Friday, July 29, 2011

According to Ainsley #13 - Rapunzel is the New Ainsley


At the pool, a little girl about 4 says to Ainsley "My name is Meg, what's your name?"
Ainsley responds, "Rapunzel."
I jump in, "No, what's your real name?"
"Rapunzel," she answers matter of factly.

Little Meg looks at me very confused.
"Her name is Ainsley," I say.
"NO IT'S NOT!" Ainsley yells and looks back at Meg, "My name is Rapunzel and this is my friend Flynn." Ainsley points to the empty side of the baby pool.  Meg went to find her parents.
**************************************************
At the grocery store, an older woman is behind me in line.
"Oh your children are precious," she says.
"Thank you," I answer.
"And what is your name little girl?" she asks Ainsley.
"Rapunzel," Ainsley answers.
"Tell her your real name," I say to Ainsley.
Ainsley looks at me, then at the woman "Rapunzel."
The woman chuckles uncomfortably as I say "Her name is Ainsley."
***************************************************
At the mall, in the children's play area I am sitting next to a mother of a little girl about Ainsley's age.
Ainsley runs over to tell me about what Flynn just did.
The little girl asks "What's your name?" to Ainsley.
"Rapunzel," she answers sweetly.
The mother looks at me, "Is her name really Rapunzel."
"No, it's Ainsley," I respond.
Cue eye roll from Ainsley, "No, my old name is Ainsley, but now I have long hair and my name is Rapunzel."
"Well that's nice," says the other mother, "Rapunzel, meet Ava...I mean, Ariel."
Now looking at me, she says "Aren't you glad you worried and stressed over the perfect name just to have it replaced by some dumb Disney movie?"
Exactly!


I'm linking up with Rebecca over at Musings of a Manic Mama on Friday.  Go check out her blog...





Musings of a Manic Mama

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Ladies Man

This guy?


How cute is this guy?


Watch out ladies...


Because he is already mastering the art of flirtation.

Wherever we go, whatever we do...


he spots the prettiest young women...

locks eyes and whispers in that gruff, smokey, little boy voice...


"Hi."  Pudgy fingers waving like crazy.

You will lay down and die from the cuteness overdose. 


He'll be breaking lots of hearts in 14-16 years.


But for now, he's all mine.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

All Tangled Up

Last weekend was Ainsley's Tangled birthday party.









We had it at the pool, which other than carrying all the stuff there and back, made it incredibly easy.  No worries about having the house perfect to host a party.  There was just a small area that I needed to decorate and have ready.

It also took all the pressure off party food and extreme decorations.

We did frozen burgers and dogs, chips and fruit.  Then we bought some balloons, streamers and table cloths.  Oh and I got some paper lanterns to mimic the floating lanterns in the movie.






Actually, the only thing I really worked at was the cake.  And this was going to be a tall order since Ainsley had requested...and I quote..."Can I have a cake with a tower and Rapunzel in the tower with her hair out the window blowing in the wind? And Flynn Rider is climbing up the side of the tower with his stick and Maximus and Pisaul are playing in the water?"

Um...yeah...

When I lived in Richmond, I had this awesome friend Heather.  She bakes and decorates amazing cakes.  Look here.  She made me cakes for showers and engagement parties.  And she made Ainsley's birthday cake last year.

So when it was time to find a Tangled cake, I didn't know where to start.  Heather lived too far now.  Big sad face :(

But I had made Ainsley's first birthday cake.

And I had made the cupcakes for Freddie's first birthday.

So I was ready to tackle the Tangled cake.  I emailed Heather for advice.

And, I think it turned out pretty well.  What do you think?





Want to know how I did it?  Instructions below.

Tangled Birthday Cake
The cake was the easy part.  All you gotta do is open those boxes and mix with oil, water and eggs. 


Bake and done.  I cooled them overnight.


I also baked a small round cake for part of the tower.

Constructing the tower was a bit more difficult.

Two nights before the party, I made rice Krispy treats.



Half of them were wrapped around a wooden dowel, covered in Saran wrap and placed in the fridge.  We ate the other half :)




On the morning of the party, I covered the two cakes in green icing.


