You guessed it! The log cake won first place (big pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups). Second place (bag of M&Ms) was the miniature camp ground cake. Third place (Butterfinger candy bar) was the giant “100″ made up of brownies and blue & yellow icing. It didn’t matter who won because all of the boys were very proud of what they created. I talked to a few brothers who were more than willing to throw their little brothers under the bus with exclamations of, “He just measured the water, but I made the cake!”

I suggested making Banana Pudding since Josh has been craving it lately. He even got a recipe emailed from his dad which he forwarded to me, begging and pleading for it to be made. I’m all about killing two birds with one stone these days. I read the recipe and felt it was simple enough for the boys to do together. In the interest of full disclosure… They did spill the milk all over the counter while mixing the pudding. The cutting board did flip over off the table and on to the chair. A banana did jump from the peel and on to the floor. (They asked to eat that one — gross, huh?) It was very hard to take myself out of the picture so that they could do their thing. I helped them decide what to put on the finished dessert. I drew the fleur de lis on to thin cardboard, but while Zack was cutting it up, he confused the positive and negative spaces so when it came time for the sprinkles, the design was not as tight as it could have been, but I felt he did a great job. He used both yellow and blue sprinkles. (It’s the sixth picture from the bottom.)

These are the only pictures I took and I did with my iPhone, so they’re not spectacular. I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the sign I did (with plenty of last minute help). I’m hoping that someone did and will email it to me. If I am so lucky, I’ll post it later.

For Grandpa Randy, Josh reports that the recipe is a very good one. Here it is below for those who are curious. The only thing we did differently is we had double the pudding and we were unable to let it set overnight. Sprinkles are not necessary either. In fact, they kind of just dissolved into a blurry mess, so I don’t recommend it.

BANANA PUDDING

1 box Nilla vanilla wafers
4 to 5 bananas
1 lg. Jello vanilla instant pudding
3 c. milk
8 oz. Cool Whip
8 oz. sour cream

Line bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan with vanilla wafers. Cover with slices of banana. Mix pudding mix with milk. Add Cool Whip and sour cream and mix. Pour wafers and bananas. Repeat layers. Set overnight.

I saw this on FriendFeed and thought it would be fun for the kids. They were pretty excited at first, but as it turns out, they can handle doing this for one package of hot dogs, but two packages is pushing their attention span. Seth was the first to fold because for six years he was the youngest in our family and those years helped him to master the art of quietly walking away while no one is paying attention to go do something less like work. Zack noticed, however, and tried to tell Seth to come back to the table and help because the more people that helped meant the faster we could eat. When Seth could not be persuaded, Zack followed suit and made his way back to Pokemon Platinum on DS. Sarah then complained that Zack just did what he was harping on Seth not to do, but she stayed with me for as long as she could (she had a Young Women meeting to attend). I could barely stick with it, but got the rest of the cut up hot dogs speared with the dry spaghetti. I experimented by pasta-poking the dog and leaving them on the ends. I wanted to see if the spaghetti would stay in and told the kids I was making jellyfish.

The poked dogs went into the hot water, and a little while later, the kids were excited once again to see what they had created. Zoe really likes hot dogs (her first time), so even though she had rice and cut up hot dog to keep her busy during dinner prep, she tried a spaghetti dog (or whatever they’re called) with gusto. She didn’t smile or laugh, but ate and flung spaghetti with a serious face–the neural connections were firing so I could tell she was enjoying herself. The boys liked them, too. They declined spaghetti sauce, but Zack took me up on gravy which I tasted and approved. What doesn’t get better with gravy? I liked it both with and without.

I have to admit that the pictures I took look disgusting. I mean, it’s kind of crafty and fun, but they’re still just hot dogs. I like them better in a bun with mustard and ketchup. And being an island girl, I would like them next best on rice with furukake or better yet, in chili over rice. This was my first time trying hot dogs in pasta (strike that, reverse it) and I’d probably not do it again anytime soon. It was fun for ten seconds.

Bakerella improved upon a recipe she found online—anyone who adds double the amount of peanut butter cups needed in a recipe has got my number. She deserves her fame and fortune. This lady makes some pretty amazing things to eat. Check out her cupcake pops… so cool.

1 glass (or plastic cup impersonating a glass)
lots of ice
icb cream soda (it’s caffeine-free unlike A&W)
heavy cream (yup. that’s right. not half and half)

Fill glass with ice, pour cream soda over that, then float heavy cream over that. The cream sits at the top, but will get mixed in with the soda eventually (but I try to prolong the separation for as long as I can by taking slow sips). When you take a sip there’s the crispy sweet of the soda mixed with the mild, fattening goodness of cream.

What a great combination… you’ll have a heart attack and a diabetic coma all at once. You’re welcome.