Birthday Bowling

For Dave's birthday last weekend, we thought it would be fun to go bowling. Caleb had never been before, and we weren't sure how he'd do, but we opted to give it a shot. I remembered from when my sister was little that some of the lanes were equipped with bumpers for little kids so their balls wouldn't go in the gutters. When we arrived, we learned that all the lanes now have bumpers and are on an automatic system that raises them for the player who needs them and then lowers them again for those who don't. It was a good setup and worked well for us so that Caleb could bowl and we could play a real game ourselves - gutterballs and all!

Caleb, who learned how to bowl recently with a toy set at Granny's, was raring to go as soon as we arrived. He did pretty well letting us help him and listening about keeping his fingers away from where the balls come out the machine. At one point though, he didn't really want Mommy's help and tried to push the ball down the lane by himself which ended up stuck half way. Dave tried to fix the problem by sending another ball to push it along but his aim wasn't quite on target. In the end, we had to get someone to retrieve Caleb's ball. After that lesson though, everything else went smoothly.

(Please forgive the cellphone quality pics; I didn't think the other bowlers would like me flashing pictures all over the place with my real camera.)

 

 

 

Poor Hadley didn't get to bowl but she still liked exploring and snuggling Daddy.

 

Caleb's interest waned towards the end of the first game, and he settled down to a corndog and some chips while we played another game.

Part way through the second game, my body started to let me know that bowling isn't a good activity for a pregnant lady, so we called it a day and went home to put our wore out kids down for naps. I think everyone had a good day and hopefully it will be a family activity we can do more of in the future.

Another Caketastrophe

How many of you avid blog readers remember the sad story of the disaster I made of Caleb's first birthday cake the first time I attempted to experiment with creative cake making? If anyone has forgotten or didn't hear the story, you may want to check out my wagon cake post.

Well, I did again. I got this bright idea to try to make a fancy cake and bombed. Ready for the story? Here goes...

I decided to throw a tea party for my mom's birthday and found all of these beautiful 3-D teapot cakes on Pintrest. I looked through several websites to figure out how these creations were put together and borrowed from a few to come up with something I thought I could manage on my own. 

I went to Michaels and Hobby Lobby to try to find the supplies I'd need - the first being gum paste, which I had never worked with before. I was curious about the ease of working with it since, from what I'd read in the cake decorating book my sister bought me and seen on other websites, it seemed that you could just mold it like play-dough to make any kind of figure you wanted to add to your cake. I had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy because I know Michaels offers classes on how to work with gum paste, but my fearless cake decorating side took over and said "Go for it!"

Everything started off okay at first...

I pulled out my cake toolbox, my colors, spreader, decorating supplies, 

cake tip book, and, of course, the gum paste.

 

Since I'd read gum paste could be pretty sticky, I got out some cornstarch 

as recommend to help keep it off my hands and make it easier to work 

with. I learned that it was not just a suggested element; it was absolutely 

necessary. The gum paste was so sticky I couldn't do anything with it 

until I started adding some.

I added a little color to the gum paste and then made the spout and 

handle, adding a few toothpicks to attach it to the cake later as one 

site suggested. I never could get that beautiful smooth look I saw online 
though. Instead, my shapes really did look like I was working with 
play-dough, having the creases and dried out look my childhood 
creations did.

While in Hobby Lobby, I also purchased this gum paste mold to try to
 make some decorations to add to the exterior of my tea pot. Maybe 
this would work better than hand forming everything?

Using the mold was actually pretty easy to my relief, especially since 

I didn't have all the tools recommended for getting the pieces out of the 

molds.  I was a bit disappointed with the dulled colors compared to what 

I saw in pictures but part of that was the cornstarch that helped keep the 

items from getting stuck. I am not sure what you are really supposed to 

do, but I took a wet paint brush and went over one of the flowers after it 

dried to see if I could get the color to pop a little more. It worked!

To make the different colors of gum paste, add your icing colors

 the same way you do for normal icing - a little at a time with a toothpick. 

