Always Find Something to Smile About

A pictures from this week that make me smile. The house is a mess, the kids are cranky and miss school and friends, my back is giving me grief, I don't get to go to Mass.....but the sun came out, the kiddos have been able to play in the backyard, and man oh man do I love having a houseful of kids. Sometimes they even act like they love each other.

Blankie Woes

Today is day..I lost track of self quarantine...or is it lockdown or stay home orders? Not sure. 

What I do know if that one of my little Twinks discovered a hole in her blankie and is very sad and begging her domestically challenged mother to fix it. I have some ideas involving thread, but first reached out to her auntie whom is a crochet guru.

Now I have a sad and begging little girl that wants to go to Auntie's house right now to get her beloved blankie fixed. Not understanding that 4 children running fevers within thr last 48 hrs and 1 child that has puked with the last 24 hours and 5 children with leaky noses and cough means we arent welcome visitors. Also technically we are only allowed contact with each other.

Kinda wishing iron on crochet patches were a thing. I can plug in an iron.

March Madness...Baking

The Hubby's birthday was Friday. He is pretty easy to please. He always requests an angel food cake with his grandma's recipe for egg yolk frosting. I misplaced the frosting recipe this year. Before you feel to bad for him, his mother is also making him a cake on Sunday. We have 4 birthdays within 5 days and are doing a group celebration at the farm. In Hubby's side everyone, with the exception of Uncle K, like angel food cake (with the famous frosting) for birthdays. So he really isnt too deprived from the cake I made him. He'll get the coveted frosting soon enough.

We celebrated 35, by  giving him a pass on the no meat on Friday lental rule, and went out to eat. He ordered steak. The kids ate ravioli at home and stayed up past bedtime watching a movie. Hubby and I finished date night by driving out to the farm to put a newborn calf in the barn.

Saturday Bear and I baked her birthday cake masterpiece. She wanted a half and half cake. Half chocolate and half vanilla; half flowers and half mermaid. So after the boy-os and Dad left for the farm, we got to baking. 

I cheated and used box mixes. Devils Food and a plain White mix that we added vanilla to. Then we made 2 kinds of frosting. Swiss Meringue Buttercream and American Buttercream.  I used the first for a crumb coat and inbetween the cake layers, and for the Mermaid/Vanilla half of the cake.  Now I am not a fan of American Buttercream, for me it is too sweet, however it is the most recommended for using with Russian piping tips. Also, it will be a 6 year olds birthday cake, so overly sweet frosting will probably be fine. However, the swiss meringue is stiff enough I think it would have worked too.

I used candy melts in silicone molds for the big flower cake toppers and piped green leaves with more frosting. The mermaid side has a cute figurine as a topper that birthday girl will get to keep.

Bear and I are both pretty proud of how our creation turned out. She picked the flower tips and colors, and helped put on the candy pearl bubbles. Bear is a natural at egg cracking, and might be in line for a breakfast helper promotion. Only one dropped egg and zero shells in all the ones she cracked. She is also an expert spoon licker and quality controlled the cake batter and frostings. Hell of a hand.

Effective Reminders

Bear had class snack duty on Thursday. It's like the teacher knows me. She makes a cute bulletin board.

Adventures in Toddler Hygiene

Admist growing fears of coronavirus, you will find store shelves devoid of toilet paper. You will also find my children rolling on the ground in public restrooms and licking shopping carts. Here's  hoping my adamant handwashing and pushing of multi-vitamins agenda wards off germs.

Past data indicates not. It isn't so much that my whole household is always sick and catches everything. More the fact that at least one person seems to have something at all times. Also, with a household of 8, the numbers just aren't in our favor. What with half the kids in school and the other half rolling on public bathroom floors and licking shopping carts. Good times.

We were in the Big City today for Sunshine's 15 month appointment. She is 20 pounds and inches. 40th and 20th percentile respectively. Happy healthy growing little thing. Hit all milestones and gave us a reason to get out of the house and see what germs out of town offers.

Calving 2020

March 5th kicked off calving season at Sandstone with a bull calf. I have tried to convince my husband that we should name the first calf of the year. For several years now actually. He isn't as excited by the idea. So I brought it up to the kids, 2020's first baby is officially named Haywire. The Big D picked the name and the little sisters ratified it. Apparently we are still on hay related bovine names. If you recall past seasons bum calves: Haystick, Haystack and Haybale 1 & 2.

March 7th, a second calf was born. Also a bull.

Today, the big excitment of March 8th, is watching the calving camera and waiting to witness a live birth. Bigger news than a giraffe in the zoo. Dad spotted a heifer getting ready to calve before leaving to do morning chores. 

Then the heifer was moved to the barn. So the watch party ended early.

The camera is a new addition to the operation, and until the main herd gets ready to start calving it saves driving to the farm for night checks. It also allows the Hubby to keep an eye on the cattle weekdays when he driving water truck. Fun stuff.

Happy calving ya'll.