Red Velvet

This afternoon, Evelyn and I began a top-secret project . . . Troy's birthday cake. Evelyn wanted a football cake, specifically one that honored Nebraska. A friend of mine, who makes cakes as a side job, loaned me a football cake pan. Evelyn and I decided to make red velvet cake to represent the Huskers. I made the cake from scratch, following a recipe that makes 30 cupcakes. After filling the football cake pan, we had enough batter leftover to make six cupcakes. Now we just need to frost it and present it to Troy on his birthday tomorrow!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1 bottle (1 oz) red food color

2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed just until blended. Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Spread with cream cheese frosting. Makes 30.

Where's the Creek?

We have gotten more than ten inches of rain over the past three days. The rivers and streams are running over their banks, and Great Seneca Creek is no exception. I had a feeling we would see some impressive flooding on our walk to school this morning, so I brought along my camera. Here's the flooded stream bed that looked more like a lake:

NPR with Julia

After dropping off Evelyn at ballet on Wednesday evenings, I like to listen to NPR's "All Things Considered" on the drive home. It would be a quiet drive home, with Julia letting me listen to the broadcast. Until today.

Julia is paying attention to what she hears on the radio. The proof is in her interruptions. "Mommy! They said California!" "Mommy! They said Rachel!" "Mommy! They said bus!" "Mommy! They said president!" Mind you, she yells these comments, which makes is difficult to hear the story. Ah, well, I guess this is a good thing. I can start discussing current events with my two-year-old.

Ice Cream Cake

This was the picture on Google's website this afternoon - how did they know today was my birthday?
I had hoped I would get an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, and Evelyn granted my wish!

Evelyn loves Dairy Queen ice cream, so you know she loved the cake.

Julia, on the other hand, thought we were looney-tunes when we told her the cake was ice cream. But once she had a couple of bites of the ice cream cake, she quit asking for normal cake.

Evelyn's Purple Fairy Costume - Part 1

I finished sewing the bodice for Evelyn's purple fairy costume about a week ago, and I finished sewing the skirt today. Even though the two parts aren't sewn together, yet, I managed to get them to stay on Evelyn long enough for a couple of pictures. Now I need to sew eight satin flower petals, which will go around the waist.
When choosing the fabric colors, I started with the (store-bought) wings and went from there. After last year's fiasco with Evelyn's crafty Glinda costume, I decided to buy the wings instead of make them. Evelyn wore her fairy wings for this shot -

Incognito

Whenever I get my hair cut, I have my stylist straighten it. Evelyn and Julia just love it when I have straight hair - like them! Hardly anyone recognizes me without my curly hair, and it's fun going incognito for two or three days.

Evelyn Starts Piano Lessons

I had three criteria that Evelyn needed to meet before I would start giving her piano lessons: knowing to read from left to right; being able to sit for a 30-minute lesson; and a desire to learn. For most of the summer, Evelyn had been asking me when she could start taking piano lessons. Her interest in playing the piano was the third - and final - criteria that signaled her readiness.

Even though Evelyn couldn't wait to get started, I needed to take care of a couple of things - tuning the piano and finding a curriculum. The piano was tuned earlier this week, so that was ready to go. A couple of weeks ago, I found a beginner's program that seemed like a good fit for Evelyn. "Music for Little Mozarts" will allow Evelyn to be a kid and have fun, while learning the basics of piano and music at the same time. There are two student books with activities for both the lesson and practice sessions, a teacher book with music that is used during the lesson, and the two stuffed animals that the whole curriculum is based on - Beethoven Bear and Mozart Mouse.

So today was the big day! I planned the lesson to go back and forth between sitting at the piano and moving around the living room, doing various musical activities that correlated with the lesson. Evelyn loved the lesson, and she became fast friends with Beethoven Bear and Mozart Mouse. The books are kid-friendly and upbeat, and hopefully Evelyn will continue to enjoy her beginner lessons (and practicing!).