Category Archives: jakob


by Leave a comment

How to: DIY Pikachu Fondant Cake Topper

Jakob turned 16 (!!) this week, so I thought it was high time to share another one of his past birthday cakes.

Made for his 9th birthday, this Pikachu fondant cake topper is a quick and easy DIY that you can copy on your own cakes, cupcakes or cookies.

As always when making a topper for a known character I like to start with a template. After measuring my cake pan I resize an image of the character to fit and then print it out. For cartoon characters like Pikachu you can search for coloring pages to find black and white outline-based images.

For this cake I tinted some white fondant with yellow Americolor gel colors to get Pikachu’s signature yellow shade. I rolled it out on a silicon measuring mat using a fondant roller with the medium levels as I wanted to make sure I had enough fondant for a two-layer figure. I usually use the thickest level for fondant toppers and I would suggest that you prep enough fondant so you can do the same – as you’ve probably noticed above my topper was a little thin and wound up cracking.

I started by cutting out the base layer of the full image by tracing the entire template with a fondant cutter.

Then I cut out Pikachu’s head alone so I could layer the pieces similar to a 3D paper decoupage technique.

Carefully stack the head cut out on top of the fondant base using a little bit of water to secure it in place.

I always like to prepare my toppers in advance so they can dry out for a few days before I begin coloring/painting on them. As mentioned above I’d made Pikachu a bit too thin and he wound up cracking across his face and left arm.

I used edible ink markers to draw on Pikachu’s face and details. I’m glad I had a reference image as I was about to color the tip of his tail black. Have you heard of that Mandela effect? It totally got me!

While the fondant was drying I baked a vanilla cake and prepped it as per my “how to bake a cake and prep it for decorating” post. To finish things off I decorated the base with yellow and red Smarties to match the colors of the topper.

This was a really quick and easy DIY that you can use to make your own Pikachu treats!

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


by 7 Comments

Number 3 Smarties Cake

Jakob’s 15th(!!!) birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so just as I’ve been doing for Henri, I’m going to countdown Jakob’s past birthday cakes.

Jakob’s first birthday cake was a simple homemade banana cake with an edible printed sheet.

I’ve never owned a food ink printer so I designed the image on my computer then brought it to a local restaurant supply store who offered the edible print service.

(I don’t have an image of the complete cake for some reason).

His second birthday pirate cake and pirate cupcakes were actually the first food tutorials I’ve posted on this blog. Which brings us to his third birthday. He had 2 cakes when he turned three, as he had both family and friends/daycare parties. For his family party I made this easy “number 3-shaped” cake.

All you need to do to create this cake is bake 2 round cakes. Mine were both 8″. One layer each will work, though if you want a higher cake you can tort and fill each cake so you have 2 layers.

Follow the instructions on the downloadable template above to create your shape. First cut and remove the center of each cake, leaving a ring-shape. Cut away a quarter of each ring, and then position the rings as a “3” to make it easier to see where to cut away the remining bit of cake. So that the cakes sit nicely together, remove a slice off the edge of each ring where the two cakes will touch, so the surfaces that touch are flat, not rounded. (Section 3 in the template).

Then all you need to do is ice and decorate your cake! I decided to keep the small inner cake sections and decorate them as well.

To make decorating super quick and easy, I used Smarties to cover each cake. The longest part of this was sorting the candy packages by color! Once I had them in individual bowls, the placement of each was pretty fast.

First I iced the cake (in my case, vanilla icing on a chocolate cake base), then covered it in the Smarties. I chose to place them in a gradient from darkest on the bottom to lightest on top, for an almost “sunrise”-looking effect.

One of the cake centers was iced and given candles for Jakob to blow out. He got to have this one for himself (and no one else got his germs from trying to blow on the candles!).

The other center was iced in a similar fashion to the main cake, using up the remaining Smarties. I believe we’d sent it home to a family member who’d been unable to attend.

Shaped cakes can be tricky but this one is really easy and looks great, and all it takes is 2 round cake layers, some icing and a bulk bag of candy.

It didn’t only look good- the birthday boy found it tasted finger-licking good too!