The problem was that, unlike with normal icing, I couldn't just stir it up 
with a spatula. After mixing all those different balls of gum paste 
together with one color after another, I thought my hands would never 
be the same! I tried washing and soaking them but it was a couple days 
before they were back to normal. If any one has a better suggestion for 
mixing, let me know! (To make this even sillier, I had to teach my 
Bible study group immediately after dying my hands like this. Since I 
tend to talk with my hands, I had to explain why my hands looked 
the way they did.)

Day 2 of operation teapot cake: the trouble begins.....

On one lady's blog, she demonstrated how to use a ball cake pan to make 

the round teapot. Thankfully, Hobby Lobby had one and I think it will be 

a good purchase that I can use for a lot of different designs down the road.

Baking the cake was the easy part of the day though! Everything 

started going downhill from here, beginning with Caleb bothering 

the gum paste pieces that I had left of the dinning room table to keep 

them out of the way while I was baking. Though warned not to touch 

the cake pieces, they were just too irresistible and the handle of my 

teapot did not fair well. I wish I could say that I kept my cool at this 
point, but after all the work, time, and money put into forming these 
pieces, especially since I was on crunched schedule to prepare everything 
for the party, my temper flared more than it should have. He didn't seem 
too upset by the scolding and time out though; what really got to him 
was when I told him that he had broken NaNa's cake. Later in the day 
when she came to visit, he ran to her immediately to show her that 
he had broken her cake. Despite his ornery streak that morning, I was
 thankful to see how much he cared about his grandma and that he 
really does have a beautiful little heart.

While my mom was visiting, I remade the handle and spout as well as a ball for the topper on the lid. I leveled the domes off the cakes and then froze them so they wouldn't crumb when I put the icing on later. Since I wasn't feeling well that evening, I went to bed super early and decided to finish the following day, hoping that no more issues would arise.

After nursing Hadley at around 3:30 a.m, I decided to go ahead and try to finish my cake since it was Dave's birthday and I didn't want to take away from the fun of his day. Plus, I knew with the kids still in bed, I would have uninterrupted time to work, which was important for working with the icing before it hardened.

First, I tried mixing up the package of Wilton's buttercream icing I'd found at Michaels so I could icing the frozen cake. While I thought I followed the directions, I later realized that I didn't add the ingredients in quite the order it suggested. Once I saw that I'd made a mistake though, it seemed to me that all would be okay in the end and I just continued mixing. Wrong! The icing never fluffed up like it was supposed to and was more the consistency of paint than buttercream, but I decided to try to work with it anyway since I didn't have a whole lot of choice at that time in the morning.

I slid a knife under the frozen cakes and stacked them on top of each other with a little icing in between and skewers to help hold it together. While trying to prying them from the plate though, I had accidentally cut my finger with the knife. I didn't realize it at first but when I glanced down, I saw it - a drop of blood in the icing I was using to decorate the cake. AHHH! Gross!!! Nothing was usable now! Time to throw out plan A and start from scratch!!!!!!

Thankfully, I had some pretty tea party cupcake holders, so a little later in the day I whipped some up to use as a back-up in case I couldn't figure out how to make another cake or just ran out of time and patience.

While I didn't really have time to try to do the 3-D cake again, especially when I wasn't sure it would even turn out, I had another idea. Over the summer, I made a dinosaur cake for a baby shower using two round cakes, one for the body and one to cut out the head and tail. I decided I could do the same for a teapot. It worked pretty well without a hitch, especially since I went to Martins grocery store in town to buy my buttercream this time around like I usually do instead of trying to make it from a mix. It wasn't perfect, but it was usable. :)

Today I revisted the caketastrophe I originally tried to make into a masterpiece. I knew we couldn't eat it since the icing was contaminated, but I thought there was no point in throwing it out yet until I practiced on it. Since I had some left over buttercream icing from Martins and the pieces I'd made from the gum paste still, I took the pitiful looking cake out of the freezer to see if I could at least try to finish it before I tossed everything.

 Here is the frozen cake with just the original drippy icing.

 I added a little of the leftover buttercream from the grocery 

store and stuck on the handle, spout, and topper. A little better, right?

 Next I pulled out a few of those flowers, leaves, and birds I made with 

the gum paste mold and attached them with dabs of icing on the back.

