Ultimate Superhero Cake

For the little guy’s birthday party we decided on a superhero theme.  And while perusing the Everything board on Pinterest I came across the most awesome superhero cake.  I pinned it to my Kid Stuff board thinking it would be a great birthday cake.  Here’s the one I found:

Picture from www.lilaloa.com

Pretty awesome hey?!?  Well, I made another rookie Mom mistake (I’ve made many) which was to show the little guy this picture. Oops, now he’s expecting this awesome cake and I’m not sure my decorating skills are up for the challenge, but how hard could it really be?!?!

About a week before the party I decided the above cake, while awesome, would be way too much cake for our party of 20.  So I decided on a square cake and because I’m a perfectionist I made a model of what I was thinking.

I added Superman for the 4th side and I had no idea what to do for the actual side and originally thought of putting his undies on there(but as you will soon see I changed my mind).

The most difficult part I was foreseeing was that I wanted 4 different colors on the top (and sides) and wasn’t sure how to make them come together seamlessly.  But I’m creative, so I decided to use thick wooden skewers to make an X on the top and at each corner along the sides.  After adding a crumb coat I pushed the skewers into the frosting just enough so they didn’t slide around.

I used a ruler to smooth out the top and then followed up with the Viva paper towel method.  “The What?” you ask.  Another recent pin I found was that you can use a white Viva paper towel (only Viva brand works I guess) and lay it on the surface of the buttercream and very lightly smooth it with your hand.  There are a few You Tube videos about it like this one if you want to check it out.

After I finished all 4 sides I removed the skewers and set it outside (it was only 18 degrees out, but if you have the space then set it in the freezer for about 5-10 min).  The skewers left a fairly large space between all the colors so using the same Viva paper towel method I was able to smooth the colors towards each other and got a perfect seam.

Next up was the actual design on the cake.  I use a toothpick to first mark the design on the cake and then fill in with the frosting.  I started with Spiderman since I knew it would probably be the easiest of them all.

Then I worked on the top of Superman.  I first outlined with black then tried to fill in the red and yellow.  I would not recommend this.  Instead, start with the red, then leave a space and add the yellow, and finally fill in with the black. I spread it with the spatula as well as I could and then smoothed with the paper towel. I pressed a little too hard though, so be careful if you do that.

At this point I had already been working on the cake for 5 hours (yes, 5 hours) and decided it was time for bed. 

The next night I still wasn’t sure about the rest of Superman, so I got started on the Hulk.  For this I started by tracing out the hand with a toothpick and then added large mounds of frosting for each of the fingers and added green blobs all around the rest.  Then using a brownish color I added a thin line around all the blogs and to define the fingers.  Using a toothpick I spread it around picking up some of the green and trying to blend it.  Then I filled in the cracks.

For Batman I traced out buildings and windows and then piped the outline and filled in with black.  I smoothed it out as much as I could and then added the yellow windows. 

For the logo on top I first added the yellow and then the black (see I’m learning from my Superman mistakes).  I also added white dots for stars.

Last up was that pesky Superman side.  The buildings on the batman side was fairly easy so I decided to make light grey ones.  I also added in a bird and a plane (get it?!?).

Whew! This took another 3 hours, so in all to decorate it took me 8 hours! But the look on the little guy’s face when he saw it was all worth it.

Look who’s 4

Happy Birthday to my 4 year old!

This past year has brought many challenges.  But with all the challenges we have had a blast!  Here’s a snapshot of the past year:

He loves to dance!  He may look like daddy, but he has my personality all the way!

He loves to put out fires in the neighborhood.

And when he’s done he’ll mow your grass!

He loves to cook and bake with us!

He got his first set of stitches :(

He is fully potty trained (except at night) and had his first experience peeing in the woods camping.  Unfortunately this backfired in the summer when he dropped and went on the beach… oops!

He finally figured out how to ride his tricycle…

And then a big boy bike all in the same year!

He still laughs uncontrollably on the swings :)

He loves his swimming lessons and this was the first time without me in the water with him.

He went to a couple Brewer games and Admiral’s hockey games.

He loves to help daddy fix things.

He got his very own fishing pole this year!

He loves dragons!

Happy 4th Birthday to my little boy who is growing up so fast!  Let’s hope that this year brings just as much fun without so much drama though, okay?!?!  Love you little guy!

