Cake

When I watch TV, I mostly watch TLC and HGTV. This means that I often get "inspired" to take on home decorating and home improvement projects. Lately I've gotten the itch to try something new - cakes. Too many Cake Boss episodes I guess, but regardless, the itch has taken hold so I had to run with it. I'm dragging Amy down with me, so we went to the store this week, bought some new supplies and embarked on our cake masterpiece.

First, we decided to try homemade fondant. The first batch went horribly awry, but a different recipe proved to be a wild success. Who knew? Next came the actual cake baking. So...did you know that if you have a pan deeper than 2" that you need a heat core so the center of the cake will cook correctly? Neither did we.

So two batches of fondant and a couple of salvaged cakes and a ridiculously delicious bowl of chocolate buttercream later, it was time to create our masterpiece. How hard can it be? Looks easy enough on TV.

OK, so it wasn't as easy as I had though. In fact, the cake was fairly unattractive. I did, however learn a lot, have a super fun time with my sister and challenge myself to try again. Hope you all like cake - because there are going to be a lot.

Oh, but have no doubt...ugly or not, it was DELICIOUS - and isn't that what matters most?

Bubba

His real name is Truman, but since Cade started talking, he's usually referred to as "Bubba". For 6 years he was our baby - before we had babies. He went everywhere and did everything with us. He lived like a king and we saw nothing wrong with that. But sadly (for him), things change. Since the boys were born, sweet Truman has taken a back seat. He no longer travels with us. Heck, he hardly even gets walked. He gets yelled at a lot more and appreciated a lot less. I'm the most guilty. And I feel badly about it. He doesn't love us any less though. He's still always there, tail wagging when we get home. Still sleeps by our bed. Still watches over our babies. His babies.

I knew Truman would be good with the kids. He's so gentle and kind. I never doubted. When Cade was 2 weeks old, Amber took this:

Now I could understand - I mean anyone will sit still for a sleeping baby. It's not like it was really disturbing him...Then when Cole was born:

But today I was getting ready, heard some "rustling" and...

(here's a reason to keep your camera with you in the bathroom)...

So, evidently, a 20 month old using him as a jungle gym is ok in his book. Love this dog. Cade loves him too. Good Bubba.

Cole

So I haven't done many blogs about my sweet baby Cole. Our first month was a little rough until we discovered that he had a dairy intolerance. That basically meant that he felt bad all the time. Now that we've got this worked out (mom has cut out dairy...now that's love), he's an unspeakable joy. He's calmer, he sleeps great, he's happy. He's not as smiley as Cade was (and still is), but when he does smile it's intoxicating. He's the miraculously perfect follow up to precious Cade.

This is also a test of my new video function on my new camera. I think the quality is pretty good - and this is at the lowest setting. I'll try to do a higher resolution one, but I'm having a problem with upload time, so we'll see. I also stretched this one to be bigger so I think I distorted the quality a bit. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually.

New Toy

No, No...not for the boys - you know how I feel about kids toys. This one is for Mommy! Steve got me the BEST birthday gift - a new camera. This means lots of pictures. One might think that would translate into more frequent blogs - I have the best of intentions, but I make no promises...but today you can enjoy lunch with us....mmm, yogurt!

Christmas

So it came and went in all it's splendor. Christmas was spectacular this year. I mean it's great every year of course, but this year was special. This year was "white". This year we were a family of four and therefore much more "real" in my mind. I grew up in a family of four. So did Steve. So somehow this felt more grown up to me. I can't really explain it, but it was there.

We played in the snow. I baked brownies. We had a great family dinner. The boys got their matching Christmas pajamas just as my sister and I use to.

I tried to take perfectly posed pictures - you can judge for yourself how that went...

It has been quite a year for the Tedesco branch of the Hiltpold tree. There have been 2 babies, a bout with cancer, 2 extensive hospital stays, work woes and of course everyday challenges. 2009 has been one for the books. We are looking forward to everything 2010 has to offer. I selfishly pray that maybe it doesn't stretch us quite as much as 2009 - but whatever God has planned we will do our best to take on with grace.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. May you all feel as blessed as we do.

SNOW(man)

What a delightful suprise. This Christmas eve brought us unexpected snow and a white Christmas! This also meant that because of the hazardous driving condtions, Yaya and Papa came to spend the night with us (as not to miss Christmas morning). We had the best time enjoying the "frightful" weather and building our first snowman. Mom and dad seemed to be a little more excited than Cade, but that's to be expected since he went tumbling face first into the snow within he first 10 seconds he was out there.

Dad braved the cold for well over 30 minutes all alone building the snowman while mom, Cade, Yaya and Papa cheered him on from the warmth of the fire inside. Cade had his first hot chocolate and we all had a great time! Who could have asked for anything better?

Dancing KING

OK, so the song isn't perfect, but work with me here.

Lately Cade has taken to dancing. He dances whenever he hears music - and sometimes when he doesn't. He'll dance anywhere. Anytime. Even on command. It's darling. He's darling. And I had to share - because soon enough this too will end whether I want it to or not. We started with the simple "hip shake", but about a week ago he added the "arm swing". Not sure if it can get much cuter, but I'll let you know.