Birthdays aplenty (and a link to a GREAT dino cake idea!)

Late June and early July are busy around our household, full of cakes, cupcakes, presents, pool parties, and lots of fun. Here's a rundown of our 2010 summer birthday season:

This is what 4 looks like:

Monkey is all decked out on his birthday, ready for his first day of summer program. (all of a sudden, he thinks wearing his hat sideways is cool - we let him, just because he's so cute) He was late getting to summer program because he had to open his presents first...

.....and play (quite vigorously) with the foam swords in Mommy and Daddy's bed!

(I feared for my camera - and my life during this epic battle!) That hairy arm holding the other sword is Mac's, not mine - I felt like I needed to clear that up!

This is what 7 looks like:

.... all hopped up on a sugar high at her "school friends" birthday party. We held the party on the last day of school so I could just walk them all across the street from the school to our backyard for some fun.

And here's a good dose of what 35 looks like:

Mac is now 35 years old - now on the slippery downward slope towards 40! We had a great steak dinner with salad, corn on the cob and potato skins, and topped it off with a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. mmm mmm mmmmmmm, it was YUMMY!!!

I searched Allrecipes.com for a carrot cake and icing recipe, and I found these: (it turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you!)

Cream cheese frosting recipe

Carrot Cake recipe - I left out the walnuts, although I do love them. Sweetie just doesn't like finding "crunchy things" in her cake. I also cut back the oil and replaced 1/3 cup with some applesauce. I would have used more applesauch and less oil, but I didn't have as much applesauce in the house as I thought I did (unless I wanted to get into the single serve lunch pack style ones!)

Mac was pretty impressed that I made the whole cake from scratch - I usually make other cakes with the mixes - they just come out so well, and are so quick. There's lots left in the fridge, and I'm looking forward to another piece for dessert tonight! (and then I'll have to play my weekly 2-pitch baseball game... I'll be more sluggish around the bases than usual!)

The "Extended Family" Birthday Party:
Our kids' birthdays are 5 days apart (well, 3 years, 5 days, to be exact!), so we usually combine the birthday party we throw for our extended family (hey, only feed them once and get it over with!) This year, we planned it far in advance because we had to work around our camping, and other people's vacations. When it got closer to the date, it turned out the World Cup final game was going to be on that day as well! AND, being of Dutch descent, there was no way we'd be missing the game! So... we turned it into a World Cup/Birthday party. We went all hillbilly and brought the tv out on the deck, so we wouldn't miss a thing. (Hillbilly 'cuz we also have a mini-fridge on our deck - not a streamlined, modern one, it's brown, with fake woodgrain on the door. Yeah, it's awesome) We have a pvr, so I told everyone we could pause the game for presents and cake, if need be! (so thoughtful, huh?)
We invited everyone to wear ORANJE and cheer on the Dutch national team. Mac celebrated the event with a Heineken and his "fan" shirt. (he's of Scottish descent, but was willing to cheer on the Dutch since he realized his kids are 1/2 dutch - what a dork!) I think he was willing to do it because I'm the boss and I told him to! ;)

In the end, the Dutch did not win, which was a bit of a letdown, but the party had to go on....

Both Sweetie and Monkey were presented with Dutch jerseys to wear, but by the end of the day, Monkey ended up in this Transformers shirt. (He must have been trying to "masculinize" a bit, since Sweetie is painting his nails here - although the nail polish was blue - that's ok for boys, right?)

So here's what I REALLY wanted to show all of you out in blogland:

Monkey's "Dino Dig" Cake!
My monkey is sooooo into Dinosaurs! He tells everyone he meets that when he grows up, he wants to be a "Fossil Digger". He's THAT kid who can rhyme off the names of all the dinosaurs - yeah, all the oddball ones that no one has heard of, like the Corythosaurus. On my hunt to find just the right dinosaur cake idea, I came across this one on Disney's Family Fun Magazine website. I knew it was perfect for our future fossil digger! It's super easy, and can be modified to your own taste, as I did. It originally called for chocolate graham cracker pieces all around the edges (just like jagged rocks), but I couldn't find any, so I made T-rex teeth out of leftover sugar cookie dough to line the outside. Please pardon the messy icing job around the edges, it was decorated after midnight the night before (as most of my cakes are made around that time!) He thought the cake was AWESOME. I thought so too (if I may say so myself!).

