Carseats and Creme de Menthe

I don't like the rain...but I know we need it desperately. I do, however, love wearing my polka dot rain boots. So I guess that means I kinda like the rain.

Now that Toby is 20 pounds, he gets to sit in a forward-facing car seat!

As you can see, he's ecstatic. Today was the first day he actually got to see what goes on outside the car because the rear-facing seat he sat in before faced him towards the back seat...and was extremely boring, I'm sure. Toby used to get really fussy when I'd drop Sam off at school because he wouldn't have anyone or anything to look at. When I put him in his new car seat this morning, he lit up. He "talked" and pointed all the way to school. Time in the car with Toby is a lot more pleasant now :)

On another note, I've been thinking about all of the ways I can make Aaron's 24th birthday more special than the previous 23. While I do have a few ideas in mind, baking is a big part of what I've been planning. I saw this recipe for a "Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cake" in Paula Deen's Holiday Baking magazine and have been planning for weeks to make it for Aaron's birthday (chocolate and mint is one of his favorite combinations...next to chocolate and banana). I was planning on making it last night so he could take it to work and share it with his co-workers today (even though his birthday isn't until Saturday) but, of course, my plan was foiled by an ingredient I couldn't find at the grocery store. I definitely thought that creme de menthe was something like vanilla extract. So imagine Aaron and me walking up and down the baking aisle looking at ALL of the spices and extracts...unable to find the mysterious creme de menthe. So after 15 minutes of searching, I had the idea to call Robert (Aaron's oldest friend/old roommate/co-worker) to google it and tell us where we could find it. No googling necessary. Robert informed us that creme de menthe is a liquor. And guess what. The liquor store had been closed for 3 hours by the time we began to look for it. Why do people bake with liquor? I never have understood that. Since I refused to bake the cake without the most flavorful ingredient, Aaron took "Brownie Surprise Cupcakes" to work today instead (from my second favorite baking magazine called Holiday Baking by Better Homes and Gardens). And, yes, the cupcakes were topped with Halloween sprinkles :) I'm baking the Creme de Menthe cake tonight (after I go by the liquor store) for the Halloween costume party we're going to tomorrow. Aaron still doesn't know what he's going to dress up as. He's managed to shoot down every one of my ideas thus far...so I told him to use his creative mind to come up with his own ideas. I'll let you know how the cake and Aaron's costume turn out.

It's bath time for the boys...so I'm going to round them up. Thanks for those of you who left comments and e-mails about the blog! I'm excited to have readers!