Candy Corn Cake

I am obsessed with the idea of making a Candy Corn Cake. Why? I love candy corn, I love fall, I love cake. Oh, and two of my brothers have birthdays next week and they live nearby so it would be a nice thing to do for them. But in my head it looks different than what I found with the help of a little thing called Google.

For instance, this one seems to need a special pan or lots of patience to make the cake itself and the frosting different colors.

This one below looks doable, and I think it's just a simple as getting a cake to come out of your rectangular pan and then cut it like a triangle and use different colored frosting.

This one below looks divine, but again, I don't know how to shape it that way and how to pipe all that frosting on without serious carpal tunnel.

I found this recipe too that simply says cut round cakes into triangles and decorate each triangle with orange, yellow and white frosting. Or I could go the cupcake route. Or I could sprinkle a normal cake with tons of actual candy corns.

We shall see what I end up with!

Baby Dragons

JB wandered into Old Navy and saw just a few costumes left, including this darling red baby dragon. Since Max's green dragon costume still fits, that sealed the deal. Two dragons!
Ben actually kept giggling at Max's outfit, trying to grab his hood, wings and tail. We showed him the mirror and he realized he had all those things too.

But now Max wants to be a dragon every day. Since at 3 years old he doesn't quite have a concept of time yet, he's been begging to go trick-or-treating already and can't understand why it's not Halloween yet.

Big Plans

Max at Cornbelly's last year. We want to go again this month soon. Very soon, because Halloween is upon us!

All of a sudden, the weather turns cold and I feel Halloween coming on. Before the weekend I think I was in denial that it was coming. But give me some cold rain and I rush out and buy Halloween decorations. I also have a Halloween to do list:

1) Try Max's dragon costume on him again to see if it fits. Here he is last Halloween:

2)Try JB's old monkey costume on Benny. Max wore it at 15 months, Ben is 10 months now. Or should I get another animal from Costco before they are all gone?

3) Go to a pumpkin patch and hay ride with friends. Here we are last year (I was almost 8 months pregnant)

4) Decide which other place would be fun too. So far I have heard of three or four different places that offer trick-or-treating for kids in costumes, rides, face-painting, animals and other frivolity with different themes -- pioneer village, old shoppes, mini-animals, large inflatables -- which one to pick?!

5)Bake bake bake. Orange orange orange. And black.

Camping

I have more pictures from Dads and Kids last month. Max and JB went. Next year, how about taking baby Benji-boy, huh honey? Maybe not? Ok.

Curls

Whenever I think Max's hair is just getting too long and it needs a trim, I look down to see an even cuter and curlier sight. Why struggle with scissors near sensitive ears when you get so many compliments on his fair locks?

A bowlful of sugar helps the breakfast go down

Did you see the bews this morning about cereal? Here's the link to the Consumer Reports study.

It made me think fondly of my childhood. Bring up the subject of cereal and people start talking. They talk about what they ate, what they wanted to eat, what their moms let them eat, and what their friends' moms let them eat. Doesn't it always seem that when you went to another house, you would be struck by cereal envy?

We went through phases in our house. I remember Muesli, various granolas, soaked barley, cream of wheat, oatmeal and the like. Also store-brand Cheerios and Fruit Loops (something like Os and Fruity-Os). In college I remember trying my roommate Jodi's Marshmallow Mateys and wondering why I hadn't lived before. She also taught me the joy of a bowl of cereal in the evening for dessert. When I lived with my sister Rebekah during college I would often eat her Raisin Bran Crunch. JB and I buy that stuff now whenever it's on sale. We also like a type of granola that comes in a two-pack at Costco, but that one has raisins and we try to find the type that doesn't have raisins. It's in a yellow box at the grocery store. I just can't remember the name. We buy that on sale too. Cereal is expensive!

Anyway at work I did the story this morning of the sugary study. A few months ago I did a story on how cereal makers are shrinking the boxes but charging the same. It's a sneaky way to raise the price without you knowing. The same thing has been happening to ice cream. Not nice.

Things I love

Some random things I love.

-The obvious -- my boys' smiles and my man's handsomeness, kindness and humor.

-The colors yellow and red. I love my red purse, my black and red Italian purse, my big yellow bag, my red shoes and my -- wait, no yellow shoes. That's totally fine.

-My new kitchen decorations from last week's Oh Sweet Sadie sale.

-This refreshing linen spray from Thymes. It smells so clean and fresh. But this picture of it on the dresser looks like alcohol!

-"America's Funniest Home Videos." I laugh until I cry when people fall down. I don't believe they are suffering, because would they really send in the video if they had seriously been hurt?

What are some random things you love?