Birthday Cake Blunder

I thought I was being oh so smart when I started backing Tansley's birthday cake last night. First of all, I would be able to do it with out the "help" of the children, second it would have plenty of time to cool over night so that I could decorate it in the morning.

Tansley wanted a beehive cake. No problem I have this glass measuring bowl that I have frequently baked cakes in and have never had a problem....until last night. I did everything like I usually do. Used the same recipe, baked it for the same amount of time, poked it with my really long cake poker to test if it was done. And yet when it was time to turn the cake out...something was wrong. The cake was not coming out of the bowl. It always comes out easily, what is going on? So I stick a knife up the side...and then I realize that the bottom is not cooked all the way...and out comes the cake. Not only is the bottom not baked...neither is the middle, and now I have a volcano cake...and a big mess.

So I put the volcano cake in a cake pan and put it back in the oven to finish baking it. It was 11pm and I didn't want to start a new cake. The only thing that I can think of was that I used different margarine than I usually do. I don't know. But I really didn't want to try it again this morning. When Tansley saw the Volcano sitting on the counter she asked what happened to her cake. I told her I had a problem last night. I asked her if I could make her a different cake. She said that she wanted a flower cake. I can do that. I went to the grocery store and bought different margarine to make a new cake...a square cake and cupcakes. and this is what the final project looks like. Oh yes, I have some butterflies on wires to stick in it to make it look like they are flying around it.

A Sunday Walk

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and evening, so we decided that we should go for a nice Sunday stroll. We drove down to the new train bridge, then walked across the train bridge. The girls were a bit freaked out at first because you could see through the grate down to the river below. They however got over that quickly and were running back and forth.

We then headed down to throw rocks in the river...the highlight of the evening. 

It was such a wonderful time together.

Simple.
Pleasant.
Muddy.
Dirty.
Enjoyable.
It was perfect.

Man, aren't these kids cute

And this is one good lookin' man

She's at it again

It was a beautiful spring day today! I got lots of yard work done and enjoyed being out in the sun. Kathryn decided that she wanted to set up her Kool-aid stand, but we didn't have any Kool-aid. She was really bummed out...but only for a moment. She is a problem solver. The next thing I know, she has set up her table and laid out all the rocks that she has painted. She has made flags out of paper and put them on sticks and stuck them all down the grass to direct people to the rock sale. She had made signs for the table that advertised how much the different sized rocks would cost(5 or 10 cents).I wish that I would have taken a moment out of my yard work to take a picture because it was really quite a setup. She and Tansley yelled out "COME GET YOUR PAINTED ROCKS" and "ROCKS FOR SALE" over and over again. I could hear them all the way on the other side of the house where I was planting out the pumpkins that I had started inside a few weeks ago. After quiet sometime the two of them come running around the house in excitement. They had made their first sale. They kept up their call and more and more sales poured in. People stopped as they drove by and bought their rocks. The neighbour boys(who are about 2 years older than Kathryn) even came to buy some rocks(and tease), and then they came back with a wagon full of  biggish rocks for the girls to paint(and teased some more). So then of course I had to get paints out for them to replenish what they had sold. When it was time to clean up they had made $3.10. They were really excited about that. Kathryn commented "it can't get any better than this!". So I guess they had a productive afternoon. As did I. One more day of clean up and it should be all done and we'll start on the planting.

A Spring Snowman...wait shouldn't that be Spring Chicken?

No chickens here....just snow and a crazy kid to make that snow into one last snowman before spring really arrives.

Good bye to one of my favorites, at least for now.

My mom just called me to let me know that my Great Uncle Ross Paxman passed away. I loved this man. He was as dear to me as his brother, my Grandpa. I have so many fond memories of summers spent together. Uncle Ross and his wife Amy live in Washington. They would regularly come up to Canada and spend much of July at my Grandparents farm and in Waterton. They were often around for the 24th of July Celebrations in Glenwood, AB. I remember as a kid, spending some summers down at their place. As I remember it, they lived on the side of a mountain. Their backyard was a forest, there was this big huge boulder that was covered in moss that we loved to climb on. My dad has pictures of us kids sitting on the rock. I wish I had them to share with you. There were always big slugs slithering around on the wet ground of the forest. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. At least that is how my childhood memory recalls it.
Uncle Ross was funny. He was an airline pilot, and as a kid I always thought that was so cool...that HE was so cool because he was a pilot. I loved to hear him laugh. I loved to hear him sing. He had one of the greatest smiles. It may have been that his laugh, his voice and his smile were so much link my grandpa's. The summer before I got married I worked in Waterton. It had been a number of years since I had seen Uncle Ross and his crew, probably since Grandpa's funeral. My grandma called me up that July to tell me that Uncle Ross and family were camping in Waterton that week. At the first chance I got, I headed over to the camp ground to find them. I didn't know where they were camping, I was counting on my memory to help me find their motor home. I remember that it was a cool overcast day, it had been raining but it had stopped for the time being. I love the smell of Waterton in the rain. That fresh piney slightly earthy smell. As I wondered through the campground I saw him from I distance. His back was turned to me, but I knew it was him because he stood just like my grandpa. Grandpa had passed away 4 and half years earlier. My breath caught, and I had to hold back tears(much as I am doing as I type this). I paused for just a moment and then continued on, anxious to go give him a hug. That Sunday in church Uncle Ross was sitting behind me, and as we sung the hymn I could hear his voice loud and clear and he sounded just like my grandpa, again it made me cry. But it felt so good to feel so close to my grandpa again.
They have come to visit each summer since then. And it has been so great to have that connection. To have those memories. To laugh and play and sit out in the sun together. He will be dearly missed by many. But my grandpa is with his little brother again. What a great reunion that would have been, but one day it will be my turn to also join in that great reunion. But I have so much to do still to prepare. So today I am sad that Uncle Ross has passed on, but I am so happy that he is free from pain and is with my Grandpa again. I wish I were poetic, like a blogging friend of mine, I would love to be able to write a beautiful poem to finish off this post.

does this look right to you?

Today is Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Do you see anything wrong in these pictures?

Out our front door

Kathryn on her way to school

2nd Ave and 4th St NE

Isn't April....THE END OF APRIL supposed to look more like this? 

a blah day

It all started last night when I woke up to the sound of my oldest crying. I went to see what was wrong. Her tummy hurt. I sat with her awhile to calm her...and then she headed to the bathroom to throw up...a lot. When I felt she was sufficiently soothed, I tucked her back in and went back to bed only to be awaken not to long after by my youngest one screaming. So I went to see what was wrong, sure that I would find her covered in her own puke. But I didn't. So I just sat with her a while in the rocking chair until she had really fallen back to sleep. I put her back in her bed and again returned to my own. Thankfully the rest of the night went undisturbed but I was exhausted in the morning.
Morning...another story, not any better. It's snowing again, it's April 27th and it is snowing yet again. I kept Kathryn home from school, don't want her puking on anybody. Haven't got anything done today..no sewing, no cleaning, no laundry. Nothing, except a little bit of napping and some orders attended to on line. It's been snowing all day. Good thing it's not real winter snow or we'd have at least a foot of it. It's been hovering around freezing all day so the snow hasn't accumulated much, simply melted into the ground. I guess the farmers are happy, heard them talking at church yesterday that they needed at least another inch of rain. Me...I'm tired of snow. It is spring after all, can't the moisture at least come in the form of rain?