I hate planning birthday parties

Blah for June. I love my kids, but thinking of planning pin the tail on the donkey games or buying balloons makes me crazy. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but I can just guarantee that I'll get a headache that day. So I thought I'd share my cake with you. Jonas just had to have a Spongebob party this year (thanks Party City commercial). He even picked out some gross grocery store cake with popping toys on top that I actually agreed to purchasing. When it came time to order it, but I'll admit, I was dragging my feet, they didn't have the stuff for the cake and it would take too long to order. So to the internet I went. I found a site here with all kinds of crazy cakes, but one that looked simple, and you know me-I'm all about simple, and Jonas approved. So we got some yellow cake mix (because SB is yellow inside), mixed up some frosting with the standard box of colors, and got some black tubes too, put it in piping bags, and followed some pictures we printed out from the internet. The best part? I got my husband to do it. I did the hard parts- making the frosting, washing out the piping bags and whatnot, but the artistic part (which I would have done terribly) I got dear husband to do.

Is this starting to be a blog about how to get out of being crafty? I've got to get my sewing machine out and get busy...

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A mess solution

I include my husband in my brood of boys, as you might, and along with my particular man, comes with a lot of gadgets and their requisite cords and other nerdy mise en place (see x-box ear bud). Our desk drawers were brimming with stuff and if I needed to charge a camera or download photos I had to dig for 15 minutes to find the cord. I wish I could say I came up with this idea, but I didn't. We took an over the door shoe hanger and put it in our front closet. With sticky labels and a sharpie we labeled the pockets where we would put our cords and chargers. Its here on apartment therapy but I for sure had it way before this was posted, so I don't know where it came from. What I do know, is that whoever comes over to my house and sees it always wishes they had it at their house. And now you do too. My husband has taken over the front closet for his own guitar thingies. My vacuum lives in the back of the house. Poor, sad vacuum- all alone. He loves the over the door shoe hanger for all of his guitar cords and instruction booklets. Now our desk drawers are for pencils and tape, like normal people.

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Don't underestimate the power of a baby pool

Man today was hot. The whole, "You live by the beach, you get the ocean breeze" thing is totally false. First, I do NOT live by the beach. I would not ride my bike there, it would take entirely too long and I would be way too hot and sweaty by the time I got there, so no. So, there is no, I repeat, no ocean breeze. We have suffered for years without air conditioner. No one has it here. We sit with our feet in ice water, cold towels around our necks, and baby pools. Lots of baby pools. This was our first of the year, and as you can see, we didn't even stop to change into swim suits. Jonas is in his tighty whities and Asher ended up with a giant diaper under his onesie (yes, a onesie-he can't be trusted in shirt and pants, the wiener ends up on the outside too often and a pee pee mess ensues). You guys are lucky I didn't include the photo of Jonas acting like the Statue of Liberty.

Anyhoo, we rushed in from school, dumped our books on the table and started filling the pool, dusting off the spiders from the bottom. The oldest got into the sippy cup drawer for all of the toys and the little one sat right in as soon as he had his shoes off. Impromptu fun is the best kind. I got to read a magazine with my toes in the pool and they were busy for a long time. Oh, and spray sunscreen is the best. Up and Up sport sunscreen continuous spray is getting the best reviews as the safest, cheapest and most effective right now. None of the cancer causing retinyl palmitate and it goes on fast.

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Homemade "lava lamp"

So is today more of a science day or more of a hippie day? Good news, you are in luck. You can do both. Plus, there is the added bonus of downing your favorite soda in the name of science. "Sorry, mommy needs Dr. Pepper today so you can have fun with the bottle later dear."

Materials for the "lava lamp"
-plastic bottle
-vegetable oil
-water
-liquid food coloring
-funnel
-plastic cup

Directions:
Fill the plastic cup with water, add food coloring and mix.
Pour vegetable oil into the empty bottle until it is 1/2 to 3/4 full. (use the funnel)
Add the colored water to the bottle.
Put the cap on the bottle tight- don't stir or shake it (not yet any ways- do that later for fun)

(Something else we've done to "recycle")

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