Cupcake Crazy

Inspired by many of the Food Network's baking shows, I've been itching to try my hand at cake decorating. It's pretty much like painting except your canvas is a much more palatable cake and your paint, the much yummier icing. Like with all things, experiment small so I chose to go with cupcakes first. Here are some pictures of my first attempt...and then a second... by the time I did a third batch, I got a pitiful plea from Mikey to stop baking (no, it's not that they taste bad, it's just that each time I make a batch, he pretty much eats 8 out of 10 of them--not too good for the waistline or the heart.)

I did an All Elmo first batch. I'd initially wanted to include Big Bird in the mix but I was so tired at the end of it all (everything was made from scratch, including the icing!), I thought Elmo alone was respectable. These were yummy. The Martha Stewart recipe I followed yielded really dense cupcakes which were still moist after two days in the fridge. I knew I got it right when Kayla looked at the cupcakes and went "Elmo!"

Since the following week was Emily's birthday, I decided to bake her some cupcakes. This time, we went with store-bought icing (I think the homemade one was way better). I stuffed half an Oreo Cookie into Cookie Monster's mouth for added effect. The kids loved it, not so much the health conscious adults...

August Flashback

Here are some of the exciting highlights of the past months--captured in pictures. We had new friends over for a playdate, visited Capitola with Gramma and Grampa and of course, no end of antics from the 22-month-old munchkin. Enjoy!



Capitola: A quaint little beachtown abt 40 mins away. It was the Begonia Festival but we hardly saw any, except for the boxes upon boxes of begonias used on the parade floats. The beach was packed with people with a passion for sandcastles. Kayla was clearly interested only in her bananas. She had two at one go.

Playmates: Baby Sienna is just six days younger than Kayla.

Pretending to be Cinderella. Where's my missing slipper?

Damsel in Distress: Help me!

Pretending to be Marmy: Holding her dolly's milk bottle

Curler Crazy: After she had her bath, she said she wanted curlers like grandma. Like any good mommy magician, I found some and promptly put them on her head. You can tell she was pleased. Very pleased. :)

Seeing Red

Of late, Kayla has been fascinated by traffic lights. And that also translates to her punctuating all our drives about and out of town with cries of "It's red. That means stop! Tell daddy to stop." and "It's green now. We can go!". Yes, that happens at just about every traffic light we cross paths with. It used to be spotting balloons on the street, now this. I'm hoping she'll outgrow this phase soon.


In other obsessions, we bought her a Melissa and Doug Maggie Leigh Magnetic Dress-Up set for her (it was on discount and I couldn't resist!) and she's in love with it. She calls her doll Molly and absolutely glows when I ask her "What should Molly wear today?" It reminds me of the fun we had with filmsy paper dolls in the past, but this is way cooler. I'm glad she's enjoying it as much as I am. :)

Oh and since our potty training efforts have been pretty stop-start, hit-miss, we decided to invest in one of those a "Deluxe Potty Seat" from Munchkin (it's pink, of course). It's one of those that attach to the adult toilets--we figured we'd need one sooner or later. The handle bars adjust as she grows and it's well-cushioned and comfy. So comfy she went potty in it twice today!! This might just do the trick. I'm keeping my all my fingers and toes crossed!

Fun in the Sun

Summer shots.... :)


Kayla and the jasmine plant.


We finally got her a tricycle, though her feet still can't quite touch the pedals. It'll be a while before she figures it out. In the meantime, she lets us push her along with a handle bar.

Couch potato in the making

Cousin Emmy and Kayla admiring the views from the porch.

Her regular yard run.

Splish splashing in the inflatable pool.