Easter cupcakes

                                                                                          

Blank canvas - cupcakes with choc frosting

Chocolate sprinkles make a great "nest"

Eggs anyone? I think these were Whoppers in springy colors.

Easter egg baskets are ready to gobble up by the kiddos at daycare :)

Closeup (a little out of focus)

Cheers, mom!

What better to down a snack than some wine?

And just in case you were wondering, it is not wine - just sparkling wine - lol.

Dance starts again...

Dance started again a couple of weeks ago. Annika was so excited - she thought it was time to go to the "big" stage on the first day - lol. She was practicing her wave when everyone clapped ;) Its amazing what a difference 3 months makes - now A gets ready by herself to go to dance.

Thankfully for mom and dad, no new outfit. But a proud mommy has to brag about her cutie pie. Here's a pic - all ready to go :)

Funny things...

Its been a while since I blogged and before I forget (yet again) let me put these down for the record...

1. Every time the microwave buzzer goes off, my almost 4 yo thinks that her time out is done!!!

2. I am afraid to give the kiddo any gum (yet). So I give her Starburst softchews and she thinks that is gum - lol.

3. My daughter wanted to go see the lobsters at the meat counter yesterday and I didn't have time. So I told her that the lobsters were taking a nap and that we'd see them next time when they'll be awake. She bought that!

Great blog!

I bumped into this great blog, by chance. Take a look!

Child Labor anyone? ;)

This past weekend, my DH wanted to sheetrock our basement and not the walls - the ceilings, to be precise! This project let me tell you is a pain where it shouldn't be! So we decided to have some fun family time and brought Annika down with us. She turned out to be a pretty good helper. She helped daddy measure the sheetrock, and while DH and I were doing the heavy stuff, she was busy doing the following...

Happy (early) Birthday, Daddy!

As promised, here is the end product of the "Better-than-anything" cake (recipe in the previous post).

We already ate the cake since daddy could not wait until his bday! It was ok. I think it could've been a little more moist and I will have to tweak the recipe a little bit.

Annika also wore her "new" earrings that her grandma gave her when she was born. She has been having some issues with one of her ears with sensitivity to the metal, I think and hopefully it will heal pretty soon. We'll see...

P.S. Just for the records, I still can't believe that my DH will be turning 35!!!!

Minnesota morning skies - February 19, 2010

Better-Than-Anything Cake

I've known of this cake with various names, but since this is a G rated blog, let's just name it Better-Than-Anything cake. I wanted to bake a cake for my DHs bday this weekend and here's what I am planning to do. I've never made this before, so it should be interesting and hopefully easy. I am not much of a baker though I thoroughly enjoy cooking. My style of cooking is a little bit of this, a little bit of that, etc. :)

Will post pics of the end product but here's the recipe

Parenting - harder on parents or child?

This morning, I have a burning question that stems from a little girl who is new to our daycare and was bawling when I dropped Annika off. It broke my heart to see her and knowing from experience (have changed daycares a couple of times), I am sure she will be fine in a few days. Driving to work, I kept thinking how difficult parenting is. But the more burning part of my question was - who is it more diffcult on - the parent or the child?

I know that this girl's parents might not need to set aside any money for therapy, parenting is difficult on the parent, than it is on the child IMHO. The child is at a age where they are more adaptable and flexible. And their memories are volatile, thank goodness!

Parents (especially moms) are guilt ridden to begin with and we question everything that we do. Sometimes I wonder if its genetic and maybe we inherited the guilt gene and evolution never even went that route! We feel guilty about sending kids to daycare. We feel guilty about keeping them home making them less social. We feel guilty about this, or that. Its never ending.

This parenting is also difficult on parents because we "understand" what is happening and we take it to heart and keep it there for the longest time.

So my burning question today is - parenting is harder on whom - the parents or the child?