We were eating supper outside the other night and our neighbor was working on re-shingling his roof. We were talking about it and I mentioned that when I was little I wanted to grow up to be a carpenter. Then I asked Ellie what she wanted to do when she grows up. She thought about it for a little bit and then said, “When I grow up I want to yell at the kitty.” When I got done laughing I told her, “Ellie, you do that now.” to which she replied, “When I grow up, I want to yell at Evan.” I had to point out that she does that now too. 

My birthday is this Sunday…and the other day at work, my friend Stacey pulled out a little early birthday present.
I was shocked enough at this, because I wasn’t expecting a gift from anyone…but was also seriously excited…especially when I saw the little striped material peeking out from the top of the bag.

I pull it out and it is the coolest apron I’ve ever seen…and to top it off…she made it.

Now, I will probably never be this cool – but I’m sure glad I have friends that are…

check it out…it makes me want to bake everyday!   

 
and I must say, I look pretty good in it too! 

A new apron needs a test drive, right? 

I signed up to make a cake for my boss’ graduation party…so i put that apron to good use.   

For therapeutic reasons, I’ll tell you just how that cake turned out.  
I finished baking it on Wednesday night, and after struggling to get it out of the pan (this is a constant struggle for me – if anyone has any suggestions on this so I can stop pulling my hair out, i’d appreciate them), put it under saran until the next morning.
The next morning, i got the base layer of frosting on it before i went to work. Mom suggested that i put it in the oven to store it because i lack counter space in my kitchen (not that I blame mom for what was about to happen to the cake from this suggestion. In all fairness, i did ask where i should put it)
That night, we were running around like crazy people and Ellie and i started making the two strawberry/rhubarb cream pies i needed for the weekend. We got them all put together as I started to heat up the oven. It wasn’t until the oven was fully preheated and i opened it did i realize the cake was still in there, albeit in worse shape than when i put it in. 

The cake did turn out fabulously…did you know that Hy-Vee makes sheet cakes and sells them un-decorated.

I didn’t either, but i do now. 

cake melted…cutting board ruined…lesson learned.   

For Christmas Ellie got a Mrs. Potato Head, and I think it’s become one of her favorite toys. I’m pretty sure part of the reason for that is that I’ve become the voice of Mrs. Potato Head. I’ll get home from work and one of the first things she’ll ask me is, “Can we play with Mrs. Tato Head?” So we’ll get her out and put her parts back on because she doesn’t fit in her home (box) fully assembled. And once she has her mouth and ears on she’ll start talking. Mrs. Potato Head is kind of an airhead, so we have a lot of fun. When her arm falls off (those things are hard to get in good) she throws a fit, and she never walks anywhere because she doesn’t have legs and she can’t go very fast with just feet. Ellie thinks it’s hilarious. We almost always go to a birthday party by the back door for Ellie, Mrs. Potato Head and me and eat cake and ice cream, which we all love. And we dance a lot. Ellie also likes to show Mrs. Potato Head everything. Last night I think we spent five minutes watching Ellie do a trick of putting on a bead necklace and then putting her arms through it and letting it fall to the floor.

Since I’m the voice of Mrs. Potato Head I don’t get to do much talking for myself, which is fine. But sometimes I forget and say something in my voice that Mrs. Potato Head should have said in her high squeaky voice and then I get chewed out. Our cat on the other had is a little creeped out by Mrs. Potato Head’s voice. When we’re playing she’ll come right up to me and sniff around and look at me like I’m crazy. A couple times she’s stuck her nose in my mouth before walking away.

On a side note, I’ve noticed that Mrs. Potato Head’s arms usually end up on the wrong sides (thumbs down) and in her ear holes, and her glasses always go on upside down. When I was looking for pictures to include I ran across another blog, The Bentley Family, about a girl who I would guess is around Ellie’s age who loves her Mrs. Potato Head. If you check out the picture I’m pretty sure the arms are in the ear holes and on the wrong side. And the glasses are upside down.

Ellie loves singing, and frequently breaks out into song at random times. Sometimes it’s random song’s she makes up about things like how Ms. Heather is her favorite teacher, and she doesn’t nap for Mommy at school. Other times it’s songs we sing with her like the ABC’s or Nick Nack Paddy Whack. The other day she came up with Row, Row, Row Your Butt and thought it was hilarious so ever since then we don’t row boats, we row butts.