"24"

Last weekend my brother, Matt (but we call him Matty), came to visit. He's married and has an 18-mo-old son named Logan who Sydni just adores. Logan has started talking more and went around the house calling, "oo-ahh" the whole time they were here, we kind of gathered that was his generic name for both of my girls. Almost as cute as Sydni calling my brother "Muincle Daddy." It's a nice change for him considering when Julia was Sydni's age, she burst into tears and wailed, "I want my Daddy, not Uncle Matty!! Go away!!" Anyway, they came in to town to celebrate his birthday by going to the BYU football game, football is so not my thing so we did not join them, but I made him a cake.

My brother loves the show "24" and I'd been thinking of a way to make a "24" cake for a while since my hubby loves it too. Unfortunately for Ja, his birthday (and my FILs!) fell during the time I was making the wedding cake and I didn't plan on the wedding cake giving me such a hard time, so both of them got the short end of the stick this year. Considering it's what Ja wanted and my in-laws are on a diet it worked out for the best anyway. My cakes are so not good for you! Not to mention I really needed Ja's help to make the cake. It's hard to surprise you family with a cake when I have no way to hide it from them. The surprise is half the fun! Ja really helped a lot with the planning and execution of this cake. If you watch "24" you know there are a few key elements to every season- some kind of kidnapping (usually a relative of Jack) and a bomb or two. I decided to make a bomb.

I had a hard time figuring out what kind of bomb to make and all the details, Ja helped me figure out the final design. My brother had requested Apple Crisp instead of cake, so I didn't have to worry about making a suitcase cake or anything like that. I made the sticks of dynamite from Rice Krispy treats and covered them in fondant. The electrical tape is also fondant and the timer is actually this great little scrapbooking gadget a friend gave me. It's a little recording device much like those found in cards or picture frames and with my wonderful hubby's help (again!!) he was able to record the countdown noise they play between commercial breaks. The wires are actual wires I painted with food coloring. I was going to do something edible, but why?

He loved it and I was very happy to be able to do something special for his birthday.

His little guy Logan was terrified by everything, but I'm told he likes the sound card now. Sydni loves blowing out candles and kept making us relight them all night. She should be lots of fun next month!

In other news, I thought I'd share a few quick pictures. This first one is of Julia on her first day of school. She started at a new elementary this year and couldn't be happier. I'm happy too, the classes are smaller and they have excellent music and reading programs that most elementaries in the area don't.

This is Sydni's best friend, Hannah. I recently started babysitting Hannah and her baby sister, Rachel. So three days a week I have three children under the age of three. And for those of you who are currently or who have lived through this my hat is off to you. It's doable for me only because I know it will end at 4 pm! If it were my actual life my house would never be clean and we'd be eating a lot of take out!!

A few more quick notes, I picked up my knitting needles again for the first time in quite a while. I've picked some scarf patterns and yarn for the "Red Scarf Project" but I'm starting out with a dishcloth or two so I make sure I didn't forget anything. Also, I'm currently reading "Eclipse" and wondering what I got myself into. I'm not a very patient person so I typically wait until all the books in a series are written before I start them and then just madly read them one after the other. I had been told the Twilight series was a trilogy and thought I was safe to start them. Then I heard that's not the case, imagine my horror when I visited her website. Now I have to wait with the rest of you!!