail from my dear friend, Kate. (Thank you again, for the five hundreth time!!) She is a world-class knitter you know, and she made this absolutely lovely shawl in the prettiest color of green. She took much better pictures than I've been able to, so I'm "borrowing" them from her blog. Isn't it gorgeous? Now I can't wait to feel a nip in the air so I can start wearing it!!


Can I just tell you, Kate, I adore that mirror! Am I correct in assuming that's sea glass all around the frame? B-E-A-utiful!

Happy Birthday, Davis!

As of today, my monkey boy is now a big 7 year old! It's hard to believe that my baby is in 2nd grade this year...*sigh* He's growing so tall, smart and independent that even though I'm absurdly proud of him, I have to confess it breaks my heart a little every day. Luckily for me, there are still traces of my little boy left. My favorite is that he still loves to climb in our bed and snuggle whenever he can, even though he's getting a bit too big to slip between us unnoticed now. (I swear, I wake up with bruises when he does manage to sneak in our bed. Davis is a violent sleeper!)

Davis' requested birthday menu for this evening is: grilled pork loin, corn on the cob and garlic bread. Of course I'll add some salad and fruit, just to round things out a bit. He had a really hard time deciding what kind of birthday cake he wanted. He went from a SpiderMan cake to a Squidward cake to SpongeBob cake to Ben 10 and then around in circles again. Are you noticing a theme here? None of his choices are actual flavors. He was only concerned with what the outside looked like. So then I suggested that we might make Kate's chocolate cupcakes, known from here on as "Kate-cakes", and his eyes bugged out. I made them for 2 different 4th of July parties and a family party we had while Becca, Ava and Pen the pug were here visiting this summer. Davis must've eaten more than 8 of the 30 or so I made. He LOVES them - and apparently had completely forgotten about them. So... we're having Kate-cakes in a "pirate" theme this evening instead of a regular birthday cake. That seems to be becoming the norm now, isn't it - no regular birthday cakes.

Sheesh - I wonder what kind of cake Elinor is gonna want for her birthday? Cause I already know I want carrot cake when it's my birthday next week... Hey - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!!

And it Was All Good

Yesterday was wonderful!! Tilly's cake turned out to not be the most attractive thing in the world, but boy - does it taste good. Thanks to the recipe that Kate found for me here, Tilly got her gigantic oatmeal creme pie b-day cake and she was thrilled!

Now I'm gearing up for Davis' 7th birthday tomorrow. (Yeah, I know - all our birthdays are right on top of each other. Elinor's and mine are both in September.) I've got cupcakes to make and presents to buy and finish wrapping. I guess I'd better get busy then!

And yes, I did have help with the icing. How could you tell??? *grin*

Happy Birthday, Tilly!!

My oldest daughter, Lauren Tillman, turns 12 today at 11:12 a.m. Can it really have been that long ago? All I know is that she grows smarter, more self-sufficient and more beautiful (both inside and out) with every passing day. I'm so grateful to have been entrusted with the responsibility and privilege of being her mother. These last 12 years have passed so joyfully - I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!!

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."

- old Cherokee saying

More of the Same

Yep. It's still raining. You know something I've noticed? As much as I don't like days where it rains from sunup to sundown, I LOVE when there's a nice, steady rain at night! With the A/C running and the ceiling fan in the bedroom keeping the cool air moving, the constant pitter-patter of rain drumming on the roof and bouncing off the brick sidewalk is very soothing. It's almost like being at the beach and going to sleep to the sounds of the ocean.

Tomorrow is Tilly's 12th birthday and in keeping with the "I'm a pre-teen now" theme, she has decided to break with her regular birthday cake selection. Now she has informed me that she wants a giant oatmeal-creme cookie instead of her usual chocolate zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting (trust me, it might sound weird but it tastes out of this world!). I'm completely fine with that, only now I've got to figure out how to pull it off! Do I bake the cookies in a 8" or 9" cake pan in order to control the outer diameter? If I did that, I could bake 5 of them and stack them like a regular layer cake. Or should I just bake 2 gargantuan cookies in pizza pans and make a single oatmeal-creme cookie cake?

Anybody ever made one of these before? If so, do you have any helpful hints?