Jakob’s other birthday cakes


by 4 Comments

2 years old

By two years old your toddler…

…should be able to:

– take off an article of clothing – CHECK – he can fully undress himself (with a bit of help)

-“feed” a doll – CHECK – I can’t count how many Cheerios he’s tried to feed to his Little People horse

– build a tower of 4 cubes – CHECK – months ago he was building towers of 8 or 9 cubes

– identify 2 items in a picture by pointing (by 23.5 months) – CHECK – for a long time now, maybe before 18 months he can find a cat, dog, moon, mouse, balloon, apple, flower, cow, turtle, etc in his books, even if it is a different book (and thus a different illustration)

2009-05-17 2yrs 01a

…will probably be able to:

– build a tower of 6 cubes – CHECK – (see above)

– throw a ball overhand – CHECK – and he’s pretty accurate too!

– speak and be understood half the time – UM… not sure if I’d go with “half the time”, but he speaks NON STOP and we can understand a lot of what he’s saying.  I don’t know if YOU’d understand it, but we often can.

– identify 1 item in a picture by naming – CHECK – all those things I listed before he can identify by naming

– identify 4 items in a picture by pointing – CHECK – (see above)

2009-05-17 2yrs 04a

 …may possibly be able to:

– jump up – CHECK – he started about a week or so ago, it’s too cute!

– put on an article of clothing (by 23.5 months) – CHECK – he can put on his hat, and can put his socks onto his hands.  I honestly haven’t checked if he can put on a shirt or pants…maybe I’ll try that tonight

2009-05-17 2yrs 06a

 …may even be able to:

– draw a vertical line in imitation – no idea.  But after his teachers gave the kids 3 colored circles and a rectangle, and explained about traffic lights, Jakob was the only one to put the 3 colors on it, in the right spots (centered vertically), and in order.  Each teacher thought the other had helped him, because his looks like the “demo” traffic light.  🙂  [insert proud artsy mama glow here]

– build a tower of 8 cubes – CHECK (see above)

– carry on a conversation of 2 or 3 sentences – nope

2009-05-17 2yrs 03a

 

I don’t know what to say about Jakob at 2 years old without gushing.  He’s nearly perfect.  We’ve never had to punish him or give him a “time out”.  He is the best big brother EVER (so far).  He is adorable, sweet, kind, loving, playful and funny as all get-out.  The kid will do anything to get a laugh, even if he’s the only one who finds it funny.  Am I biased as his mom if I say he’s a pretty good-looking boy?  Ok, so he needs to learn to share a little more, and I’d rather if he obeyed “stop” better so I could stop being afraid he’d go running off into the street or a parking lot.  He’s still not 100% on the stairs.  He still prefers Daddy to Mommy (gotta love his raised hand and quizzical eyebrow when looking around and asking “Dada, wheyou?  Wheyou?”  But who cares? 

Jakob is an awesome kid.  He’s so cool that I can’t wait to become his friend.  He makes everything better, and we love him to pieces.  Happy birthday Jakob.


by 6 Comments

proud mama!

I know I said I couldn’t get on the computer at home until after the weekend, but I HAD to take advantage of the time my in-laws are out at dinner to hop on and post a quick photo.  I’m so proud and I just had to share it!

Nope, it’s not knitting.  Jakob came home from daycare today with a bag full of craft projects he’d made for us!!!  I feel like bursting!  I know he obviously had help, and I know it’s just scribbles and glue, but this is the first crafty thing he’s ever done that I haven’t been a part of…and I’m touched.

2008-12-19-01a

 


by 1 Comment

another busy day

This morning was so nice! Jakob slept for 8 and a half hours, and woke up in such a good, giggly mood! I got him dressed up in a cute pair of overalls from his cousin Robyn but they are still too big on him so I changed him into a cute onesie (it says “I pulled an all-nighter”) and a pair of shorts.

At lunchtime we went on a playdate with my friend Jessica who is in from Toronto with her daughter. I can’t believe her daughter will be 1 year old next month. It was surreal to walk along the streets, pushing our kids in strollers. It feels like yesterday that we were in grade 6 and pretending to be superstars.

Later in the afternoon I brought Jakob over to my aunt Fran’s house for a birthday party for my aunt Mimi’s foster child. Yannick came over after work and was able to spend some bonding time with Jakob. He even got to take him swimming for a little while.

