Rainbow Cake

I thought I would share how to make the rainbow cake from the previous post.  When Sprite told me she wanted a rainbow cake I searched online and found many different versions of rainbow cakes.  The majority of them were layered cakes, which I’m not fond of making.  Then I found a few recipes for putting all of the colors in two pans and then baking, but I didn’t like how they looked when they were cut, not enough swirl of colors for my taste.  I decided to make a sheet cake with a marbled effect.

Having had very little experience with food dye I consulted Bethany on what is the best dye to use for vibrant colors.  Bethany told me that liquid food dye would be lowest on the vibrant scale, gel dye from the grocery store would be more vibrant, and Wilton’s gel dye from the craft store would be the best route for the most vibrant of color.  I decided on the Wilton’s.

The rest of the cake production was a lot of trial and error.  I’ll break it down for you.  Use two boxes of white cake mix and prepare according to the package directions.  That way you will avoid having to go through the mixing and dyeing process twice, like I did.

Separate the batter into 6 bowls and then dye.  I used about a teaspoon of dye for each color.  For the orange I used the Wilton’s Golden Yellow instead of mixing yellow and red.

 

Then I dropped the batter by spoonfuls into the cake pan that measured 10X14.  I started to feel a lot like Jackson Pollock.  Then I used a butter knife to swirl the colors together for a marbled effect.  Don’t go too crazy with the swirling, unless you want rainbow brown cake.

 Then I baked according to the package directions, but I did have to add about 7 minutes of cook time.  I just kept testing with a toothpick towards the end.  I also did the bounce test to make sure the middle of the cake wasn’t undercooked.

When the cake was fully baked I started to get a little excited.

When it was time to frost I had lots of ideas in my head, but none of the tools to execute.  If I had some piping tips the frosting probably would have been more spectacular.  I used more of the food dye to make rainbow colored frosting that I wanted to decorate more with but had to settle for dots squeezed out of the corner of a baggie.  I kind of like that they turned out looking like that toxic balloon goo we used to make bubbles out of as a kid.  Remember that stuff?  The rainbow arch was a little underwhelming, but Emily and Pix really wanted me to put that on their sister’s cake, so I couldn’t refuse.

When it was finally time to cut the cake I was happy with the outcome.

Celebrate

Mother’s Day weekend collided with Sprite’s 5th Birthday, so that meant that this was Sprite’s 5th Birthday Weekend.  There were moments during this weekend, as I was reading about lots of pedicures and sleeping in late by fellow moms, where I heard the words my OB asked me just before Sprite was born, “Are you sure you want to have your baby on Mother’s Day?”  My answer, “Of course!  It will be fun to share the day!”  I was already 2 kids into mothering, I should have known better.  All kidding aside, I had a lot of fun celebrating my baby’s birthday.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Ice Cream and friends

I dyed. A lot.

Then frosted.

Then served a slice of rainbow.

Which fueled the children so that they could beat a unicorn.

Happy Birthday Moe!

A Comparison

We’ve told all our friends and family that we will be moving in a month.  While we’ve been letting people know where we are moving, the first question that we are asked is how much of a difference the cost of housing is.  A quick example.

This is the house that we are renting right now.  Our rent is $200 dollars more a month that the house that we are moving to.  This home…

is $200 dollars more in rent a month than this home…

 

 

It’s Official

We got the house!  We signed the lease today.  Now I have to do a lot of packing and make final arrangements with the moving company.  Also a long, very long, list of phone calls need to be made to take care of services, utilities, school, etc.  I hope I don’t run out of time!

House

It’s been so long since my last update on our move.  Right now we’re in the process of trying to rent a home.  There is one that we really want, not sure if we’re going to get it.  We’ll most likely know by the end of the week.

I’m starting to panic about packing.

We’ll be finalizing our plans to move with the moving company within the next week.

I’m really excited and a little bit scared.  Once I have more ducks in a row, I’ll feel better.

Wish us luck!

Take the Picture!

I’m guilty of taking lots and lots of pictures.  They aren’t even what most would consider “good” pictures, but I take them.

I can’t help it.  Sometimes I think, “Maybe I should stop taking so many pictures.  Who cares about seeing Sprite and Pix blowing bubbles with the turtle?”

