Desperation Breeds Inspiration

One morning while eating my breakfast Spencer came up to me and proceeded to beg me for an itouch. Why in the world would he ask me for an itouch?  To play video games of course.  We already own a wii, which is why I've also refused to buy a Nintendo DS for them.  The iphone, cell phone and ipod they've asked for is also out of the question for safety reasons and also so I don't feel like I've wasted money on something that will be lost in two weeks or less just like a dumb happy meal toy.

Now I have another reason not to buy them these electronic gadgets.  The boys make them! They were so desperate to have their own gadgets that they decided to make their own. . . and they are actually satisfied with that!  Well, for now anyway.  So, here are the projects of last Sunday:

The item that James is giving bunny ears to is the docking/charging stations for the two ipod (the ones with the round pieces at the bottom) as well as the cell phone the reads "extreme ice rally".  The one with the hinge is a Gameboy and the one with the colored dots is a Nintendo DSI.  D.J. made one that was an opening cell phone that turned into a DSi.

So the next time they ask me for something, I will just tell them to go make it! Nice!

Having Thumb Fun!

Every day is April Fool's day at our house.  Spencer received some magic tricks in Christmas of 2009. One of the tricks is a plastic thumb that you stuff a handkerchief in, then put the thumb on your own hand and to your audience you magically pull a handkerchief out of your hand.  The thumb is disproportionate to a 10 year old, but if he does it fast it works OK.  Well, as most Christmas presents come and fade, so did the magic tricks.  But they crop up in other places, where least expected:

We also have a purple snake (I should never have told the boys that I'm scared of snakes) that appears in my bed when I turn down the covers.  Then it appears in D.J.'s underwear drawer. Then it appears in Spencer's pillowcase.  Then back to my bed. Then in the shower.

This is not an uncommon thing in the Wheeler family.  There are baby dolls, coats, flamingoes and other odd items secretly passed from one family to the next.  It is our weird way of saying I love you? I'm clever enough to play a joke, but not to hurt you? I'm a nerd?  I think we just like the anticipation of putting smiles on faces.  I'm sure that's it.

Double Derby

The year has come. Two cub scouts. Two shirts.  Two books. TWO PINEWOOD DERBY CARS! Actually we had three cars since there was a race for parents and siblings after the real race.  Mark likes the pinewood derby.  He and the boys are in the garage often during pinewood derby season.  I like that they all get father son time so I stay out of the garage for that reason and also because I don't want to be held accountable for knowledge about just how much Dad does to the car and how much the boys do to the car.  Ignorance is bliss.

This year, Mark discovered colored wheels at the scout shop. Awesome! Each boy designed what they wanted their car to look like and Mark did his best to make their dreams come true.

 The beginning of the race holds high hopes for all.

 There are only seven scouts in our troop so the races went rather quickly before we had a winner. 

 It came down to two cars: D.J.'s and Spencer's cars battle to win!

 D.J.'s car is the fastest in 2011!

 With Spencer in second place!

Mark took the overall round where ANY car could race.  He used his car from last year - a legal 5 ounces! He is the BEST OF THE BEST!

A BIG CHANGE at the Astling Home

I have never taken the boys to a hair cutting establishment. I have always been a penny-pincher that way and overly optimistic of my abilities.  So, I cut their hair, for better or worse.  All three boys have had a "bowl cut" type hair cut in their younger years and eventually they move to shorter hair cuts.  D.J. wanted his hair shaved like Dad's when he was in kindergarten.  I don't remember why the bowl cut ended with Spencer, I don't think his lasted long because he couldn't hold still long enough.  James has had his bowl cut the longest, partially because he doesn't care about hair and partially because we feel it is irresistibly cute.  His reason for wanting to rid himself of the bowl cut: he wants to look like Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes).  So here are before and after pictures:

James' look for the last four years (a little more shaggy than usual):

The short cut (he was upset it didn't look just like Calvin's yet, which is true because he looks exactly like D.J. in this picture):

The Calvin cut:

Snowshoeing!

