Valentine's Day Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

Or should I say, Fantastic Bubbles...

Static Electricity Can Be Cute

Ellie the Improver

In this short clip, you can see where we taped the outline of where we plan for new carpet to butt up against new kitchen flooring. After months and months of discussion interlaced with total disregard, we finally sat down one Saturday morning and made a plan. BK/Daddy and I did a lot of pointing and talking and making invisible demarcations with our arms, and Ellie couldn't help but get involved. However, as you know, a toddler's attention span can be short (unless the topic involves fruit snacks), and you will see her first dance inside the taped-off space (her other favorite thing to do within the magic box), then point and talk about the lines like a pro, and then head off to pick up a small bottle of hairspray. Short attention span may be an understatement...

The Best 4-Second Video You'll Ever See

Don't be afraid to turn up the volume...

Rewind to September 21st...

Earlier this fall, on September 21st, our very good friends M&C tied the knot. It was a Sunday evening wedding, sweet & short (emphasis very much on the sweet), with a helluva good party to boot. I was honored to make the wedding cake for them, and I do believe it's the best looking and tasting wedding cake I've done to date. I also made a sheet cake...three layers of almond poppyseed cake with raspberry filling. The wedding cake was layer upon layer of vanilla bean white cake (the vanilla specks were beautiful, but lost to the dim mood lighting in the theater) with homemade plum jam filling. I need to make that cake again. It was really damn good.

Here you see me with M (bride) and C (groom).

Here is the first slice oh-so-gracefully tipping onto the plate,
about to be consumed by the happy couple... But what I really
want you to notice is the striking beauty of the plum jam filling
against the cake. Yeah, baby. I did that.

And here is a nice arty shot. I love this angle. I'd like to take
this opportunity to point out that the bottom tier contains 4 layers of
cake...and the middle and top tiers each contain 5 layers of deliciousness.

I'm done tooting my own horn for now. Soon enough it will be Thanksgiving, the desserts of which I have become the maker (except apple pie...sister Mary can have that, and she does a wonderful job...so good I don't even want to compete). I heard from Dad today that 23 people are expected. Ha! Bring it on.

For Grandma C.

We spent last weekend back home in northern MN. We got to see Nana L. and G'pa M., plus all the aunts and uncles and cousins from BK's side of the family. Little E. obviously had a great time. As a bonus, we also got to spend a little time with my sisters, Alice and Mary, as well as with Grandpa Lindy. Alice's daughter ZeeZee (my nickname for her...) turned ONE last weekend and Ellie and I attended the fun birthday party and brought auntie Marnie and cousin Nat-O along.

For all the fun we had, we missed out on one very important visit. We had made plans with Grandma C. (my mom) to spend Sunday afternoon/evening at her house in the woods, but sadly Grandma C. came down with a bad cold (after clearly overextending herself to prepare for an art show, but then kicking ass and taking names at said show...wait...that's probably not the right lingo to describe such a sophisticated event, but I'm sure Mom will appreciate the props I'm trying to give). Our separate, but related, mothering instincts told us we should bag the visit and aim for Thanksgiving.

Which brings us to this presentation, solely dedicated to Grandma C. from Ellie. I must fully disclose that I actually filmed this a couple weeks ago, but the sentiment remains.

We love you, Grandma, and we can't wait to give you big kisses!
MMMMWWWWAAAHH!

p.s. I'd like to point out that the wall behind Ellie has since been painted in full with that greenish color, a Behr paint called "Garden Path." Gotta thank Mom for that inspiration.

p.p.s. Yes, I'm patting myself on the back for my first successful video post.

The Fleeting Moment...

I know it's been awhile since our last post, but I think our single reader is most likely too busy to notice (Hi Marnie!). If we have other readers, please leave us a note. Otherwise it is much too easy to ignore this blog.

My purpose for logging on this fine, blustery, overcast October afternoon is to report that my not-so-little baby fell asleep in my arms today. We offered her a nap a couple hours ago, sure she would take the opportunity (I peeked in and she was still, and thus I assumed, asleep). But noooo. I had to rescue her from the apparent hell that is her crib. After some time in front of the football game and a snack of apple slices and tiny little teddy grahams (mmmm, those little bears are tasty), I perched her on my lap in order to put on her sweater and jacket for a fun foray out to the yard. Instead of reaching her little arm out to help me get the sweater on, she simply laid her head on my chest and relaxed. Awwww! So I wrapped my arms around her and we rocked gently for a few minutes on the sofa. I figure it's always better to err on the side of an attempted nap, so we cruised down to her room where I offered her a binky and the blankie, plopped into the rocker, and there she fell asleep.

What came to me, after the initial thought that I better just sit there for a few minutes and soak it in, was how this was so unlike the little baby that used to fall asleep in my arms. Nursing to sleep was always the precedent, and that's several months past. This 15-month old girl was facing me, straddling my lap like little kids will do, with her cheek to my chest. We cuddled for some time, and as I was rearranging her (and me) in order to stand up and lay her down in the crib, I caught a glimpse of her face. Sweet, relaxed, innocent, protected, loved...all the things I saw would take days to scribe. But what I saw most was something I haven't seen for a long time, because we've been busy watching her grow and change, and those are things that are easy to get caught up in as the days go by and we are in a constant state of amazement and wonder. What I saw was my baby girl, as a baby again. Any mother understands the slight tug and yearn backwards to when your baby was really a baby. I'm happy to say that I have a picture from when my baby was really a baby, and it's a perfect representation of the face I saw within her 15-month old face just a few minutes ago. She was about 10 weeks old when I took this picture: