I've Won Them Over With Sugar

Last week we trekked out to Ashburn to watch Marc and Jenn's kids while they took David out to BYU. Yes, we have a nephew who is 18. Isn't that weird? I'm closer in age to David than I am to five of Sam's six siblings. In fact, Sam's oldest brother is closer in age to my parents than he is to me. So, I'm kind of a baby. Anyway, we've watched Marc and Jenn's kids several times, and I kind of love it because they're like dream children. They are helpful and kind, and they always play with Bria so it makes my job super easy.
We didn't do a whole lot because it's the tail end of summer, they were headed to the beach the next week, and it's kind of hard to find things to entertain three kids ages 7 to 15. We kind of just hung around doing nothing (and Amanda roped me into watching Real Housewives of New Jersey and DC) until the last day when we decided to make cupcakes.
I really wanted to take them to Georgetown Cupcake, but Ashburn is like five years away from DC, so it wasn't the best idea to haul the little kids (Bria and Colin) to Georgetown just for a cupcake.
Another benefit of watching Marc and Jenn's kids is they marvel at all the things I make from scratch. I was craving a quality cake and frosting, so we went with Ina's recipe, and it was scrumptious. Also? From-scratch cake batter is soooo worth the risk of salmonella. Seriously.

And then it was back to our regular routine this week. I did, like, 12 loads of laundry at Marc and Jenn's house (which saved me $36 from our coin-op machines in our building), and it's been a little sad to see how fast those empty baskets filled up this week. Plus Bria's been super bored (and therefore whiny) because I'm just not as entertaining as Colin, Myles, and Amanda. I think this means Bria needs some older siblings, which I'm pretty sure isn't possible at this point. Oh well, looks like she's still stuck with just me.