I have always wanted to try snowshoeing, so when Spencer's class wanted parent volunteers for such a trip, I signed up immediately!  I wasn't the only excited parent because there were 20 other snowshoe-starved parents along too!  It was mostly a nature tour, with not much hiking, but it was still really fun and it was so great to be outside! We traveled to Little Cottonwood Canyon, where a college student majoring in outdoor kind of stuff informed us of things like watershed, habits of winter animals and trees.

 Much of the time listening to the nature guide was spent while making mini snow caves. It's a good thing 4th graders can multi-task at some things.

 We made snowballs and threw them into the river. They did not melt, but floated in the water! Brrrrr!

 The class was asked to choose to be one of the animals we talked about and have a race with their snow shoes on. I'm not sure what Spencer chose but it was a good activity to do right before boarding the bus home!

I Was Never a Fan of Pink Anyway

Here are the wonderful men in my life.  I have never in my years as a mother ever wanted to try again for a girl (much to many people's dismay).  I don't mind being the only girl in this bunch at all because they are such great people.

I really never cared that much for pink anyway.  I don't know how to do hair, so that works as well.  My niece Tessa came over and she needed a hair thingy replaced and I didn't know what to do.  It was an elastic and I just couldn't figure out how to put it on the opposite way.

I can however build many things out of legos, I know sports terms and endless names of beyblades, bakugan, Star Wars characters, and I laugh at loud bodily functions.  Spencer has eight more inches to go before he's taller than me.  D.J. is half my weight. James is still my cuddle bug, but growing quickly.  Mark, I love more everyday with a deeper love that only comes after sticking together through good and hard times, and am so thankful we crossed paths 16 years ago in Georgia.  My Dad, I respect and love more and more with every conversation and every experience I have with him that makes me understand what he went through with me and my siblings.

Cake Review 2010

Alright folks! Here is the 2010 cake review. For those of you who are not familiar with my obsessive yet wacky personality: I stay up late the night before a birthday to make themed birthday cakes for my kids or other good causes. They wake up in the morning to a cake a fondant creation. It is far from professional, but it's something fun that comes from just me.

James's birthday is today (six years old!!) He wanted an Atlantis Lego birthday party. Aside from the disproportionate props, it turned out pleasing enough for James. Everything is edible except the legos (which I refuse to make out of food since Lego already makes what I need - thank you Mark for putting them together) and two pokemon cards that I covered with fondant for the treasure chest lid (which are now in the garbage, don't tell D.J.)

I made this bakugan cake as an incentive for a client. I don't think he expected anything like this. Everything is edible except for the toothpick holding the rice krispie head onto the cake body.

Mark doesn't really like cake (neither do I) for birthdays. But he asked me to make an Eiffel Tower cake for him anyway. Like I said, I'm not professional and am not very good with welding, so I made a paper Eiffel Tower to put on top of apple crisp.

Spencer is into football. He had a football party, so I thought the U of U football field would be appropriate. I think the real football field might hold a cake football better than a sheet cake, as it was sinking slowly. All is edible except the straw goal posts and the straws holding up the scoreboard.

D.J. wanted a Lego Harry Potter birthday party this year. He challenged me by asking for a scene with dementors, where Harry helps himself out with a patronus (a stag, which I made by making hard candy). Thanks to my Mom and Mark for making trees out of tootsie rolls and hard candy leaves. Thanks to my Dad for very carefully placing the graham cracker sand along the shores. Thanks to all who helped figure out how to make dementors stiff. They are made of cheesecloth dipped in sugar water, which didn't have enough sugar water. We tried spray starch, which just made them soggy. So we ended up hot gluing them, sticking them on skewers and hoping for the best in the morning.

Our elementary school had a cake auction. Since Diary of a Wimpy Kid was so popular, I thought it would be fun cake to make - and relatively easy.

Mini cakes for the cake auction.

Whew! For those who wanted to look at other cakes I've done, here are links to two other cake reviews: