Some Girl's Cakes

3 cakes, 1 week

2010-04-20T11:41:00.001-07:00

And a bunch of wedding sheet cakes this week.....

Mad Hatter cake. From the new movie. Oreo cake. Yum!

My niece's 4th birthday cake. As requested by her. Invented Peanut Butter Ganache for the filling. Double Yum! Can I just say that Ganache is one of my favorite words to say? It sounds awesome, and always means something delicious.

My nephew's Iron Man Mask Cake.

Change

2010-04-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

This announcement is for family/friends that are not in our ward or immediate family and therefore didn't get the email....

Paul was called to be 1st Counselor in our Bishopric today. My feelings are plentious and varied, to say the least. I'm not going to get into that, just wanted y'all to know.

Just pray the pre-teen tendencies my daughter likes to bring out in sacrament meeting don't cause me to carry her out kicking and screaming like a toddler some week. Other than that I am clinging to the faith that everything will work out.

Indoctrinated

2010-04-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

So I am a huge fan of Michael Buble. I got to go to his concert in SLC a few weeks ago. It was awesome. Paul is supposed to email me the photos we took on his phone. If he does, they'll be part of this post. If not....I'll post them later.

I have made fans out of two little boys as well. Zander was playing games on my IPod the other day and wanted to listen to music. So he went into the music and my playlist with songs from assorted artists was up. He kept skipping through the songs saying "I no like that one." Until he would get to a MB song, then he'd say "Michael Buble!" and listen for about 20 seconds (that's all the attention span he has) and then start the process over again. I'll have to teach him about Bon Jovi, Josh Groban and Gavin Degraw later I guess.

Then today I had to run to Michael's for some cake-ing stuff. Payton asked what store we were going to. We pulled into the parking lot and he asked if that was the 'Michael Buble' store. Uh, no. But I did wear my MB shirt there.....And I may have hummed a MB song there....

There he is! We were in the same room!

Okay, that's enough of that.
That is when he moved to a smaller stage and sang 'Home'. Just him and the guitar. Beautiful! He also sang Stardust on the way out there with Naturally 7.

The whole night was just amazing. Paul asked before it started which songs I wanted him to do....I told him it really didn't matter I like them all (well one exception - but isn't there always?) Two of the songs in the encore were probaby my faves of the night though. 'Feeling Good' (Not sure why but as much as I like that song, it was a thousand times better live.) And then I was just really impressed with 'Song For You' when he left the mike and sang the last of it without it. The crowd went silent and it was an awesome effect, for sure. I'm sure even the people in the back could still hear, he was that powerful.

This is Naturally 7. Just as their name implies, seven guys, all natural - no instruments. I hadn't really heard of them before, and I am not likely to buy their albums... even though they were spectacular and incredibly talented. More of an act you should see... I don't know that you could fully appreciate them just listening. Oh, and the guy who does their bass? - I'm pretty sure pure testosterone flows in his veins. How LOW can you go?

Two Hours in the Life of Me

2010-02-10T07:54:00.001-08:00

Alarm goes off at 6:30. Paul is long gone. I'm reluctant to get out of bed as last night we discovered that our furnace was not working. Too late for a repair person to come. So we borrowed space heaters and we slept fine, but the rest of the house is going to be cold. It takes 15 minutes, but I do get up. Bundle up and head to the kitchen with the space heater. I start some hot chocolate and mix up some buttermilk pancakes. 7am now. Get the kids up. Take their space heater downstairs so it'll be warm when my preschool kids come at 9:30. Start the pancakes. Get the kids up again. Kiara goes and gets dressed. Kegan goes and spends 10 minutes in the bathroom. Tell him to get dressed and take his bedding downstairs as his bed wetting alarm is broken AGAIN and I have to do a batch or more of laundry EVERY day. Fix Payton and Zander's pancakes and pour hot chocolate. Yell at Kiara and Kegan that if they don't hurry their food will be cold. Kegan finally goes and gets dressed. Kiara arrives and starts eating. Kegan comes. Takes a few bites and then goes back to the bathroom. After fixing Payton and Kegan seconds I wolf down a few pancakes. Now time to cattle prod Kiara and Kegan into making their lunches. They ask me to make them, I politely refuse, I have the kitchen to clean and preschool to get ready for. I realize that it's trash day and due to the furnace issues last night we forgot to do it then. I take the garbage out in my jammies and socks. Discover the can is in the backyard. The gate won't open from the outside. I go through the house to the backyard and open the gate and get the garbage out. Back inside. After hemmming and hawwing and many suggestions from me Kiara gets done with her lunch and I almost have the kitchen clean. And I put together little boxes with kisses in them for my Valentines to the preschoolers. Kegan has only got a pudding out for his lunch. I suggest getting a baggie of chips. He does. Then starts complaining that he doesn't feel good and he doesn't want to go to school (just part of the daily ritual). But he informs me he has diarrhea. I actually believe him and get him some Immodium. Coach him on how to swallow a pill. With helpful hints from Kiara (who still can't do this) he finally gets it done. Now it's 5 minutes to 8. Knowing it will take Kegan 15 minutes to find and put on his shoes I send him to that and I finish his lunch. Phone call. Paul needs me to find some pictures for a presentation he is giving to day. If I can find a moment. Ha! I'll have to MAKE a moment. While talking to him I am filling up water bottles and putting them in the fridge. As I close the fridge the sugar cookies for preschool fall off the fridge onto the floor. (Yes I swore - which I'm sorry about. It was unwarranted. Now if the tray had shattered, well then swearing would have been fine.) Say a terse goodbye to Paul. Most of the cookies landed on the plastic wrap so were fine. Not pretty anymore, but edible. Do 3-year-old's care anyway? It sugar, that's all that matters. Now Kegan begins his full-out 'I hate school, I'm not going, you can't make me.' I ignore him and tie his shoes. Tell him he's going to be late and to get his coat. "Where's my sweatshirt. I hate my coat. I'm looking for my sweatshirt." Me-it's still dirty. Kegan goes and looks for it anyway and can't find it. I hand him his coat. He hates that one. So I search for his other one. Finally they are out the door, and only 10 minutes later than usual. They'll make it. I finish setting stuff out for preschool and turn on cartoons for Payton and Zander. I discover that Kegan did not take his bedding downstairs after all. So I do it. Did I mention our furnace was out? So he had extra blankets. All of which are wet. I start laundry, making sure his sweatshirt is put through too. Although he'll just find something else to complain about tomorrow.... Now get Zander dressed. He has been wearing the same thing for about 36 hours because he didn't want to get dressed yesterday (Superman jammies are awesome!) and I chose not to fight that battle. Now time to find pictures for Paul. Done. Phew! Now time to vent on my blog for 30 minutes before the preschoolers come. Only so I am somewhat normal for them. And that was just the first two hours. I won't mention my extensive to do list for the rest of the day......

I love being a MOM! (and that is not sarcastic - well, only a little)

Slacker, but only at blogging

2010-02-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Man, I've been slacking here lately. Blame facebook, blame life being busy, blame my new IPod, but here I am. Briefly. Just to let you know I'm alive. And well, busy! As shown by the following pictures. Enjoy!

I know, not cake. But they were so pretty.....

Ahoy Matey!

2009-11-10T10:52:00.001-08:00

This is for a friend. My kids are getting tired of not being able to eat my cakes. Luckily I have no more cakes on my schedule. Time for a break! I need a good book to read or a sewing project. Or I could do my laundry.....hmmm. Any one wanna recommend a book?

Crazy Cake Month

2009-11-07T12:52:00.001-08:00

I have been doing tons of cakes lately. About 1 a week for the last few weeks, with one more next week. It's fun, but occasionally stressful. The most stress comes after they are done and waiting to be delivered/picked up. With 40 little fingers in the house, one almost always finds its way to the cake. I'm getting better about time management though. I usually get a huge head start and then finish early. Now I'm better at knowing how long something will take so it's done right before it needs to be. Leaving less time for mishaps.
This is from a long time ago, I don't think I ever posted it, but maybe I did. Kiara's birthday cake. She loves the show iCarly. It was going to be a lap top, but I couldn't figure out the top so it didn't happen.

Cookie Monster!!!!

I can't see!

Phew! That's better!

Completed cake. For a 1-year-old. The present was the smash cake for him to dig into. Fun, fun!

I also did a wedding cake, but I have no photos of it. It was 3 tier square covered in chocolate fondant. That was all I did. They had ribbon they put around it. Simple and elegant. Oh, and the cupcakes for our Halloween party. No pics of those either. I just frosted them in pinkish frosting and squiggled it to make it look like a brain. Kiara said they looked like small intestines. Whatever, that works too.

Puppy

2009-11-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

Yeah, after a year or so of begging and pleading from the kids, Paul and I gave in and we have a new puppy. We named her Peanut. She is a Shi Tzu/English Pointer mix. Paul has dubbed her a Shinter.

That's a treat, not poo. Although.....sigh new puppies, I don't need to say more.

We've had her a month or so now so she is bigger than in these photos, although without a point of reference it's hard to say how big she really is anyway.

Baby Quilts

2009-09-22T08:49:00.001-07:00

Baby quilts are my favorite kind to make. 1. You can do whatever you want, they don't have any preferences to consider. 2. They are always cute. 3. They are small so they only take from 3-10 days, depending on how complex and whether you do laundry and clean the house while you are working on it... ;)
This was for my friend in our ward having her 3rd little girl. I mostly used scraps I already had, so bonus!

And since it was the 3rd girl the older sisters needed some doll quilts to match so hopefully when those moments come when they want to be a little 'too' helpful they can be diverted to the dolls...

This was for my very best friend who is having a little boy after 2 girls. Ever since I heard it would be a boy I've had the idea floating in my head that I wanted to do a quilt based on the poem What Are Little Boys Made Of? This is what I came up with. It was so fun to make because I got to do lots of different quilting methods. Regular piecing, paper piecing, applique, and embroidery, then I machine quilted it. I love the way it turned out. I had a small mishap when my embroidery machine gummed up on the last line of the poem, but luckily it resulted in only a small tear that I was able to patch. No way did I want to start over, it took FOREVER to get it all centered and stitched!

A close up of the cute doggies on both of the quilts. I love the little 3D feet that hang off. Fun fun!

This was for friends from law school having their first baby. Josh, the dad, and some other friends threw us a baby shower when we were expecting Kegan, even though we'd only known them a month or so. And they even got presents for Kiara, which is incredibly thoughtful. So I knew I wanted to make something special for them when we heard they were expecting.

Missionary Cake

2009-09-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

I got to make this cake for a friend in our ward. Her son's birthday was the same day as his farewell, so if you look close, Happy Birthday is written on one of the stripes of the tie. This combined my clothing making skills with my cake making skills since I had to figure out how to make the collars 3D.

I'm DANCING!!!

2009-08-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

You might say I'm doing the potty dance. No I don't have to go.... I certainly wouldn't be blogging about that. TMI!!! And although this borders on the TMI, oh well! ZANDER IS POTTY TRAINED!!!! Well, I'm slightly premature in saying he is trained, but we've had an accident free day. DOWN WITH DIAPERS!!!!! Started on Tuesday, mostly for Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Thursday it was me just taking him every so often and making him RUN to the bathroom when he starts to go (he's been minus pants, plus underwear all week). But Thursday afternoon and all day today he's told me when he needs to go. HURRAY!!! Won't you all join me in a celebratory dance?!!!

Sewing For My Girl(s)

2009-08-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

My niece is in town and I decided to make her and Kiara some matching outfits, just for fun. We had a photo shoot when I was done. So fun!

Playing around with Picasa 3 (free photo editing program)

They are almost 'twin cousins.' Only 12 days apart!

This is a dress I made for Kiara - just because...my friend wanted to see it, so here it is.

Boys Room

2009-07-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

I think many moons ago I mentioned I was working on a big project. Well, as often happens with big projects....I lost steam. I got one quilt finished and the other three quilt tops sat on my sewing table waiting for me to get a Round Tuit. Well, I decided to give myself some rules. I have a few friends having babies soon that I want to make stuff for. I am also into some good books (culinary mysteries - right up my alley!) and have been spending every free moment reading them... So I told myself no more trips to the library until all three quilts are done. Also, no new baby projects until they are done. Sooooooo. The last three days have been spent at my sewing machine, and here they are!!!!

guest/stuffed animal bed

Payton's bed

Kegan's bed

Zander's bed

And the color coordinated closet.

We built this into the room and boy is it great! It's been done for several months and the organization is working out wonderfully. I did have to straighten the shoes for the picture, but generally, it stays this neat. I still want to do some pillow shams for each bed and I'd like some curtains instead of the ugly blinds....but all in good time. See what happens when you give yourself the proper motivation?

Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

2009-07-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

My niece had a Wizard of Oz birthday party. So here is her cake! Complete with rainbow, ruby slippers, yellow brick road, shrivled up witches legs, poppies and lollipops. Oh, and I had a moment of genius when I was picking up the foam core board for the cake plate. What if I glued scrapbook paper on it to make it prettier? And lo and behold, they had some that was blue gingham! (The pattern on Dorothy's dress). Too perfect!

Some darling child stuck his fingers in it before I got a picture. GRRRRR!!!! Considering it takes much yelling and shooing away of my kids to keep cakes perfect before delivery, I was very frustrated when some other kid got to it. But it still looked great and tasted great, so all was well in the end.

Awwww! and AHHHHH!!!!!

2009-07-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Awwww! moment:

So a few weeks ago the kids and I were at the dentist getting our biannual teeth cleaning. Kiara came out in tears. "I have two cavities mom! I knew I should have brushed my teeth when you told me to instead of playing around." I wisely refrained from the I told you so and just comforted her. Well today was the day for the fillings. She has been worrying about this ever since. Payton also had some cavities, but he could care less. So on the way to the dentist this morning Kiara (who was quite pale) asked me to turn off the radio. "Why?" I asked. Well, she wanted to say a prayer! What a sweet girl! She went back quite calmly and did wonderfully. She was only slightly shaky when she came out declaring that it was only like a small pinch and she shouldn't have worried about it!

AHHHHHH!!!! moment:

At the dentist I decided to read a parenting magazine after I read the newspaper and caught up on all the Lincoln County shootings and accidents (my home town dominated headlines today). Well, one article caught my eye. It was about talking to your kids about puberty. I skimmed the article thinking "glad this is not eminant in our house yet, but it'll be good to see what it says." Well, it gave an age range of when different things start happening. Ages 9-15. "Hmmm." I thought. "Nine seems a bit early, but ok, whatever." It wasn't until in the car on the way home when Kiara reminded me that we need to plan her birthday party that it hit me. You see, this would be her NINTH birthday. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

When is it time?

2009-07-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Parenting is full of questions. When is it time to __________? is a common one. One I am once again contemplating is "When is it time to end naptime?" For every child it has happened at a different age, but I do have an answer that is universal.... When it takes more than 5 minutes to clean up the mess they made in their room while they were supposed to be sleeping....

For example. If they empty all their drawers and sort their clothes into piles by color, that's a quick clean up. If they convert their bed to a slide (move the mattress half off.) That is a fairly quick clean up. If they found a crayon and very artistically decorated the walls/dresser, that a quick clean up, (if you have a magic eraser, and they are magic). If they line up 100 or so diapers into a train, that's a quick clean up. With these examples you must continue to insist on nap time. For everyone's sanity!!!!

However, anything requiring you to get out your carpet steam cleaner and clean the ENTIRE carpet (a spot clean would be different). Well, perhaps nap time is no longer worth the battle.....

Anniversary Trip

2009-07-22T13:58:00.001-07:00

So for our tenth anniversary this year we took a trip. Paul got to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland) bike race. Well, bike ride, I guess for him. I sat in the motel with a stack of books to read and movies to watch on cable. I mostly read. I met him at the finish line. Then the next day we played around Portland. We ate at a really good restaurant called Papa Haydn's. It was yummy. When you walk in they ask if you are there for dinner or dessert. Heh. ;)(I researched it before hand.) We had both. Dinner was good. The menu is one page - double sided - just paper. The DESSERT menu is leather bound and two pages, with an extra page of seasonal specials. Oh HEAVEN!!! Paul got a fallen chocolate soufle and I got something I can't remember the name of, but it was 3 or 4 layers of meringue that had whipped cream and assorted berries in the layers and it was all drizzled with chocolate. I will be trying to replicate that sometime for sure!

100 miles into the ride.

175 mile into the ride

Just before the finish line - 200 miles

THE END of the ride!

The last day before driving home we drove out to the coast in Newport and went to the Aquarium there. It was quite large and they had tons of sea life. I got to pet a shark, sting ray, star fish, anenome and some other stuff. Paul did touch one thing, but it took some coaxing. And reasurring that they had hand sanitzer available. Heh. We then drove up the coast to Tillamook and saw them make (well, package really) cheese. And sample the cheese, fudge and ice cream. I have always love Tillamook ice cream, but WOW it was so much better there. I don't know if its a different recipe or if it was just fresh, but YUMMMM! I got the Caramel Butter Pecan, if you're interested...

Kegan loves all sea life due to Grandpa Thueson and of course Sponge Bob. So we took tons of pictures for him. We had to include the Jellyfish thanks to Sponge Bob...One kid asked his mom is he could bounce on the tops....thanks Finding Nemo!

the shark and sting ray tank

That's pretty much it, but we had a great time and it was good to come home to the kids. They had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kilie and Uncle Brad and clan. Thanks for all their help!

Arrington Reunion at Bear Lake

2009-07-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

We had an extended family reunion at Bear Lake with Paul's family. There were about 60 people and we only missed 1 husband who had to work and 1 mother and newborn baby. We had a ton of fun catching up and playing on the beach. Everyday was a different holiday. We had Halloween and Thanksgiving (complete with the tradition meal) and Christmas. (We had Paul's BBQ pork instead of another turkey/ham dinner.) We made a Christmas video of a Christmas story from one of Paul's ancestors which I had a role in...not my favorite thing being in front of the camera....I much prefer being behind it!

