Best Gift, Worst Gift

Best Gift for Sylvie: Bopping bouncy ball she can ride on. Hard to capture, but here's my Sylvie lady in all her dressed-up new costume glory bopping around the living room!

Worst gift-

Cupcake maker. I admit grandma asked permission before buying it and I consented.

How to make a cupcake

1. Spend half an hour washing everything and hoping it all dries


















2. Find three pieces of equipment you actually need in massive pile of useless equipment.

3. Spend 10 minutes trying to get the wrong piece onto the main cupcake maker. Walk out of the room to read it in "quiet" as children will not quiet for even a moment while you try to make sense out of instructions.

4. Find alternate piece. Put frosting inside piece.

5. Watch as frosting spills out the bottom of piece. Remember that the frosting they give you makes 1 tablespoon at a time and start freaking out. Look how much frosting is on my hand, and how much is left in the bowl.





















6. Tell children cupcakes cooked individually in the microwave are still hot, please do not touch. Repeat 50 times.

7. Get frosting all over everything but the machine. Make second batch of frosting (they only give you about 3 "batches" total). Insert into machine.

8. Let child press lever to make beautiful frosting swirls. Cupcake spins around to make frosting look prettier. In reality, cupcake attempts to escape and frosting is flinging across the room in pretty swirly patterns. Let kids decorate with minute ball-type "sprinkles".




















9. Watch kids enjoy 1 bite each of cupcake and then run towards your furniture covered in chocolate. Run after then wielding baby wipes and threats.

10. Repeat 1/2 hour washing time for each piece now caked with chocolate and package carefully into basement for "next time."