Sad Caterpillar

It’s been a while since I’ve done any pandemic baking, and I was craving banana muffins, so today was the perfect day to make some! I used this recipe, plus added cinnamon & chocolate chips, and these were literally the best I’ve ever had.

My tiny helper was just a sweet and helpful as ever. And then she got rewarded for a job well-done for a tiny pile of “chockit chips” all to herself.

Nana requested I make the strawberry flag cake for our family dinner tonight, so I made a super fast trip to Publix to grab the ingredients, then came back for some more baking.

We had some time to play while it baked, and Jeff finally spray painted the hinges “champagne mist” gold for the lower kitchen cabinet doors, and then he and the boys mowed the yard and did a few other yard work things…

After you bake a white cake, poke holes all over with a fork, make a packet of jello, then pour it over the cake & refrigerate for a few hours.

Emmie got some ant bites while outside watching her brothers, so we rinsed off her feet and legs in cold water in the sink. And then she just wanted to sit there forever playing in the cold water! (Also, peep my new tiny plant in the windowsill. I saw it at Publix right as I entered the store this morning. I’m not usually drawn to pink stuff, but this plant is called “pink splash” in this cute pink pot, and it was only $2.99, and I needed it to come home with me!)

Emmie had cheese noodles for lunch, while wearing her “marching band hat” she made at school this past week & wore in the parade yesterday.

After watching them mow the back yard for a few minutes (and watching an old plastic Adirondack chair break under Jeff when he tried to sit in it), I got Emmie down for her nap time. She woke up at 6:30 today, so she was more than ready to go to sleep at noon.

I took a quick shower, then set up an assembly line and made sandwiches for everyone, once they finished their yard work. I scarfed my sammich down, and then ran to Bealls Outlet and Ross, looking for new sandals for Emerson. She’s about to outgrow her current ones, so I’m hoping to find some for her birthday present for next week.

Iced coffee for only $2 this afternoon was calling my name, and it was soo good.

I didn’t find any sandals (the selection was super low), but I did find sunglasses for myself (which I needed), a tiny llama “hanitizer” for Emmie for a small birthday gift, and this Nerf gun for her too. The boys had been saying they wanted to give her a tiny Nerf gun for her birthday, and showed me one on Amazon for $5.99. I just happened to find this one there for only $4.99, and it’s perfect!

I finished up making the patriotic poke cake, by slicing strawberries, rinsing blueberries, and making the homemade cream cheese icing. (It’s cream cheese, cool whip, powdered sugar & vanilla, and it’s literally the best icing ever.) Ryan was a sweet helper, and Emmie just liked eating strawberries dipped in the icing while we worked 😉

The first time I made this cake, I placed the fruit in the shape of an American flag, which was super cute, but then only like two pieces of the whole cake ended up having blueberries on it. So this time I just did stripes, so that the whole cake would have both fruits on it, and I think it’s gonna be even better.

And look how thick that layer of icing is!! Yum!!

And after a hectic 10 minutes of getting everything gathered up and Pretzel on his leash and cleaning out the car a little bit and not forgetting the cake on the kitchen counter and trying to buckle my seat belt while the cake tried to slip off my lap… we went over to Nana & PopPop’s house for play time and dinner!

This girl is a big-time drink-stealer. (So I usually try to find something with low sugar and zero caffeine, knowing that I’ll end up sharing.)

When she told me she was getting chilly, we quickly washed her hair in the pool, and called it a “bath.” 🙂

As usual, Nana made a giant feast for dinner – slow-cooked ribs, homemade mac & cheese, green beans and salad. And also as usual, everything as delicious!

After a little bit of playtime out on the back porch, we were all ready for some yummy cake! I know I already shared one picture of it, but it was just so pretty!

And look at how marble-y and pretty it gets on the inside from the jello!

We headed home to get Emmie ready for bedtime and her bedtime snack. The page below in the Hungry Caterpillar book lists all the things he ate on Saturday, and “that night, he had a stomachache.” Well, the little caterpillar has a sad face because of his tummy ache, and Emmie always likes to imitate his down-turned eyebrows and sad face, and repeat a few times that he’s a sad caterpillar, and make sure everyone in the family knows about it, saying over and over, “sad callapiller.” It’s hilarious and adorable.

She was exhausted and so she was easy to get down for bedtime, and very sweet and smoochy. All four of the rest of us are super exhausted too, and I’m hoping we can all get to bed at a decent hour, because we’ve got another full day ahead of us tomorrow!