2.5 Birthday Party

Kaitlyn's 2.5 birthday party was last Saturday. My sister-in-law Laura and I made Kaitlyn a Hermie cake; it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. The bottom lip was Brenan's (my brother-in-law) idea... I don't think I'm a fan. Hehehe... Don't you love Laura's legs?! I wanted to write "God's not finished with me yet" below or above the cake with the black icing, but Hermie took up so much of the cutting board I gave up the idea. If you've ever seen Hermie: A Common Caterpillar you would have heard the quote many times on there.

To make your own Hermie or worm cake like this one you will need a 9", 8", and 6" round cake pan. I made 1 - 9", 2 - 8" and 1 - 6" cakes. After making the cakes and letting them cool, I put them in the deep freeze. When I was ready to put it together the cakes were nice and firm so I could handle them. I would lay one cake on top of another where I wanted it to overlap and use it as a guide to cut. I did this for each cake and it worked like a charm. On his head (the 9" cake) I slimmed up his forehead a bit. I cut an angled piece off by his eyes on each side of his head. You can kind of see this in the first picture. Honestly he was super easy to put together. The hardest part was getting the icing to stick before it dried. I made the icing and it seemed a bit thick even thought I made it from a recipe I've used before. Next time I may cut back on the sugar. A couple different times I added more milk to thin it out. Thankfully Laura was quick to jump in and help spread the icing. She's the one who figured out how to make it so nice and smooth. If you don't think this is smooth you should have seen how I had it before. Hehehe... It wasn't so pretty. We formed the eyes, legs, eyebrows, nose, and mouth by hand and the pupils were dabbles of black icing. Hmmm... what should I make next year?Can you believe I made Kaitlyn a Strappy Sundress with bug fabric for the party and this is the best picture I have of it?!!! I'll have to take another picture of her in it.
We rented a bouncy castle for the party. Kaitlyn loved it so much she's still talking about it. We put her down for a nap just as the people came to take it away. She woke up wanting to jump. =(
Kaitlyn loved opening her gifts. Here she is after opening the last one.

JAX Zoo

Kaitlyn and I went to the Jacksonville zoo while we were in GA. It's actually a really nice zoo. I didn't take many photos, but here's a few for you to look at.

Run, it's going to stomp you.

Edit: There's always a smart cracker in every group. Mr or Ms Anonymous, we were in GA when we drove for about an hour to Jacksonville, FL to go to the zoo. This happened on our GA trip though. We did end up spending two nights in Jacksonville before leaving for home, but we didn't go to the zoo at that time.

Graduation

Neal graduated from tech school yesterday. Here he is getting his badge and credentials. I snapped this picture then quickly darted to the stage to pull Kaitlyn off it. Stinker. I tell you what, I was worn out. I know the two hours and 15 minutes was about Neal, but Kaitlyn thought it was all about her.

Anyway, his five months away have finally paid off. He now has a badge as proof of all his hard work.

Swimming

Kaitlyn and I have spent the week in Georgia with Neal. His hotel has a pool so for the second time in her life she was able to go swimming.

She hated the water at first, but warmed up to it when we bought her the bear to ride in.

Here she is foot loose and brace free. For all enquiring minds, Kaitlyn is supposed to wear the brace at all times other then when taking a bath and getting her diaper changed. Dr Brock's assistant told me we could take her swimming as long as we put the brace back on her once she is done. If you are able to click on the picture and enlarge it you can see a scar going down her right thigh where they shortened her femur.

House Hunting

Yesterday was long. Mom, Kaitlyn and I went to San Antonio to look at houses. We are getting a VA loan so our choices are really limited. We looked through as many houses as the realtor felt were in a "good" neighborhood and within our price range. My goodness some of those were NASTY houses. The foundations of maybe half of them has shifted or cracked leaving cracks all over the houses.

See the crack at the top of the wall? There's at least a 1/2" gap. Yikes!

Besides cracked houses with raggidy carpet we saw tiny rooms, washer and dryers in closets, odd layouts, and really little closets. Oh, let's not forget the one didn't have a place for a table. They called it an eat in kitchen, but the table was against the window and just out of reach of the fridge door. On the other side was sliding doors hiding the washer and dryer.

Here's a "walk-in" closet at the house I liked the best. What were they thinking putting two bars across from each other in this closet? How's a person supposed to really look through their clothes? Do you put the seasonal clothes in the front and rotate? I think the top bar should be raised and a second bar put underneath for pants then a third bar put along the back wall for longer items.

The last house we saw was in a great neighborhood with a pool just down the street. However the backyard was almost nonexistent and the master bedroom was so small our waterbed would have to be placed in the corner.

Kaitlyn's Likes...

She's two and as of a few months ago living on a new continent; her likes are changing. While living in England Kaitlyn had a whole different string of kids shows she watched like In The Night Garden, Come Outside, and The Shiny Show. She still watches all these shows thanks to http://www.youtube.com/. However, she's now getting to know a whole new group of characters.

Elmo. Other then the TMX Elmo (whom she didn't know who he was when he was packed up in December) and a couple ABC and shape books she doesn't own anything Elmo, but really likes him. When he comes on TV I hear "Elmo, Mommy, Elmo!" She always wants to play with the Elmos when we walk down toy isles.

Hello Kitty. The girl knows her Hello Kitty. Recently I bought Hello Kitty flannel fabric to make Kaitlyn some Boutique Bottoms sleeping pants. I have yet to make them, but she did find the fabric yesterday in her destructive nap time. She doesn't seem to care so much about Hello Kitty dolls as she does fabric, shirts, ect... Someone sent her a Hello Kitty watch from a Happy Meal and she loves it. We also have Hello Kitty Band-Aids... Has anyone ever heard, "Ouch, Hello Kitty Mommy, Hello Kitty"? When she gets hurt she wants a Hello Kitty Band-Aid. BTW, I don't give her a bandage just because she has a bump. The child better be bleeding or have a nasty cut before I will put a bandage on it.

Tinkerbell. The girl loves Tinkerbell. She never noticed anything Tinkerbell before watching the movie a couple months ago. She pulled it out of mom and dad's stash one day so I thought, "why not play it?" and it's been a hit ever since. Of course Tinkerbell is big right now so you see her everywhere. Just like Hello Kitty and Elmo I often hear in the high toddler voice she sports "Tinkerbell, Mommy, Tinkerbell!"

Hermie. Since watching Hermie and Friends videos Kaitlyn is even more interested in bugs. After seeing the videos she noticed her sheet has lady bugs all over it. Thankfully she has been giving us a break, but she used to watch Hermie a minimum of three times a day. When her Hermie craze began we only had one video. Thankfully we are up to four or five now. What I like about Hermie is it's a God centered cartoon with a lesson to be learned like sharing, praying, following the rules and so forth. I only wish we could find Hermie t-shirts, fabric, or even party decor. My goal for her half birthday party is to make a caterpillar cake. It may not look like Hermie, but it will be made out of round cakes in the rough shape of a caterpillar.

Beyond her new favorite characters Kaitlyn loves being outside and reading books. Her three new Dr Seuss books will soon be burned into my mind (like some of her other books) from reading them to her so much. She also rediscovered some Bible story flip books recently. She keeps telling me the Jonah and Daniel books are Jesus. Why does she think they are Jesus? I don't know I didn't tell her they were.