I don’t know if there was something in the water, but when we brought Jakob in and tried putting him in his car seat for a nap, he got into SUCH a good mood! He was laughing and giggly and amusing himself completely by kicking around and squirming in his seat until he’d slide to the bottom. He wasn’t strapped in because I wanted him to nap and he was right at my feet…don’t write me emails tell me I’m being reckless with him. He was being so silly and kept making the cutest faces…here it looks like he’s trying to get away from me!
Here are Jakob and Mommy at 12 weeks (and 1 day) old.
I wouldn’t have believed it, but he’s grown up so much, even since the last few days! All of a sudden he seems much more solid, and playful…with a real spirit. I can begin to see the little boy he will grow up into.
When we got home I fed him and Yannick got to give him a bath. They both had a good time splashing in the water, then I put Jakob into bed and left Yannick with the monitor so I could go take a shower. I just came out…and Yannick is asleep on the couch with the monitor! Great babysitter! I’m going to follow his example and get into bed too…


by 4 Comments

one down…

Today was a lazy day. We stayed indoors most of the day, only venturing out to check the mailbox. Jakob slept a wonderful 8 hours last night from his 9:00 feed/bedtime, then another 4 hours after that.
I managed to get a few photos of Jakob playing on the entrelac blankie I knit for him. I didn’t remember to take our weekly photo, since today is 12 weeks, but I’ll take one tomorrow.

I kept meaning to knit all day, but somehow, as seems to be the routine with a baby, stuff always happened. The few times he’d go down for a nap I ended up eating a meal, tidying up, soothing him from crying…I finally managed to knit at around 3:30 in the afternoon. I had a minor success as I finished the first sock of the pair. I just need to graft the toes shut and then I can start on the second sock.


We went out for a bit tonight with Yannick and my mom. We are finally taking care of having our wedding album made (it’s going to be a years since our wedding on Sept 3rd) so we went to meet with the photographer and get a refresher on how many photos to choose, which album style, etc…

Now I’ve just given Jakob a bath and put him into bed. He’s protesting loudly from the other room, so I’m going to see to him then try and get the cuff done from the next sock. Goodnight!


by 1 Comment

Hairspray follies

Fun times at the movies today. My mom and I got there early, around 12:30 for a movie that started at 1:00pm. When we got into the actual theater we were the only ones there…and the movie was already on and about halfway through! We called in an attendant and asked them to stop the movie, which they did. A few minutes later they started airing the pre-preview footage (trivia, commercials, etc) like normal. The theater started filling up with people. And filling up. At 1:10 there were still more people showing up, and the previews hadn’t even started yet.

Just as we started to complain about delaying a movie filled with babies on schedules, the previews started. Without sound. Oh, and did I mention they were backwards? All the text was flipped the wrong way around. The proper people were notified, and they fixed the film. It took them another 5 minutes to add sound, then I got up and asked them to make it louder, since we could barely hear anything. Finally we saw the “feature presentation” stuff on the screen, meaning the movie was about to start.

Then the screen went black. For another 5 minutes or so there was nothing. People started to leave. Another attendant told us that she had no idea how long it would be. Finally she came back and said it would be 5 more minutes. The movie DID start…then went black again after about 20 minutes. I don’t know if the guy didn’t rewind the movie properly after we made him stop it earlier, or what, but it was getting rediculous. At one point a manager came in and told us to stay after the movie and that they would give us free passes.

In the end we managed to watch the movie straight through. It was very cute, but I think I might prefer the original 1988 movie. Jakob slept the entire time- go figure the one time I shlepped the breast-feeding pillow AND a bottle of breast milk, I didn’t need anything.

When I got home I had a late lunch then spent the evening trying to get Jakob down for another nap. He got very fussy but in the end he slept a little and after supper I managed to work on my JCA project for a bit. I don’t think I’m giving too much away if I say that it is socks, and I am 3/4 of the way finished the first one.

Now I’m going to rest for a bit because I think Jakob will be waking up soon to eat. I usually put him down between 10:00 and 11:00 for the night, but tonight he last ate at 9:00 but didn’t fall asleep until almost 10:00. I don’t think he’ll sleep straight through the night after eating only at 9:00 so I’m probably in for another feed before I can get to sleep. I think I’ll catch up on my “What To Expect…The First Year” book. Or maybe the last Harry Potter.


by 1 Comment

soooooo far behind

I can’t believe I’m a week behind on posts again. Let’s see if I can sum up (it’s going to be a long post so I’ll try not to be too wordy):

Last Wed (Aug 1st) my mom came over and we took Jakob over to my aunt’s pool for his first swimming lesson.
He was mostly asleep when I brought him into the water, and since the pool is heated there wasn’t much of a difference between the temperature of the water and of the air, so I’m not quite sure at what point he realized something was different.

