Ichi, Ni, San!

Karate is going swimmingly for the boys.  They're having a great time!  Here are some pictures:



Jake fighting Sensei with a Bo.



Protecting his head from an attack.



Kicks!

And don't they just look so CUTE!!!

They both are learning so much.  Jack has earned 4 yellow strips which means he's 6 stripes away from testing for his yellow belt.  Each stripe = a new skill.  It's a lot less crazy now - We have a bit of a routine in place.

I try to get there early enough to get a good seat right next to the mat so Jack can always see me.  (and I can get good pictures!)  If I'm lucky, the seat next to me remains empty until the 1st class is over so Jake can join me while we watch Jack's older class.  If not, I give him my seat and stand for the rest of Karate. 

So, I get Jake situated and take off his Karate shirt (so he doesn't get it dirty).  I put their shoes under my seat so I can quickly get Jake's back on.  He then proceeds to ask for his "munch".  (lunch).  "I want my munch, daddee."  He's actually referring to the baggie of snacks I've prepared and placed in the diaper bag.  He calls it his "munch" I call it "the Jake distractors".  He begins with a cereal bar (his favorite), followed by a tiny box of raisins.  It's all washed down by a Capri Sun Roaring Waters juice box. Then, the final piece of "munch" is a mini-bagel (usually cinnamon raisin) which he picks at while he watches Dora on my phone.  (Gotta love the iPhone - and trust me, I do.)

As I wait on Jake hand and foot, our oldest tosses reassuring glances my way every few minutes from his spot on the mat while he makes his way towards yellow belt.  By the time class is over, Jake is done with the bagel (he never actually finishes it) and has had enough of Boots and Swiper.  Jack runs over to me and gives me a big hug and has a huge smile.  He loves Karate.  We fight through the sea of Karate gear, coats, shoes, parents, siblings, and such and make our way to the car.  On Mondays, we rush home to meet Grandee so I can go to work.  On Thursdays, we head to McDonald's so the boys can enjoy a hard earned treat for dinner. 

I think they like Thursdays a bit better...HIYAH!

ok, maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

Well, I thought I could maintain a blog but it's really not panning out that way, is it?  20 days. 20 days have passed since my last post.  And I'm only posting now because Jack is on February vacation and I don't have to make his lunch, get them both dressed, and trek two towns over to pre-school to drop him off.  So, I really don't know about this.  Jenni started her own blog and posted two fabulously written pieces in the time since I last posted here.  (you should check it out: click "Being Jenni" )

Anyway, I think I set my expectations too high.  I'm just too busy to post more than once a week.  So, I guess that's my new blogging goal.  Once a week, write a blog post about whatever's on my mind.  If I'm not careful, this will just end up being a weight-loss journal.  Which is cool, but not what I wanted to do. 

So - let's see if I can at least maintain a weekly entry and we'll go from there.

Cake Decorating Part 2

This past holiday season, I decided to take advantage of the fact we were going to host ALL of the gatherings and use it to as my inaugural pass at full-on cake decorating.  I came up with a simple design (a present)and decided I would make it twice - 1 for each side of the family. Here's the pictorial "journey" if you will. 

1 box worth of chocolate cake baked in a 8 X 13 and cut in half.  Butter-cream vanilla frosting in between the layers - nice and thickly applied

Fresh cut strawberries - an extra touch.  (Jenni's idea)

Dirty frosting layer.

Fondant.  I bought the store-version (Wilton)  I kneaded it then rolled it out using powdered sugar so it wouldn't stick to any surface.  This took awhile.

Draped it over the cake - this was a tough step, I think I'll get better with practice.

I took the remaining fondant and died it red.  This is hard too and required gloves so I wouldn't have red hands well into the spring. 

Rolled it out and began to cut strips to make the ribbon. 

Began draping and adhering the ribbon to the cake with butter-cream.

Died the remaining butter-cream to pipe on accents to the finished cake.

There you have it.  I think it was a good start.  I liked using Fondant but I need to find a better tasting option.  I knew going into it that the store-bought stuff is not yummy.  Making my own sounds DAUNTING but we'll see what happens.  Better fondant might also be slightly easier to manipulate as well.  I will blog about my next endeavor - which was supposed to be a Valentines Day cake - but I haven't even created a design yet and we're like 2 weeks away.  Maybe St. Patty's Day...  ;)