Asheville, your bacon cupcake has arrived.

Taken from the blog of Short Street Cakes, this cupcake has:

 Cinnamon Pound Cake! Bacon! Apples Fried in Bacon Grease! Cream Cheese Icing!

I’m torn between thinking this might be the greatest thing ever and….No, I just think it might be great.

I love resolutions. There is something about the new year that seems shiny, and full of possibilities.

Last year, I resolved to read more to the kids. I give myself a B- on that one. I read more often to the kids, though not nightly as I should. Katherine began reading herself this year and I made a good effort to be sure she read nightly whether on her own or with one of us. She also reads to Charlotte, which I find charming.

As for resolutions for the upcoming year, I’m still mulling them through. One, for sure, will be to present more veggies to the kids each day. They eat piles of fruit, but I don’t do a great job at giving them lots of veggies. I’m sure another one will entail exercise of some sort. That would be a good idea.

How about you?

Check out Fab Finds Under $50 on the blogroll over there. It’s a new blog that I stumbled across a few weeks ago, and I really enjoy it. Not only does Kim share great ideas for inexpensive outfits, but she is frequently mentioning stores that I’ve never thought to shop in. Lots of fun to read and look at!

I’ve been at Christmas programs, Christmas festivals and a million other fun holiday events. We’ve gone to the movies, celebrated with friends and even gone through a brief bout of the swine flu ( just Charlotte, over Thanksgiving.) So that’s where I’ve been. But I’m back now, at least until the next major holiday. Anyone still here?

The kids had a day off school this week and were bored so I decided it was time to decorate for Halloween. I cut out big pumpkin shapes out of white paper and some scrap paper and magazines. Some of the paper were leftover bags from a Halloween party we had last year and the magazine was an October edition with lots of Halloween cupcakes and craft ideas in it. I showed them the Halloween sections of the magazine, figuring they’d use that part to decorate their pumpkins with, and then left them to their work.

While they cut, pasted and tore pictures for their pumpkins I got some work done. When they finished up, I promised them we’d hang the pumpkins on the window until after Halloween. Here is the finished product. Some of the pictures they chose were not exactly what I expected…

Can’t quite see the detailing on the pumpkins there, can you? How about a close-up?

Yep, Katherine’s pumpkin has a full-sized advertisement for bra and butt enhancements. I didn’t have the heart to tell her to change it. A little booty enhancement never hurt anyone, I suppose.

Swine Flu is going around town like crazy, especially in the schools where sports teams, bands and other after school activities are being canceled because too many kids are absent. Katherine has had several kids in her class get the flu, but she refuses to say the word. I’m not sure why, but she insists on spelling “FLU,” but spells it wrong.

Which leads to this:

“Hey Mom. Aiden and Ananda weren’t in school today. They have the F. U.”

I bet that’s how a lot of people feel about the flu.

Our little town’s art festival has become a big annual event, attracting very talented artists ( often including my husband) from around the area. We love to check out the booths and see what is new in the art and craft world. Best of all this year was that a piece of Katherine’s art work from school was selected to be part of the children’s show. She was thrilled, as were we. We marched downtown today to check it out and, on the way back home, stopped to take the kids’ picture in front of a new art installation in town. Our little Southern town is seeing quite the artistic renaissance and local government is doing a great job of placing these installations around town in empty lots of other spots that might otherwise just look, well, empty. I plan to get the scoop on the artist of this gem when I get into work this week. I think he/she might deserve a little write up in the newspaper. The piece is right up my alley- big and brightly colored. Let me know what you think.

Katherine showing off her ‘A is for Alligator’ artwork. Pretty darn good for a 5 yr old. Or any other age, really.

We’ve slipped into a rather nice routine here at home these days. It’s busy but structured, which is a must for me. We’re slowly working out the kinks in the routine- figuring out when the best time is for homework, realizing that leaving the house five minutes before school starts will NOT get us there on time- but all in all things are peaceful and pleasant.

Who could ask for more?

(Source)

Katherine comes home with a new piece of information every day. Sometimes it’s science facts ( “A frog is cold blooded!”), sometimes it’s reading, and lately it’s been little nuggets from her teacher about behavior. These little bits and pieces we get show me just how clever teachers really are when trying to teach children to be good citizens and kind friends. For instance, Katherine came home yesterday explaining the difference between “reporting” and “telling.” In other words, don’t be such a tattletale.

And this afternoon, she brought home a really special little gem. While shopping at Kohl’s, Katherine begins to loudly explain that she “filled someone’s love bucket today.” Apparently, the guidance teacher explained that everyone has a bucket that they carry around inside of them. As friends, we can either add to that bucket by being kind and loving or take from the bucket by being mean. Great analogy, right? Really smart stuff ( despite the kind of funny “filling love bucket” reference.)

So, Katherine goes on to explain, she was really nice to Abigail today and gave her a hug. “I filled her love bucket because she is my friend. The love goes into the bucket, and the bucket is in her stomach, so when she’s all full up with love she just poops it out.”

Oh honey. I’m so proud.