"The Death Star is fully armed and operational!"

Here are the photos I promised of the amazing cake my mom made for Jer's birthday!
Remember the light saber cake from last year? This one kept with the Star Wars theme.... the Death Star!


That whole cake is edible! My mom made the fondant herself, and it was so yummy. The Death Star (how do you bake a round-like-a-basketball cake, anyways?!) was chocolate with peanut butter filling. The sky/galaxy cake underneath was the opposite. It was delicious, but boy, it sure was hard to cut into that beautiful cake. I made sure to take lots of pictures before I got out the knife!

Here are my handsome boys (and a gnome).


The candles all aflame.


Making a wish. ("I wish I was a real Jedi" I'm sure!)


Thanks for the perfect cake, Mom! :)

Changing subjects, I put my back out on Sunday! I don't even have a great story to go along with the injury. It happened while I was sleeping. Figures! I haven't been able to work this whole week, and I've been in so much pain I'm limited to laying on the couch all day. The only time I get up is to get Kade to and from school. Luckily my guys have been taking great care of me this week, and I think without Jer's constant checking to make sure I'm resting, I'd have damaged my back even further.

I guess my diagnosis is "Back Spasms". I've been going to physical therapy and the chiropractor, but my pain hasn't really decreased much at all. Hopefully my back starts to heal soon, because I am so sick of being banned to the couch! I keep thinking of all the things I should be doing (custom orders to finish, housework, etc), feeling guilty that Jer has been working all day and then has to come home and work more (although that's what I usually do every day!), and I just feel useless, bored, and frustrated. You'd think it would be kind of like a vacation! I guess if I wasn't in constant pain, it would be enjoyable for a while. But I'm the kind of person who likes to be something useful!

OK, I'm done complaining, but seriously... my back better get well soon or I'm going to go crazy! I wish I could bring my computer over to the couch, I'd blog-surf all day... now that sounds like fun! :)

Boys can craft, too!!!

I had a conversation with another mom the other day, about teaching our kids how to sew, embroider, and just be crafty in general. This other mom was a bit afraid that teaching these things to her young son would somehow make him less boyish. It's mostly the sewing, I think, that had her scared. She wondered what other kids would think of him if they knew he sewed, and if they would make fun of him for it. I started talking to her about a project Kade just started on, and she thought it was actually really cute!

Personally, I think that if a guy can sew, that's awesome!! Kudos to him. It definitely doesn't make a guy (or a little boy) more girly. I mean, it's the same deal with girls that can build things like bunk beds and kitchen tables. Why should one type of art be looked upon as something only guys do, or only girls do?

I'd like to let Kade express himself however he wants to, whether it be shooting hoops, scoring goals, painting, singing, anything... whatever makes him happy! Right now, he REALLY wants to take swimming lessons. He's so proud that he knows how to hold his breath under water, and wants to learn more. He's also interested in martial arts, and we might put him in some classes at some point. We read an article in Family Fun magazine about building tiny tree houses, and he is so looking forward to doing that as a project this summer.

Another thing he is excited about doing right now is sewing! And boy, there is probably not a more boyish project than this. He decided himself that he wanted to make a Batman plush. He drew the design all by himself.


I enlarged the pattern a bit. Then he cut it out and pinned it to the felt.


I was super impressed by the pinning- what perfect placement! One in each limb, and look at the eyeballs...


After cutting out the felt (I helped around the corners), we'll do another one, pin them together, and he'll hand sew around the outside with embroidery thread. Then he can stuff it and sew the opening closed. Final touches will be adding the belt, eyes, and mouth. We haven't gotten that far yet, but I'll post pictures when it's done.



I think it's adorable, and I'm happy he's learning something that I love to do. It's great for exercising his fine motor skills, and his creativity. It's going to be such a sweet keepsake to look back on some day in the future. Even if he grows out of his sewing interests, it sure is fun for now!



*Oh, as soon as I upload all the new pictures from my camera, I have to show you the amazing Star Wars cake my mom made for Jer this year!! Check back for photos... =c)

Kade and the Sock Monkey Factory

I have been super busy the past couple weeks in my one-person sock monkey factory. It is a happy, magical place, mostly, except when something (i.e. tripping over remote controlled R2D2) unexpected happens and arms, tails, ears, and bodies go flying everywhere. Luckily no important body parts (are there any unimportant ones??) were lost, and all the sock monkeys were able to be put together without any missing pieces. Here are a few of them:





Those were all custom orders! I am almost done with two more, that I haven't taken photos of yet- one for my nephew's baby shower this weekend, and one to (finally!) put in the shop. Besides that, there are quite a few more in the beginning stages, waiting to be stuffed and sewn!

Sock monkeys take a lot of work to make, at least the way I make them (I am very focused on little details, and somewhat of a perfectionist...). It's been a little non-stop over here for a while, and I began to realize that when Kade started giving me advice the other day...

Kade- "Lets buy that wooden mailbox toy with all the letters, the same one that my teacher has!"

Me- "Sorry honey, we don't have any extra money in the budget right now for toys."

Kade- "Hmm. Well, maybe you just need to make more sock monkeys then, huh!"

then yesterday:

Me- "Holy cow, that fifteen minute doctor appointment cost five hundred and seventy five dollars!!!"

Kade- "Just make some more sock monkeys, mom! Sheesh! Learn your lesson yet?"

Apparently, sock monkeys are the answer to all my problems. Who knew?! We have been talking to Kade a lot recently about how mommy and daddy have to work so that we can have a place to live, have a car, have food to eat, etc. and it suddenly clicked with Kade that you need money to buy things. Now he isn't quite as upset that daddy can't get home until close to bedtime, because he understands that daddy is working so hard every day for our benefit.

Kade is trying to think of ways to earn money himself, so he can buy that toy he wants. Yesterday when I was using hand sanitizer + magic eraser (hey, it works!) to get rid of dry erase marker stains on the whiteboard, Kade said, "hey... I bet Grandma doesn't know that trick. I bet I can sell it to her!" and then he wiggled his eyebrows and tapped his fingertips together with a very sly giggle. He wants to sell cleaning tips! So funny.

He also made me a video. It's one of his favorite things to do lately. You can tell by watching this that our house really has been a sock monkey factory, at least in his eyes. (Oh, and I don't know why the video looks so strange... I think he was using the Eiffel Tower background effect, which doesn't work too well unless you are in front of a plain wall or sheet or something.)

Anyways, here is a prime example of Kade sweetness:





Now, it's back to the factory for me! I can't wait! :)