ballet for little juliet

oh boy. you have never seen such an excited little thing as monday when i picked up the girls for the first day of ballet class for the semester. the girls are now in the same class and juliet used some of her christmas money (i swear it was not my idea!) for ballet slippers and a leotard (i hate that word!). she's been practicing over the holidays but today was the big debut. miss bonita told the class about the spring recital-- a circus theme-- and that their class will be performing as cotton candy. i don't really get it-- i'm a pretty in-the-box thinker and so telling children they'll have to be living, breathing, spun sugar set to music is a bit out of my realm of thinking. but my kids DO get it, and they're super excited. here are a couple of pictures from the studio from monday---

you know what i really love?

i'll tell you. it's NOT new year's. resolutions are stupid (having made and broken every one EVER!!) and i resolve to not make any more. it's not fridays, or at least this one. this has been a bad week for me and i hate keeping things inside when i'm dying to share them. it's not my dog, who can't stop running away and it's ticking me off. it's not even this package of peppermint oreos that someone (foolishly) left on my desk because they didn't want the temptation of eating them.

it's my new DENTAL HYGIENIST. (did i spell that right??). i absolutely detest going to the dentist and have been a dental nomad (switching every time it was time for an appointment because i found something wrong with the previous person) for years. but i have found one here, within walking distance from both home and work, and when i trudged in this morning for a cleaning, after it was all done, my new best friend amy never once mentioned how little i floss. she says: your teeth, your gums-- they look great!!! that made my day. now-- when i have to get that one little cavity filled in two weeks, it may be a different story, but for now, i'm smiling through my (sore) teeth.

new year's eve

i'm not really sure that commentary is necessary here, but many people know we went to a 70s par-tay for new year's eve-- our first new year's eve OUT without the kids. it would have been nice to find a cute little mini dress and go-go boots, or perhaps even a charlie's angel outfit, but when you are as tall as i am (notice i didn't say BIG), sometimes those outfits are not cute! so, without trying, we ended up looking like bear bryant and helen roper from three's company.

on this day...

seven years ago-- at this moment, in fact-- i was getting married. i was yipping at my sister about being late to the church and temporarily misplacing the ring. i was irritated that noone was helping me get in my dress and i was anxious for the whole shebang to be done with, truthfully. i was so, so cold and wondering why in the world i chose a december wedding date. there was no question as to if i'd have someone waiting for me at the other end of the aisle, but there were certainly fleeting moments of wondering if he really knew what he was getting himself into!! i had no idea where the path of wedlock would take me--us-- but it was worth the risk!

so, seven years later, we have:

*moved from georgia to nc, and then from one end of union county to the other
*bought a semi-new house, and one that is 105 years old after that
*changed jobs a total of 5 times for me and 4 times for kevin (we're not flaky; these include promotions and/or school changes!)
*created two healthy, happy, non-argumentative (yeah, right) little girls
*created a new world for k's younger brother jake
*finished a master's degree (not me, kevin) and getting ready to start a doctorate, we think
*only had one major family member's death (my gran), which is quite amazing
*discovered that we are about as boring as you can get on any given day
*found a church home and have gotten WAY more involved than we ever thought we could get in church
*had two dogs live happy lives and then be put down for different reasons, and now have a third who drives us batty but knows she's loved
*found, lost, and rediscovered several pounds along the way

it's been a good ride, all things considered, and it actually seems like more than seven years. instead of celebrating another year when we've statistically beaten the odds, we're taking down christmas decorations, eating eggs and bacon for dinner, letting georgia watch 'high school musical' and juliet watch 'the little einsteins' in separate rooms (for the sake of sanity), and calling it a night.

happy almost new year, one and all.

when we fin-a-lly say 'good night'....

or, in my case, GOOD BYE to the chaos that inhabited our house during the month of december, i'll be pleased! what a whirlwind it's been for us. our christmas season is nothing if not lively.

thank you to all of my friends, young, old, distant, and close, for your cards this year. that is my favorite part of christmas....opening up the mailbox every day to see if there are any pictures or cards to add to our pile! i love to see how people have grown over the year-- your kids, not YOU! (remember that when looking at my christmas card picture).

the week began with a great production of the christmas story presented by every single kid in our church. my girls OBVIOUSLY are angels :) and so that was the most appropriate costume for them, but i know georgia is gunning for that 'mary' role next year, while juliet wanted to be the baby jesus and stuff herself into the fake manger. the overzealous dad sitting in the front pew of church snagged all the good pictures, leaving bad ones for the rest of us, so i'll be sending him an email to send me some good shots at a later date.



my sister melanie came, sick as a dog i might add, from wilmington to be with us for christmas. she made it in time for church, which was a must because the girls were singing in the choir just before the start of the service. juliet fell asleep while waiting, so she missed her big moment, but i got a shot of them practicing. never mind juliet's super-greasy hair. i spilled baby oil in their bath water and her hair soaked up every bit of it! i didn't think it would be a big deal until her hair was dry and yet still wet!


christmas morning was great....the kids got up and were thrilled with the gifts that ho-ho left for them. three gifts apiece-- because that's what baby jesus got. (it does keep things simple in our house!) they each got a scooterwithtwowheels (which is how they say it) for their big present. jules got dora hopscotch squares and a mickey mouse clubhouse, two things that go against all i believe-- i don't like things with characters on them!!-- but i am giving up some of my nutty ideas as i get older, and as people continue to make fun of me. georgia got a leap pad game and her favorite gift was the iron/ironing board she requested. she never knew what an iron was (i know, i know) until my mother came and helped me make those blasted napkins for my dinner party this fall. since then, she's been entranced with that marvelous appliance and asked for one for christmas.

the girls got many things they loved--evidently my mother and sister and i should communicate more because all three of us got bathrobes for the girls, so they are All Set in the winter warmth department!....there were wrapped-up socks and panties which still excites my children, and a few choice toys-- the soccer goal from pawpaw and nanny and the (barbie! a character!) digital camera from nini, the jacks and Perfection! game....so from grandparents to aunts and uncles and friends, there were so many great gifts and all of it was wonderfully generous, and in lieu of a gazillion thank you notes that i am not confident would ever reach your homes: a big, huge, THANK YOU from kevin and me.

it all fell apart in the afternoon. jake, who got a stomach bug for christmas, was happy to share it and he passed it along to juliet in the afternoon and that did me in for the rest of the day. anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows i have panic attacks at the thought of my kids getting sick. it's like armageddon or something; i need therapy in a big way. anyway, that happened as dinner was about to be served, and that did my appetite in for quite a while. when i'm ready (still a bit queasy myself!) i'll enjoy the deep-fried turkey that was so beautiful that i cannot believe i didn't get a picture of it when kevin presented it to me, as well as the 3 desserts that i made and all the little things that go into making a good christmas dinner. oh, well.

all is well now. sleep (for juliet, certainly not for me that night!) yesterday seemed to do the trick and as of this morning, everyone was well enough to go to their respective corners. i am at work (clearly NOT WORKING!) and kevin is golfing: you just don't turn down a free round of golf, i am told!!! jake is at work and the kids were more than happy to return to daycare for two days this week. everything is put away nicely in its place, three large bags of to-be-donated toys and clothes are safely at goodwill, and we're movin' on to the next thing.

so, another christmas down the hatch. all of the build-up-- the last-minute shopping for stocking stuffers, the all-night wrapping session on sunday night, the 14 trips to the grocery store to make items that still sit in the fridge because i made way too much, the MESS and disorganization of christmas morning....all of it, looking back, is fine. more than fine. i have to admit that it is much more fun to look BACK at christmas than look towards it. another strange thing about me....

here are some pictures from christmas day and from last night when both kids felt like eating leftovers! i did have lots of cute pics and will post the shutterfly link http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNnLZs1aNG4t&notag=1 so you can see for yourselves.

happy new year to all!

