Busy weekend

The Buffaloe family had an extremely busy (allbeit, fun-filled) weekend with family.

Friday night the boys spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Grant and I went out with Amanda and Anthony to celebrate Grant's recent successes at work. 

We had lots of fun at dinner and at a comedy club and I am sooo proud of Grant. 
He is such a hard worker and takes such good care of me and the boys. 
I am very blessed to have him as my husband.

Then on Saturday, Grant and I had our soccer game (tie: 0-0) and then dinner at my parents house.

Sunday: Grant took the day off work so we got to go to church together as a family and then had Easter dinner at my parents house.

I didn't get any pics of the boys hunting for Easter eggs (what a terrible mom I am) but I did take some pictures of the dessert I made (that makes me an even worse mom because I remember my cake and not my kids!)

Anyway, the dessert was fun to make and the eggs were delicious....how can you go wrong with Oreos and cream cheese?!

Finally, last night my brother and sisters and I had a "siblings night out".

Just the 5 of us went out together (without husbands/fiances/girlfriends) for pizza and bowling and then to the Cheesecake Factory.

None of us bowled very well (Ben won with a 90 something) but we had a good time together and decided we need to make this a regular occurance.

Notice how I'm not in any of the pictures?! 

That's the advantage to being the one taking them!

Anyway, we had lots of fun this weekend and spending time with my family makes me realize just exactly how blessed I am.

I love you all!!

Even Spiderman needs a rest every once in a while....

I caught Isaac in a rare "calm moment" the other day and had to share.

I guess even super heroes get worn out....

"Meanest mommy rules"

I recently was reading a hilarious blog that is comprised

of a list of "mean mommy rules" added every day.

Rules varied from

"Rule #246:
I insist that you wear more than

snow boots & a backpack when you leave the house"

to

"Rule #234:
No matter how irritated you are with your brother,

it is NOT ok to empty your water bottle on his bed

and then pull the covers up over it so Mummy finds it at bedtime."

More than once, while reading these rules,
I found myself thinking,

"I've said that" or "That sounds like my boys".

So I thought it would be funny
 to add a few of my own mean mommy rules here.

Here we go:

 #1.
Your matchbox cars and bouncy balls do NOT
 belong in the dishwasher or oven. 

The smell of burning toys is next to impossible
 to get out of the house.

#2.
No matter how much you may not like a meal,

calling grandma's Thanksgiving dinner "garbage" is never o.k.

#3.
If you're in trouble,
shouting out "Help Me" in another language

(Spanish, Ayudame! Ayudame!)

won't get you help any quicker.

#4.
Eggs, no matter how tempting,
are not to be used to decorate the back patio.

#5.
Any Christmas presents that are "accidentally"
opened before Christmas will be returned.

#6.
Making a hole in the bathroom door
with your Spiderman walkie talkie
is NOT o.k. no matter how badly you want
to get in while your brother is in there.

#7.
Silly Putty is not meant for your pants pockets. 

 If it does end up there, PLEASE tell me before I wash them.

#8.
Pennies do NOT belong down the air vents.

#9.
Scissors are never, never, never for anything other than paper.

#10.
If you're angry,
do not throw such a big fit on the floor

that you give yourself rug-burn on your forehead.

#11.
The couch is not a jungle gym.

#12.
I am not a jungle gym.

#13.
The backyard is not a place for peeing
or for naked slip-n-sliding.

#14.
The cats don't wrestle like you do.

#15.
That toy does not belong to you just because you are holding it.

#16.
While you live at my house,
you will have to find your "inside" voice.

#17.
No, it's never o.k. to pull your brother pants down,

punch him in his "privates",

 or streak across the house
after you've just gotten out of the shower.

#18.
The idea of "less is more" always applies to

toothpaste, toilet paper, and dad's cologne.

#19.
Sorry, but candy will never be an acceptable substitute for dinner.

#20.
Screaming over the top of your brother
while he's trying to tattle on you, does not keep me
from hearing what he's saying.

*The above mentioned are neither fabricated

nor embellished because honestly.....

there's no need.

They are in fact,

the overwhelmingly true rules

 that are necessary in my life with 2 boys.*

Life is always interesting! :)

How sweet it is

It seems a little strange to move from such a somber post last time to something upbeat tonight.

But working on cupcakes for Rose's funeral

inspired me to write about my own adventures in cake decorating.

