Recently in Ellen Category

Seems like every year for the past few years, I've made Ellen a crazy birthday cake layered over this snowman mold we bought around 8 years ago. Going through my iPhoto, I was actually surprised to find that i've now made 8 varieties of snowman cakes. It's odd that the only vaguely artistic mediums i seem to work in are food related (Pumpkins and cakes...). Perhaps, knowing me, it's not that odd.

Anyway, in what I believe is chronological order, here are the past 8 years cakes, with small descriptors:

Orignal Frosty cake, for her 5th Birthday. Just followed the cake-pan instructions to frost this one:

First full body snowman:

Second full body snowman:

After this last one, I decided to try fondant, which is a soft, rollable sheet of frosting that can be molded much more than icing. It's like sweet play doh. The rest of the cakes are fondant cakes.:

At this point, I started getting bored with snowmen, per se, so I started putting personalities on the snowmen cake molds. This one is a knight from Ellen's game Runescape:

Next, we have a Harry Potter version of the snowman:

This one is Ang, from Avatar (the TV show, not the movie):

And, finally, this year I decided to hit up the video game world for Mario. I liked this one the best:

If I do another one next year, I think i'll have to make it hover or something...

Happy 12th Birthday, kiddo.

Ellen just told me that, for some reason, she brought up Schrödinger's cat in "math enrichment" class today. Her teacher, Miss Corrino, had never heard of it so Ellen, fairly accurately, explained the experiment, and the point of it.

So, my 11 year old is explaining quantum mechanics to her math teacher.

Perfect. She's so done there.

Imagine sitting in a theatre, watching your favorite movie again.

Now, imagine that theatre is Radio City Music Hall, and there are 6000 other people, all HUGE fans of that movie sitting around you, clapping and cheering.

Now imagine further that not only are you getting to watch your favorite movie at this incredible venue, but there's a full live orchestra and chorus performing the entire Oscar-winning soundtrack right there on the stage in front of the film as it's playing.

Further imagine that that movie is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and after the movie, and after the lead vocalist sings "May It Be", the Oscar-winning song done in the film by Anya, that Howard Shore (the composer of the soundtrack), Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Elijah Wood (Frodo) come out to wave to the audience and take a bow, as if the characters were just walking off the screen.

Lastly, but definitely not least, imagine that you get to do all of these wonderful things sitting next to your geeky, wonderful 11 year old daughter who is seeing this movie for the first time ever in this way, next to her dad, and absolutely loving every minute of it.

If you can imagine all that, you have a pretty clear idea of what my evening was like. Magical, wonderful, and full of imagination.

Sometimes, life just gives you lemonaide right off the bat.

This is the conversation I JUST had with Ellen remotely from my desktop to hers:

Me: are you there?
Ellen Meyerson: Yeah
Me: I thought I said no more computer...
Ellen Meyerson: The issue was sort of open ended because I had an argument that you didn't respond to in a clear way..
Me: about 20 mintues ago...
Me: oh, my. I said no more computer. that was clear enough. consider it clear enough for future, lawyer-girl.
Ellen Meyerson: But after that, I said it was not eight o'clock. But you responded in a sarcastic and joking manner
Me: and I said I didn't care.
Me: that you were done.
Me: when do I ever respond in any other way?
Ellen Meyerson: Occasionally.
Me: uh huh.
Me: Are you ready to get back to LOTR?
Ellen Meyerson: Yes......
Me: OK. are you ready for bed?
Ellen Meyerson: uh huh.
Me: ok, I'll be up in a minute and we can get a good read in.
Ellen Meyerson: A minute and a half.
Me: k

It's just going to get worse, I swear...

Ellen declared to my friend Kevin that her bedroom was "Where cool goes to die."

Greetings loyal readers! Been a long time since I posted, so I thought I'd share a fun day today.

Ellen and I got to go sit in a suite at Yankee Stadium (the "new" Yankee Stadium) for a great (if you're a Yankee fan) game against the Mets. Yanks crushed them, 15-0, and seriously needed a win, but that was just a small part of the day. Today was a true Daddy-Ellen day, and we just had a ball.

