"Nailed It"

Netflix has a baking show called "nailed It'. Mary and Bryan watch it and told me about it. I thought it was silly and rather watch a real baking show. Turns out the twins love it.
They really wanted to try it and asked me and Sharen if we wanted to join them. I was so excited. First, I thought that both would want to be with Grandma and there would be some arguing. Nope - the twins wanted Older twins - me and Kendell against the younger twins - Sharen and Kallie.
Carrie, the twins Mother, picked out our theme.
The girls love unicorns so that part was a no brainer.
Mine and Sharen's first plan was to get the girls something to remember the day. I made them unicorn aprons and Sharen just had to make the golden baking hats - that's part of the show. A trip was taken to JoAnnes.

rockin the aprons and hats

We spent one day strategizing on color, flavor, size, decorations and shopping. Kendell and I headed first to Hobby Lobby while Sharen and Kallie hit up Wal-mart. We stayed in touch by texts so we don't run into each other. Our next stop was Meijer while they hit Hobby Lobby.
It was finally baking day.
We all decorated Sharen's dining room table for the judging.

Unicorn mobile

Kendell and I head down to my house. We had 5 hours to bake our cakes.
We decided on a 3 layer vanilla cake with buttercream frosting.
Kendell really wanted to use fondant so we tried that too.

playing with fondant

Kendell was so knowledgeable with just what she wanted and how to go about it. My only problem with her was curbing her enthusiasm. She wanted to do it all - at the same time.
She mixed the cakes and the frosting.

mixing frosting

Sharen had the same thing going in her kitchen only Kallie has just a little bit more patience and I heard did things in order.

mixing the cake

These girls were rocking this.This was my first time baking a cake from scratch and ours was way over baked. We knew it. We decided to concentrate on the frosting. I knew we would be better at that. I have made buttercream frosting for 40 years - Sharen not so much.


We colored our frosting the same as our layers in our cake and striped it into our bags.
Kendell had a great time using my cake decorating tips and did the whole cake.

practice make perfect

We also used some modeling chocolate and made some unicorns to put around the cake. The unicorns and the fondant stars never made the cake. we were running out of time and couldn't make them stick where we wanted them. I told Kendell my favorite phrase in decorating anything. "When in doubt, leave it out."


Time for judging.
We carefully get the cake in the car and head down to Sharens house.
Kallie was standing in the window waiting for us. She ran out of the house and into Kendell arms and they hugged. My eyes teared up. That right there is some twin love.


We were all so excited to see each others cakes.
Their cake was decorated so good. I thought we were in trouble.

Cake B - Young twins

Cake A - Older twins

We head downstairs so the judges could talk about our cakes. Kendell and Kallie did not stop talking and all Sharen and I did was look at each other and smile.


On upstairs for the tasting.

Our Rainbow cake

Their surprise cake

.
Final results:
Kendell and I win on Originality - just what we were hoping for with leaving some of our hard work off the cake.

Kallie and Sharen win for Creativity - They did go all out with decorating and the surprise chocolate balls in the center really took them over the top.

Now the taste test.
Just what we thought - TIE
I knew we would win the frosting, but I'm pretty sure their cake was better. I really have to take the judges say so on this I don't eat cake.


Thanks to our judges.
Carrie (Dave and Matthew were in St. Louis for a baseball tourney). uncle Mike, Grandpa Z and Grandma Vicki, Papa, and "The Cake Baker" Steve.

I had so much fun doing this.
I'm really not sure who this meant the most too. Carrie and I have always had a special connection and I am so glad that she wants me to be a part of her twins lives. I love that Sharen will share her grandma time with the girls, with me. Sharen and I will always have each other backs and do things together and I can see that for these twins too.
These girls are something else. I love to watch them together, their special language, their sharing, their bond. I sometimes wonder if that's what people saw in me and Sharen.


We are planning something for Christmas break, but don't be surprise if something comes up at Halloween.

Chicago for Lunch with Bryan

I have been downtown Chicago many times. Always with Mike taking care of travel arrangements. I mostly just tagged along.
He was busy on Bryan's birthday so Sharen offered to come with me to have lunch with Bryan. She has only been downtown twice. Once years ago when we were on the Oprah show and once a few years ago the four of us went down for Christmas. Her trips to Chicago was always to see a White Sox game.
We caught the train at Big Timber with plenty of time to buy our return tickets at Union station and make the walk to Bryan work.

Sharen watching for the train

We board the train and the conductors tells us they have a 2 day ticket special for lollapalooza $15.
That means we didn't have to stop and get our return ticket and could sightsee as we walked to Bryans work.
I was very surprised how wide the sidewalks were and so clean. My last walk was down the streets of NYC - no comparison.

My Son the birthday boy

Bryan with his Godmother outside his office

After lunch we decided to explore the city.
We stop at Daley Plaza for a farmers market. We were looking for something sweet after lunch. A lady was handing out sample cookies on the corner. Score...
We see some men who were talking into their lapels with ear pieces in. They were surrounding mayor Lightfoot as she walked down the street. She is really tiny. We decided to walk across the street and avoid the chaos that she could bring.
Next stop was the Pritzer Pavilion and the Lurie gardens.  We wanted to walk over to Maggie Daley Park but the bridge over was closed.
We had to stop for a picture at the bean. Doesn't everyone.

Selfie of our butts

We certainly were getting our steps in.
The next we see the lions at the Art Institute.

We were becoming the old ladies that people come up on and have to figure out how to walk around them. We didn't care - having fun.
Mike and I took all 3 of Stacy's kids downtown when they turned 13 and we would ride the EL around the loop. We would pass by the Harold Washington Library and I always wanted to go inside.

The entrance was inviting

Sharen was interested too, so we walked to it.
I was sooo disappointed. Not at all what I expected. Everything was bright and modern with escaladers and elevators, bright lights and all metals bookcases. No wood anywhere.
We did want to check out a veterans memorial on the 4th floor. That was pretty cool.

10,000 dog tags

The weather was perfect. There was a breeze off the lake and the sun was shining.
We just kept walking around making our way back to Unions Station and noticed that the lollapalooza crowd were forming.
Lots and lots of teenagers dressed like I'm pretty sure we could never get away with, streaming down the street to Grant park to have some fun and listen to some music.
Time to get outa town.
I'm so glad Sharen decided to go. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't or couldn't do it alone. I got to spend some time with Bryan and give him a hug on his birthday.
I also spent some quality time with my Twin.