october

my most favorite month!  for good reason, we have three birthdays (zach, emma, and me) and halloween.  lots of celebrations and parties to look forward to this year!

chubby bubby!

today our zach dylan turns five.  he's such a silly, sweet boy.  he loves to sing, and can be heard making up songs while he rides his bike or takes a bath.  he's always been our kid with the most rhythm, bouncing his head in time with the music while just a babe in his car seat.  i love how fearless he is, even if it means skinned knees and heart attacks. 

zach loves camouflage.  if he has a choice, that's what he picks out to wear.  in every picture his teachers took at preschool last year, he was wearing a camouflage shirt, or pants, or - sigh - both at once.  so for his birthday cake, i made something i saw on pinterest - yes, it finally happened!  i actually made something from one of my pins!  here's the original:

Source: ucreateparties.com via tammie on Pinterest

and my version. 

i made a 6 inch cake for his birthday dinner last night, and cupcakes to take to school.  mine aren't nearly as pretty because the last time i used my large star tip, it ended up in the disposal and got crunched.  i need to remember to buy a new one!  the pre-k teachers aren't crazy about tons of frosting, so this is hopefully a little less messy. 

the tutorial used pastry bags to pipe the batter into the cupcake tins - i used a spoon instead.  and i think i still got a nice camo effect, don't you?  the frosting is my usual mix of 1 stick crisco and 1 stick butter with a dash of salt, 1/4 tsp. almond, and 1 tsp. vanilla.  add powdered sugar and splashes of milk until desired consistency.  (add 2 tsp. cocoa to make light brown icing).  i did color white, green, and brown icing, intending to swirl it on top, but then i remembered my tip's demise and just slathered it on.   they are pretty delish, we just had them again, for breakfast - shhhh, don't tell.  and happy birthday zach!  we love you so much!!