See that cutie in the icon?

He's 9 today.

The horde came over last night and he was definitely more excited about the Marvel Lego set than the berry Octo-pie. Eh, he's a picky eater sometimes, declaring he's "never liked" something that's always been his favorite.

But everyone else was very enthusiastic, both about the flavor and the form. So much so that I'm most likely going to be doing a peach pie for Spenser's 8th birthday next month (I'll do a flower and butterfly crust, I think). Ellie, who will be 6 the month after that, is see-sawing between a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting or a cheesecake with chocolate sauce.

A cheesecake.

I'm so proud. And terrified. And proud. (And terrified. I've never made a cheesecake before. But I do have springform pans, so apparently I'm qualified.)

I PRESENT TO YOU... THE OCTO-PIE!



( Octo-pie behind the scenes )

fleegull is doing an icon meme and selected five of mine for me to comment on. If anyone wants to be tagged (DW or LJ icons, your choice), let me know. Here's mine:

Keyworded beaux yeux, these actually are my eyes. The contrast on the picture was already blown out; I just fooled around a little to make my skin disappear. I liked the subtly weird color effect on my lids. But damn, did I need to pluck those brows.

Young Frankenstein ("That's Fraan-ken-steen!") for the win. ("Frau Blücher!" *neigh*) ("Werewolf!" "There, wolf. There, castle.") ("Walk this way.") ("What hump?") ("Taffeta, darling! Taffeta!") ("Abby... Normal?") (~Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you!~) I could continue. I'm here all night, tip your waitress!

I can claim no credit for this glorious bird on the black and white background. The only thing I did was caption it "Vyola" in a random pseudo-Arabic font. I excuse my act of cultural appropriation in the name of sheer beauty.

I've seen this icon all over the place and don't know where it originated. My humor and my pedantry are hidden in the keywords penguins are polar bears' natural enemy and the comment (Yes. It's a little known fact. That's why they must live poles apart.)

Keyworded and it's baby for the win with the comment spenser puts wishbone in her place, this is borgmama's third child (my eldest niece) and Wishbone, the stupidest dog ever. Old pic, as Spenser will be (oh. my. god.) five in September.

My nephew Xander, just about to turn 4, loves Star Wars and loves my Star Wars dolls -- Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul.

Qui-Gon gets relegated to a cheerleading role much of the time, offering advice and back-up to Obi-Wan before inevitably falling to his doom. Maul is generally thrust into my hands along with orders to "Fight me! Fight me!" as Xander whirls Obi-Wan around.

Sunday came the moment of truth -- the ultimate confrontation between Dark and Light. I was directed to hold Maul still as Xander brought Obi-Wan over. They perched on the arm of the couch and Xander started the conversation:

Obi-Wan: We need to talk.
Maul: ....
Obi-Wan: Qui-Gon is dead. We need to talk about it.
Maul: ....
Obi-Wan: You don't need to kill anybody else.
Maul: ....
Obi-Wan: You can be good now.
Maul: ....
Obi-Wan: Qui-Gon is dead. We don't need him.
Maul: ....
Auntie Vyola: ::is dead from giggles::