By the way, the service for Rose was on Friday

and it was a beautiful testament to an even more beautiful woman. 

Rose was loved by so many.

Not just close friends, but even someone who was willing to drive all the way from Arizona 

to honor the life of a women he had only met once....

for two hours.

Rose truly had an indescribable spirit that will never be forgotten.

So for those of you who don't know,

this last year I've become interested in cake decorating

(because I have so much extra time on my hands....ha, where's the sarcasm mark when you need it?!)

Anyway,

 I'm not really sure what it was that originally got it in my head

that this would be a good idea.

But I've always been pretty crafty and thought it would be fun to try.

Looking back,

I think that most logical route would have been to take a cake decorating class. 

This way I could get a handle on the basics and learn some solid techniques.

That would have just been  way too easy.

Instead,

I dove right in

and for my first cake,

I attempted a 2 tier cake with fondant.

For those who don't know what fondant is,

it's the smooth frosting that is over a lot of wedding cakes

that makes it look completely smooth.

That's it's purpose....

completely smooth....

uhhh huh....

Here was my first attempt:

Yikes!

Not so smooth.

I'm not going to enlarge that picture anymore

because then you could see even more of the flaws!

Anyway,

it wasn't terrible considering it was my first attempt,

but fondant was definitely harder than it looks.

That, and it doesn't taste great.

It's meant more for looks then taste

and being a novice,

mine wasn't even worth tasting.

So, for my next attempt,

I decided to go with modeling chocolate.

Same general idea as fondant (smooth look)

but more pliable and it's chocolate...

ya can't go wrong there right?

Here was the result:

Consensus????

The kids said it looked like play dough

and my cousin thought it looked like a Dr. Seuss cake.

Either way,

it was interesting

and it did taste better than fondant.

So next, I decide to undertake an even more difficult cake.

Makes sense right?

I'm not having much luck on the easier ones....

go for a more difficult one.

Not only that, but this one was for Robyn's baby shower.

On display

for everyone to see.

I ordered a backup cake from Costco, just in case.

For this cake

I wanted to make a topsy turvy cake,

(a.k.a. a Mad Hatter cake).

This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like:

Cute huh?!

And, this is what mine ended up looking like:

I actually was pretty pleased with this one.

I didn't do a third layer for reasons of time and sanity,

but it did end up pretty cute.

 I even got kudos on it from an attendee

who actually decorates cakes for a living.

She did Robyn's wedding cake.

(keep this in mind...I'll come back to it later)

  Then, I got busy and didn't do much at all for a few months.

But then last month,

I was supposed to bring a dessert for a family dinner,

so I thought I'd give it another try.

I'd been wanting to try some scroll work on a cake

and with valentine's day approaching,

I figured this would be a good time to try.

I knocked this one out in about 3 hours including baking, cooling and decorating:

Not too shabby.

But what did I learn?

Do NOT use canned frosting to do any fancy decorating.

It's way too soft and not nearly stiff enough to hold up properly.

Still, I thought it turned out cute.

Finally,

the cupcakes for Rose.

I wanted to try something different than traditional cupcakes,

so this is what I came up with:

Cupcake Pops.

These ended up being cute and are soooo tasty!

(How could you go wrong with Oreos and cream cheese?)

However, this was a picture of my practice run.

When it came down to the line,

I ruined the ones for the memorial service.

Luckily, I had helped Robyn out with her cupcakes,

so I got partial credit for those.

They turned out really cute:

Anyway.......

why is it that I am rambling on about cakes?

Because,

when Amanda asked the same woman to do her wedding cake

that did Robyn's,

The women replied,

"Oh I know that Kristen would be able to do it. 

The cake she made for Robyn's shower was so cute!"

What??!

Now,

I'll ease your minds right away by saying that

I am NOT doing Amanda's wedding cake on my own.

I am however, helping out the EXPERT cake decorator

(who by the way will be out of town on the actual day of the wedding. 

So guess who gets to transport and construct the cake????)

That, and Anthony also suggested that I do the groom's cake.

So, I need lots of practice,

lots of support,

and lots of patience

between now and July 3rd.

So,

stayed tuned as I keep on practicing.

I'll be posting all the details.

Sadness

I've wanted to write all week,

but I was torn.

Torn because I couldn't find the words.

Torn because I felt un-entitled to feel so bad,

and torn because I wanted it to all come out just right.