Normally pictures of me do not end up on my blog, but today is an exception I guess....
Bear Lake is famous for its raspberries....which happen to be my favorite berry...so we snuck off one night to get famous raspberry shakes. They were delicious. There were two fast food places across the street from each other. One had Famous Raspberry Shakes and the other had "Famous" Raspberry shakes. We had the Famous ones and some other cousins got the "Famous" ones. The ones with quotation marks were MUCH better. Weird.

We stayed at a HUGE lodge with 15 bedrooms. We got two of them, one with a king size bed and one with two bunk beds. The bunk beds were very tall, I had to stand on my tip toes and raise my arms to get this picture. Sleeping was rare on this trip.

A Halloween pinata instead of trick or treating....

Beach time!

Sleep time!

I wish I had a picture of everyone, but they haven't been sent out yet, so I'll have to share later.

Zander's B-Day

2009-07-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I catch up on blogging. So a month + ago was Zander's 2nd birthday. His favorite things at the time were trucks so that is what he got for his cake. A Truck! He was so excited for his " 'ruck cake."

A fun time was had by all.

Couple of Cakes

2009-05-30T12:00:00.001-07:00

Urgh! Does anyone else hate how blogger puts your pictures on backwards??? Oh well.. First is the R2D2 cake I did today... Pretty cool, but compared to my inspiration done by a pro, well, not as great....

This was a super hero cake for my nephew's third birthday. I love those boys!

Both cakes featured my favorite cookies and cream buttercream frosting covered in fondant. Cute and delicious, which is my goal with every cake!

Cute Cakes

2009-04-22T09:54:00.001-07:00

These are the cakes for my niece's birthday. They were inspired by some cup cakes I saw on Cake Central. (Love that website!) I did three mini cakes instead of cup cakes though. They were super fun to make and pretty easy too. I haven't done fondant for a while. But I found a great new recipe on Cake Central that tastes fantastic!!!! My niece wanted a strawberry cake. I obliged and did a Classic Strawberry Buttercream to go with it. I tinted half the cake batter purple, and swirled it with the pink batter. The cake was pretty inside too!

Hair and Vaseline Don't Mix

2009-04-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Where to start.....Sometime in the last month or so Zander has changed from a kid that would run excitedly to the tub when bath time was mentioned to one who screams in fear and runs away...He also screams bloody murder when having his hair rinsed. I have no idea what happened to cause this change, but I've tried to be extra gentle and reassuring. Until yesterday. My fury at the Vaseline incident may have scarred him for life....

He found a container of Vaseline that I haven't seen or used since he was an infant. And washed my couch cushions with it. And smeared great globs of it in his hair and on his clothes. The clothes are in the trash. So is most of his hair. The cushions have been scrubbed, dried and then turned over. (Thankfully it was the old ugly couch.) Turns out shampoo will not wash the stuff out. The first two photos were taken after scraping as much stuff off as I could and then shampooing twice. I then tried dish soap, thinking, "Hey, this stuff removes baked on grease, it should work on Vaseline." Nope. Tried twice. No improvement. I decided the hair would have to go. So I combed it all up and took the clippers to it. Too greasy. I chopped it mostly off with scissors then went to the tub for more washings. Finally I got it out, but I had to use some Goop Off stuff we had to get paint off the wood floors....(Don't worry, I read the label, and it was safe, I just had to avoid his eyes-which I begrudgedly did.) Then I used the clippers to even the hair out, and then it was back into the tub for one last rinsing. Poor kid, but he got what he deserved!!!! Then I had to scrub the tub of the hair ring caused by the Vaseline now in the water.....sigh.

Love Payton's face in this....although he didn't get the stuff on his clothes or hair, he did help smear the couch and I suspect he opened the jar for Zander.

The new look. Little booger has no right to look so cute!

Easter

2009-04-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

Why is it always a surprise what order the pictures come up? This was supposed to be last....but I haven't the inclination to fix it.

No, they aren't real...but they do look pretty good. Good as in realistic. Not good as in I like that sort of thing. He got the sleeves free with a Guitar Hero game.

Easter time. We took advantage of a nice day and dyed eggs outside.

Zander and his egg. He wouldn't let it go.

Pre Easter Egg Hunt. We have an annual one for all the cousins. This year it coincided with my niece's birthday, so we combined it with her birthday party.

Post Hunt, complete with a bunny face. He didn't want to wash it off so he could go to church like that the next day, but I insisted......

Payton and Prayers

2009-04-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Prayer time has become a routine in our family. One of two things happens.

1. Paul: Mom/Kiara/Kegan/I will say prayers tonight.
Payton: NOOOOO!!!! ME say prayers! MY turn!

OR

2. Paul: Payton, its your turn, say prayers please.
Payton: NOOOOO!!!! I say it LAST time.

Seriously those are your only options.... We just can't win.

Hailstorm and other things.

2009-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had a cool and quick hailstorm just now. The hail stones were between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Zander watched it with me and thought the "balls" were cool. He refused to go outside to look though, even after it was done. Don't blame him, it was very loud for a bit.
It only lasted about one minute. Pretty good coverage for that amount of time, I think.

Zander is officially into the mess making stage. He can open doors, lift toilet seats and climb like there's no tomorrow. Nothing is safe.
Especially when an older brother opens a lotion jar. Not my cheapo lotions mind you. They chose the jar of my expensive stuff. And moisturized my wall. One of my freshly painted walls.... And the piano. Always, ALWAYS choose the scrubable paint!

This was from Kiara's clogging competition in Pocatello. They did great! One team dance got a 1st place and the other a 2nd. Kiara got all 1st places on her five solos. So she has qualified for Nationals in May at Lagoon. Yay!

Her team earned a trophy! The other kids had left already, so these three accepted the trophy. They were super stoked!!!!

They weren't too thrilled with the spider that had taken up residence in their trophy though.....

There's Toothpaste On My Ceiling...