So, tell me, how do you celebrate birthdays at your house?

Birthdays aplenty!

Ok, so I hit "Enter" as I was making a title on my next blog post. And, it published. So, just call this a little teaser for my upcoming post (probably of the same title!)

50 things about me

Call it a filler, call it what you will, here's another "get to know me" post:

1. Many people pronounce my name SOH-nya rather than SAW-nya. I'll answer to anything.
2. I love to cook. My mom had me making dinner probably starting from 8th grade. Within a few years, I considered myself a better cook than she.
3. I love to travel. Sadly, I haven't been on a plane for 6 years, and haven't been outside of North America in 13 years. I finally got a passport last week after my first one expired 12 years ago.
4. I still dream in portuguese from time to time - I was an exchange student in Brazil when I was 17 years old (16 years ago!) and became quasi-fluent in Brazilian Portuguese.
5. I can barely understand the Acores dialect of Portuguese - far too much slang,and it seems like they don't open their mouth when they speak.
6. I live in a small town that I used to make fun of when I was a teen - it was the next hick-town over. Now I love it here!
7. I'm a self-taught sewist. My mom sewed clothing for me all the time, but she says I never showed interest in learning, so she didn't teach me. Thanks to the internet, I'm well on my way to learning the ins and outs.
8. My teenage dream "when I grew up" was to become a flight attendant. Once I went to college for Travel and Tourism, I didn't want to become a "glorified waitress".
9. I never reached my full potential educationally. I was a serial "underachiever" in school. I had the brains to do very well, but the drive to do "okay". I got high marks in the classes I really liked, and relaxed through other classes, achieving marks in the high 70's.
10.I'm a procrastinator. I do my best work on short notice. Unfortunately, with house cleaning, the procrastination goes far too long, and things end up stowed in strange places when we plan to have people over.
11.On the subject of house cleaning - I suck at it. Always have, hopefully someday I'll improve!
12.My first car was a white 1988 Ford Tempo GLS. It had a red interior, and a sweet spoiler on the back. It had power lumbar seats, and at one time, a pretty kickin' stereo. It was standard, I learned to drive it on my way home from picking it up.
13.I still miss driving "stick". Sometimes it gets boring with an automatic, although I don't miss trying to change gears with food in my hand!
14.I was a tour guide at African Lion Safari - a popular safari-style tourist attraction in Southwestern Ontario. It was a great summer, although I could've done with less images of baboons having sex on the tour!
15.I grew up going to Christian Elementary schools, which meant small classes, lots of relatives, and most of us of Dutch heritage (Christian Reformed demonination).
16. I grew up having 2 sets of grandparents, and 1 set of great grandparents. I still have all 4 grandparents living!
17.I am a child affected by divorce.
18.My father travelled extensively for work from the time I was 12 years old. I wish he had been around more.
19.I'm the oldest of 3, with 2 younger brothers, and my husband is the younges of 3, with 2 older sisters.
20.My absolute favourite colour is turquoise. Really, any colour related to blue (from green to purple) makes me happy. Luckily, these are the colours that look best on me!
21.I'm a Coca-cola addict. I will not, can not drink Pepsi. If I don't have a Coke by 2pm every day, I get the shakes and a headache. Hardcore addiction!
22.I drank Coke for breakfast in college. Coincidentally, that's when cellulite started appearing on my thighs.
23.I have a good 50lbs to lose to be in a weight range I'd be comfortable with. I'm not looking for 17-year old skinniness, just healthier and way less "padding".
24.I grew up camping in the summer, and know that it did me good to sleep in a tent, bait my own hook, and make my own fun with my cousins on the campsite. I still LOVE to camp!
