A girl and her Helper Tower

This post is way overdue, but the bonus of that is that I've been able to add more photos, so let's just call it a win, OK?

Sometime in 2012 I read this blog post and got to thinking about how I'd love for Elle to have a Helper Tower. I tried to think about anyone I knew that might be able to build it, and I contacted a mommy friend from one of our mommy/baby groups - her husband is a carpenter and I wanted to know if he thought this was something he could do. While I totally think he'd do a great job, the price he quoted was much more than the retail price of the tower. So I went back to the mental drawing board.

We were planning a trip home for Thanksgiving - Elle and I drove up and Tim flew up and drove back with us. (It was during that trip that we announced we were pregnant with Wesley.) With the pending trip in mind, the gears started slowing spinning as I thought about who might have the tooling needed to make this tower.

I contacted my brother-in-law, Jeff, because I knew that he loves building stuff (we share a love of furniture assembly that few people can fully understand unless they're passionate about furniture assembly, too), and I knew that he had inherited some of my grandfather's woodworking tools and equipment. While I wasn't sure exactly what tools he had or would need, my first inquiry of him was if he was interested in attempting to build the tower for Elle. I sent this tutorial and explained that we could bring it home with us on our Thanksgiving road trip, which would eliminate the biggest issue of the Ohio-built, Florida-dwelling piece right away. Lucky for us, he was interested and willing and presented it to Elle as an early Christmas present.

Jeff took extra time to paint, decorate and personalize the tower - it turned out absolutely awesome. Elle spent some time checking it out:

And we've since used it for all sorts of baking and cooking fun in the kitchen: 

Pizza fun!

Helping Daddy make popcorn.

Making brownies with Aunt Marti.

Quality control.

It takes up some space in our dining area, but it's been an awesome, safe way to have Elle involved in the kitchen, and she loves it :) We're so thankful Uncle Jeff could help make this idea a perfect reality!

Words on Wednesday: Baking with Mommy

On Thursday, I mentioned to Elle that I wanted to bake. When I'm watching what I eat, I always want to bake and bake and bake. (Pretty awesome, right? Way to go, messed up mind.) So we discussed it, and I decided I wanted to make a cake. I proposed that we make the cake for Daddy.

On Friday, we informed Tim that we wanted to make a "Daddy cake." (Basically, I said "We're going to make you a Daddy cake" and Elle repeated "Daddy cake!") Over the course of the day, it evolved in to cupcakes, since we'd be sending the baked goodies in to work with Tim, and they'd be easier to eat than a layer cake. He requested red velvet. Elle freaked out at Target (where there were no red velvet mixes) and kept yelling "Chocolate! More chocolate! More! Chocolate!" in the cake mix aisle. So Daddy got chocolate.

On Saturday, we baked. As in I put Elle in her high chair and let her hold stuff while I explained what I was doing. I let her lick some batter before I added the eggs (I heard her muttering later about "Cake all gone! No eggs!"), and while it wasn't exactly a side-by-side bonding experience in the kitchen wearing our matching aprons, it was cute, and it was awesome, and I can't wait to do it again.

She counted out cupcake wrappers, placing them in the cupcake tins as she told me what color they were. She obediently put the cake in the bowl we were using (she put the box in the bowl, but hey, she listened). She looked at me and seriously said "Hot" as they baked in the oven. And she enjoyed the desserts fruits of her labor after her dinner that night.

As we prepared to make "Daddy cakes," I kept remembering a blog post I wrote shortly after we found out Elle was a girl, and it still shocks me that it has been two years since I had that first flash of sharing my love of baking with my little girl.

Putting the cake in the bowl.

She got really in to this.

I think this one pretty much sums it up -
chocolate on mouth, looking longingly at the batter.

Wordless Wednesday: Yum!

Um, deliciousness in Orange Chip Muffin form.
Check out the recipe here and enjoy for yourself :)

Join our team!

Some of you might already know about this, but my best friend Meghan and I have been participating in an effort called Operation Baking Gals. Two times now, we've join a team, baked for a soldier overseas and then shipped our baked goods to them during a designated time frame.

For this round, though, Meghan and I are leading a team of bakers. We have a soldier (she's actually from North Royalton, attended the University of Dayton and is stationed in Iraq). We have a team started. But now we need you to join our team.

If you're interested in learning more and/or joining, please read the blog post that Meghan wrote for our baking blog. Joining is simple, and the baking/shipping process is explained clearly and thoroughly in the Baking Gals' FAQ. It's a fantastic way to do something good ... and it's so. easy.

Goooooo team!

Rapid and random recap

Things have been relatively quiet lately. I worked six very long days this week and Tim worked seven days in a row. Between work, regular errands and getting ready for my friend Julia's Signing Day, we didn't have much down time.