2009-03-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

There's toothpaste on my counter,
and in the sink,
and on the bathroom floor.
With four rugrats in the house,
it's not hard to see why.
But....
There's toothpaste on the couch,
and on the chair,
and on the front door.
This too can be explained.
for when the doorbell tolls,
four rugrats race to answer,
toothbrushes in hand.
BUT....
There's toothpaste on my ceiling,
and this remains a mystery.

Happenings

2009-02-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a Dora cake I got to do last week. It was fun and the little girl loved it. Payton wants a Diego cake for his "Happy Birthday Day" now. It's only 5.5 months away.....

It is Clogging Competition Season again. Kiara did very well. She got two 1st places for her team dances and five 2nd places for her solos.

This is from her Freestyle Solo. They have to dance all by themselves. Scary. But she was a pro! Just got to get her more confident so she will smile.

All around solos. They are judged individually, but 4 dance at the same time.

One of her team dances.

Zander in his new big boy bed.

Cakes

2009-02-08T12:31:00.001-08:00

Well, its the second week of the second month and I am finally doing my first post of this year. I have good intentions of posting more often, and I have good excuses why I haven't, but I'll spare you.....soon enough my projects will be finished and I'll share, and then you'll know what I've been doing with all my time!

I have done several cakes in the last little bit. Paul and I had our annual cake night where I make us each a cake for our birthdays (they are 5 days apart) and then have a bunch of people over to eat them with us. I forgot to take pictures though. I didn't do any fancy decorating this year, just made them extra yummy and let them speak for themselves.....Paul had yellow cake with browned butter frosting filling and milk chocolate butter cream. I had a pumpkin cake with cranberry butter cream filling and cream cheese icing.....I searched every store for fresh or frozen cranberries and Paul even checked some stores in Boise, but they couldn't be found. So I used some canned cranberry sauce and it tasted just fine, but fresh would have been much better. I have to remember to buy some next Christmas season and freeze my own.

I also got to do the piano cake below. It was fun. Unfortunately Zander put his finger in the cake and broke one of the keys and Payton pulled off a black key. All of this AFTER I let them eat the extras....Sigh, caking with kids around is always an adventure... I was able to reasonably repair it though.... It has my favorite yummy milk chocolate butter cream. I have been having problems with it; if it gets even a little cold it gets too firm and not all silky like it starts out. So I've fiddled a bit with the original recipe and now it is perfect. Tastes just as great, and I didn't have the temperature problem this time.....Yay!!!

Serious Slacker

2008-12-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

I have been seriously slacking on the blog thing. But in my defense, Santa's Workshop was going non-stop. I don't have photos of all I made, but I'll give a list. It is quite extensive!

10 pairs pajamas
4 girls dresses
1 hand sculpted doll (not ever doing that again it turned out fine, but I found gorgeous 18 in dolls at Michaels that I much prefer making clothes for.)
11 doll outfits (mostly using up my scraps, which take up a large shelf in my hall closet)
1 car city
12 cuddle wraps (blankets with legs that you can use in the car seat. I got fleece on a great sale and made a bunch to have baby gifts on hand)
1 party dress (which I didn't get to wear to Paul's annual work party, the snow got it canceled. I did wear it to church.)
1 nativity table runner

I think that is it, but phew! that's enough!
I also hemmed a few pairs of pants. Made around 60 chocolate covered oreos, about 40 kisses filled with hazelnut fudge and a huge batch of penuche. Oh, and 30 graham cracker houses for Kiara's class to decorate at her Christmas party. This stuff I worked on until about a week before Christmas and then I spent that whole week cleaning up the house as it was seriously neglected. But we are all back to our normal routine, except now I have some serious playing to do. (see next post!)

I'm in love! I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!

2008-12-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

The object of my affection?

Yep, that's Paul in all his glory....Cute huh!?

The reason for a public announcement of my affection??????

Sew pretty!

Finally, after nearly 10 years of marriage, he got me a new sewing machine!!!! Which is also an embroidery machine! Now the story.....When Paul graduated from BSU (6-ish years ago) we got him a BBQ grill. The deal was that when he graduated from Law School, I would get the graduation present in the form of a new sewing machine. Well, that just didn't happen. We were too poor and I wanted a really good machine. And we didn't have a job yet and baby #3 was going to arrive soon. So technically I've really only been waiting 3.5 years. Paul asked me for a list of things I wanted for Christmas this year, which he never does; he is really good at figuring out great gifts without a list. So I jokingly put my dream sewing machine on the list. Never did I really think he would get it, but he did!!!! I was pretty excited to see it sitting out Christmas morning. But the first time I used it, (I know everyone is now going to know just how nerdy I am, but oh well!) I was almost in tears! I was and am so excited and it is so fun! Oh the fun I will have. Oh the things I will create! In fact I already have created! Payton has been waking up multiple times in the night because he is cold. His fleece blanket that he uses was just too small for him now. So I went and got some fleece to make him one like Kiara and Kegan's. But of course I had to embroider on it! And I figured while I was at it, Zander should get one too. I am also working on our stockings that I made last year. I am re-doing the tops of them so our names are embroidered and not just drawn with a fabric marker. I'll post pictures when I am done with them. I also have plans to do new quilts for the boys room as Zander will soon need to move from his crib. I've had those quilts designed for a while, but now I may have to add embroidery!

And finally I did get a cake in! My cousin adopted his wife's oldest girl and they were sealed last week. Well, it was also the younger sister's birthday that day, so they asked me to make her a cake. So of course I did! The only guidance I had was she wanted chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, so that's what she got! She was pretty excited, I was glad to help make that day special for her too!

Three Blue Stitches

2008-11-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Envelope contains a lock of hair that had to be cut to do the stitches, luckily no shaving had to be done!

Pretty blue stitches. (So they can see them to remove them later.)

