Ye olde scallywags, you just shiver me timbers!

We have been having a rough go of things lately. I do not know if it is a lack of sleep issue for Finn but her behavior and attitudes are atrocious. She can be smiling and giggling one minute and the next she is throwing a tantrum on the floor. Or she just will start crying for no reason at all. The mood swings are making me crazy and my ability to deal with them without losing my cool is not easy. To be honest I have lost my cool more times than I care to admit. Knowing that my response to her behavior can either help or hinder, I am willing myself to change. I have really focused the past few days on trying to "fix" whatever could be the "cause" of her problem. She napped today, a good long nap, which she hasn't done in two weeks or longer. Another part of my solution has been to spend even more time in close contact with Finley and Chloe. More reading on the couch and playing with Little People instead of shooing them off to the playroom while I cook.

Early this morning I had a brilliant idea. Netflix was sending the classic Disney flick Peter Pan to our mailbox today so I told Finn we would have a special movie night tonight. As I brainstormed a bit, I decided to make a whole theme meal. We had tuna cakes for dinner, a treasure chest cake which the girls decorated with help, and pirate grog. All day I built this activity up and promised great things. We had fun with the cake and the girls liked the movie. Tuna cakes were not a big hit in the under 4 crowd but were pretty tasty to the grownups.

I know the treasure chest is a bit unsightly, but we had integrity issues similar to the gingerbread house that wasn't from Christmas 2006. Once I got it mostly put together and the chocolate frosting generously applied, I let the girls add gumdrop jewels and gold coins. Chloe thought sticking the treasure deep into the cake was a fantastic idea, so the repairs I had already made (read as piled on lots of extra frosting)came undone. At that point I had to give up my dream of a pretty cake and embrace the lopsided mound of cake and frosting goo for what it was--a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.


the ingredients


a not too close up pic of the finished product


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This was the outfit I chose for Chloe to wear today:


These are the shoes she chose to wear out in public: