Birthdaysss

Hello from me, another year older! I'm actually at the point in my life where I have to start doing the math to figure out how old I am because I can't remember anymore, but I don't really care. I just love my birthday and enjoying my special day (I can't believe it's already over, bah humbug).

I had my first real special Mom Birthday - which means that I didn't work, I turned down AJ's offer to take the day off to spend with me, and spent the day alone, in peace and quiet. I got birthday donuts, took a nap with Kiwi, and then AJ did come home early so we got to watch Barbie (finally!). AJ and I went to pick up the girls together and got my Starbucks birthday drink, then did presents and my ice cream cake together with the girls before AJ took me out to dinner.

Before we started singing, I told Sophie
in no uncertain terms that she was NOT
allowed to blow out my candles lololol

A beautiful flower delivery from Jessica

In the meantime since I've last updated, Summer has hit 7 months, Sophie got her own library card and is getting much better about going into dance class without a fuss, Summer has started eating solids, and Sophie got to join the family to celebrate Enzo's birthday (today!) at Disneyland.

Next up is Auntie Ana and then Gangy's birthday. March is more jampacked than I realized...

Big Bear

We've just been over here trying to survive this cold and rainy winter. We had our usual trip around AJ's birthday to Big Bear with our friends, and it's starting to be increasingly fun and draining with the kids being incredibly more active. Sophie bonded really well with Scarlett, and Summer did a great job being carted around and hanging out in her rainforest and watching the chaos around her.

Summer's First Valentine's Day!

Big Bear Zoo

Little Bear at Big Bear

Sophie and Scarlett holding hands

Cupcakes for Dada's birthday

President's Day Crew (missing a few!)

I can't believe it just keep raining (although it's good I guess), but looking forward to the time change in less than 2 weeks now, it'll make our weekly evening family walks probably that much easier.

Lessons in Baking: Sponge Cake

I got it in my head to re-read Anne of Green Gables (and I can't wait until I can introduce Sophie to this classic, and one of these days I'll make it to Prince Edward Island...) and man they ate a lot of cake at the turn of the century. (Also, fruit preserves which somehow I'm now feeling like I want to attempt) so I got it into my head to try making a sponge cake.

Well, a sort of a sponge cake, I should say.

As of January 2nd this year, AJ and I are on health journeys, so I thought I'd try out a sugar-free sponge cake, by replacing the sugar with applesauce. I've eaten cakes like this before and even though you may notice the difference, it's negligible and still delicious. But, maybe it affected my sponge cake.

One thing I learned is that the secret sauce of a sponge cake appears to be the whisking of the egg whites. That. Took. Forever. So long, I'm questioning if I actually did it right.

I may have messed up when I combined the ingredients with the egg whites. The recipe called for folding them in together, but when I poured them into the cake pans, there was such an obvious difference, I poured them back into the bowl and stirred them together with a whisk, which really muddled them together and I'm wondering if that didn't take away some of the sponginess.

They came out looking decent, although I sorta wish I had one deeper cake pan rather than the two shallow ones, and when I cut it, it looked kindaaaaa spongey.

Overall, it wasn't a total waste, but it was a bit of a fail. The interior was a bit damp and there wasn't too much flavor, it could have benefitted from either some actual sugar or maybe even more flavoring. If the texture was fine, eating it with more flavorful sides, like berries and cream or maple syrup would've made it more tolerable.

We made it through one of the cakes and AJ took the other to his lucky (or unlucky) coworkers.

Looking forward to trying again soon!

The Friday Girl

Last week, our family got to experience the joy of not just a wedding, but seeing Sophie experience a wedding for the first time herself too. She didn't know what a wedding was and even though I pointed out our cousins walking down the aisle and then the bride, the very beautiful girl in the white dress, she just sorta sat there confused, thinking we were just sitting on the chairs until the time ran out, although she did point out the squirrel she saw in front of us. But I'm guessing that it was me whispering "the bride, the beautiful girl in white" or yelling it over music, what she heard was Friday? And she kept referring to the bride as "The Friday Girl" and I thought that was so cute (and pretty appropriate considering it was a Friday wedding!)

Aria was immediately taken with Sophie and Sophie, being shy and timid at first, wouldn't even look at her and would bury into me. But by the time the cocktail hour came and Aria was out taking pictures, Sophie was begging to know where Aria was and soon after that, Lily too.

We had such a good time and Sophie, the most of all! For our shy she can be, I couldn't believe how well she took to the dance floor, running back and forth, always with Aria or Lily, chasing the lasers, literally rolling on the floor, joining hands with other kids she didn't know and spinning endlessly, it was so much fun. And AJ and I got Summer to nap and got to hang with the family and the infamous Dalton LOL.

We had to leave sooner than I wanted to because the music was just a bit too much for Summer, and Sophie cried the whole way home because she didn't want to leave, but I felt so lucky we got to be there that day and take part in the celebration.

♥