We arrived early (around 11) and wandered the Stadium, stopping first to get some Garlic Fries, which were seriously garlicky but good! We walked around the ground level, munching our fries, getting as far out as center field (and watching batting practice) before we realized that we were supposed to get to our seats to watch the paratroopers by noon (yes, I said paratroopers).

So, we hustled upstairs to our seats, nice, cushy, seats with a terrific view and watched as an Army plane circled overhead about 10 times before finally disgorging 6 separate paratroopers who spun in for landings in the middle of Yankee stadium. It was pretty amazing, honestly.

Shortly thereafter, we got up to check out the suite that came with the tickets, the Jim Beam Suite, which was a nice, glass enclosed, air conditioned room with a bar, lots of stand up tables, a made-to-order brick oven pizza place, and a food network kitchen serving some more exotic fare you'd get at a ball game. Today's special (which I didn't get to try) was chunks of smoky kielbasa dipped in fresh corn batter and fried crisp. Sounds good.

After the Suite, we perched back in our seats to watch a good, old-fashioned drubbing by the Yanks. Burnett had it; Santana did not, and the game was quickly out of hand, but much fun. Along the way, Ellen and I wandered downstairs to grab a big, crazy chocolate-caramel apple, which she got all over her face as we peered onto the field for a big, 7 run inning. It was great coming back from getting our apple repaired (the stick broke as we were eating it!) to a home run and seeing Ellen jumping up and down, absorbed in the game on her own. Warms a sports-fan-dad's heart, I can tell you.

After further wandering, we perched back in our squishy seats and Ellen wanted to stay for the entire game, even though the game finished 15-0. We listened to Sinatra warble New York, New York and drove off into the sunset.

Honestly, one of the best days I can remember. Thanks for a great time, El.

It's been awhile, but I had to relate these two Ellen stories. Remember, Ellen is 11 at the moment...

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Kim and I are in the kitchen last night. Ellen decided it was time to ask random questions, so here's our exchange:

E: Who is your worst enemy?
K: Time.
E: Ok, but can you give me a TANGIBLE worst enemy, please?

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Same night, at the dinner table. We're talking about failblog.org posts we find funny:

E: I like the ones where there is juxtaposition.
P: Uh...do you know what juxtaposition means?
E: It's where two things end up next to each other in a way they aren't normally.
P: That's close enough.

Ellen came to me before and said:

dad! I just remembered what amnesia is!

For this year's birthday snowman, I decided to do Aang from Avatar. This cake was done in fondant and funfetti underneath in the traditional snowman mold. I'm no pro, but I think it came out fairly good.

Happy Birthday, El!

Ellen told me about an hour ago that her assignment for today, an assignment that she was looking forward to, was to write a "dialogue between the lion and the sun," apparently subjects in a painting that they were shown in class. She went upstairs and 30 minutes later came up with this for me to print out:

Lion:
Sun, oh Sun, way up in the sky,
Why is it that you float up so high?
When I look at you all I can do is sigh,
So please, will you please tell me why?

Sun:
Lion, oh lion, so close to the ground,
Can you shine when I’m not around?
The reason I fly,
So close to the sky,
Is that I like to watch you bound around.

Lion:
Sun, oh sun, you do know your stuff,
But while we are bounding, do you sit around and snuff?
We feel the wind through our hair,
In the bright summer air,
About that, we don’t think you know enough.

Sun:
I know about that, Lion my friend,
And I know that on me, you do depend,
When you wake up in noon,
The end is near soon,
And good fortune to you, I will lend.

Lion:
Will you tell me about what is little known?
When dragons did fight for renown,
Those were the days
When trouble was way aways,
And we always slept safe and sound.

Sun:
That I can not honestly say,
But I know that trouble is on its way,
In light and in dark,
The bright is just but a spark,
And all bad guys are in its sway

Lion:
So tell me to where I should flee
And take my people to be free
When the time comes to go,
I hope that you know
I am very thankful of thee!

By Ellen Meyerson

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Honestly? No one told her to write it in verse. That's just ellen.