I don’t like to cook. Never have. I love to bake though. I’m not sure why. I refused to learn how from my mother. I would tell her, “I’m going to marry someone who can cook.” And so I did.

James is a wonderful cook, so he does most of the meal prep. Sure I prepare side dishes, mostly with my trusty microwave. And James will tell you I’m not good at using timers. I often forget to set them. I get so sidetracked in the kitchen.

Even though I don’t like to cook, I can fill in if the need arises. My tacos are “famous” – well according to Diva. If James knows he’s not going to be home one night, he’ll usually get us a frozen pizza so I don’t have to cook. It’s just easier. Prepping food, timing the noodles, negotiating heated burners all while wrangling our herd of children can be a little much for me.

Jumpshot shared his perspective on the need for frozen pizza one night. “Does Dad get frozen pizza because he knows you can’t cook?”

Absolutely!

This weekend, we celebrated Diva’s 7th birthday. Here’s the cake I made.

Our wonderful friend Milet gave Diva a cupcake cake mold for her birthday. Here it is in the oven, baking a delicious, buttery yellow cake.

I put it together and covered it in vanilla frosting.

But it needs a little something. I just happened to have some fondant and flower shaped cookie cutters.

Voila! A cute cake for a cutie pie!

Thanks to Manchild and Diva for helping me make and decorate the cake.

Recently our Diva contracted a fever virus. You know this pesky bug. Your child suddenly develops a high fever with no other symptoms. You take her to the doctor, who tells you there’s no infection, so you’re just going to have to ride it out.

And ride it out we did – for a week.

Diva doesn’t like to take medicine. We tried everything. Chewables, liquid, bubblegum flavor, grape flavor. We begged, bribed, threatened, pleaded, bargained – anything we could think of.

James and I took turns staying home with her. By the third day, I thought we were making progress. Diva assured me she took her medicine, but her fever was not budging. Later when it was time to take her medicine again, she said she would take it if no one looked at her.

Bells and whistles went off.

James went to the loveseat where she had been marooned for the previous couple days. On a hunch, he lifted the cushions.

There he found her stash of “taken” medicine.

I couldn’t help but laugh. James? Not so much. All I could think was the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Such deviousness! Oh she got punished for lying, and I couldn’t believe she got over on me. But it wasn’t for long.

Let’s just say I was glad when her fever left as quickly as it came.

Here are some discoveries from the past week:

• Everyday, Diva claims she can’t put her socks on. So we’ve been putting on her socks. She’s almost 7. Shouldn’t she be able to put on her socks herself by now? At camp this week, she won a race where they were blindfolded and had to put on as many socks as they could. We’ve been bamboozled! Guess who’s putting on her socks herself from now on?
• Manchild can work the remote for the TV. Yay! He can also get water from the sink in the bathroom, which is both good and bad. The constant request for drinks has decreased; however, I’ve been stepping in puddles all over the place.
• Jumpshot is still learning the hard lesson of being responsible. He’s also learning how to entertain himself without computer games.

I’m going to try a little experiment this week and see if it helps us stay on track. I use a to-do list to keep me on task, and I think the children could use one too that I can also use as reward charts.

What have you discovered this week?

The whining! Oh the whining!

It doesn’t help that Diva is sitting here next to me whining about her legs hurting. Yesterday was the first water day at camp, and I think she overdid it. She claims she needs to go to the doctor. You should hear this.

It reminds me of when Jumpshot was little and freaked out every time he got the hiccups. He thought something was really wrong with him and begged to go to the doctor.

It’s been another busy week, but I have no idea what I would do if it weren’t. My work computer crashed again. I had a PTO board meeting to prepare for. Jumpshot had basketball camp this week, which culminated in a busted lip in the final game. Although he didn’t win a prize, he parlayed his busted lip into getting a book bag.

Diva went skating, made an ocean in a bottle, and is about to lose another tooth. And I believe Manchild had the best week ever. He is loving camp.

Finally I got some great news that we will be getting a hedgehog in a few weeks. I’ve wanted one for years, and now I’ll have one of my very own. Plus it’ll give me something to blog about.

Time to get some cleaning done so I can play. Have a great week!