UPDATE: that very productive morning at work didn't last long. now i'm home with georgia, who has the same bug. pray for me. is this what immersion therapy is?

it's beginning to feel a lot like i've procrastinated...

...or, has christmas just come Way Too Fast this year? (that idea is much more pleasing and then i don't have to take responsibility for being ill-prepared...) --usually i'm so good at getting the cards out and off the to-do list, yet here they sit upon my desk waiting for that final look-through to make sure i've not forgotten to put on a stamp, or a return address. plus there are 35 cards out there in walmart.com land waiting to get to my doorstep so that i can actually get the rest done. i completely underestimated the number of cards on my list this year. i thought i had done a good job of weeding out some no-longer-necessary recipients and adding the new friends, but clearly i was off. never fear; i intend for them to go in today's mail and i hope you like them. i take such terrible pictures at this point that i may be vowing to only send out kid pictures from now on. we'll see.

i purchased just about everything for anyone online this year. except for one trip to tj maxx for some things for the girls, and perhaps one last dollar general or drug store stop on christmas eve for stocking stuffers, everything was purchased from this office chair (yeah, i know i am supposed to be working!) or from kevin's laptop late at night when everyone is asleep. it's how i roll this year! i am all about simplifying my life and if it gets the job done, i'm not losing any sleep over it.

now, i'm on to a week filled with activities-- a fundraiser at work (not my bright idea but i'm a team player!), daycare party for the kids, party at our house for kevin's office staff, and the last-minute things that go into a holiday. like-- what the heck i'll make for christmas supper. it'll just be our family plus jake and melanie, so i don't have to go overboard. deep-fried turkey, here we come. it's kevin's specialty and it keeps my oven free for other things!

the girls have seen santa...well, one of his helpers. they totally get it that there's no earthly WAY santa can be at the mall every weekend AND boss the elves around up at the north pole. yesterday's santa seemed a bit frail and there was no lap-sitting, only a little leaning in for a picture. (it's hard to see in the picture but there was no option of getting up on his lap!)... santa must have hit the eggnog too hard on saturday night and was a bit under the weather!

here are the girls with ho-ho yesterday (note new haircut....we're done growing the hair out!! we get too many compliments on the short haircut!):

i also took the girls to see our local production of 'the nutcracker' on friday night. it was a fabulous evening and jules was even more entranced with it than georgia. i know what that will mean-- ballet for two starting next semester. she's already asked kevin about it, and though we were going to be pennypinchers and tell her she had to wait until she's five like georgia did, it's hard not to give in. during the ballet class on monday, jules sits at the door and shadows everything the class does. i think we'll let her go ahead and start when the new semester begins in january. here's juliet and georgia with sydni, the sugar plum fairy who is also the 'helper' in georgia's class.

this is the last time i know i'll post before the holidays, so i hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful holiday. i hope everyone makes it to their destination safely and enjoys the time with family and friends, as we will. we are thankful for another year gone by with healthy and happy children and, really, very little drama compared to what the rest of the world goes through on a daily basis. for many reasons-- we are probably the luckiest and most fortunate people we know. merry christmas and a happy new year from all of the plues:

(not our christmas picture but one of the runners-up!)

hello, end of november

wow, what a difference a week makes. last week i had on short sleeves, it was the peak of great leaf colors outside, and my pumpkin sat nicely rotting on my front steps. now it is cold, rainy (well, it cleared up today but yesterday was pretty gross...), my awesome faux tree is up (minus the star which broke and has yet to be replaced...), and it's instant christmastime! thanksgiving is but a memory!

we traveled ALL NIGHT LONG on tuesday-- we got into traffic troubles somewhere around spartanburg, sc, and it stayed that way until we got through atlanta. at 2:30am when we finally made it to our destination in alabama, we were OVER each other and the car. we had a thanksgiving celebration with kevin's dad and faye on wednesday, and then another one with kevin's mom and her side of the family on thursday. we left on friday morning heavier and happier than when we arrived. and, luckily for EVERYONE subjected to another car ride with my complainin' self, the ride was much shorter this time: 8 hours.