You’re not allowed to put sunscreen on babies under 6 months old, so to protect him from the sun I had him in a tshirt and hat, plus I brought him in after the sun had started to go down.

Right before we got out of the pool I decided to dunk him. I’m so proud- he cried for a split second when I tilted him forwards to put his face in the water but not at all when I dunked him completely under. I think he was in too much shock. 🙂 My mom captured the whole day on video so Yannick was able to watch it later and see what he missed.
He clearly wasn’t traumatized, as the moment he was bundled and warm he began “talking” and smiling at my aunt and cousins.

Thurs (Aug 2) I brought Jakob to the CLSC to be weighed. My big boy now weighs 12 lbs, 3.5 oz. We didn’t stay to hang out this time, instead I brought him to my mom’s so she could watch him while I went to Spa Lyne Giroux to have a polish change done on my finger and toe nails. I have to say I wasn’t too happy with the job that was done. I had my eyebrows waxed too while I was there. I have fair eyebrows and I only need to get them done about twice a year, but I always wonder why I don’t go more often. I find that a nice shaped eyebrow really brightens up my face and almost makes me look like I have makeup on. It’s a wierd thing to say, I know, but it makes me feel more “done” somehow. I did all the pampering because we had a wedding on Saturday and my polish was all chipped. I figured it would be cheaper to have a polish change done than a full manicure but it was expensive there. I wouldn’t go back there for that, I heard there’s a better place on Pierrefonds blvd so I’ll try them next time.

Thursday night we had supper at my mom’s then came home to work on unpacking some of my clothes while Yannick went to bring a cot to my grandmother’s so my aunt (coming in from TO) would have somewhere to sleep, since we took their old bedroom set for our new house.

Fri (Aug 3) I…shoot, I can’t remember what I did during the day, so I’m going to guess that Jakob and I slept in until noon then hung out until supper time, when Julie and Rich came over for supper. Yannick and Rich went to pick up some food from New Kam Shing and it was so good! Cashew chicken, crispy noodles, General Tao chicken and some tempura veggies…yum!

Sat (Aug 4) We left in the morning and drove up north to Yannick’s parents’ house. It was crazy- we had assumed that since NASCAR was in town there would be no one driving OUT of town but the traffic was terrible! Plus there was construction so for the first time ever it took over 2 hours for us to get there. It’s too bad we had the wedding that day because we were offered NASCAR tickets. That would have been fun- Jakob’s first racing event! We got to his parents’ house with just enough time to feed Jakob, change and leave for the wedding, which was taking place up at Mont Tremblant. The wedding was at a little chapel at the base of the hill, right in the resort, and the reception was at a nearby lodge. I videotaped the whole wedding as a favor for the bride and groom, then we left to go back to Yannick’s parents’ so I could feed Jakob. He was sleeping but I couldn’t go all night the way I was so I pumped and then we left for the reception. We had a really good time but left by around 11:00- I was full and sore and Yannick was tired, plus we had to be up early with Jakob. I pumped again when we got home and Jakob didn’t wake to feed until 5am which was nice.

Sun (Aug 5) We had a lazy day. Jakob took long naps in his car seat outside (gotta love northern fresh air!) so I relaxed in a chair near him and worked on the knitting for JCA. I was zooming along but hit a snag in the pattern so I had to wait until I got back to send an email and get some help. That night Yannick’s sister came up with her hubby and kids and we had a birthday supper for them (Brigitte’s bday was earlier in the week and Matthieu’s is next week, the same day as my sister Laura). After supper we took off and came home.

Mon (Aug 6) I called my doctor first thing in the morning to get an appointment. Last week Yannick had been a bit sick and he gave it to me, and I’d spent over 6 days with a very sore through and very dry, hacking cough. The nights were the worst, my coughing would even wake Jakob up. I knew it was just a virus but the pharmacist said there was nothing I could take and I wanted to see what my doctor said. I had to bring Jakob with me ‘cus my mom was busy but we went to her house after and visited for a bit. Later I went to the park with my friend Maaike and her daughter. Didn’t get any knitting done, but it was great to get out and talk to an adult! Plus her daughter is adorable! That night I had a late dinner with Yannick and watched the finale (part 1) of Hell’s Kitchen.