 The smaller pieces went on easily but the longer pieces that were 

supposed to be borders didn't work out very well for this rounded 

cake. After they harden, you can't mold them to the cake without 

breaking them. I figured this would happen and tried to round them a 

little before they hardened but it didn't help. I am not sure if there is a 
way to do it or if I should have just used a bag of icing and tip to pipe 
a border around the bottom.  I didn't want to get all the supplies out to 
do it, but I also should have piped a circle around the top to look like
 the lid which I'll do in the future if I try it again.

It's not perfect but at least you get the idea of what I was trying to do!

I guess it is a good thing that starting next Saturday I am taking a Wilton's level 1 cake decorating class at Michaels. Hopefully, with a little direction, there will be no more disaster cakes - although they do make pretty good blog posts.

Valentine Blessing

I know the first day of March is a little late to be posting about Valentine's Day, but I have a good reason. This year God gave us a special surprise Valentine! Here's a clue:

 

Around late October/early November, a new little McKinstry baby should be here to fill those shoes at the end of the line. We hadn't planned on having another little one quite so soon but we are beyond excited about it! 

Around 3:30 a.m. on Valentines, I woke up to nurse Hadley who was wanting a middle of the night snack. While I was up, I decided to take a pregnancy test since I'd not been feeling the best lately and was a bit suspicious something like this might be the cause. In reality I expected a negative test and wasn't too surprised when I didn't see a line show up in the tests results at first. As my eyes adjusted more to the light, I saw some pink beginning to appear faintly. Wow! 

I went in the bedroom to tell Dave, who was changing Hadley's diaper. "We might have a lot more diapers to change soon," I announced. And, while I can't remember his exact words, I remember how excited he was to find out another Baby McK is on the way.

He somehow went back to sleep pretty quickly after getting Hadley back in bed; I, on the other hand, could not sleep for hours. I thought about all the logistics of having three babies, how I was going to tell my family, tried figuring out what the due date would be, thought about the option of preschool for Caleb a couple days a week, wondered whose room I would put the new baby in and if Hadley would be out of her crib that soon, etc. etc. etc. 

My sister had stayed the previous night with us so the following morning, she was the first one I got to share the news with (aside from Dave and Hadley, of course). We told Caleb too who let us know that the new baby is going to be a girl and that she could sleep in his bed. 

For telling my parents though, I wanted to be a little more creative. Since it was Valentines, I decided to have Caleb make a card and then signed the bottom: "Love, Caleb (Hadley & Baby McKinstry too!)"

He told me what to write on the front and for the inside message.

When my mom came to visit, she got distracted playing with the kids and I kept nudging her to open Caleb's Valentine as my sister and I waited in anticipation for her reaction. Finally, she opened it! After giggling about Caleb's "I love you, Amen" message, she saw the bottom. "You are kidding me!" she exclaimed. Nope, NaNa...here comes baby number 3. Though surprised (as were we) that our next baby was coming so soon, she said the perfect thing, "We'll take 'em whenever we can get 'em."

Bring on the baby bump! So excited! :)

Baltimore Aquarium

Dave and I have been wanting to take the kids to the Baltimore Aquarium for a good while now. Even before Hadley was born we'd talked about making the trip with Caleb because he's always shown an interest in watching fish. Whether staring at the fish in Aunt Courtney's tank (like he often did when she still lived with my parents) or being mesmerized by the variety of aquatic animals found in the pet section of Walmart, his attention is definitely captured by underwater creatures. After seeing Hadley's excitement when she looked at the fish in the tank at Scheels on our trip to Illinois recently, we knew she'd enjoy visiting an aquarium too.

Since kids under three are free, we thought we'd better hurry before our big boy's birthday two months from now when the rate would increase to $20.95 for him. How crazy! So, last Saturday we drove about two hours to Maryland to finally see all Baltimore's aquarium had to offer. We picked a freezing cold day for such a venture and ended up having to walk several blocks from the parking garage to our destination, but we made it work. Dave put Hadley inside her carrier and zipped her up inside his coat while I scooped up Caleb and snuggled him close as I walked as quickly as possible to get there - first off because I was freezing, and secondly because my arms were about to fall off from toting that 32lb boy multiple blocks. It all worked out though; Hadley was warm and I didn't have to worry about Caleb running out into traffic or meandering slowly down the sidewalk as everything in the city drew his attention. 

