Stuck Indoors

Upstate NY escaped much of Sandy's wrath. Thankfully. (We hope the rest of you impacted are doing OK today!) Regardless, we were stuck indoors yesterday with all the wind and rain. Everything was closed, including the roads. So, I attempted to take Ada's birthday photos.

Problem was: I could not get her to stay still.

Looks like I'll need to try again. What I've learned in my adventures with toddler photography is that kids Ada's age until about 3 are difficult to capture. Plain and simple. They want to run, climb, and dance. They don't really listen to me. Or their parents. Or anyone else. Nothing occupies them for more than a few seconds. This is only my experience, but I'm pretty sure it's valid.

I wasn't thrilled with my setup either. I was using the Pack 'n Play to hang the backdrop and it wasn't tall enough for when she's standing. The backdrop (the back of the quilt in her revamped nursery) wasn't really large enough either. It seems now that Ada is bigger, all my newborn photo tricks aren't working anymore.

Speaking of do-overs, though. This one was a success:


Chocolate-chocolate chip pumpkin cake. Delicious! Lighter, fluffier, and sweeter than the more muffin-like cake I made over the weekend. Now I just need to refine some frosting recipes and we'll be set. I am mostly making cupcakes with one smaller cake for the party.

Cakes intimidate me -- the size makes bake-time difficult to determine, multiple layers are tricky, the decorating is totally out of my league. Cupcakes, on the other hand, are much easier. Less time spent cutting the cake, too! I always get stuck doing that at parties.

Did you make your child(ren)'s birthday cakes? What kind do you make? Now I'm off to take photos of what I plan to post today on (never)homemaker.

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