The girls are getting crafty!

A year ago my friends and I decided to make gifts instead of buy them.  I really enjoy this much more and it makes it more interesting to see what everyone has been busy making. 

This year I made reversible aprons which was modified from this one-hour tutorial.  The tutorial only makes a one-sided apron but it wasn’t very thick and so I decided to use complimentary fabric on the other side. 

Unfortunately I don’t have any step-by-step pictures, but if anyone is interested I can try to make a schematic of what I did.  In the meantime, check out the link above.

These are the finished aprons showing both sides:

And Chris posted pictures on her blog of the one I gave her so you can see it worn:

Photos from Chris at What Makes Me Click

And here are the lovely gifts I received from my best girlfriends:

Jenny made this wonderful Almond Oil Sugar Scrub which I’m loving in my shower!

Photo from Jenny at JQuandt4

Becky made this fun Christmas wreath which Jacob loved the best!

Photo from Chris at What Makes Me Click

And Chris impressed us all by sewing us each a fabric pouch that had one of her own photos printed on the fabric inside.  Whoa!

Happy New Year!

As we close out 2012 I am thinking ahead to 2013.  We hope this year will bring many great memories for our family and yours.  2013 will bring Jake turning 4 and starting school!  We will hopefully be out of this house and in a new one (not sure where yet, but we are excited to find it).  And Jamie and I are planning our first trip to Germany to visit our good friend Brian and his wife Eva.

Happy New Year!

Blogger Stats

Recently I noticed that I can view the stats of my blog.  It’s actually really cool to see how people find your blog or where they are located throughout the world.  Oh yeah, my blog is global!

When I first log in I can see my blogs and under shell-zone it says there are over 8,300 page views.  I’ve been at this for 4 years which is over 2000 views per year and over 6 views per day! 

 

Now I only have 8 followers and my Mom two of them.  So why are so many people looking at my blog?  When you click on the number of page views it will bring up an overview.  You can view this by day, week, month, year or all time.  Below is my all-time views and here I can see which posts are most popular, the top three sites where people find  my blog and the world-wide audience.

 

You can expand the posts, traffic sources and audience to see more of the detail.  The posts gives you the top 10 posts.  The traffic sources will break it down by Referring URLs, Referring Sites and Search Keywords. 

 

The audience tells you where in the world people are viewing your blog.  The US is the highest but it’s fun to see countries such as Australia, India and China on the list.

 

One of my favorite stats was the keywords that people search and then arrive at my blog.  I’m actually shocked that someone searched for Hiny Hiders and I hope the person that searched for eggies instructions decided not to buy those eggies after my review.

Shark Steam Pocket Mop

I don’t like cleaning the house. I mean who really does?  But the one chore that I don’t mind is mopping the floor.  I remember having to do this at my parents house and they had a squeeze mop which was kind of fun to use. 

Since then, mop manufacturers have come up with easier and faster options for cleaning the floor.  I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet a few years ago and this does work faster, but I would not say it is better.  Perhaps if you use it every other day it would keep up with the deeper dirt.  But being that I hate cleaning, I only use it once a week. 

We have a white laminate floor and it has this grey hue to it.  We have a squeeze mop just like my parents had and I use it about once a month to try and get it more clean, but I’m not sure it really does much better than the Swiffer.  I’ve even tried different floor cleaner and a homemade one I found on Pinterest. 

The only time I felt I got a great clean was when I went Snow White style and got down on my hands and knees with a scrub brush, but who’s going to do that every time?  Not me!

Jamie saw the Shark Steam Pocket Mop and almost bought it for me for Christmas.  But being the smart husband he is, he decided that would not be an appropriate gift and instead told me about it.  So we looked into it online and found the best deal at Walmart.  It was originally $69.00 but it is on sale for $39 + tax, free shipping site-to-store. We bought model number S3501WMZ.

This mop only uses water, no cleaning solutions.  It heats up the water and steam cleans the floor.  This one comes with two cleaning pads that are machine washable. 

Here’s the floor after sweeping:

Here’s the floor after the Swiffer and you can see how dirty the cleaning pad is.  Yuck!