hope everyone else had a great thanksgiving also. i'm overloaded on work and need to get back to it! here are some pictures from our trip:

kevin and georgia at wacky bear (it's like build-a-bear)

for cousin lilly's 3rd birthday party....

juliet's first game of twister....guess what she's asking ho-ho to bring????

all of the grandkids between kevin's dad and faye....

cousins averi, haili, and katelyn are worshipped by my girls!

happy trails...

to us as we load up in the newly-fixed volvo wagon and head off for alabama. say a prayer for me that as we embark on an eight-hour trip each way, i will not lose any of the few remaining marbles i have left-- i will be giving up my shotgun seat for jake and will be sitting between the girls in the back seat. i'm sure that by tonight at midnight (our ETA!) everyone will be pretty sick of me and of each other, and we'll all go to our corners to forget the long drive!

georgia and jules will be staying at nini's, kevin's mom's house, and jake says he's staying with his grandmother across town. kevin and i will be staying at a hotel. this is actually the first time the girls will be spending the night without either one of us, i think. (if not, it's been so long that i cannot remember a night alone!!!)...we just never get a chance to get away and we don't have family nearby.

hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and safe travels. i'll post turkey pictures when we get back. here's a picture from church last weekend. both my girls are in the children's choir this year and they had their first performance of the season. oh, what was that hymn???...i have had it stuck in my head for weeks. i will remember while we're in the car this evening!!!

happy halloween! ... and more pics added....

wow, it's already the first of november! we had a great time trick-or-treating last night. i'm behind in my work this week so i've got to get back to it, but here are georgia and jules campbell. -- presenting: the trans-fat collection.....

learning the art of 'trading out'.....

corn maze, pumpkin patch, and early halloween pictures

no commentary today. too tired!!! hope you enjoy these pictures.

LOOK AT MY BABY!!

...my third (fourth?) baby, that is.

on my way out of town yesterday afternoon, i got in a little wreck. i was hit from behind and i then hit the car in front of me. what a pain. i was on my way to the mountains for a weekend getaway (even if it was a conference, i still had no kids with me!!) .... two of my clients were with me and we had no sooner gotten on the road when this DENT in our plans happened.

one bright spot-- the guy who hit me was SUPER CUTE. turns out he is a grad assistant/football coach at wingate university, and he felt so bad that he offered up his football team to come volunteer with our agency and do some mentoring with our special-needs kids and adults. don't think i won't hold him to it, either.

so, i shipped off my clients with another person who was attending the same conference, and here i sit at my office in the pouring-down rain (which we desperately need...) on a friday, instead of picking apples and halfway listening to speakers up in asheville. boo-hoo.

first dinner party

...well, maybe not the very first one, but it certainly seemed that way. it was my turn to host our neighborhood dinner club last saturday, and it tends to be more formal than i ever could be. there are themes assigned and i have known for a whole year that i was to host in october. (it caused me to stress out from the moment i was assigned as a host!) ...the theme was supposed to be food tv and hosts were to choose their favorite personality and go with that. in the spirit of trying to make my evening as low-key as possible, i chose giada because i figured i could make italian cooking very casual and not have to get out the fine china. here's what i learned i DIDN'T have (and needed) for a dinner party:

cloth napkins. sounds like a simple thing but lo and behold, i don't own any. at my house it's paper napkins or a folded-up paper towel when we actually all sit down together and have a meal. i don't have any real napkins, nor do i think about needing to buy them, but when i discovered this fact the day before my party, i discovered they were EIGHT DOLLARS for two white napkins at wal-mart. forget that. my friend tara suggested making my own (we'll get to that) so i bought two yards of fabric from the salvage shop here in town and waited for my mother to pull into town so i could give her a project.

which brings me to the next thing i don't own: an iron. or ironing board. my mother came and agreed to tackle this project. she asked for my iron and i was not able to produce one!! she insisted on purchasing me one at walmart so i am now the proud owner of both items. i have never needed to iron and it's a ton easier for me to pay 99 cents for dry cleaning (or, in an emergency, throw a wrinkly shirt in the dryer with a damp towel) than spend an evening standing over an ironing board, burning holes into clothes and probably my hands too. do people really do that anymore? people with a full-time job and two kids and a dog and a dinner club to host????