For those of you who don't know,

this last week was a sad one in our family

and for everyone who has ever met

Rose.

Rose was a member of the Southwest church when our family first joined almost 14 years ago.

Rose was one of those people who was always happy. 

She had a smile that could not only light up a room, but light up the whole house. 

See....

She was kind to everyone she ever met

and I don't think that she had a nasty bone in her body.

We would all get a kick of how innocent and sweet she was

as she would count the curse words

-out loud, mind you-

when we would go see a movie in the theater!

She was my sister Robyn's age and her and Robyn hit it off

and immediately became friends.

And because our family has a motto of

"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine",

Rose because our friend as well.

Her and Robyn stayed close friends even after Rose got married

and moved across the country with her new husband.

Rose was always thoughtful and made sure that she made it home for Robyn's wedding

and was quick to send a gift when Robyn had Lucas.

Robyn had said that Rose always wanted to make it back to Oregon some day,

and Robyn was so excited recenty to find out that "someday" finally had a date....

2 years.

Two weeks ago. as a family, we prayed for Rose in our life group as she and her husband were struggling with infertility.

If ANYONE on this planet was a born nurturer, it was Rose.

Then, last Sunday night, a tragic incident changed everything.

Rose, a 27 year old, healthy, vibrant woman, had a brain aneurysm. 

Although she didn't die immediately, she never regained consciousness after Sunday night.

And Tuesday, after Rose had committed her final selfless act here on this earth

 and saved lives with the organs she donated,

she passed away with her husband and family by her side.

How can I follow up that statement?

As I sit here typing......

.....I'm at a loss.

It's strange that those of us who had lost touch with Rose,

or who only kept in touch through others,

can feel so much grief in her passing.

My sister has been heartbroken this week, and rightfully so.

As she said,

"The world truly is a darker place without Rose and her smile".

Me though, do I have the right to feel so heartbroken?

I haven't personally spoken with Rose since Robyn's wedding in 2006.

Why do I get to feel such a loss when others were so much closer to her?

That, I suppose, is the power of who Rose was.

She was so magnetic,

that just knowing her made you feel close to her.

And so,

this week,

we grieve.

All of us.

Those who loved her.

Those who were friends with her.

Those who just met her once.

And those who never even knew her have felt heartache.

It's rare in this world to know a truly GOOD person.

Maybe that's part of why losing her is so hard.

There aren't many out there like her.

And so, as we prepare to say our final goodbyes this Friday,

the family asked that friends bring cupcakes to honor Rose at her memorial.

Rose was a sweet-o-holic, and a talented artist.

And it seems that when her two loves were combined.....

well, I'll show you......

 

So in honor of Rose,

Robyn and I will be taking our own version of some "Rose Cupcakes" to the memorial this Friday.

I tried mine out on my family last weekend and this is what I came up with...

Cupcake Pops

They don't really even hold a candle to Rose's,

but I hope that they do honor her.

.

.

.

.

Peace to all of Rose's friends and family as you move forward

with her smile in your memory and her love in your heart.

Respectfulness and Honesty....

...apparently my kids are full of both of them.

At the boys' school, they hand out awards each month to a child in each class that best typifies that months character trait (respect, responsibility, honesty, etc.)

So, I just have to brag about both of my wonderful boys who have been picked this year for an award!

In October, Andrew won his award for being respectful,

and today

Isaac won his for being honest.

And although these are two traits that are not CONSISTANTLY displayed at home,

we have been blessed with 2 amazing boys who make me proud to be their mom every day!

Congratulations boys!

I love you!

Isaac"isms"

Sometimes the prowess of my son as a philospher amazes me.

Here are just a few examples:

As we were driving in the car last week, Grant and I overheard the boys talking about

the Great Wall of China.

Isaac offered up a particularly insightful explanation as to why it was indeed called "Great".

"I know why it's called the GREAT Wall of China.....

it's because all of the people hailed it!"

So what's more surprising?

That a 6 year old thinks of such things,

or

that he knows knows this definition of the word hail:

"to acclaim enthusiastically as being a specified thing."

Then today, as I picked up Isaac from school, he noted the beautiful weather in his own unique way:

"Mom, know what I think? 

I think it's kinda like the sun is welcoming me to school. 

Because on the days that I was home sick (2 days this week) it was all rainy and yucky outside. 

But on the day that I go back to school it's all sunny"

Yep.  I agree.

The sun does rise and fall for my kids.