Trenton, Son of Matt

If you know my husband, chances are you've seen glimpses of the ridiculous amount of shoes he's collected over the years. A few of you might have been oh-so-lucky to have actually seen the shoes lined up on display as proof that he does, indeed, possess shoes in higher value than our wedding rings put together. Now, I'm really not bitter, or even making fun of Matt, and I'm not saying that he needs to get rid of his shoes (he might throw me out with them if I say that!). But, I am quite thankful that a large amount of his Never-Worn-Out-of-the-House Jordans and similarly useless shoes are stored away in his mom's attic. Our closet already looks like a shoe store, and I'm not sure where we would be able to put the entire collection. :) He is so proud of all of his shoes, and he does take great care of them. Since we've been married, he's reigned in on his never-ending shoe purchasing urges, and sticks to longingly browsing through Foot Locker's collection both in the store and on the Internet. He's training for the Indy Mini-Marathon for the second year, so he stays somewhat satiated with his new, as-needed, running shoes a couple of times each year.

Here's the problem: He has a son. A son with an eerily similar shoe obsession! UGH!! How did this happen? I think Matt whispers to Trenton in his sleep when I'm not around. I do know that Matt now also longingly looks at toddler shoes (Jordans, Nike Shox, etc.), and laughs when I say that Target might carry shoes that would be just fine for a three-year old. Trenton's wide feet basically force the two of us to call a truce--Matt's fancy shoes don't quite fit right, nor do my cheap, but cute shoes from Target. Instead, we are forced to find a compromise in Stride Rite's wide shoes that are equally expensive as the Jordans, but still as cute as I'd like (I think Jordans are UGLY!). Trenton, however, sees no need for this compromise. We can barely walk into a shoe store before he starts screaming "ooooooh!" (that's shoe without the "sh") and expects us to hand him shoes to hold and admire with longing eyes just like his Father's. After we bought a new pair this week, Trenton asks for them the moment he wakes up, and will wear them until he goes to bed (yes, he wears them even with pajamas). He makes us take off the "oooohs" and then put them back on seconds later, only to repeat 15 times within an hour. He shows them off to everyone, and we caught him doing a little dance in them last night because he was so excited to wear them. It's like seeing my husband in his toddler years!! I fear that by the time Trenton is married, he might have a wife with some blogging material about her husband's shoe obsession, too. :)

Sister, Sister Cake Decorating Company, Inc.

Karie and I have watched a couple episodes of "Ace of Cakes" on TV when we are bored--those cake decorators are incredible! We always get hungry for cake while we watch, amazed at the cakes that Duff and his people create. At the risk of sounding like we watch too much TV (and we do!), we recently watched the movie "Because I Said So." Great movie--and at the end, they show a pretty cool wedding cake with colored polka dots all over it. I think this was Karie's breaking point. She was suddenly inspired to make and decorate a cake. We looked up tips for using and making fondant (the smooth stuff that goes over icing to make the cakes look so good), and eventually made a trip to the store to buy pre-made fondant and some supplies. It took us at least 3 hours to finish this cake. Matt's mom's icing recipe is amazing, and we had to make two batches to cover the cake. Icing the cake was my job, and I have to say I was horrible at it! It took me forever to get that stuff smooth. Later we realized that it didn't need to be perfectly smooth since the fondant covers many of the flaws. Karie is the fondant roller-outer, and she is great at coloring the fondant, too! Here was our creation:

We had so much fun making this cake, and the funniest part was that it tasted awful! Fondant isn't known for being yummy, but somehow the cake underneath was bad, too. We laughed at ourselves and said we'd try again soon. Then the opportunity came! Our sister-in-law, Stephanie's birthday is Jan. 15, so we made a cake for her birthday dinner. This time, we used Linda's icing recipe AND cake recipe, and the cake tasted MUCH better. (Thanks, Linda!) Our decorating time was less than an hour, and I think it turned out better! We joke around about starting a cake company (hence the title above) so that we can save up for an expensive camera to start our own photography business! And now I think I've let everyone in a bit too much on just how crazy Karie and I really are. :)

Steph's birthday cake!!