Here’s the floor after using the Steam Pocket Mop:

You can see that the steam mop was able to pick up even more dirt which I’m not surprised by.  The floor is definitely whiter, but not as much as I would like.  I think this will take a couple more times before we can really see a great difference. 

It says it works on all floor types, including wood.  I’m a bit surprised since I assume water and wood are not compatible.  It does say that the floor must be sealed.  If any of my family or friends want to try it on their wood floors just ask and you can borrow mine and check it out.

Here are some pros and cons from my first use:

Pros: easy to assemble, water reservoir easy to fill, light weight, adjustable height (perfect for my husband which is a foot taller than me), long cord.

Cons: took a while to create really good steam and doesn’t really glide along the floor (it’s a bit of an arm workout).

So far it’s a keeper, but I haven’t washed the pad yet.  It will be interesting to see how they hold up in the wash.

Keurig

This summer I received a Keurig for my birthday.  I started drinking coffee when I moved over half an hour from work and I needed something to help along the drive.  To get used to the flavor I started by using half hot chocolate half coffee and every week or so I would add less hot chocolate until I could accept the coffee on it’s own (black). 

Jamie likes to drink White Russian coffee which has no alcohol, but rather just has a hint of the smell and flavor.  He will drink the entire pot and would often be disagreeable if I took a cup to work.  I hate the coffee at work so I was thrilled to receive the Keurig.  I keep it in my office and it makes it smell wonderful.

I own the Elite 40 model which is perfect for me.  I can fill up the reservoir and it will last all week if I keep it to one cup a day.  Work recently installed a 5-filter system to our drinking water and it causes absolutely no residue in the reservoir which will help it last longer.

The unit comes with a variety of coffee, but most of it I knew I wouldn’t like.  I don’t like bold flavors or most teas, so I searched for a variety pack I could try.  I found on Amazon.com a vendor that will let you pick your own variety of 30 k-cups.  This was perfect and I picked out 30 different flavored coffee, chai tea, hot chocolate and cappuccinos.  Here is my list and my reviews on the flavors.   

1. Folgers Caramel Drizzle: bad

2. Folgers Vanilla Biscotti: good – smooth and mild flavor

3. Gloria Jean's French Vanilla Supreme: ok, a little tangy, not as smooth as #2

4. Gloria Jean's Mudslide: eh, tastes like coffee

5. Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut: good – smooth w/hint of choc, smells great

6. GMC Donut House Cinnamon Roll: eh, no good

7. Green Mountain Caramel Vanilla Cream: good – smooth with medium flavor

8. Green Mountain French Vanilla: ok – a little tangy, better with FV creamer

9. Timothy's Cinnamon Pastry: very cinnamonny, makes it taste too bitter

10. Timothy's French Vanilla: bad

11. Timothy's German Chocolate Cake: too bitter

12. Timothy's Irish Cream: no

13. Timothy's Mocha Java: missing

14. Van Houtte Belgian Chocolate: eh

15. Van Houtte French Vanilla: a little bitter

16. Van Houtte Mocha Java: no

17. Van Houtte Napoletano: no

18. Van Houtte Raspberry Chocolate Truffle: good, can taste raspberry flavor

19. Wolfgang Puck Creme Caramel: boring

20. Wolfgang Puck Francais Vanilla: ok

21. Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy: good, a hint of coconut

22. Cafe Escapes Chai Latte: Great!

23. Celestial Seasonings India Spice Chai Tea: More like hot tea w/hint of chai

24. Cafe Escapes Milk Hot Chocolate: gave to Kim and she really like it

25. Cafe Escapes Dark Hot Chocolate: ok

26. Cafe Escapes Cafe Mocha (½ choc&coffee): ok, but more like hot chocolate w/o ½ coffee

27. Grove Square Spiced Apple Cider: good cider

28. Grove Square Caramel Apple Cider: good, can taste the caramel

29. Grove Square Caramel Cappuccino: Good, but not as good as the FV

30. Grove Square French Vanilla Cappuccino: YUM!!!

I tasted all of these without any creamer or sugar to make sure I got a good taste.  From this variety I decided to stock up on the Folgers Vanilla Biscotti, Café Escapes Chai Latte, Grove Square French Vanilla Cappuccino and another not on the list which is Green Mountain Spicy Eggnog which is a flavored coffee.