i also don't own any tablecloths. i have a beautiful table that kevin stained black for me last year. why in the world would i want to cover it up with a tablecloth? i was reminded by more than one person that i am clueless when it comes to entertaining. clearly, i am. so i had to buy a tablecloth but i still say my table would be just as attractive without it!

chairs!!!!!!!!! i've been putting off buying them because there have been more important projects to take care of...like, new tires on BOTH cars, a toilet that rocks uncontrollably because as the house settles, it pushes the pipe up from under the house!!.....and all the little things that come up every month. i have two chairs for grown-ups and two painted restaurant high chairs for the kids. so i have to borrow a neighbor's dining room chairs to make room for ten.

the list is endless, really, but i put it all together at the last minute (of course) and it turned out okay. napkins got made, a few plates from target were purchased, and i was in business. my 'giada' recipe really wasn't and noone noticed. it was italian but i refused to try out a new recipe on 9 innocent victims. thank you mom for the recipe (really good baked ziti!) and for staying up half the night sewing napkins WITHOUT A SEWING MACHINE (i am going to use fusion tape on EVERYTHING from now on...).

the bottom line is that NOBODY REALLY CARES. you get all worried but, in the end, it's no big deal. here's a picture of the final product because i want it on record that i actually have these necessities now!

This came across my email today

...and i think i've seen it before, but it still makes me smile to read it. oh, the memories!

For Those of us Born 1930-1979

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate bleu cheese dressing, tuna from a can, Oscar Mayer lunch meat, and they didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our bellies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets--not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats , booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

...weekend in atlanta....

well, it turned out to be a girls-only weekend. kevin had a massive amount of work to do over the weekend, and my friend clarissa's husband was working as well-- so it was just the three of us riding down I-85 for FIVE HOURS. the travel-to time seemed to fly by: the anticipation of seeing friends, etc., kept everyone lively, but the travel-from time crept by sooooo sloooowwwwlllyyy. we had a great time! we stayed with my friend clarissa and her family. she has three little ones and it's always fun to have low-key friends who don't necessarily want to do STUFF all the time. we just hung out, let the kids play, caught up on gossip-- all the important things! if journey, luke, and levi are reading this, then thank you again for having us! here are some pictures of you guys (sorry that levi didn't make it into any pictures...).

georgia, journey, jules campbell, and luke create dora stories.

never too old for group bathing!

saturday night is movie night, no matter where you are!

playing school-- i just noticed what is written on the papers!!

we spent saturday with one of my oldest (not in age!) friends, kevin, and the kids had a blast at piedmont park playing all morning. no pictures because i forgot the camera. too bad for you. kevin is a hottie! on our way out of town on sunday, we stopped in flowery branch to spend some time with another long-ago teaching friend, jackie, and her brood.

georgia and pete (jackie's little boy)

thanks, everybody! every time we go to georgia it is a reminder of how much fun it was to live there and we always come home a bit sad. but-- we're always up for a road trip so keep on inviting us over.

..hello...september? are you there? ....

is it really october? wow. i detect a lot less heat when i step outside lately, and even though it is not even CLOSE to feeling like fall, it does feel a lot LESS like august, and for that i am thankful. things are going well for all of us.

georgia loves being five and has really started getting into the whole 'chores' thing. she finally figured out how to make her bed without help and has even shown her sister how to do it. both girls are doing great in the morning with their checklist of things to do before we leave the house. they both stand there wanting 'the checks'. get dressed? check! brush your teeth? check! get your hair done? check! get the newspaper? check! make the bed? check! feed the dog? check. does anyone else besides me give out a dum-dum at 7:30 in the morning? i had my moment of guilt but it quickly passed.

