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Monday, September 30, 2019

Super Hero Cake

Last minute cake requests can be a pain in the butt and I don't always say yes but I was making a cake and cupcake order for the same weekend and its not really that much work to add another order when I am already working away in the kitchen anyway.

I made a GIANT oops with the cake, I don't know how I messed it up but I did. I put the name Carter on the cake and it was supposed to be Carson.

Well I decided about an hour before delivery to put the batman symbol on the top of the cake and I am very very glad I did.

I get to the bowling alley to deliver the cake and they can't find a child who is having a party there named Carter but there is one named Carson. I go out to the truck to check my phone for the name low and be hold yup, the child's name is Carson. DAMN IT!!!

Back to the kitchen staff I go to ask for a knife so I can remove the name on the cake (I did it out of fondant which I normally don't do, another stroke of luck I would say.) I got name off and smoothed out the icing so no one other than the kitchen staff would have any idea.

This cake order came with a cupcake order as well and each cupcake had tiny fondant toppers on them.

On another note, I still suck at Spiderman's head so Deadpool it was lol.

The cake is Vanilla, the cupcakes are chocolate. 6 of the cupcakes have vanilla icing and 6 have chocolate icing.

As most bakers know HUMIDITY sucks when it comes to fondant, that is why you will notice in my photos my fondant is shiny!


I totally rocked the hulk fists though!!!!

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Homeschool trip: Dairy Museum Ontario

AMAZING!!!

I can't say enough about this place and staff. They kept us busy and moving the whole time. They didn't get mad when the kids did their own thing but stayed close.

We started out with playing games outside involving both the kids and adults. It got us all moving and having fun. 

Next we moved into two groups. We were group 2.



Our group toured the Museum first. It was so cool, she answered all of the kids and of course my silly silly questions. There was interactive things to do and touch. They even got to milk the "cow". Blaine of course made sure to explain loudly that it wasn't a real a cow lol.



After we finished the tour the kids got to shake milk in containers. Depending on the length of time they shook the containers they made whipped cream, butter, etc. It was a lot of fun but of course you don't want to eat it out of those containers. And Josh made sure to tell them it smelled sour hahaha.
She put ice and salt into a hand churner for the kids to try out. Each child got a turn and they loved it!

Our groups then switched and it was our turn to do the craft, it was a need craft. "Stop motion" As Josh explained. Blaine of course wanted nothing to do with the craft so he laid on the floor for a bit then I took him out for a snack. When craft was finished our group got to gather leaves, sticks, rocks and other nature things. They loved this part, Emily made a beautiful heart! Josh made something just so his mom could get a photo. Ben made the Canada Flag with Maple leaves! and Blaine made a pile of rocks in a square. When asked what he made he said "rocks in a square DUH". 



LUNCH TIME! The kids ate, the adults ate and socialized the kids played.

Nature hike and tree finding. It was stunning, the snake grass was everywhere, the trees stood like strong iron towers, words can not do the forest area justice.

The game of squirrel oh man it was so much fun!  The kids were each given a bag of "nuts" (Pea seeds) to hide. Once they were all done hiding them, they were told to go and find the nuts again. Of course squirrels don't know where they hid their nuts so they just find whatever 10 they can.
Josh Played but Blaine, Ben and Emily didn't.

ICE CREAM TIME! They have a machine that makes ice cream (it was more like milk shake) the kids all loved it!!!

The parents talked, the kids played and then it was time go home!!!

Nothing got broken and everyone lived it was an awesome trip!!!!!!

I would 100% suggest doing this as a group so you get to experience everything we did.

I had to buy the homemade maple syrup that they make on site, mainly because of the name ahahaha





Monday, September 23, 2019

Homeschool Week4 SK

So far we are rocking it, staying on time even with everything going on between my appointments and my grandmothers triple by pass and valve replacement and of course complications after I think we are doing well with staying on task.


This week we are learning geography, its just the basics so he gets an idea on the world etc. If he chooses we will go deeper into it but right now he is 5 so I am not too worried about it.

Still down to 1 truck right now so any outings has to be in walking distance unless I drive everyone to work. 

We are finishing up the workbook Reading Readiness book which I found at a dollar store and we will be moving onto Math Readiness which is another book that I found at our local dollar stores.

Also exciting news my Canadian Daily Stem Activities book arrived from Scholastics so we will be adding that to our daily routine as well.