The National Aquarium does not allow strollers since there are so many escalators throughout, so choosing such a cold day to travel was not such a good idea for another reason. Not only did we have to tote Hadley and the diaper bag around all day, we also had to lug everyone's heavy winter coats. We decided in advance though that juggling everything was worth it and just tried to downsize what we brought along. Instead of the large diaper bag I normally drag with us full of anything and everything I think we might need, we took a small backpack one with just the essentials - diapers, wipes, a changing pad, and food. I also opted to leave the Nikon at home and rely on Dave's cell phone for recording our memories. (I thought this would also help me to focus on enjoying the day more rather than worrying about getting the perfect pics .)

We found out upon arrival that we'd picked Australia Day to check out the animals. This was especially cool because their special exhibits right now is called "Australia: Wild Extremes." We were quickly ushered into the exhibit and our animal browsing began. 

I mentioned that there was a snake in this cage and Caleb ran right up to it. This boy is braver than his momma!

Whoa! A sting ray!

Hadley is traveling in style.

 

I think he likes this!

Turtles and a freshwater crocodile

Getting a closer look

Though the D.C. aquarium is closer to us and quite a bit cheaper, the main reason I wanted to go to Baltimore was the dolphin show.  When Dave and I were dating we came one evening and enjoyed watching them.  I had a feeling that a little boy who enjoys watching miniature fish swim around in the small tanks in the back of our local Walmart would be crazy about watching these large sea animals put on their performance. Since it was supposed to be the highlight of the visit, we made sure to stop there right after the Australia exhibit. I had no idea what time they did performances throughout the day, but thankfully we arrived just in time to catch the show and would probably not have gotten to see the later one if we'd missed this one. While Caleb did enjoy seeing them, he wasn't quite as thrilled as I thought he might be, which may be in part due to the fact that we had to sit way up in the stands to avoid being splashed, that the trainer giving the show did a lot of the talking, and the dolphins only did a few tricks. His favorite part was when the dolphins would jump high into the air and make a huge splash. He repeatedly squealed in delight something like, "He make a big wave." The trainer told us how they teach the dolphins to do the tricks and all of animals did a great job.

Waving to us

Posing for us

Relaxing on Daddy

There's that smiley face

Caleb's favorite part!

I might have been more excited than the kids.

After the dolphins, we stopped for lunch for a bit. Caleb, who is a wiggly little boy, somehow fell out of his chair backwards and hit the back of his head on the slate floor. When I first went to pick him up, he made a little bit of a gagging sound and all I could think was concussion! I thought we were going to have to leave shortly and take him to a hospital to get checked out. After crying some though, he settled down and acted perfectly fine the rest of the day despite the knot on the back of his noggin.

Once he and I both calmed ourselves, we headed to the jellyfish exhibit. This stop was Caleb's favorite we think judging by his reaction. He just kept going back and forth from one tank to another and back again in awe. It is pretty interesting to watch jellyfish swim. This particular exhibit was called the "Jellyfish Invasion" and focused on how jellyfish are spreading to more areas, harming certain ecosystems as these hearty animals take over and eat the food other fish need to survive. The background music was a bit eerie, but watching the jellyfish and learning about them was fun.

Next, we toured the other wing of the building where the rest of the fish reside. There was floor after floor of tanks teeming with aquatic life. From the Amazon River to the Pacific and Atlantic coral reefs to tropical rain forests to local rivers and streams, animals had been gathered for us to enjoy and learn about their lives. While this area was very busy, Caleb used his size to his advantage and snuck through the crowd to get right up close while the rest of us often had to just stand back and watch him and the fish from behind the other onlookers.

Our last stop was to check out the huge shark tank room.

Scary! Of all the fish in the shark tank, Caleb kept wanting to see the sawfish.