Well, we've had a fun afternoon. As we suspected all along, Payton is the first in our family to get stitches! He was walking from chair to chair (our tall kitchen chairs.) I told him to stop, which of course he didn't, and then he slipped and fell, cracking open the back of his head. It bled pretty good, but I was able to get it stopped pretty quickly. But it started to ooze a bit later, and when I inspected it closer, well, it wasn't closing up. I called our Dr. and asked if they do stitches in the office, hoping to avoid a long wait in the ER. Luckily they did and they squeezed him in right after their lunch break. And she took one quick look at it and confirmed that he did need stitches. I have no doubt that if he didn't she would have sent us away; she is a very no nonsense doctor, my favorite kind! Poor Payton though, they had a papoose type thing they strapped him down to. He didn't mind too much and thought it was fun until they poked him with the numbing stuff. He pretty much cried the rest of the time. Until our doctor started singing to him. They were talking about how he was a blue M&M for Halloween, so she changed the "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weenie" song to "I wish I were a blue M&M." Then he stopped crying and even talked to her a bit. Overall, he was pretty brave. Not sure how he'll react when we take him to get them removed......

Halloween and Kegan's B-day!

2008-11-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

So I finally have the pictures from our Halloween Party and Kegan's birthday downloaded and have a few minutes so here they are, just a little late....

Okay, the story with Kegan's cake. Sigh. I had the best of intentions....He has been saying for months that he wants a Wall-E cake. So the week before his birthday I asked him at dinner what kind of cake he wanted. He hemmed and hawwed. So Paul decided to help out. If you read the following conversation you will see the power Paul has over him...

Paul: Hey, how about a cheesecake.
Kegan: Yeah! I love cheesecake.
Paul seeing me cringe: Or what about those lava cakes mom made once. Those would be super yummy.
Kegan: Oh, yeah, that's what I want for my birthday. Wait, what are those again?
Paul: Little chocolate cakes that when you cut them chocolate lava oozes out.
Kegan: Oh, those were so cool. Mom lets do that.
Me aside to Paul: I don't want to make cheesecake or lava cake. He wants a Wall-E cake and I don't think I can do that on a cheesecake and definately not on lava cakes.
Paul: Hey, didn't you want a Wall-E cake? Mom can't do Wall-E on lava cakes.
Kegan: Oh, yes, I want Wall-E. So lets do a Wall-E cake.
Paul: See, you just have to guide him a little.

Conversation dropped. I still didn't know what flavor of cake to make, but at least Paul had managed to change his mind over and over....Then I remembered that I had been reading about Frozen Buttercream Transfers on Cake Central. I thought that if I made a cheesecake I could do one of those with Wall-E in cream cheese icing, and everyone would be happy. So that's what I did. The basic explination of Buttercream transfers are you get a picture and flip it so it is backwards. You put some wax paper over it and trace it and fill it in. Then you freeze the icing picture and flip it over onto the cake, peel off the wax paper, and presto! You have a very detailed picture that is perfectly smooth. Well, apparently this does NOT work with cream cheese icing. I froze it for several hours and it was still gooey. I called Paul and had him buy some dry ice thinking that I could get it to freeze that way. Well, it kind of worked, but I still was unable to peel off the wax paper. So the above pictures still have the paper on them. Its what his cake would have looked like....Instead I took it all off and drizzled it with caramel sauce. Very yummy. Just not Wall-E.

These are the Superman cookies Kegan took for his birthday treats at school. The cutter came from a Valentine's set and is supposed to be a diamond. The kind that goes in a ring. Well one day the kids were playing play dough and were making Superman things with it, and it has NEVER been used as a diamond since. I cut out Marshmallow fondant with the same cutter to go on the cookies and then used cream cheese icing for the red border and S. They were quite yummy, if I do say so myself.

Here is our family as M&M's. We were the hit of the party. Of course Paul was only there for about the last 30 minutes. He was working in Boise that day. So I had all four kids at the ward party by myself. It wasn't too terrible, I just let Kiara and Kegan fend for themselves and I held a very cranky Zander and followed Payton around playing the games. I found out about 20 minutes before Paul got there why Zander was cranky. He had a massive diaper explosion. Diarhea that would not be contained. And of course I didn't bring the diaper bag. So thankfully I had Paul stop at home and grab a diaper so we could change him before the trick or treating. Well, I forgot to request new pants as well, so he has bare legs in this picture. But all's well that ends well!

These are from Halloween night. The wig didn't last, he only wanted it because Paul and Kiara were each wearing one. We didn't get pictures of Kiara and Kegan for some reason, but they were wearing their old costumes, because the M&M's were "too embarassing"-Kiara, and "I look dumb in it" - Kegan. Man they grow up and turn opinionated so quickly!

Cupcakes and Stubborn Ear Infection

2008-10-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here are the cupcakes I made for our ward Harvest Party Cakewalk. I got the idea from Foodnetwork.com. The frosting is a super yummy peanut butter cream cheese. Pretty good for a powdered sugar icing!

Well, Zander is on his third round of antibiotics for one ear infection. He wasn't even sick or pulling on his ears that I noticed. The only thing was he didn't have a large appetite. So at his 15 month check up they discovered his ear drums were red and not moving at all (they are supposed to flutter like leaves in the wind). So he got a prescription and we went back three weeks later and there was no change. He got a different antibiotic and we went back today (another three weeks later). Well, they are still red and they are moving, but not much. So we have one more try with antibiotics and a decongestant to get them cleared up, otherwise he is going to need tubes to get them drained. If we don't get him better it could lead to permanent hearing loss, and we all know we can't have that! Little toddlers don't listen at all and if he couldn't hear; well, that would be disastrous! But we also really don't want to do tubes, so pray the antibiotic works this time!

Halloween Preview

2008-10-14T15:23:00.001-07:00

Fall is here and that means cold weather, corn mazes and costume time! I got out the Halloween box and the kids have been dressing up all day today. We went to the CSI corn maze last night with Bryan and Emily and their girls for FHE. It was really fun and we were actually lost for a little while! It was quite a chore to find hats and mittens and coats for everyone! I also started on our family Halloween costumes today. I am really excited about this.....Our ward has a Harvest Party every year and this year we are doing a family theme for our costumes. Below is a preview. Can you guess what we are going to be?