Yesterday- I couldn’t believe it- Jakob slept for 8hrs 15 minutes Monday night! The longest ever! I took him to my uncle’s store to get some computer stuff, then we went to my LYS and to the post office. I finally finished every thank-you card that was outstanding…from my wedding to the bris to gifts people come by and drop off, everything is done and sent! What a load off my mind! When we got home my aunt Mimi (from TO) came over with a girl she is fostering (sp?) and then they brought Jakob and I over to my mom’s so she could watch Jakob for the night. Yannick picked me up from there and we went to see Harry Potter #5 together. It was a great movie, and nice to get out, but I really miss Jakob every minute we’re apart. I couldn’t wait to get back and pick him up. When we got home I fed him, put him to bed, then worked on unpacking more clothes. It is taking me a long time because I’m going through everything and giving away a lot of stuff. Moving is fun- it’s giving me a chance to purge.

Today- I can’t believe it…Jakob slept for 8 hrs 30 min last night! Then after feeding he took a 2 hr nap, then stayed in his crib, awake and playing for almost an hour. I feel so rested! I’m hoping he stays good today…my mom and I are taking him to go see Hairspray with my cousin Robyn, Amy and my aunt.

Later I’m hoping to unpack more and get some knitting done too since I have a deadline!


by Leave a comment

catching up Tuesday

We’ve had such a busy week!
On Tuesday I took Jakob to the Pointe-Claire Plaza to get some knitting advice at my LYS. We both had lunch there and I finally remembered to mail a registered letter to the Fonds d’Assurance Responsabilité Professionelle de l’Ordre de Dentistes du Quebec (the insurance fund responsible for the Quebec Order of Dentists). Waaay back in April I was on my way up north with Yannick and we were munching on some cookies from Tim Horton’s when all of a sudden I bit onto something hard. It was a very, very soft chocolate chip cookie so I was confused- until I realized it was half of a crown that had broken off! I was so angry…the crown wasn’t even 8 years old. When we got back I’d gone to see my dentist but he said he’d have to charge me to repair it because you can only repair it by replacing it. He was surprised that the dentist who had done the crown had only used porcelain (not porcelain and gold) because it was my back molar which needed the gold for strength since the tooth gets used all the time. He told me to go back to the dentist who did the work. The problem is that she moved to the States for her husband’s job. The clinic she used to work for told me that if she was here she’d probably have replaced it for free, but since she was gone they have no responsability towards the quality of her work, and no obligation to fix it. They told me to call the Order, and the Order’s union department told me to write to the dental insurance people and ask for the money it would cost to fix it. I had my dentist write up a quote for the replacement and he gave me a copy of the xray and I mailed it all off with a letter explaining the whole story. I really doubt they will give me the money to fix it (I should be so lucky!) but at least I’m trying.
After the Plaza we went to Fairview mall and did some window shopping. I had Jakob in his stroller instead of just carrying the car seat around, and it made going out much more fun since I didn’t have to shlep him everywhere. I wanted to buy a baby carrier to wear him but I know that sometimes Sears or La Baie carry similar items as Babies R Us and I wanted to compare prices. La Baie had nothing but I was able to buy a wedding gift off of a registry for Yannick’s friends’ wedding that we have on Saturday. I was also able to feed Jakob there…in the lingerie dept. they have a changing room large enough to go in with the stroller and it has a bench so I could feed him. The only thing was…ugh…I don’t know what was up with Fairview on Tuesday, the inner area of the mall (the aisles between stores…what’s that called? Wings?) was nice and cool and air conditioned, but EVERY store I went into was sooooo hot. I literally had to take my shirt off (in the changing room) to feed Jakob, since the feel of his hot skin against me was making me sweat, and both of our faces were red. Once we got out of there I had to go right away and wet one of his washcloths in a water fountain and wipe down our faces and I wiped his feet too just to cool him off a bit. It was so gross. We also went to Sears and I found some baby items. I bought a Snugli to try and was told that I could return it if it didn’t fit (although my plan is to return it if it is cheaper at Babies R Us). Then we went to meet Yannick for supper at the food court and then leave to go to Babies R Us across the street. Unfortunately they were closed so we came home and I wore Jakob around the block in the Snugli while Yannick mowed the lawn. It was really comfortable to wear him in it, and I can put him facing in or facing out, so we’ll try it a few more times to make sure he likes it and if so then we’ll be keeping it.
Later on I’ll post about our big day yesterday…two firsts in one day!