We survived another birthday party!!! Always an accomplishment. The theme of the party was "Mad-Scientist" and we had a blast! I put together a few experiments for them to do including a test tube lava lamp made with Alka-Seltzers, fun with slime and the finale was exploding Diet Coke with a pack of Mentos candies. (what 8yr old boy wouldn't want something to explode at his party - thankfully it was at the park down the street!) My Mom and Dad were able to spend his birthday with us and they were a big help at the party along with friend Melissa. Wayne was in charge of pictures and video. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off.
This is the cake for this year. Much easier than the bike cake from last year! It's a brain if you can't tell. The kids got a kick out of eating "brain" - haha!At this point I'll catch you up with what I've been up to other than putting together crazy birthday parties. Inspired by my sister-in-law and several other sources, I purchased a grain mill. This means I've been grinding flour from wheat berries (not exactly as rustic as Ma Ingalls - this baby is a fine tuned machine.) and managing to make bread and other baked goods when I get the chance. I've done this because first of all - it tastes amazing. It has a fantastic nutty flavor that you can't get from stuff off the shelves. And second, because it very nutritious. Flour goes rancid extremely fast on top of the fact that they suck out all the good stuff and leave white all-purpose stuff that's supposed to last - how long? Anyway, I've been enjoying it and my family seems to like what they get to eat.
The other thing I've discovered I can't live without and Will's so tired of me talking about it is Norwex products. Now this is a line of cleaning products so you might wonder what I'm so excited about it's the fact that there aren't any chemicals I'm using anymore (for the most part) and I'm still getting things clean. This is very exciting for me. I know - I need to get out more. I have a friend who admits (you know who you are) that she likes the smell of CLR. I do not. And my trusty micro-fiber Norwex cloth cleans better than CLR (I'm serious, Cara).
Finally, the last thing to come into my life and I wonder how I even functioned without before. His name is Bob (as in Bob's your uncle), has a brilliant British accent, goes with me almost anywhere and tells me where to go as I happily comply. My in-laws feared that Bob would cause marital strife but that was when Bob was a women telling my husband where to go. The new man in my life is our trusty GPS. My father-in-law got this little gem for my husband shortly after Christmas and I was not amused. It was set to the women's voice to begin with and she kept telling me to go the long way to church. I know how to get to church. She really ticked me off. Then when we were going on a family outing to Upper Canada Village (which I've been to about 10 times and know the way very well), Wayne listened to HER as she took us all over tarnation and no one would listen to me. But then we found the switch and changed her to Bob. Bob has gotten us to out of town cities, suggested restaurants in the area, gotten me and kids the the kids museum and back to our hotel - I can even take a wrong turn and Bob will "recalculate" and get me back on track. I can now go anywhere in Canada, the States and Puerto Rico and get to my destination. Does it get any better?