It's starting to warm up with humidity down here. Sigh. It will likely stay oppressively hot for the next 6-7 months. Tim loves this kind of weather; I hate it. I believe I have run for the last time outside until September or October. The treadmill and I are going to be close buddies for a while, but now that I've run 5Ks and trained outside, it's really, really boring. I'm going to have to figure out a way to beat my workout boredom in general - I had a really fun, challenging routine of classes and strength and cardio workouts when I lived in St. Pete, but the Y here just isn't even close to offering what my old gym had. There's another Y about 20 minutes away, but even then, the classes offered are early in the morning and the equipment is older. Even the Zumba class I've attended at the Bradenton Y is aimed at senior citizens - I'm usually 20-30 years younger than anyone else in the class, and understandably, the instructor doesn't really offer many challenges, just fun and a decent workout.

This week Tim and I arranged to get Wednesday off from work - it'll be my first requested day off since the wedding! - and we're going to Disney to celebrate *someone's* birthday. Disney has a cool promotion this year that we're taking advantage of, and we get a 10% discount on Disney admission because we're Florida residents, so we really got a good deal. Free ticket+discounted ticket=we're going to go. Tim has never been to Disney, and I've only been there once in 1999 for a band trip. We're going to spend the day in the Magic Kingdom, and I'm really excited that it shouldn't be too hot or crowded. I think it'll be a long, tiring day and wish we could have Thursday off, too, to recover, but I think it will be a lot of fun.

In other news, apparently Mario got an extra bit of protein in his diet on Saturday. Tim was off for the day and had ordered a pizza to eat while watching the draft. While he was busy keeping Mario in the condo, it seems a lizard snuck in while the delivery guy was here. And Mario decided that the lizard was his dinner. I am so disgusted. Every time I look at Mario I think he's fatter than he was yesterday. I don't like having his head near mine, so he's been sleeping on Tim's side of the bed or at the bottom of the bed. I don't know why Tim didn't stop him from killing and eating the lizard, but I guess the only thing I can hope is that Mario truly did kill and eat the lizard, because I don't want to know there's a live or dead lizard in the condo right now. And I think we'd know because Mario would stalk the crap out of him.

Since Sidney never seems to get any blog love, I'll share one recent story (and hopefully update with pics later). Sid is dumb. Doesn't answer to his name. Doesn't respond to any normal stimulus. Freaks out if you open the freezer door. But the one smart thing he does is try to give us offerings at night. At first he used to just do it with a stuffed moon he has - he loves the thing and always carries it around when we go to bed, wailing/meowing as he brings it (it's a hilarious sound - his mouth is stuffed with a toy and he makes this pitiful, extremely loud wailing noise). I'll always find the moon at the end of the bed or on the bed. But lately he's been doing it with other toys, too, over the course of the night. Yesterday we had the moon and three little toy mice at the end of the bed. Today, it's the moon and two little toy mice. I'll have to take a picture sometime of the pile of offerings.

Other than working and such, I've also been busy posting at the baking blog Meghan and I started. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

Sacrifice.

Ohhhhh, so sad. This is my beloved KitchenAid, wondering why I haven't used it for the last two weeks.

For Lent this year, I had no idea what to give up. I've basically cut pop out of my diet, so that wasn't much of a sacrifice. I'm not allowed to give up work (something about it not being a sacrifice and me needing a paycheck or something). Tim suggested coffee, but I really have to wonder what kind of pain he wants me to endure - I need caffeine of some kind, and I need my morning cup o' joe. TV is out of the question because watching TV is usually the most time TIm and I get to spend together on the days we work. So Tim mentioned baking and I thought about it.

*sniff*

I've given up baking for Lent. There, I said it.

Baking is not just something I do to create sugary goodness. It is a primary stress reliever and a way of bringing joy to my life on a rough, chaotic day. This is forcing me to figure out ways to cope when I would usually turn to Betty Crocker and her trusty frosting friend Duncan Hines. I've gone to the grocery store during the last two weeks without "vegetable oil" or "chocolate chips" on my list. The cookie mix I've kept in the cupboard for a last-minute birthday treat for someone at work? It'll stay there until Lent is over.

When Tim told his coworkers of my resolution, they wanted to know why they were being punished. (They are often the recipients of my "just because" baked goods.) But really, this is a Lenten sacrifice that I am constantly aware of. I always figured I was better off without pop, so in that way, I was doing my body a favor during Lent. Or candy, but I really don't eat all that much candy now, and it wouldn't have been much of a sacrifice. But every time I look at sugar on the shelf or notice that I've got cake mixes that are crying out for attention, I think about what I've given up - a comfort device - and really think about the meaning of Lent. I know it sounds corny, but this is one of the most significant personal Lenten observances I can remember.