Look at ME, I'm Cavity FREE!!

Cayden had a dentist appointment the other day. We were very excited to learn that in the four visits he's had to the dentist, he has had no cavities! Even the dentist thinks it's a big deal because Cayden got this cool t-shirt (with a little bit of free advertising) for all of my efforts. His hygentist also sent him a really nice card in the mail congratulating him further. Wow, dentistry has come a long way since I was a kid!!

The Case of the Disappearing Bagel Sandwich

WANTED

Case #: 2009-521





Suspect: Hammish Gygi (see photo below)




Age: 6



Weight: 31 lbs



Height: 15 inches



Accused of: Snatching a bagel, cream cheese and turkey sandwich from the kitchen table and scarfing the whole thing down!



The Evidence: Missing turkey bagel; lots of slobber on the floor under the table where said bagel was sitting; suspect had slicked back ears, wiggled a lot and wagged his tail furiously (he looked terribly guilty!)



The Mystery: How could a dog with 3 inch legs grab a turkey bagel from a 3 foot high table and eat it without being noticed by his parents who were in the room at the time of the crime?

Recipe Requests

Thought I'd share the recipes for the Blackberry Cream Frosting and the Whipped Cream Frosting I used on Cayden's b-day cake. (Pix on previous post).



Blackberry Cream Frosting



2 8oz pkgs Cream Cheese, softened

1 C unsalted butter

2 C powdered sugar (the original recipe calls for 4 C - I didn't want it that sweet)

1/2 C seedless jam (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, currant, etc.)

3/4 C chilled heavy whipping cream



Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer till smooth. Beat in sugar, then jam. Beat heavy whipping cream in a separate bowl until peaks form. Fold into frosting. Cover and chill until firm enough to spread (about 2 hours)



NOTE: I made half of this recipe for the filling of a 9x13" cake. The whole recipe would be enough for the filling and for covering the cake.





Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting



8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 sugar

1 t vanilla

1/2 t almond extract (optional)

2 C heavy cream



Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract if using. Blend until smooth. While still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times. Beat until cream can hold stiff peaks.





ENJOY!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Cayden!!

My sweet little Boo turned five on Sunday! We had a joint Mother's Day/Birthday celebration which was lots of fun. The only snafu.....Cayden was sick!! He was a trooper though and is finally on the mend :)

This is his birthday cake. He planned and designed the whole thing! Vanilla cake, blackberry cream filling and whipped cream frosting. If you don't watch Max and Ruby, that is Max's Ear Spinner Space Cadet! He is the robot that hooked Cayden on robots. He is very comical, so if you haven't seen him, check out a few Max and Ruby episodes....you won't be disappointed :)

Cayden FINALLY gets his "Build Your Own Lightsaber"! Thanks Grammy!! (see those rosy, sick cheeks?)
Cayden and his big cousin Caleb trying to put together the lightsaber.
Since Cayden was so sick on Sunday, we postponed his cake until Monday night. Thankfully, most of the guests were able to come back for this little celebration. You can't tell from this picture, but the flame of the candles are the color of the candles. (i.e. blue candle, blue flame; red candle, red flame) They were pretty cool!

The happy boy with Spinner Space Cadet's face. See the nummy filling?!

The other big bummer with Cayden being sick was that he missed being the birthday special helper at school. Luckily, they will include him with the summer birthdays at the end of this week. We decided to drop our treats off there anyway so the kids could enjoy them.

They are robot cake pops! http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/08/hope-these-put-smile-on-your-face.html These are based on Robot 2000, the first robot Cayden got. They were quite the hit! Tasty too!

Robot Factory

Happy Birthday Cayden!! We love you so much!!!

Reunited, and It Feels So Good!

Hammish has this favorite little squeaky toy. It's a hedgehog that he got for Christmas; Cayden calls him "Hedgy" for short. It is currently the only squeaky toy that Hammy will play with. His favorite thing to do with Hedgy is hide him in different places around the house and he will cry and pace until he finds the perfect spot.

Well, Hedgy's squeaker was broken for a couple of weeks and on Sunday I finally got around to giving him a new one. Hammish was so excited and immediately went to find a place to hide him. He did a very good job because we didn't find Hedgy until tonite. After tearing the whole house apart looking for him, we finally decided to check outside as Hammy sometimes tries to sneak his toys out of the house. So I was looking out in the yard with a flashlight (Yes, a flashlight. You wouldn't believe what this dog puts us through as every night we have to look for Hedgy) and just as I was about to give up and go inside, I spotted Hedgy in one of the new garden dirt piles. Poor Hedgy, he had been out there for days in the pouring rain!

He actually looks pretty good in this picture, but he was soaking wet and covered with dirt!

I gave Hedgy a quick scrub in the sink and threw him in the dryer. Hammish was literally sitting next to the dryer waiting for him. We gave him a little peek.

A clean and dry Hedgy!



Together again!!!

"A Healing Halo of Love"

Poor little Hammish! We had to take him to the vet on Friday for an incredibly itchy raised spot on his tail. The diagnosis: a hot spot. No big deal you say? Well, think again! This poor baby has to be on antibiotics for a whole month as well as have a cream applied to the hot spot until it gets better; not to mention the shame of having the middle section of his tail shaved.


You're welcome for not taking a close up of the hot spot. It is a bit icky. Now, to add insult to injury, poor Hammy has to wear a cone for a whole week so he won't chew on the offending spot. Friday night, he was so miserable, I just couldn't bear to put on the old, hard, plastic cone we had from his leg surgeries. By Saturday morning I realized he really needed a cone as he took some little nibbles now and then the night before. We went shopping for a new cone. I just wanted to get a flexible, light weight plastic cone, when lo and behold we found this:

It's "The Comfy Cone"!! A very soft, flexible cone made of foam and covered in a washable nylon fabric. You can fold it down so your pet can eat and drink; it's soft and cushy so they can sleep in comfort; pets can fit thru doorways and walk by furniture with out getting stuck or bumping into things; it folds flat for easy storage and it has reflective binding on it so your pet can be seen at night! With the Comfy Cone, "feeling bad never felt so good!" If I can't convince you, this guy sure can:

Isn't he precious?!

Hammish is not quite as happy about the Comfy Cone as I am, but rest assured, he is much more comfy!

New Garden, May Day and Beware of the Blob!

I have had a couple of post ideas saved up....with pictures and all, but I never seem to find the time to post them. So, here is a medley of posts...

NEW GARDEN

We are in the process of building a garden. We mostly wanted to grow vegetables and herbs. Of course they all have different watering needs, so we're rethinking how this is going to work. So our vegetable garden is quickly becoming a veggie and flower garden for high water needs and pots scattered around the rest of the yard for low water needs.

Proposed location with our garden mascot


Garden builders




That shovel Cayden was using was really heavy! We switched it out for a spade later.




Lunch break



MAY DAY

At school yesterday (May 1st), Cayden's class decorated May Day baskets and were instructed on how to deliver said basket.

Beautiful basket with the beautiful artist!

I thought for sure that he would want to give his basket to Grammy and Papa, but when I asked him, he decided to give it to the kids next door. (It says: To: Grant and Rachel, Happy May Day! From: Cayden - my camera stinks, but it was free :)



Grant and Rachel are very busy kids and aren't home very often or for very long. We decided to leave it on their front door since we can't predict their schedule. Unfortunately, they don't use their front door very often and it is still hanging there!

BEWARE OF THE BLOB

When we had our landscaping done in the fall, they did a less than stellar job on our grass. So my wonderful and handy hubby has been working on making it pretty. He fertilized it last weekend and a few days later we saw these: (again, not a great camera....I apologize)

I tried to circle them, but my computer skills have been fast declining. Can you see those two clear blobs in the center of the picture? They look kind of like ice or chunks of glass. That is what I thought they were until I touched one. It was like jello!! YUK!



Here is another one. They were EVERYWHERE on the grass. We think it is the Blob. Which, by the way is a great movie and one of Steve McQueen's first. We highly recommend it. The theme is catchy too!