georgia is counting the days till kindergarten -- eleven months to go!-- and has 4 ballet classes under her belt, and she (just like her mother before her) has already learned the art of brown-nosing. she brings miss bonita, her teacher, flowers before class, or shows her a special book she's been reading on ballet....you name it. if she can kiss up to earn brownie points, she'll do it. like mother, like daughter. i rode that train my whole school career!

juliet has decided she's sick of her short haircut so we're in that awkward grow-it-out stage. too bad; it took a lot for me to decide to get it cut but i've grown to like the look on her. but she feels adamant that she needs to have braids like georgia and she has concerns that when SHE starts ballet next year (heaven help me), she'll have to put it in a bun and it must be long enough. so-- grow, grow, grow. her little attitude is coming out, and while she never lets it show to her teachers, she's a pretty feisty little thing now...WAAAY more fiesty than georgia, who will crumble into a heap on the bed if you look at her with a scowl on your face. jules has the scowls and pouts and looks of disgust that most of us hold off on showing our parents until the pre-teen years. she flat-out refused to take a shower the other night and went to bed a soaking wet mess-- but a clean mess!! when will she figure out, i wonder, that she's been given a mama who has mastered the art of stubborn-try (is that a word? if not, i like it!) and i have spent my whole life perfecting the art of being hard-headed? poor thing. she doesn't stand a chance. luckily, her moments of toddler-hood don't come out very much.

my own workload is ever-increasing but i'm trying to be better about having to attend so many work things at night and on weekends. it seems like whenever i turn around, there's a different convention i MUST attend or a meeting that has to occur when the rest of the world is off work. it gets old fast so i'm trying to adjust other people's schedules to fit mine. i hope they don't figure out my plan. :) i'm headed to the mountains to a place called lake junaluska in three weeks. -- a conference! of course!! -- and so everyone will need to call and check in on kevin. that will be stressful with me being gone overnight AND during the work week.

kevin stays busy and i'd like to personally thank whomever invented the wireless internet system and laptops. without them, i'd really wonder if i had a husband. he works a 70 hour week and retreats to our bedroom after the kids go down with computer in hand. it's a good excuse for me to turn in early as well, so it's win-win (most nights!)

we're off to atlanta this weekend. it's been over a year since we've been back (i think much longer for kevin) so i'm excited to go visit. i'm sure i'll have cute pictures when we return but i'm hoping for a weekend of hanging out and catching up.

here are some pictures from last night:

...ballerina girl....

though the birthday fairy did indeed find georgia this year, her present from mama and daddy was getting to take ballet classes this year. today was the first day of class. this girl loves some ballet.....here are pictures from the first day of class. too cute!

...things i've learned about cooking....

this weekend. first of all, just because it is an easy recipe doesn't mean it looks anything like the picture in the magazine. since i don't believe in annual birthday parties for my girls, i feel like the LEAST i can do is make a homemade (for real homemade, not just made by me from a box which i still say is homemade) birthday cake AND frosting for my child. here's the picture from the magazine that georgia, with a little guidance, chose:



and it looked like a simple, lovely cake.

it literally took me all afternoon to get it done. how my mother can stand to be in a kitchen all day long and put together three hot meals seven days a week is WAY beyond me. nothing else got done on saturday afternoon. of course, i had two little helpers with me wanting to taste every four seconds!


then, i discovered that (probably because i only make real cakes every so often) i certainly didn't have THREE cake pans to make a three-layer cake. so i decided that it would look just as good with two layers (nope).

another lesson learned is that i lack the skills to look into a mixing bowl and tell which ingredients are lacking to make the cake more moist. had i those skills, the cake wouldn't have tasted like an unsweetened pound cake left out on the counter for a few days.

here was my version of the cake, which the children (most importantly!) found beautiful:



last lesson-- i need to invest in a cake pedestal! i think that must make a world of difference.



here are some birthday pictures from yesterday. we are all on the mend for the most part and were able to have a nice, low-key afternoon celebrating the big 0-5.









at the end of the day, happy girls, tired mama and daddy, and lots of magazine-worthy cake left. delilah is going to get a real treat tonight with her dog food!