The Big Heads

Have I ever mentioned that we all have freakishly big heads in our family? For instance, none of these hats are actually fitting us in this picture and we're like kids! We got this from our big-headed Dad, who has to special order his ball caps and fishing caps.

Other Freaky Traits We Got From Our Dad:

1. Kathleen got his leg veins. They kinda pop out. Her legs are so gorgeous it's kind of something you overlook. Like Angelina Jolie's ropy arms.

2. I got his ingrown toenails. Eesh. I had to get them cut out when I was like eleven. Like three different times. So did Kathleen for that matter.

3. Donny got his sleepwalking big time. And his mustache. And his grumble.

But we all got the big head. And I like to think the big brain to match. Although none of us seemed to get our Mom's freakish ability to win any and every Scrabble match she has ever played anybody. She has lately discovered Words With Friends on her iPad, and so she's taking her power to the whole next level. Now that I think about it, her noggin is pretty big, too.

You would think all this big-headedness makes the prospect of natural childbirth a bit intimidating in our family. But the best trait our mom passed down to us is being able to pop out some babies. Well, at least passed down to me, since Donny is a boy, and Kathleen has yet to foray into the baby-making or popping-out stage in her life.

But, she will probably now read this post and say "aww... I want a big-headed baby." And I would just suggest stretchy baby caps.

Angry Bird Birthday Cakes

My two boys' birthdays are on the same week. So I've been doing these combo cakes the past couple years for them. This year I did Angry Birds cakes. I was so close to just doing two side-by-side iPhone cakes with all their little game apps as tiny square construction paper icons, but decided the birds were more of a crowd pleaser. The crowd being our family for our family-only party (surprise, surprise).

A couple of years ago Super Mario Brothers mushrooms.

But every year is something fun. I have no baking skills, these are all straight out of the box from a mix, two tubs of white icing, a ton of food coloring and a butter knife. But I just wing it. As did our mom growing up. We always had crazy (if not precisely executed) cakes, like:

flower cake (complete with fuzzy bees stuck in with wires)...

big pink lips (totally appetizing, right?)...

and one of my all time favorites Pizza Cake!

I remember the first time I followed in my mom's cake footsteps was for Donny's tenth birthday (so I was around thirteen or fourteen) and I helped make him a Freddy Krueger face cake from Nightmare on Elm Street for his sleepover party.

We made pinkish red icing for his skin, and then made it all squiggly and deteriorated, and then made it so he was holding one gloved hand up by his cheek and used strips of tin foil for his finger blades. It was so awesome. Alas I have no pictures of that one. But I promise to post it if it turns up some day.



In the meantime, I'll just have to save the disfigured serial killer face cakes for when my boys are a bit older. The Angry Birds are edgy enough for now.

My New Old Light Up Vintage Globe

I saw this light-up globe during our sibling outing to the antique store back during the winter holidays. I wanted it so bad. It's so Royal Tenenbaums.

So the other day Charlie was home sick from school. I told him we needed to get out of the house. (You know, like you do when you're sick, right?) He said he wanted to get a cactus. I said I wanted to get a light-up globe. Done. And done.





It goes perfectly next to my non-light-up globe. It even came with it's own story. All the cactus came with was a little plastic thingamabob with care instructions (water sparsely, touch at your own risk).

The Mom List

10 Things About My Mom:

1. She will do anything, ANYTHING, to park under the shade of a tree. We call her a shade whore.

2. She can whistle really, really loud by putting her fingers in the sides of her mouth. Like a sailor.

3. She is a lifelong reader. She reads at least four books a week if not more. It is one of the greatest things she taught me.

4. Her ears are not pierced and she rarely wears any jewelry or accessories at all. You would think Kathleen and I were changeling babies.

5. Her hair is crazy curly. That's how you can tell Kathleen and I are in fact her kin. That and the legs.

6. Dad told her that she had some damn fine legs for a 62 year old the other day. She said "I'm 60."

7. She has like twenty episodes of House Hunters International on her DVR list.

8. She cries all the time at movies and shows. Her "tell" is that she has to tilt up her glasses a little to wipe away the tears.

9. Her name is Wanda. Wanda Lee, actually.

10. She never, ever gets tired. She always just gives and gives. Like Shel Silverstein's dang Giving Tree. Granted, it got chopped down at the end. We'll just rewrite that ending.





Happy Mothers Day and Happy 60th Birthday (not 62 just yet) Mom!