The Big Cupcake Cake!

For my birthday my sister and brother in-law got me the Big Top Cupcake

 They have been waiting for me to make this for some time, and since my mom's birthday/mother's day was

coming up I decided to give it a try.  I used 2 boxes of mix to jazz it up , and the directions said it would make it larger, and my family likes leftovers.

After it cooled I put them together to see what it was going to look like, and it wasn't quite as large as I thought it would be.  Surprisingly, it fed all of us and some left over. I used devils food for the top and golden vanilla for the bottom.  I had enough batter left over to make 15 cupcakes!  Next time I will just use 1 box. 

After it cooled all the way I got my cans of frosting and food coloring out and tried to decorate it.  I am not very good at decorating, but I can sure make something taste good.  But its just for my Mom and I think she would appreciate anything I bake for her.  Here is what my decorating skills look like.  Just remember I have a 20 month old little boy who likes to get into everything, so it makes it a bit harder to take my time to make it perfect.

And there you have it.  My first attempt at the Big Top Cupcake.  Are you surprised this blog entry was not about Evan?!  Don't worry my next one might just be.

San Antonio

This year for Easter, we took a little trip to San Antonio. We got a really great price on a hotel that was right on the Riverwalk. When we arrived we took in a little visit to the zoo. It was really hot out that day and parking was up a big hill under the highway. Can you say FUN! So we saw some of the things there like this awesome bald eagle.
Then we headed for the kid spot. They had a little beach thing for kids, and Jasen let Evan loose and he sits right down in the water. He got soaked! But he had a lot of fun cooling off and then running away from us because he need dry clothes. Luckily there were fish he could look at while we got him in some dry clothes before we headed for the hotel. We had a great view of the city/Alamo and they had really great service.

The next day we went to Sea World of course. We got there 30 minutes after they opened and we headed to the opposite side of the park where no one was because they were all at the Shamu show. It was really nice and quiet and got to watch the sea lions and otters eat fish for breakfast and we were the 2nd in line to feed the birds. That was the best part! We paid a rip off price of $4 for about a spoon full of nectar for feeding. The birds just fly on you and you can hold them and they nibble at your fingers to feed them.
After feeding the birds we watched the seals and otters eat, took in a few of the shows and saw the penguins where we got a family photo.After our Sea World trip, we decided we would eat on the Riverwalk for some nice ambiance. Our hotel concierge recommended a couple of places and we decided on one two blocks away. Of course we got lost and a couple minute walked turned into 20 minutes, and a little kid who only wanted to eat goldfish crackers. We did have some nice and tasty margaritas to end our trip. Luckily for us the rain held off until it was time to head back to Fort Worth!

Go away Allergies

Since the weather has been so crazy, both Jasen and Evan have been having really bad allergies. After a couple months of taking medication and getting better, Jasen came down with bronchitis. Then, Evan caught a cough and that turned into asthma like symptoms. Evan was prescribed his own breathing treatment machine and steroids and antibiotics, and no going outside. Of course this would happen when all the snow has gone and it has turned 80 degrees. I feel so bad, he stares out the back window and says "outside", but he can't go. He is a trooper and sits well with his little mask on and Jasen is letting him have all the juice and popsicles he wants. I'm just glad the snow is gone!

New Camera with Video!

My wonderful husband bought me a new camera and it takes pretty good video. Evan was eating some cantaloupe and I tried out the video and this is what happened.

Duck Pond

It was finally nice weather out, even though it was cloudy. We were running some errands which brought us to Downtown Fort Worth, so we took Evan to the Trinity Park duck pond. There were lots of ducks, but the birds would go swooping into the pond and the ducks would fly away. But Evan had fun shaking the chain fence and picking up leaves. Jasen got to take a lot of photos of Evan running around and playing in the leaves. So glad its almost Spring!

Finger Paints

After reading my 16 month old email, it told me that babies Evans age would know how to hold a crayon and use finger paints. The recipe was simple; 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of cold water, mix well, separate and add food coloring. I had red, green, blue and yellow and laid out some white paper and put out some newspaper for the excess mess. I set out the bowls of paints and showed Evan what to do.
Evan stuck his hand into the paints and it dripped on the paper and was off to a good start.

Then he got into more of the colors and just mushed his hand around and mixed colors, still nothing really painted on the white paper.

Evan likes to stack and pour things out so after he was done sticking his hand in the paint, he started to pour all the paints into the big bowl and then stacked the smaller bowls into the big bowl, over and over, and over.

Naturally after all the paint was in the big bowl and the project was coming to an end, Evan picked up the big bowl and dumped it over. We didn't end up with a masterpiece, but he got messy, and had a lot of fun.

I think the finger paint recipe needs a little tweaking to make it a bit thicker, but as a first try it was a success. Hopefully next time we can get something to hang on the fridge.

Welcome 2010

We actually had a white Christmas this year! We braved the icy/snowy roads to spend Christmas Eve in Dallas with Jasen's family and the usual 45 minute drive took us 2 and half hours! We really should have turned around after we slid on the ice after we turned the corner in our neighborhood, but we safely made it there. Evan was not feeling well but he put on a brave face to enjoy opening up all his Christmas goodies. Here is a picture of Evan enjoying some of the snow we had. He didn't like it much at first, but after a few minutes he picked some up and even ate a small snowball he made.

The week after Christmas, we got another round of snow, it didn't last as long, but the sun was out and Evan was feeling much better. This one photo is my favorite, plus he was in his little track suit my mom found at a garage sale, so 80's.

This last picture is Evan in his daddy's Halloween wig. We were getting ready to head over to my dad's for a tasty turkey New Years Eve dinner, when Evan found the wig laying in the closet. He also loves shaking the tic tacs.

Happy New Years!