Week 4 Day 1: Sight word "The"(Flash cards that I made), Song about Canada, workbook, ABC Mouse, nature bored, Grumpy Pug Book, STEM (living things) we did a video and then the activity in the book, walk

Week 4 Day 2: Sight word "the" work sheet, Canada puzzle, workbook, ABC Mouse, Nature bored, At the zoo book, STEM living things activity, play group.

Week 4 Day 3: We are off to the Dairy Museum, which means there will be no seat work.

Week 4 Day 4: Sight word "the" flash cards, Giant Canada Puzzle with pieces to put on, workbook, ABC Mouse, Nature bored, What is cold? book, STEM living things Collage, walk

Week 4 Day 5: Sight word "the" work sheet, colour map of Canada, workbook, ABC Mouse, Nature bored, The penguin chick book, STEM label my body parts, park








Friday, September 20, 2019

My Healing Team

I really wish my healing team could talk to each other. I have a team of 6 including neurologist, family doctor, sports injury doctor, RMT, an OT lady and another lady who will be working with me on vision. Yes I can see fine it has to do with the way my brain processes sight since the last brain injury.

Here is the thing though everyone is focused on my brain which is great but when you just focus on that you tend to forget about everything else going on and don't take that stuff into account with the symptoms.

I have Complex Fibromyalgia this means I have almost all of the symptoms from the symptoms list they use to diagnose fibro.  What this translates to is, IT SUCKS!

On top of that I have another autoimmune disorder which attacks areas of my body where cartilage has been injured. What this means is when I hurt a joint IE ankle, my body acts like a termite and "eats" away the cartilage.When I told I had this at 17, I was told I would be in a wheel chair by 30, here I am 34 and still able to walk and hike and move! I am so thankful for that.

Add on to those two wonderful things I have what one doctor called a defused shoulder, another doctor called "nothing I can do about it", and one who wants the "nothing I can do about it doctor" to do exploratory surgery to fix it. My should isn't in the socket properly. I can't go back into the socket. MRIs (6 in 5 years) can't see anything because there is too much swelling.


And if that isn't all, we now know why my back hurts like it does and all it took to find out that was a car accident that caused 3 degree whiplash and an MRI to my spine. I have spinal degenerative disease. Which was exacerbated by the accident. What this means is the cushion (discs) between your vertebrae is breaking down. These discs help you with everyday movement like bending and twisting. This is normal for older people, it is advanced at my age. This is a problem. The solution for now until enough of them are gone that they can go in and fill them with something similar to spray foam is yoga. 


Now I am frustrated because the neurologist, says not to sleep during the day anymore but I don't sleep much at night because of the pain and well my brain doesn't go into what is called deep sleep, never has.


Pretty much everything added together equals a really tired, always in pain person, who is being told not to sleep during the day. 

Well after yesterdays travels and working until 10:30pm on the business it causes a flare day which means I said screw that and listened to my body. 

I am frustrated to say the least. They need to figure out how to talk to each other. I try and remember everything at every appointment but with appointments every week, I forget things. 



Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Elsa Birthday Outfit

Of course with an Elsa cake there has to be an Elsa outfit for the birthday girl.

I love making tutus and the girls love them as well. Every little girl feels pretty in a tutu and who wouldn't!

Every birthday I make the girls a new tutu and that is the only time of the year they get a new one because while we would have a million if I made them one every time they asked and I would never get anything else finished.





Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Little Bear Cake

Smash cake photos are so much fun and most little ones LOVE digging in and getting messy while enjoying some good cake.

Smash cake photos are a newer trend the past 7 years or so. I love doing the cakes for them.

I use my six inch cake pan and they are 4 layer cakes with homemade butter cream between each layer.

Normally I stay away from fondant on them because it can be a chocking hazard for little ones if they don't have a whole lot of teeth or they are not very good with chewing just yet.

This cake was made for a local photographer and she took some really amazing photos.

The photographer is Angela Sundby  

Cake flavour is vanilla, buttercream is vanilla and the fondant is vanilla.  This cake was super simple as it was done with the star tip. I used a circle cutter for the ears and hand shaped the eyes and nose.


Monday, September 16, 2019

Homeschool SK: Week3

We are into our 3rd week and we have our routine pretty down pat. We can usually get everything finished within 30 mins depending on how much he dottles and what activities we are doing.

Our nature bored is going well, my drawings could use some work but I never claimed to be an artist.