I then cut a hole out of the cake to place the rice Krispy treat tower in.  Note: I thought I could just stick the dowel in the cake, but it turned out to be too heavy.  So I pushed the dowel to the top, cut out a larger circle in the cake and stuck the entire tower into the cake.


Next I needed to add the circular room that Rapunzel spends her days sweeping and painting and baking in.  This is where the small round cake comes in.

I cut the edges to make it more cylindrical.  I used the cut off pieces to kind of prop the tower up a bit at the base, and give it more of a shape.

Next I covered the tower in gray icing. I used a toothpick to add texture and give the tower a stone look.


Note: It is not easy to get gray icing.  I mixed brown and purple.  The trick was adding blue.  Kind of reminded me of Steel Magnolias and the gray armadillo cake!

Then I placed the cylindrical cake on the top of the dowel.  I painted it brown - it looked like peanut butter. 


To finish the structure of the tower I added a sugar cone to the top, covered in purple icing.


Now it was time to decorate.

I added a window and iced flowers and ivy all over the tower.


Finally, I had bought some little Tangled figurines.  I placed them on the cake. 




I wrote Happy Birthday in pink and then wrote Ainsley in yellow with the hair tip and extended it over the cake, around Flynn Rider and connected it to the Rapunzel figurine.



Voila...Tangled Cake!


I called Ainsley in to take a look.  I picked her up and she studied the cake. 

"So Ainsley, do you like the cake?" I asked.
With a very concerned look on her face, she responded "Yeah, but...why isn't Rapunzel in her tower?"

Look kid, I'm an amateur...cut me some slack!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

According to Ainsley #12 - You're How Old?!?!?!?!


We are practicing our letters...

Ainsley: Mommy, what does twee start with?
Mommy: Ta, Ta, Ta, tree starts with the letter T.
Ainsley: What does house start with?
Mommy: Ha, Ha, Ha, house starts with the letter H.
Ainsley: What does Datsby start with?
Mommy: Ga, Ga, Ga, Gatsby starts with the letter G.
Ainsley: No Mommy, what does DATsby start with.
Mommy: GATsby starts with the letter G.  Our dog's name is GATsby.
Ainsley: (rolls eyes) Mommy, I am too little to say GATsby.  Only drwon ups say that.
Mommy: You just said it GATsby.  Ga, Ga, Ga.
Ainsley: Mommy, I am only 4, you are...how old are you again?
Mommy: I'm 33.
Ainsley: (giggling) Oh wow!  Teek can say Ga, Ga, Ga.  How old is Teek?
Mommy: Keek is 27.
Ainsley: WHAT?!?!?  That is soooo old.

I texted my sister-in-law to tell her what her niece thought of her age.  I'm not sure she found it as funny as I did.

I'm linking up with Rebecca over at Musings of a Manic Mama on Friday.  Go check out her blog...


Musings of a Manic Mama

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Same, Yet Different

I'm always amazed at how different my children can be.  How did two little people, so opposite, come from the same parents?

Ainsley is laid back, up beat and always sees the positive. 
Freddie is passionate, emotional and high tempered.

Ainsley - 1 Day Old

Freddie - 1 Minute Old

Ainsley is a tall and thin.  She's graceful and gentle.
Freddie is shorter and plumper.  He's clumsy and rough.


Ainsley - 2 Months
 
Freddie - 3 Months
Ainsley's a fly-by-the-seat of her pants kind of girl.
Freddie likes his schedule and lets you know when you've screwed with it.
Ainsley has always loved to cuddle and is happiest being held.
Freddie needs his space and is a bit more independent.


Ainsley - 4 Months


Freddie - 5 Months
Ainsley loves attention. 
Freddie tends to get overstimulated.

Ainsley - Just after eating her first birthday cake.


Freddie - Can't be done with the first birthday cake quick enough!
Before Ainsley, I had no idea how to love like a mom.
She showed me how.

Before Freddie, I thought I was a pro.
He changed the rules.

I'm linking up with Shell at Things I Can't Say for her "Rock the Baby" meme.

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