25.My favourite meal has always been spaghetti with meatsauce. I requested it every year for my birthday dinner. Even though my tastes have expanded, I still love spaghetti.
26.I'm a dog lover. We got my childhood dog when I was 5, and she lived until after I came home from Brazil (I was 17), she died shortly after. Her name was Fifi. (My dad named her, don't blame me!)
27.I love reality tv. I watched the original Survivor back in 2000, and was sucked in! Even though it's getting old, I still HAVE to watch it!
28.I was a night time thumb sucker until the age of 9. My mom threatened to tie a ruler to my arm so I couldn't bend at the elbow and get the thumb in my mouth.
29.An overbite runs in the family, so naturally, I was the one to be blessed with it. I had a retainer (dental appliance) as a kid, and HATED it! It was lost in many a McDonald's garbage can!
30.I have a terribly addictive personality. When I start something, I am REALLY into it... almost annoyingly so! Some things stay, others fall by the wayside, and I'm off to the next new thing!
31.Of all the languages I speak (english, french, spanish, portuguese), I never learned Dutch, but do understand it quite well when my grandparents and mom speak it. Maybe someday I'll learn (perhaps my next addiction?)
32.I've known my best friend from the day I was born. We are 5 days apart, and our parents were friends. We didn't actually become best friends until 9th grade, when we went to different schools.
33.I'm a freak when it comes to my memory. HORRIBLE short term memory, but a GREAT long term memory. I can't remember what I came into a room for, but I remember the layout of our home when I was 4 years old.
34.My favourite music era is the 90's. It hold so many memories, and there were so many fun songs!
35.I'm a night owl. I often stay up until 1 or 1:30am. Unfortunately, I enjoy my sleep, and don't enjoy mornings!
36.I hit the snooze button for about an hour before I am fully awake and aware enough to know that it's morning. I can hit snooze, fall back to sleep and have a dream before the alarm goes off again!
37.I'm a leader when and where I'm comfortable, but can be insecure and have a feeling of inadequacy if I'm a late joiner in a group.
38.I'm horrible at keeping in touch with people. Thanks to Facebook, I have rediscovered people from elementary school, highschool, rotary exchange, etc. It has made the interactions so much easier and more frequent.
39.I only have 1 fallopian tube, after having an ectopic pregnancy in 2005. I often think about the little one we never met...
40.I would gladly go through more pregnancies, labours, births and baby phase if I can trade in the kids when they turn 2. Unfortunately, I kind of get attached to them, and wouldn't be able to trade them in... ;)
41.Country music makes my ears bleed. Not really, but almost! I admit to singing along with the "mainstream" country that plays on the pop stations, but if it mentions tractors, checking for ticks, or dogs dying, I'm outta there!
42.I once had to go to traffic school after getting too many speeding tickets. It was a time in my life where I did a lot of driving to school, to work, to visit my boyfriend, and all the while, driving FAST. I haven't really slowed down since then, just apparently have a couple horseshoes stuffed up somewhere.
43.I'm a loud talker.
44.I sing in the car like no one's listening. Unfortunately, my kids usually are!
45.I've always wanted to sign up for eHarmony, just to see who they'd match me up with! Happily married, just curious!
46.I am a terrible budgeter, spends when I have money, and scrimps until next payday.
47.I'd love to work on my impatient nature.
48.I'd also love to get to church more often and be a witness to what I truly believe. Even though I don't attend as much as I should, I still believe!
49.I love grocery shopping - I wander each and every aisle - just to see what there is to see!
50.I can't believe I finished this list... all while watching tv, drinking Coke, being impatient with my kids, and procrastinating instead of cleaning my house!

What are some of the things that make you who you are?