This week we are using the workbook Reading Readiness Book 1, I got it from the one of the local dollar stores.

We are still down to one truck so our trips out are still limited to what is in walking distance unless I have the truck that day.

Money, Money, Money. We are learning all about money this week. Mainly the basics. I found an amazing sight for not just money but it has Canadian Money which is really hard to find educational resources and the sight is free at that!!!

Week 3 Day 1: Sight word "and" Flash cards. I make my own flash cards with card stock, workbook, What is a Loonie, nature bored, Cat and Kitten book, ABC Mouse

Week 3 Day 2: Sight word "and" worksheet,  workbook, What is a Toonie, Nature bored, Playful puppies book, ABC Mouse, playgroup

Week3 Day 3: Sight word "and" flash cards, workbook, What is a Quarter, Nature bored, This Pig can fly, ABC mouse, Dentist

Week 3 Day 4: Sight word "and" work sheets, workbook, What is a Nickle, Nature bored, Joey Jumps book, ABC Mouse, shopping

Week 3 Day 5: Sight word "and" flash cards, workbook, What is a Dime, Nature bored, We are animals book, ABC Mouse, Walk








Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Else Cake

All weekend we planned and prepped for a sweet little ladies 5th birthday, cake, food, gifts, people and location were all ready.

We made treat bags, a ton of food, and got the perfect gift!

And I made a stunning cake and a great outfit to make her day perfect. Well in the end it was all for not because her mother decided the morning of the party that we couldn't have the girls. My heart broke for that little girl for a couple reasons. One because I knew her mother wouldn't throw her a party at all. Two because she didn't get to see her dad on his day because her mother was being selfish. I will never understand why a mother will use her children as pawns.

Anyway everything is edible on the cake expect for Elsa she is a toy

The cake is chocolate and four layers like all of cakes. It has homemade buttercream between each layer and covered homemade buttercream on the outside.


The trees and snow flakes are make out of fondant using a small flower fondant cutter. Olaf is made out of fondant as well.

The Sparkle you can kind of see on the top of the cake and trees is shaved fancy sugar.

Although she didn't get to enjoy her cake everyone else loved it!

Monday, September 9, 2019

Sk Week 2!

Well we made it through week 1 and we did school every day.

We are still down to 1 truck so outings this week will be limited to what is in walking distance or the days when I have the truck. It sucks 3 adults with places to be each day and 1 truck lol.

As you will notice this year I am using a lot of magic school bus when it coincides with what we are learning about that week. Blaine loves to watch videos and Magic School Bus seems to hold his attention for the whole show so I will take it!

Week 2
We will be using the workbook Reading Readiness book1 that I likely picked up at one of the local dollar stores.

Day 1

Sight word "like" flash cards (I make my own and I do 4 with the new sight word and 4 with sentences with the sight word), label our body parts, workbook, ABC mouse, Nature Board, Fall Leaves book, walk

Day 2

Sight word "like" work sheet, body parts song, workbook, ABC Mouse, nature board, An Owl book, play group

Day 3

Sight word "like" flash cards, teddy bear teddy bear, workbook, ABC Mouse, nature board, The Kitten book, walk

Day 4

Sight word "like" worksheet, Internal Body parts label, workbook, ABC Mouse, nature board, What Puppies Love book, Library

Day 5

Sight word "like" Flash cards, Magic School Bus video, workbook, ABC Mouse, nature board, Lunch book, homeschool chat and play










Friday, September 6, 2019

Unicorn cake and cupcakes

I wanted to start doing a few cakes again because I missed creating edible delights for people but I didn't want to go all out like I did in the past, well first because I just can't physically, mentally or time wise. What I figured would be 1 or two a month this summer turned into one almost every weekend.

Of course I always do Jess's cakes for the kids and I love doing them. Mercedes cake and cupcakes turned out stunning, I surprised even myself that I was still capable of creating something that beautiful!

Here party of course was unicorn themed what else would a little girl want for a party!




Thursday, September 5, 2019

Thomas Day Out

Day out with Thomas

Blaine loves trains and I have wanted to take him for years, but wanted to wait until he was old enough to actually enjoy and remember it. Turns out he has the best memory ever and brings up things that happened when he was 2 and can remember the whole event without help. Oddest thing ever, when he brings up things I forgot all about!

Well today is the day, we are off to ride Thomas, I got him the special package, he got a hat, a pez and a stuffy. GusGus ate the stuffy (shhhh I haven't told him yet), I can't find the Pez that he had, and currently looking for the hat as we head out the door lol. I know worlds best mom right here.

