October wrap-up ~10.31.11

Whew- How can I be wrapping up October already? I feel like it just started getting chilly and already I need to dust off my holiday planner and start buying Christmas presents!?!?

I guess so- according to my calendar.

October for us is typically a fast month and usually, a month riddled with coughing, sneezing, etc. BUT WE WERE ALL HEALTHY!!! The whole month! HOORAY! HOORAY!

Octboer is the month of this guy- he turned 9 a week or so ago and I suprised my children by taking them to the place "where a kid can be a kid".

My secret for sanity was taking them DURING the day! YAY, that they had a half day and I could pull that off. They were completely in SHOCK that mom would take them to the place she describes as "the place closest to H-E-double hockey sticks"- you know what I mean? And I smiled and took pictures and enjoyed the day with them having tons of fun! And Mr. Cheese even came out to play a few games with them!

For Gabriel's birthday, he got to have ice cream for breakfast! And I sent in these adorable little cake bites for him to share with his class. Cupcakes are messy and I figured, a bite or two of cake was all they needed, right? (still cupcakes are rather fun and I LOVE 'em)

Okay, so the pumpkins were not so adorable, but rather, very "homemade" looking. Turns out that almond bark doesn't like to be changed into colors and I had to ADD so much food coloring paste that it just changed the whole consistency of them altogether. But gosh, am I happy that I bought that edible marking pen. It's come in very handy!

But every kid needs a birthday cake and I've been wanting to make this one for a long time. Chocolate cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries! Auntie Leila just so happened to post a chocolate cake recipe from scratch that I used and I was inspired by Mad Hungry's Lucinda Scala-Quinn to make the cake this way. It was DELISH and SOOOO beautiful, don't you think? You can find the recipe over at Crafty's cafe, too.

See that- happy boy! My kids were so excited to see strawberries on their cake in October!  And fresh whipped cream is THE.WAY.TO.GO- don't skimp. It's easy to do...see here for how.

He was thrilled to FINALLY get Lego Star Wars III for wii. Also, so I don't forget--- he got new Green Lantern pj's, twistable colored pencils, a Harry Potter wand and glasses, Bop It Extreme and the Lego Harry Potter big book. His grandparents gave him a new Ulimatrix (some Ben 10 wrist thing) and the new Hot Wheels RC stealth rider. We had 2 fun days of celebration!

Speaking of celebrations- the day before G's b-day is my Godson, Jack's birthday! I love making cakes and CANNOT BELIEVE I never documented this jack-o-lantern cake that I made him 2 years ago. He requested it and I was only MORE than happy to oblige!

 {2009}

And this year's cake...

{2011}

It's great to be FIVE!

And the big news of the month was that after MUCH deliberation, these two finicky boys landed on the SAME costumes and were gently persuaded into that costume by it's uber coolness, Thanks TRU.

A rainy, soggy, cool Halloween. Thanks to lots 'o layers, and a few umbrellas, we endured and ended up with LOADS of candy! And the 2 best parts of the evening: duct taped helmets to beanie caps keeping the twins' heads warm AND all of the above boys in bed BEFORE 8pm. {giving self a pat on the back for that accomplishment}.

Here's to a wonderful NOVEMBER!