Well, We Tried

Every year the Cub Scouts hold a Blue and Gold Banquet.  For the past two years, the boys were supposed to bake and decorate a cake with their dads.  Jay was out of town last year so I baked a cake - not from scratch - and took it to the dinner.  It was the only cake that wasn't creatively decorated.  Most of the cakes had cute themes.  Not ours.  I didn't realize it was "that" kind of cake baking activity.

This year, Jay was around and he and William made a pizza cake.

Nice, huh.  It is a single layer round cake.  We used vanilla frosting colored red for the sauce.  We grated white chocolate for the cheese.  The pepperonis are fruit rollups cut into circles.  Gummy bears and tootsie rolls make up the rest of the pizza toppings.  It was really cute.

And of course, it was only one of two cakes that were "themed".  Everyone else just made a regular cake.  They were yummy, but nothing decorated in a crazy way.

Thank goodness this is our last Blue and Gold Banquet.  Even when we try we can't quite get the cake baking right.  Oh well.  William was pretty proud of his cake and it was yummy.  Good enough.

And Jay's mystery illness has a name - Endocarditis.  He has a random infection on his aortic valve and is anemic.  Good times.  He is on IV antibiotics for probably a month. He seems to be feeling a bit better so that's good.  Just don't ask him about his Transesophageal Echocardiogram - it wasn't fun or pretty.

Thank heavens for modern medicine and good doctors.

And pizza cakes!  :)

We All Fall Down

If you would have told me that January would have been so fraught with stupid, I would have cancelled it.  Or something.  If I could.

Just as I was congratulating myself for our family somehow avoiding the stomach flu during the holidays (we have all passed it around the past two Christmases), it all fell apart.  Not illness-related, per se.  No one has been sick.  Not injury related.  Well, maybe injury is closer.

Jay has been struggling with his shoulder really bothering him for a month now.  It's muscular so at least it's not popping out but he has been really feeling it.  It is one of those things that just takes a while to heal.  It's getting better but it's taking a while and you know how those things never feel better as quickly as you want.  Henry slipped on the floor at school the other day and ended up with a huge goose egg on his head that you had to see to believe.  William had some kind of muscle pull in his leg that left him limping and moaning for a few days.  Tessa missed three days of school for what I originally thought was a stomach bug but figured out was some kind of reflux/heartburn/"I'm Tessa and I have a sensitive stomach" kind of thing.  

Who is missing from this little narrative?  Yep - I have avoided any illness or injury.  Someone has to be at full strength to run the House of Injury and Anomalies.  I'm sure it'll be my turn soon but until then I'm just holding down the fort and handing out heating pads, ice packs, Tums and sympathy.  Lots and lots of sympathy.