I truly enjoyed the time together as a family but when we went into the shark room, my body felt exhausted and I knew physically I was beyond done for the day after toting both Hadley and the rest of our stuff. We stopped for a break to feed Baby Girl and rest ourselves before heading back to the car. While on our way to do some diaper changes before we left, we noticed right next to the entrance that they had lockers for sale for $2. It was definitely one of those smack your forehead moments, but at least next time we'll know.

We bundled up and made our speedy trip back to the parking garage. Despite the fact that we pushed the kids way past their nap times, they'd done amazing and both of them conked out for the drive home. 

Caleb said his favorite parts of the day were the parking garage (which was just a normal cement parking garage) and the dinosaur (which we later realized meant the giant fossil of some prehistoric shark-like animal that was found near the entrance). He cracks me up!

Two Front Teeth

The traditional holiday carol "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" took on a new meaning at the McKinstry household this year. Both our little ones were struggling to cut teeth this December and both ended up getting two brand new front teeth.

Hadley's been chomping on everything for months. It seems like people around us have been telling me forever that she'd probably be getting some teeth soon. As I expected from my experience with Caleb teething, all that chewing didn't produce any results for a quite a while though. Finally, one night while feeding her dinner, Dave found a sharp little pearly white poking through. December 13th marked the day that we would all have to be careful getting our fingers anywhere near that girl's mouth. 

Like Caleb, her first tooth was one of her lower central incisors; the difference was that his showed up on the left first and hers appeared on the right. The second tooth didn't quite make it in time for Christmas but popped through a couple days later. While I wish I'd gotten a shot of her with just her first tooth, sometimes I'm sadly a little too slow and miss milestone pictures. :( However, I did get some really cute shots of her the past few days showing off those new chompers.

 

 

 

 

A certain little person absolutely loves using her toothbrush too. She is good at letting me get in there and get her teeth clean, and she is also super happy when it is her chance to have a turn brushing. The problem is that she cries when I have to take it away!

 

Caleb also got a couple new front teeth around the holidays. Right about the time Hadley's first tooth broke through, Caleb finally got his upper canines. The week before, I'd taken the kids to the dentist with me when I went for my check-up and asked the tech and the doctor if I should be concerned he hadn't gotten these yet since pretty much every kid we knew his age had had them for awhile and he hadn't cut any teeth in a long time. My uncle and one of my cousins both had issues with these same teeth and never got adult ones; both of them actually still have their original baby canines. Both the tech and the dentist assured me that I shouldn't worry about it for now and if they didn't come in by the time he was three we could do an x-ray. Thankfully, they decided it was time to come through and Caleb has a complete mouthful of teeth as he should have now. 

While Hadley's always smiley which makes taking a picture of the inside of her mouth easy, Caleb was much more wiggly. I got a few shots though of him with his new teeth coming in.

While Caleb has never really been a biter, Hadley is showing signs that she might go down that road much to my dismay. She has nipped me quite a few times the past few days - the worst being when I was nursing her, which I never had to worry about with Caleb who stopped at six months before he got any teeth. I have scolded her to try to dissuade her from trying it again, and thankfully our super sensitive girl, who starts crying whenever we fuss at her, seems to understand that she's done wrong. There is still that need to chomp something though so I've been trying to give her a pacifier to chew on when she gets in a nibbly mood.

Our doctor told me a while ago not to break Caleb of his pacifiers while he was teething, and the more I thought of it, it made sense to me that maybe he never was much of a biter unlike other kids we knew his age that didn't take a pacifier. Recently, after he'd given them up and the new teeth were coming through, he did bite Hadley's finger one night when she stuck it in his mouth. I am not sure if it was because she invaded his space or because he was used to chewing on the pacifier that he no longer had, but he of course was punished and has done fine since. A day or so later, Hadley bit him on the leg though, so I had to make a bit of a production out of scolding her too in front of him and then explain to him that she was too little to really understand that she was hurting him. She's bit his finger before too because he purposely puts in her mouth to see what she'd do. I, of course, advised him that this is a bad idea, but I guess he'll learn one way or another. I hope all this biting business stops soon though so we can all feel safe again. :)