Catching up -- a few FO's

I haven't been knitting too much -- my crafty time has been completely taken up with embroidery. I have this fantasy of making everyone a set of dishtowels for Christmas. I did finish a couple of baby hats before class this week; here is Alex modeling one of them:

I made a pumpkin hat for Baby Paul, but Tommy took that one home for Alex, as well. So I cast on for another one this morning. I'm using Lion Brand Wool, and hoping it's not too scratchy for the babies' heads.

And a couple of recent cakes. This golf ball cake was for Jordan ("Bear Hug") and Becky's rehearsal dinner. I found a picture on the internet and tried to copy it, and yes, I did have another cake tragedy on this one -- I thought I had it figured out, sat down to watch ER and when I went back to the kitchen, the ball had fallen off of the lawn, even though I had used 3 dowel rods. Yikes. Major re-working and a lot more grass! (I don't know why I post these cakes -- I am so afraid of turning up on Cakewrecks; that site is supposed to be for professional cake tragedies, but those cakes seem pretty amateur to me!)

This cake was for Griff's 2nd birthday:

I think this was my fastest decorating ever -- Griff's party was on the day Paul was born, and I had exactly one hour to get it done. I guess it's not too bad for a sleep deprived decorator.

On the kindergarten snack front, things are going better -- they are actually eating the snacks and looking forward to "special treats" as Eduardo says. These fancy biscuits were for the letter A:

I made haystack candy (crispy Chinese noodles, peanut butter and butterscotch chips) and formed them into nests with white M&M eggs for the letter N, M&M cookies for M (of course) and yesterday, I took in inch worms and donut holes for the letter I (get it? The holes were the dots on the lower case i.) My immediate thought was ice cream, but we have to save that for when we study the long i sound -- this week was the short sound. Great for spelling, difficult for snacks.

Peace.

Sweet 100

I had thought about doing that popular blog thingie, "The Omnivore's Hundred", which listed 100 foods which "every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." Even if Clay (who will try anything in any country at least once) helped, I don't think we could have made a very good dent on that list. So, I was reading cakespy, and saw their Sweet 100 -- much more fun! Here is goes!

How many have you tried? If you'd like, feel free to follow the same guidelines:
1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten--or make them a different type color.
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat. (3A) I made everything I have ever made pink)
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.

Also, on cakespy, they have links to almost all the sweets, so you can look up anything you don't know about; I have not had/made macarons like the ones listed, just the kind of macaroons you make with coconut and a can of sweetened condensed milk. But, I found that I have had kulfi (at our local Indian restaurant) and Concha (at one of the Guadalupe celebrations)
5) Optional: Post a comment at cakespy linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar(also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie(sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls)
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar (I want to try this. SOON!)
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse (technically no, but I have made enough cream puffs to last a lifetime!)
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstachen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

Peace, love and sweets.

Alex's Baptism

Alex was baptized yesterday after Mass at St. B, by Deacon Bill, a good friend of the Anderson Family. He was so sweet through the whole thing, and didn't even cry. Alex's godparents are Adam's sister, Amy, and Scott, their brother-in-law and Clay's broomball teammate.

Nate and Will got in a little trouble for playing in the baptismal pool. (I had to remind Will it was holy water.) So Nate prayed about it.

After, there was a big party at the Anderson's new house on the lake. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time. Maggie and Baby Paul were able to come; that made the day even more special.

Alex and his favorite uncle

Alex's cake

Peace.

Race for the Cure

Last Saturday:

It was a beautiful day. 10,00 people walked or ran, and a half million dollars was raised.

Carly, Karen and Kim

Sharon and Paula

Kim receiving her Survivor Medal

Will ran the race in 29 minutes. Pretty good for a wrestler, I think.

After the race, we all went to Bob Evans for breakfast, and then Sharon, Dave, Griffin, Will and I went to Huber's Orchard for the afternoon.

Griff and Sharon on the Mountain SlideIt was fun, but really crowded, and our car overheated on the way home. Thanks to Dave, and a kind man whose driveway we had pulled in to, all was well. (Clay was in Ohio, visiting his mom and getting ready to run the Towpath Marathon Sunday. He did well for the first half, but then started feeling icky, and walked the final 11 miles. Then, on the way home Monday, he had a blow out around Columbus, OH, and almost crashed. Very scary. I was never so glad to see him home.)

This Saturday is a beautiful day, as well, but not so much fun -- I have to play the funeral for a dear man and friend of our dad's.

Then, we have a giant catering job this evening -- wedding for 250 -- that we have been preparing all week for. Tomorrow, Alex is being baptized -- Clay is already working on baking the cake. What a good guy. We also celebrate Carly's 11th birthday tomorrow evening.

I'll try to post about all the festivities, if I can stay awake long enough tomorrow evening!

Peace.

Baby Pictures

Holly took these beautiful pictures of Paul last week.

Peace

Since it is October 1,

we interrupt the knitting, grandchildren, and general babble found on this blog to encourage you to spend a few minutes loving your breasts (or those near and dear to you.) Do a self-exam. Make an appointment for a mammogram. Walk in the Race for the Cure or the Avon 3-Day. Make a donation. Buy something pink. Wear something pink.

And do this: Join the Army of Women. I did today.

And if you do something -- anything -- about/for breast cancer this month, leave a comment here, and I'll put your name in the hat to win a this basket full of pink things, including a embroidered pillow case and a knit band ball dishcloth. (That's my first pillowcase ever --pink ribbons for breast cancer and bluebirds for my mom. I am now officially addicted to embroidery!)
Today is also the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, whose mother, like mine, died of breast cancer. Join me in praying that no more moms have to die of breast cancer, no more daughters have to be frightened of breast cancer and little pink ribbons become dusty old antiques.

Peace.