I made an ice cream cake for Aaron's birthday.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted.  (Usually he'd ask for a Carvel Fudgie the Whale cake.  But our "local" (about 25 minutes away) Carvel closed. Now the only one in NorCal is in Placerville, 2.5 hours away.  For my birthday we bought a Baskin Robbins cake, but it was small, and $30+.  I read a couple recipes online and decided I could make my own ice cream cake.  I was actually a bit dubious that I would be able to pull it off.

First I gathered my supplies.  I went to Target and bought 2 boxes of chocolate cake mix, two cartons of cookies and cream ice cream, one carton of vanilla, a tub of cool-whip, and two decorating icings.  I wanted extras, in case I made a mistake.  I baked 2 9x9 squares and 1 loaf cake.  I leveled the squares and cut the loaf in half, long-ways. The recipes I read said to slice the ice cream and then cut the cake to fit the slices.  I found that to be stupid.  So I cut the ice cream into 1" slices, and assembled them on the cakes.  I put the big (whole) slices on first, and then cut smaller pieces to fit.  The ice cream was getting melty, so I put the cakes in the freezer.
The recipe said to frost the cake with vanilla ice cream, but I thought cool-whip would be easier.  And it was pretty easy.  No melting, and it filled in the gaps on the side really well.  The downside with cool-whip is that it doesn't freeze super firm, and while that makes for a nice cake, it makes decorating a little tricky, as the icing didn't stick to it well.  I ran out of cool-whip for the loaf, so I used chocolate cream cheese frosting.  That turned out fine, but was a little overly sweet.
It turned out really well, and got a lot of compliments.  I am going to experiment with icing with vanilla.  But it is now my go to birthday cake.  It's easy, but a little labour intensive, but it looks and tastes great.  And the total cost was under $10.

Aaron took the Friday before him birthday off.  We went to the Jelly Belly factory, and my dad came too.  Bertie was really enthralled with some of the robots on the factory floor, but not too interested in the actual candy making process.  It was a nice trip.

I've been having weird insomnia lately.  Either I can't sleep, or I wake up at 2 or 3 and can't go back to sleep (like tonight).  I took half of a Midnite (dissolving melatonin) and fell asleep at 10.  I've been up since about 2 (it's 4 now).  I may talk to my shrink about it, maybe not.  There isn't a whole lot I can do.  I get up at the same time most days, I don't nap, I don't drink too much caffeine, I relax a bedtime.  I suppose I could get Ambien again, but it's kind of a stop-gap.

My tooth has been feeling about the same.  I got my Novamin tooth paste about 5 days ago.  So far it doesn't feel too different.  But I go back to the dentist on Thursday.

Potty training has been going ok.  More of the same, really.  Still not really pooping in the potty, but he's pretty good about peeing.  He doesn't wear diapers or pull ups in the day time.

Something quick, before the boy awakens

I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd blogged.

Potty training it going pretty well.  Still no poo in the potty, but he's doing well with peeing.  Instead of waiting for him to tell me he needs to pee, I take him ever 45-60 minutes.  I realized that if I wait for him to tell me he needs to pee, it's an immediate need.  But we go out in undies or training pants, and he sleeps in pull ups.

I think he's nearly given up on naps.  But a miracle occurred yesterday and he napped for almost 2 hours.  Ahh.  Sweet relief.

I finished the Bikini Body Mommy challenge.  Not much changed, except I'm stronger.  But my measurements, and weight didn't change.  Brianon and I are going to do a month of yoga, then choose what to do next.  It's nice to have a buddy.

I've been going to the track 4ish days a week.  I want to be a runner.  I don't think I'm a runner, but I'm hoping I can become one.

Aaron doesn't like his job.  We both love the benefits and hours.  The pay is ok.  But he doesn't like the work.  It's not challenging, and he is bored a lot of the time (such is governmental work, I guess).  He's been looking for other things within the county, and had some interviews, but no luck yet.  I know he'll find something he likes better soon, but I feel bad for him in the meantime.  And I feel guilty, a major reason he took this job is the health care (top tier coverage, and it's practically free).  The reason that is an issue is me.  Crohns is expensive.  So I feel responsible for his work misery.  But this too shall pass.

Boy is awake.  More later, perhaps.

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Night time now.  I have the Olympics on, but I'm not really watching it.

I've had a lot of dental visits lately.  Fillings to get done.  Last week I went to get a filling repaired, but ended up having a pretty deep cavity filled.  The dentist thought I might need a root canal, but everything looks ok so far.  But then I started having pain on a different tooth (one I had filled about a month ago).  He told me to order a special European tooth paste, and see if it helps.  I did two day shipping, but it's one of those where two days, doesn't mean two days.  It is feeling a little better, even without special tooth paste.

We had our first family home evening (FHE) tonight.  I made cupcakes that only turned out ok.  (They tasted fine, but didn't have the texture you want).  And Aaron did the "lesson", which was showing Bertie pictures, and talking about Jesus for a minute.  

Oh.  Bertram pooped in the potty today!  He said he needed to pee.  So I rushed him over to his little potty.  He sat for a minute, then popped up.  And there it was.  I made a bfd about it (because it is a bfd), and he got two dum-dums.  So hopefully he'll be encouraged for the future.

He had gymnastics today.  It was the first day he participated, and didn't run for the door every time I put him down.  But he spent a lot of time just laying on the mat.  I'll take it as a win.