Friday, November 10, 2017

7 Quick Takes about Good Reasons to Pause a Soccer Game, Raising a Courteous Young Man, and Being Sick of Making Cake

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


Well, we're on Day 6 of finding clocks around the house that still are an hour off and I'm never sure what time it is. How is post-Daylight Savings time going for you?

I'm pleased to say we were actually on time for church last Sunday, although we needed every second of that extra hour to pull it off.

2


Saturday morning was the kids' last soccer game of the season! I feel like I should've brought some sparkling cider or firecrackers or something to celebrate the occasion with the other parents freezing their butts off of the sidelines.

As we strapped on her shinguards to get ready, my kindergartner asked, "Who's coming to my game?"

I knew what she was thinking. Phillip's mom has been staying with us this week and my daughter was hoping she'd come to her game. Unfortunately, my son was also playing across town at the same time and Grandma already promised him she'd be there.

"Me!" I said.

She sighed. "Only you?"

"Well, don't sound so disappointed about it!"

Obediently, she immediately adopted the cheeriest inflection in the world and asked "Only you?!?"

That's more like it.

3


The soccer game was a good end to the season and a fairly typical representation of every pee-wee soccer game everywhere.

When the coach knelt down to tie someone's cleat, a bunch of other kids with undone laces came over and the poor guy was stuck in the middle of a bona fide mass shoe tying emergency for several minutes.

At one point, they had to stop the game because the kids all stopped to look at a worm someone spotted on the field. The coach had to come over and move it off to the sidelines because the kids were worried it was going to get hurt.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Game? What game? Can't you see THERE'S A WORM HERE???

In the middle of all that I think there was at least some soccer being played, but I can't say for sure.

4


My 1-year-old went to the pediatrician for a checkup, but I had to wake him up from a nap so he was pretty crabby. Worse yet, he had to get an immunization after the visit.

He didn't cry, but he was highly suspicious of the nurse who vaccinated him and practically jumped out of my arms when she came close to put on the Band-Aid.

Right up until she walked out of the door he was giving her the stink-eye. I'm not sure what exactly was responsible for the change of heart, but at the last minute before the door closed behind her he called out clear as a bell: "Thank you!"

She came back in and gushed about how cute and polite he was. (In retrospect I realize he may have been thanking her for leaving. Either way, it seemed like it made her day.)

5


Usually when people consolidate and celebrate multiple birthdays at the same time, they do it to make things less work.

We did that this week but somehow made it more work. I need to figure out what we're doing wrong.

First, my 6-year-old had a party with her friends and chose a dog theme. (I don't know why she picked that theme. We've never owned a dog or even talked about owning a dog.)

We made little dog bone-shaped Rice Krispies and guess who helped open the box:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Yay for little helpers!

I had to eat the leftover cereal myself just so I could throw away the box, it was driving me that crazy.

At the party, the girls enjoyed having a scavenger hunt in the house to find the Rice Krispie bones...

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}

...aaaaand then they decided to eat them off the table with their mouths like dogs.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Looking at this picture, I realize I could have at least gotten them napkins or something.

As you can see, they really got into character at this party.

6


The 1-year-old loved, and I mean LOVED, the party balloons. Whenever he saw one, he would squeal and throw himself on it like he was actually trying to pop it.

And then I realized that he was.

He was copying a party game the girls played that involved popping balloons to get the pieces of paper inside, and now he thinks the object of balloons is to just pop them as quickly as possible.

7


The next day was Phillip's actual birthday, which for me meant that I'd be making two cakes in two days.

That wouldn't have been a big deal if they'd both been as simple as my daughter's dog cake:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Cute but not complicated.

But I wanted to make something a little more special than a boxed cake mix with Duncan Hines frosting for Phillip.

And let me tell you, I have birthed entire humans in less time than it took me to make this triple chocolate layer cake from scratch. Not even exaggerating.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Strategically positioned so as not to show how lopsided it actually looked.

I found two recipes online and let my daughter choose between them. Of course, she picked the fancier one. It didn't even use cups as a form of measurement like a normal person. It measured everything in grams (read this in a snobby British accent with your pinky in the air.)

I dirtied every bowl in the house and stress-ate cake batter the whole time. I used a kitchen scale and a flour sifter for the first (and hopefully last) time ever.

I take that back, I used the kitchen scale once to calculate postage for a letter.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}

Fancy baking is stressful for me in the first place, because my spirit animal is less Julia Child and more prison cafeteria lady.

But what makes it even worse is that Phillip is a very good cook, so baking for him feels like performing a solo for Pavarotti. Even if he's gracious and genuinely enjoys your song, he's still freaking Pavarotti.

However, Phillip said the cake was the best thing he's tasted since our wedding cake, and he's been talking about that thing for 13 years.

And I sincerely hope he enjoyed it, because I'm not doing it again.

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2 comments:

AnneMarie said...

Wow, that's so cool that your one-year-old said "thank you"! My little guy says tons of words (and a couple phrases, like "oh man"-which he learned how???) but he hasn't figured that out yet. Also, that cake looks and sounds incredible!!!! That's so cool that you made it, I applaud your patience.

It's funny you bring up Daylight Savings time, because yesterday, we had planned to attend morning Mass together, but when my alarm went off, I snoozed away...and when I woke up, looked at the clock and saw it was almost 8 a.m. and went running onto the living room, crying out my apologies. When I got out there, my husband looked at me oddly and was like, "It's almost 7." Somehow, the one clock in our entire house that we DIDN'T change was the bedroom one. Weird. Overall, I'm actually pretty happy with the time change-it's a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning when it's bright outside!

AiringMyLaundry said...

Oo yes, that cake looks amazing! I want some! And I so hate the time change. I don't like that it's dark at 5. No thanks.