Nope! Worlds realest mom right here. Not perfect by any means and I really really hate when people try and call me that drives me nuts! No I am the same mom as everyone else, fighting daily and trying my damnest to keep up. And he spends too much time on my phone lol

 We will do this trip once more next summer so the girls get to go with us but after that we will never do it again.

There was a million people, we rush to get to our ride on time. The train was FULL, babies were crying, it was loud and crazy which means Blaine was very unhappy. We tried keeping him distracted by the things outside the train. Our saving grace was that it was a short train ride. There were some activities for the kids but not a whole lot outside, there were bounce houses and train tables inside as well as shows, Blaine wasn't interested in any of the shows and just wanted to spend the whole time in the bounce house.

Blaine enjoyed the bounce house and liked the train ride but wished it wasn't so loud.

This would be a great trip for a child big into trains that doesn't have sensory issues.






Wednesday, September 4, 2019

SK homeschool here we come!!!

Let me start by saying something I should have said a long time ago, I don't do school at home, I do homeschool.

There is a big difference. We do not have the same start time everyday, we don't have set snack or lunch breaks, we do not have forced seating or activities. We have things we do everyday and then I just follow his lead for the rest.

I do an assessment each year to see where he is at and what he needs work on, but we do not follow the classroom curriculum.  This summer I got to spend a lot of time with my good friend Sara and her family. I got to see how amazing ALL of her children are, how amazing of a mom she is (even if she feels like she is failing). If a mom who has raised those amazing children can feel like she is failing that means we all can from day to day.

She kept reminding me all summer that I don't need to apologize for Blaines behaviours and that its okay she understands. You have no idea what it means to have a mom friend who has children who have are "special" and you don't have to try to force your "special" child to behave a certain way or try to hurry him along so hes not in the way or bugging others. I can relax when I am with her and not always be on edge and worried about what Blaine is going to do next or how he might react. He has a special bond with Sara and it melts my heart and I am grateful that he has that bond with her.

Anyway on to school this year. We are not doing what we did last year, we are covering a wide range of topics as you will see lol. When planing Sara thought it was funny that I went from body parts to money there is no real reasoning to my planning other than doing a few different topics and seeing what will spark his interest. As he grows, learns and becomes more interested in things I can cater to those but right now he is just happy with whatever.

Some people are shocked to learn that most days we are finished "School" by 830am. This is because he is so young we don't have to do much seat learning, everything is play and hands on at this point. That being said as he grows somethings may be longer but maybe not depending on his interests. Will he learn to read? write? hold a pencil? spell? do math? you bet he will but why do those things have to be taught in a way that requires the child to sit in a seat for hours taking in verbal information?
OH WAIT IT DOESN'T. We learn by doing not by being told!

So this is our first week and so far we have done 2 days and things are going well, yes it takes a min to get him going but that's okay, he knows when there is an end! He can see when we are done!

Week 1
We are working in the Reading Readiness K-1 by the company I KNOW IT. (I likely got this at one of our local dollar stores.)
We are doing the sight letter "I".
We are using ABC Mouse
We are learning about bees!!!
Nature Board!

This week he is sick so our outings are limited.

Day 1

Sight word "I" flash card. I make my own flash cards from card stock. Not only do they have the sight word we are working on but they will have a short sentence using the sight word. Bee life cycle (this video). Nature board (this is a giant tree on Bristol board that we put a nature word on each day), book (counting bats), ABC Mouse, work book.


Day 2

Sight word "I" flash cards, label the bee body (this involves me asking Blaine were a body part is on the photo of a bee and me printing the word), we also recapped on the bee life cycle that we learned about yesterday, workbook, reading book (I Love Fall), we also did the book This Pumpkin. ABC mouse, Nature Board.

Day 3

Sight word "I" work sheet, why bees matter (video), Recap on bee life cycle and the bee body, ABC mouse, workbook, nature board, book (harvest time).

Day 4

Sight word "I" flash cards, Magic school bus bees , workbook, recap on why bees mater, bee life cycle and the bee body, ABC mouse, book ( School), mini golf trip with the homeschool group!


This week is a short week so we only have 4 days because Monday was labour day. What I didn't include on here is on the nights we have girls we do Science, I will do a separate post on that stuff. We also do learning activities when the girls are here and they range from games to exploring!