Rainbow Bread and its many forms...

My church holds an annual World Communion Day on the first Sunday of October. There is usually wheat bread (America's impoverished), tortillas (Mexico), baguette (France), naan (Indian), arepas (Colombia), Malaysian rice cakes, cookies (the world's children), corn bread (African-American), and lavash (Persian).  Even though my church is rather small, we have an ethnically diverse community, and each bread is presented by a church member that represents that community. Since I joined the church in 2007, I have been asked to prepare the rainbow bread to represent the LGBT individuals that are afraid to come out for fear of losing their family, jobs, and/or church. I think I may be asked yearly because the planner of the event knows where I stand on LGBT issues, but I can't help but wonder if anyone else would stand up...

Anyway, each year I have tried something different. The first year I painted dough balls with food coloring and got ridiculous results. The following year, my daughters and I tried painting the bread after it was cooked, which made it look even worse. Last year I made a cake in loaf pans, which looked really neat, but no one ate it (was it the food coloring or what it represented??).

This is what I did this year:

I started with white cake mix (after I removed the double box tops for the Big One's school).

Next, I divided the batter into six bowls and set the dye in order. The Big One loved mixing the colors!

Gel colors work best. You can get them at any Michael's or Joann's (with a 40% coupon it's only $5.00 for a set)

And put it in the oven...

Actually, it was while I snapped this awesome pic that I realized I missed a CRUCIAL step. Can you guess what I forgot?

Yep, who has two thumbs and forgot to flour the pan? This girl. Which led to...

wait for it...

wait for it...

THIS. I had to dig it out of the pan in chunks. I wondered if I could make it a political statement... but decided to just let it be.

So I got the chunks to church and the kids went crazy for it. My Short One went up with me to present it as rainbow bread, and it was like I was torturing the little girl. The old saying "like taking candy from a baby" is quite a fallacy.

Two year olds love sweets and it's nearly impossible to pry it from their chubby little hands.

Partial Empty Nest...

The Big One has flown the coop - for eleven days.  Summer vacation is halfway over for my eight-year-old and there hasn't been much to show for it.  My mom has rescued her from the tedious routine of doing nothing, or nearly nothing, and is whisking her off with her cousins up north to visit my grandmother in Bass Lake, CA.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous. I spent several summers up north and can honestly say they were the best summers of my life. It sounds cliche but it truly was a different time and I hope my kid looks back on her time there with as much fondness as I do.

The Short One is enjoying Mommy and Daddy's undivided attention and has only asked about Sissy twice (it's been just over 24 hours).  But overall, the house has been eerily quiet.  I got some MAJOR organizing done with the kids' toys and books.  Oh, come on.  All parents go through their kids' stuff and throw junk out when they're gone.  I honestly don't think the Big One will miss anything, since her main interests lately involve iCarly, vampire babysitters, and softball.

The hubs hasn't said anything about her trip today, but I think he'll be going through Big One withdrawals in the next day or so.  We'll have to see how he holds up.