The other day I was catching up with my mom and we started talking about what a great seamstress my aunt was when I was a kid.  She would make really cute clothes for my cousin and I to wear.  My mom started to tell me a story about a superhero cape that my aunt made for my brother when he was around Sprite’s age.  My aunt had gone to the fabric store and picked out a very expensive silk and as the saleslady was cutting it for her she asked my aunt what she was going to make with such a nice fabric.  My aunt answered, “I’m going to make a superhero cape for my nephew”.  The lady snorted and then frowned when she realized my aunt was serious.  My aunt didn’t care.  She’s kind of awesome that way.

My mom went on to tell me that my brother wore that cape all the time.  He wore it until it was tattered and torn.  Then one day he just stopped.  He moved on to a baseball hat and a glove.  I thought this was incredible as I had no memory of this cape and, honestly, couldn’t picture my quiet, mild-mannered brother running around in something so ornate.  I told my mom I had to see a picture of my brother in his cape!  She sighed and said she never took a picture of him wearing it.  How is this possible?  Shrugging of the shoulders.

So I’m going to continue to take pictures with reckless abandon…

…wherever I go, because I’m kind of awesome that way.

April Fool’s Dinner

Meatloaf “cake” Heh.

and Grilled Cheese “sandwich” for dessert

I had so much fun doing this for dinner last night.  The kids were a little stunned, but once they figured out that everything was edible, they were happy with dinner and dessert, haha.

Floating

I have all sorts of things that I could write about, but they are mostly kind of sad and worrisome.  Instead, I’ll share a picture I took today while writing and floating out balloon messages with my girls today.  This is what happens when the kids are bored and you have leftover helium and balloons from a birthday.

You can see the rest of the pictures here

I can’t wait to see if anyone emails us.

Ahhhh-mazing!

 

I just happened upon the  most amazing flavor combination, EVAR.

Skittles and M&Ms.  You read right.  Two amazing candy covered treats put together to make an amazing flavor combination.  Like chocolate covered, highly modified, super sugary fruit!  Be sure to try it out and let me know what you think!

YUM.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet Emily.

Today I was supposed to take the kids to school, pick the kids up from school and meet with friends to celebrate Emily’s birthday at Farrell’s.

Instead I…

Woke up at 6 a.m. to check Pix’s temp.  It was still high so I worried a lot while I packed Emily’s birthday cookies that I baked the night before so she could share with her classmates.

Worked Out.

Sent Emily off to school.

Took a shower and called the pediatrician.  Pediatrician’s office said they had no appointments available, they would have the doctor call me back.

Got Molly ready for school.  Walked her to school.

Received call from pediatrician’s office, they were fitting Audrey in at 3:10.

Realized that Farrell’s probably wouldn’t work out.  Decided to decorate the house and planned on taking Emily and her friends to Yogurtland after school.

Ran to Target for decorations.

Came home, realized that there would be no time to get Emily from school, get Molly from school and then make it to Audrey’s appointment.  Ran to store to get ice cream and toppings for the girls to have a sundae party afterschool.

Came home, decorated, wrapped presents, baked cake.

Picked up Emily from school.  Told her we couldn’t go to Farrell’s.  Cried with her when I saw how crushed she was.  Wanted to cry more when she wiped her tears and said it was OK, that she understood.  Walked home together.

Made arrangements to have my parents pick Molly up from school.

Took Audrey to doctor’s appointment. Found out she has a full blown double ear infection. What the heck???  She never complained of pain.  The most she said about her ears was that one “felt stuffy”.  Back home.  Found out that everyone loved the ice cream.

Left to pick up Audrey’s antibiotics from the pharmacy.  Back home.

Administered Audrey’s antibiotics (she hates the flavor).  Check in on Ems and her friend.  They were happy as could be.  Everyone decided they wanted McDonalds.

Audrey fell asleep.  Emily and her friend left to play with other friends in neighborhood.  I left to pick up dinner.

Brought food home.  Gathered everyone to eat.

Lit candles on the birthday cake.  Sang Happy Birthday.

Goodbyes.  Bathes.  Shower.  Everyone in bed.

Kind of want to eat a gallon of ice cream on top of a slab of birthday cake, covered with butterscotch topping and a chocolate chip cookie.