Kiara
Kegan
Payton
Zander

Still to come....Paul's and mine!

School's Out!

2008-10-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

School was out this Thursday and Friday for State Inservice. So Tresh brought her kids to play for the day! It was really fun having them here. After we played for a while we went out to Mom and Dad's and the kids picked their pumpkins from the garden. That has been a tradition for the last few years and the kids love it! I took a few pictures of the kids and thought I'd share.

She is such a sweetie
Jumping around!
Getting another perspective on life....
My little climber - he'll climb ANYTHING!!!
I think these two kept climbing the fence for two reasons....One, to hide from the "boys," and then two, to eat the little plums in these trees!

$200!!!!!

2008-09-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's the official word. Now if only people would pay that in real life......

Auction Cake

2008-09-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

You know, it rare when a cake actually turns out the way I picture it in my brain. But it has happened. This cake is for a friends church that is having a dessert auction. As soon as she asked me to donate a cake, this is what instantly popped into my head. My friend Amelia (Cake Expectation on my blog list) had reminded me of my oreo version of Italian Meringue, so I knew I wanted to do that again. And she did a gorgeous polka dot chocolate wrap on one of her cakes that I wanted to try. I also wanted a taller cake piled with striped chocolate curls. Mission accomplished! The chocolate wrap is not perfect. It wasn't quite hard enough when I pulled off the clear vinyl (I am sooo impatient!) so its not as smooth as it should be, but otherwise it is what I saw in my brain!
I am excited to see how much it goes for. I've been told the desserts go for $30 to $800. I just hope it isn't the lowest one! I'll update when I find out.

Busy Family Life

2008-09-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well, nothing is new here, we're just busy, busy, busy! I am starting Christmas projects. Early I know, but I have the tendency to over-do it, so I have to start now! For one project I got to play with decorative thread on my serger. I was nervous that I'd mess it up, but it went really well and looks great. I'd post a picture, but the recipient reads my blog, so I guess I better not. I also get to do a cake for an auction this week, so look for pictures of that coming up.

Oh, I do have a new niece today, little Emersyn (Emery for short). I watched her older brothers today and let me tell you, 5 boys five and under (4 are 3 and under) can make a mess! My house looks like a tornado ran through it! But its all good, they had fun together and thats all that matters. So I must go tidy up. In two days I am watching my neighbor's boys so she can have her baby! Its better if they have a "clean slate" to mess up, more fun for them that way! Right!? That and I don't want to step on train tracks and blocks all day.

Two Cakes

2008-09-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the wedding cake to go with the roses...... It is white chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. The frosting was sooooo good! It tastes like cheese cake! I have made it a few times before, but have never added the optional lemon oil. Well I did this time, and wow, it made a great frosting spectacular! This cake has about 70 roses....I don't really like making roses, but it was fun doing a two tone rose and they turned out pretty good.
This next cake was for a good friend's 30th birthday. She is our choir director and we always have treats after choir, so I took this to surprise her. She and I are the same age, I turn the big 3-0 in January. She has been saying we should throw a party...but I don't really like parties in my honor.... So I thought it would be more fun to let everyone in choir know her age...ha ha!
Any way, it was chocolate cake with peanut butter Italian meringue filling and milk chocolate butter cream frosting. I must say that the milk chocolate frosting is pure heaven! Or pure evil, however you look at it.... It is so soft and silky and the fragrance.....oh man, it makes the whole house smell like chocolate....Only make this if you are planning on sharing, it is way to much temptation to have laying around the house!

I am going to share the recipe...It is found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible.....

16 oz milk chocolate, broken in small pieces
8 oz dark chocolate, broken in small pieces (I actually use chips of both chocolates, easier that way)
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, or very slowly in the microwave. Let cool until about room temperature. (I had to get a new microwave because a certain toddler cooked a piece of bread in mine...for 15 or so minutes....nice fire; it was rather exciting.... but anyway, it has a melt button and a soften button, it melts chocolate perfectly and even softens butter and cream cheese beautifully. Which is great since I am horrible at planning ahead and taking butter out of the fridge....) Beat the butter until creamy in mixer. Slowly add the melted chocolate until incorporated. Best if used immediately. You don't really want to refrigerate this one, it is kind of temperature sensitive......it hardens quickly in the fridge and then takes forever to soften again. Also, don't leave it the hot sun, it will melt!

Pretty roses

2008-09-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a preview of the wedding cake I'm working on. Well, of the roses that are going on it anyway.

Catching up

2008-09-03T08:08:00.001-07:00

I figured it was about time to catch up. We've been busy! We had the Twin Falls Temple Dedication, I made a baby quilt, hemmed five pairs of pants, Kiara and Kegan started school, Kiara danced at the fair, Kegan started soccer (which Paul is helping coach), hmmmm, what else. Oh, Zander is walking, and is finally getting his molars, Payton turned three, and turned into a little monster. (My kids have never done the "terrible twos," they always wait until they are three. Either they are slower than normal or the experts have it wrong!) Oh my goodness, the mischief that kid can get into! Nothing is safe! The fits he can throw! Okay, that's the quick version, below are more detailed stories!This is Kiara watching President Monson at the Cornerstone Ceremony. (She is the one leaning on the girl in the blue dress.) Her Grandma Arrington sang in the Cornerstone Choir, so she got to go with Grandpa Arrington to watch. It was an amazing weekend with the Prophet in town. I did not get to meet him, or see him, but I loved watching him on the video feeds to the Stake Center. I got a real sense of his love and the Savior's love of EVERY individual. I watched as he started to leave (the cultural celebration and some video from my cousin who did get to see him) and then would come back to talk to someone else, hug, or high five another child. He did it again and again. Some friends got to be in the temple one of the sessions with their older kids. He passed them and then stopped and came back to talk and shake hands. I just kept thinking of Christ in the Book of Mormon calling all the children to gather around him. I have always known and felt of Christ's love for us, but watching President Monson and knowing he is God's servant made that love all the more tangible. And then the actual Dedicatory Prayer. President Eyring said it in the session I attended. It was so beautiful and powerful. We are so blessed to have the House of the Lord five minutes away! A place to leave the chaos of the world behind and just be at peace for a few hours.

