Earth Day

Didn't have time to post this last week.

 Being a new dad (again) is awesome.

 Twins - Thanks Camille for the matching pillow cases.

 Me and the boys

 Last Saturday we went to an Earth Day fair.  They had a ton of stands and live music, but Ira preferred the park. 

 Ira liked this toy, unfortunately he still has a ways to go before he's big enough.

Sharon's Earth Day cake.

Sharon is still trying to perfect the sphere cake. She made this one out of rice crispies, which worked well, until they decided to fall apart. The world exploded. We didn't get an after picture. We took it to our Sunday school class and told them that if they didn't take care of the earth it would end up looking like the cake.  Fortunately, kids don't seem to care what their sugar looks like when they eat it.   

2012 St. Patrick's Day

We had plans to party with friends, but they ended up getting pink eye.  And we all know how pink eye affects Sharon.  Highland games will have to wait for another time. Our unplanned event was that we ended up in New York City and saw some of the St. Patrick's day parade.

 Ira wasn't sure what to make of all the people in green.

We stayed long enough to see a few bagpipe groups go by and a a lot of policemen.

Sharon put her amazing cake decorating skills to work and made this sweet cake. She also perfected the corned beef and cabbage.

 Sharon's interjection:  This cake really makes me smile as I think, "My 3rd grader made that all by herself?!?" And then I realize that I don't have a 3rd grader, and that I'm the one who made the cake.  It didn't turn out how I envisioned, but it was extremely fun to make...and watch Ira eat.

Ira eating the "apple-con."

In other craftiness, we remember Ira drowning in most of his clothes when he was born.  So our solution was to buy a load of cheep onesies and tie die them for baby #2.  Sharon has experimented with quick and easy versions of the art, but never the real deal.  It was more fun the second time around, perhaps since Ira helped. 

Pumpkins, Parties, and Pudding

Happy October!  

We've been having fun, and as you'll see below, eating a lot of sugar.  

Ira has been obsessed with cars for months now, so I've been looking forward to making a car cake for his birthday in January.  That is, until he's broadened his horizons to include trains and trucks, both of which would also make really fun cakes.  So, I wanted to clear the car cake space in my brain so I could move on with other January plans.  Below is Ira's non-birthday cake: my second attempt at using fondant.

Ira was especially thrilled with the eyes.  When he ate the headlights he started calling the tires eyes and just sat at his high chair talking about them, not really eating anything. 

Ira helping Dad fix his bike.  Ant's bike has had a couple of run ins with the insane pot holes around here.

Dirt pudding!

We had lots of fun with our pumpkin carving party.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of our friends that came, but a couple from the ward and a friend from work showed up.

Jello Brain.  Maybe it's all those psychology classes in college, but I really look forward to making this thing every year.  When Ira's old enough I'll use it to lecture him about the difference between the prefrontal cortex and the occipital lobe. 

Cookies:  Ira seems to young to be spooked out by anything that's supposed to be spooky...fortunately.  He's recently kind of grasped the idea of monsters, loves the scary giant in Obiyoyo, and when strangers try to get him to smile and say hello, he usually responds with a little roar.  

Back to the party.  Here are three of the final products.  Left to Right: Anthony's, mine, then Maurice's.  My owl turned out kind of lame in comparison.  I even forgot the beak.  But in my defense I was putting Ira to bed and making sure everyone had enough cider.

Anthony's pumpkin not lit up.  I know, looks kind of crazy.  So cool when lit up though!  He found a way to take a photo on the computer and morph it into a pumpkin stencil.  He picked a kind of piggish picture of Ira and worked from there.  

Ira playing in the leaves after church.

In other news:

* We've been bowling every Tuesday night with Anthony's co-workers.  One of his teem-mates has never showed up, so I'm the sub.  Everyone's really nice despite my low average.  But this week I broke my record with 116!  Woohoo!  I think my average is 75, and somehow our team is in first place right now...out of maybe 15 teams?

*  Ant's project is moving along.  He has a big project that seems to be progressing.

* The pregnancy is going well.  I feel pretty great, just sleepy still.  We babysat a friend's 3 month old this week and Ira was really cute with him.  He spent most of his time bringing toys to him, blowing him kisses, and talking about his eyes.  Hopefully he'll be as excited when our baby comes.

*  Ira's cute as ever.  Not as excited about the potty lately, but saying a bunch of new words.  I'm worried I won't be able to get his Halloween Costume on.  Every time I whip it out, he runs away with an assertive "NOOOOOOO!"  Oh well.  Have a good week everyone!

Sharon

Nauvoo, Spam, and more Cake!

Nauvoo the Beautiful.  

I love it.  I've had the opportunity to make a "pilgrimage" there every 9-ish years, so it seemed fitting to take my 3rd visit before I turn 28.    

 Last time I was here, it was for the Nauvoo temple open house which was a real testimony building experience for me.  The visit before, I remember walking around the foundations of the original temple.  It makes me so happy it's been rebuilt and is just as beautiful as I remember.  Anthony and I took turns with Ira, so we could do some work inside.

 Ira now has a version of the word "horse," but to see one up close kind of freaked him out. Petting one was the last thing he wanted to do.

 We took a fun little ox ride and I realized I didn't know anything about the animals.  I had no idea they were just trained steers.  

 O.k.  This looks really stupid unless you are an Ellsworth girl.  It's tradition for my sisters and I to pose behind this statue, and also to pose randomly with almost every other statue in this garden.  But I'll spare you. 

 Howdy!  Yes, we dressed him up.  No, we didn't pose him like that.

 The game tent rocked!

Anthony really wants me to watch Herby with him someday.  I've been resisting, but maybe this was a sign. 

 Staying up past bedtime to watch the pageant.

 Ira was incredibly grumpy for the first chunk of the play, but after a diaper change he calmed right down and we were able to enjoy the rest of the play.  It was fabulous.  I have to admit, I think I enjoyed the "Songs by the Mississippi" or whatever it's called, even more.  The cast was so talented I started crying during the America medley!

 Carthage Jail.

 Ira looks appropriately serious, but this is just before he left to frolick in the shady grass.  Which now that I mention it, is what he really wanted to do during the entire trip.  Take about 2 months worth of toddler non-cooperation and squeeze it into the 2 days in Nauvoo, and that gives you a little idea of his pleasantness level.  

 The graves.

 The Mississippi 

 The Mansion House

Nauvoo Intermission:  This is my first fondant cake I made a couple weeks ago.  I made it for John's birthday in honor of his mega biking trip.  What was it called?  The Painjunking Pilgrimage or something?  The boys assisted in the assembling and last minute touches.

O.k., these are so out of order.  We stopped by the Spam museum on the way down to Nauvoo.  It was awesome!  The thought of eating spam kind of makes me sick, but Anthony has fond sentiments for it.

Yes, that is a spam shirt he's wearing.  

Alright, love you guys!  Have a good week!