So, Yeah...It's Been A While...

It has been nearly THREE months since my last post. That's crazy, especially when I'm always thinking of the things I want to share with family and friends. I apologize for my slacking! I finally had more time to blog over the holidays, but I think I just wanted to spend it off the computer...who, by the way, must be adding magic growing-up potion to her sippy cup when we're not looking. I promise to update with pictures and stories from Christmas (and New Year's, and Valentine's, and everything in between).

I'll start with the post below from Matt's birthday (which I really had put together the day after his birthday, but never got posted because I hadn't put pics on the computer!).

P.S. I've given up Facebook for Lent! It hasn't been too hard yet, just a bit out of the social loop (I did have to delete the app from my phone and the badge from the blog). So e-mail, call, or leave comments here, but don't expect a reply on Facebook until Easter!

The Case of the Stolen Birthday (from 12-21-09)

(First off...I SURVIVED FINALS! Let the blogging commence...again!)

Yesterday was Matt's birthday. When he was born, he was the classic Christmas baby; his parents even brought him home in a stocking! How adorable is that? Unfortunately, having a birthday so close to Christmas means that it is often forgotten or combined with the holiday. Matt has joked that "Jesus stole my birthday" (kidding, people), and I am always careful to buy separate gifts for each, unless there is something he wants that is so big it necessitates combining budgets.

Since childhood, Matt has had the same cake every year: chocolate with Bavarian cream filling and whipped frosting, with a ski scene on top, from the Family Fare bakery. He has been without this cake only 2-3 times in the past 18 years! So when I could not get any local Family Fares to make one this year (last year his sister worked @ one and it was the best one yet), I set out to replicate it myself with a whipped frosting recipe and vanilla pudding to sub for Bavarian cream. Well...the frosting tasted like nothing but shortening, so I made a whole new batch of regular buttercream. But as soon as some of it mixed with the pudding, it started sliding off the sides. Seriously. Funny. Mess. But the top still looked great, and the cake tasted good! We had dinner at his old favorite, Mario's. Next year is the big 3-0...oh yeah, it's gonna be BIG.