All In The Family

Tonight, I got out my Kitchen-Aide, buttermilk, softened butter, eggs, German chocolate...yes, it's birthday cake time again. This weekend, I'm headed to the family abode to celebrate my mom and oldest sister's birthdays. I have been making the birthday cakes for the last few celebrations because I love to bake. This time, my sister requested the cupcakes I made for H's party (Billy's Bakery Vanilla Vanilla), and my mom said she would love a German Chocolate cake.

The weekend we celebrated my dad and niece #2's birthday, I'm sorry to say I punked out and made cakes from a mix. Not this weekend, said I. So, right now my kitchen smells divine as the first round of cakes is baking.

It has been busy, busy, busy over the past month. I have been at H's school for everything from random check-ins at recess to collecting money for a fundraiser and punching cards for a fun physical fitness program that a parent created for kids to participate in during recess a couple days a week.

Now that the play room couldn't be mistaken for a Chernobyl fall-out zone, I hosted the very fist play-date at our house this week that was just for Charlie. I have been having so much fun with him, as H is in school, and have to admit that even though I have a large soft spot for him; he's going to be 'the one'. He is stubborn. I know. My child? Stubborn? Get out!

On to the next. J completed his third half-marathon two weeks ago, and last week I went to Boise to visit my college room-mates and ran in the Barber to Boise 10k with one of them. Before I left, I finished the Serenity blanket, and have scheduled a post for November 7th (after it's given to its intended) so stay tuned. I'm so happy with how it turned out. It's definitely the most complicated pattern I've completed thus far, while being so simple at the same time.

Recent reads include Ape House by Sarah Gruen, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (highly recommend it), and am in the middle of Run Like a Mother (love, love, love and follow them on facebook and their blog) and The Graveyard Book, which is aimed at children 10 and up, but so was Twilight, so hold your comments.

I have discovered how much I love having a dog. He is essentially me in dog form; afraid of the dark, needs to be with people, and has gastric issues that he's not afraid to share with the crowd. Getting crop-dusted by him has become a regular part of my morning coffee routine. Mmm. Good to the last drop.

I'm smack in the middle of a pair of socks (my first with a pattern other than ribbing) for that same patient friend, and next up is the Josie Newsboy, an uber-cute child's version of the Hannah newsboy hat. Both of which I need to complete before I head out to visit my besties in Woouhstuh the first week of November.

I am SO excited to run with my group again, I can't even stand myself. It's been very bittersweet to watch them train for the Cape Cod Marathon for the last four months, being so proud of them, but also knowing I'd be right there with them if I were still in Massachusetts to be swept up in the whirl of comraderie and suspended disbelief. Alas, I am where I am, and happy to be here; time to organize my own Walla-Mamas running group. If Moses won't come to the mountain, right?

Halloween is right around the corner and, of course, I volunteered to head up the party for H's class. I've got visions of sugar cookies and cupcakes dancing in my head. Yes, each child will have little pumpkin cookies to decorate with their own little portioned out ziploc bags of frosting. I. Am. Out. Of. Control. I know.

And, la piece de resistance: Charlie peed in the potty for the first time tonight! M&M's for everyone! (except me, who's smack in the middle of a round of the Game On! diet with my sistahs and best friend)

Whoops, the timer's dinging so that's all the time I have!

Photo of the Josie Newsboy is by Heidi Hennesy of Pepperberry Knits, designer of said pattern who hails from Boise, Idaho. (yay for local artists!)