Speaking of chaos, here's ours!

This is the quilt I made for my niece Emery that will be arriving later this month. I love making girly things. And I love, love, love pink and green together.
Kegan on his first day of Kindergarten. He was a little nervous, but really did just great. There are two Kindergarten teachers, and despite knowing about 10 others going to K this year, NONE are in his class. Most are in the afternoon like he is though, so he sees them at recess. But he tells me a sob story every day that no one will be his friend and play with him. I think he is a little lonely, but kids ARE playing with him, because Kiara sees them!
Playing with toys the first day, while waiting for the bell to ring.
Okay so there is some commercial that showed a girl with outfits laying all over her bed, trying to decide what to wear on the first day. Well, Kiara was inspired. But she is Miss Organized and had Monday's through Thursday's outfits picked out, including underwear as you can see! She even picked which shoes and socks. Crazy girl!
First day of 3rd grade, and outfit number one! I think there may have been a mini baby boom in 2000 because while there are four classes of each grade, Kiara's grade has always had five. So they have to put one of the classes in a portable classroom. That's where she is this year. She thinks its cool because they have their own bathroom.

Then there are Payton and Zander. With Zander walking now, Payton is teaching him how to drive Mommy CRAZY! Zander climbed on my table and played tangle all the threads on mom's serger. Then Payton had to one-up him and lost the screw on my sewing machine that holds the needle in. GRRRR..... All this was discovered the night I needed to hem some temple pants for a friend of ours who was going to the temple the next morning. (It is a small temple, which means no rental clothes; everyone has to have their own.) It's lucky he was in bed when I discovered this mischief! I was able to borrow a machine to get his pants done, and then I found that a different screw fit in that place so I could hem some other pants for my brother-in-law the next day. And make a matching bumper pad to go with the above quilt. Now its time to start any Christmas projects if I decide to do them. I tell you time just flies around here. I also have a wedding cake this week, and a good friend is turning 30 this week so while I'm baking up a storm, I may as well do a cake for her too! So next post will be cake filled!

Two of the Three White Dresses

2008-08-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

Kiara just turned 8!!!! We had her baptism last Saturday. I made her a white baptism dress, and she looked so pretty in it! This first picture is Kiara in her blessing dress that I made from scraps of my wedding dress (which I also made.)

This is her in her baptism dress.
Gorgeous girl!
Now lets wait about 15 years for the next white dress!

cake

2008-08-01T15:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the last few weeks have been full of cakes. I am ready for a little break. Mostly for free counter space in my kitchen. I love my house, it is so perfect for us right now and so homey. But we have two people with cooking related hobbies, and we just need more space! That is my big "someday" I'll have.....double ovens and vast amounts of counter space!
This is my niece Ambree's 4th birthday cake. Grandma and Grandpa A. took her and my older three to see a local production of Peter Pan, so a Tinker Bell cake was in order! The cake was a coconut cake made from a recipe off Cake Central, White Almond Sour Cream, only I substituted coconut for almond. It was yummy!
This is a mini wedding cake I did yesterday for my Sister-in-law's mom. It is copied from one of my best friends cakes. She is AMAZING. Actually two of the things in this post are copies from her. I didn't ask permission, so hopefully she'll forgive me.....but really imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! White almond sourcream cake filled with strawberry italian meringue buttercream and covered in fondant. Fondant flowers as well.....about 250, but I lost count!
These are cupcakes for Kiara's baptism tomorrow. Coconut cake, Coconut italian meringue, shredded coconut and white chocolate 8's!
My dad the chocoholic will be disappointed there was no chocolate, but you can't do chocolate at a baptism, the white is symbolic!
Payton's birthday is on Sunday, and we will be in Utah for my new niece Katelyn's blessing. My sister is having a brunch, so I made banana cupcakes today to go with the breakfast part of brunch and the ganache glaze and peanut butter italian meringue make it a dessert for the lunch part of brunch. We will probably stick some candles in them and sing to Payton. Happy 3rd buddy!

Oh, and these are the other copy from my friend. She also topped them with marshmallows and toasted them. The peanut butter italian meringue is to DIE for! I had to freeze the leftovers or I'd polish it off in one day, and then spend and eternity trying to lose the weight I packed on!

Who needs a dog when your baby plays fetch?!

2008-07-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Zander loves to play with balls. He throws them and then crawls after them. He also loves to have us throw them and then he fetches them and brings them back. This evening he was doing just that, but apparently he was feeling lazy, or thought his arms were a lot longer than they are. As you can see he would go a foot or so, stop and try to hand it to Paul or I. Pretty cute and entertaining. No dog needed for this household!

Parker's Blessing

2008-07-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

My nephew Parker was blessed this weekend and his parents had a huge BBQ (that Paul got to smoke 3 pork butts and a brisket for) on Saturday. My sis-in-law Marie has a huge family so I decided to surprise them with a cake! I haven't done a stacked cake in a long time and this was the perfect opportunity. So the bottom layer is chocolate cake with raspberry ganache filling and the top later is white cake with strawberry filling. All frosted in the BEST milk chocolate buttercream and with fondant accents. If I ever do "floating" letters again I will use two wires per letter. I only used one this time and they kept twirling and showing their "backsides." Naughty letters!
All the Arrington clan (we missed Bryan and Emily and their two girls, due to unforseen circumstances.) Baby Parker is in the middle with his parents.
The proud parents. I got to hold Parker in Relief Society for a short while (Grandma had Zander). I got him to smile and even got a little giggle too. Babies are so fun. (And I loved giving him back too!)

Swimming lessons

2008-07-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

We have been at the pool last week and this one for swimming lessons. Kiara is becoming really good at it and Kegan is getting there too, and has mastered going down the slide with no one catching him. Payton just loves it. For his age group it is mostly learning to kick on your tummy and back, getting comfortable putting your face in the water and "scooping" water with your hands. He is pretty much fearless in the water and wants to do everything. I wish he did fear it more, but even half drowning and being saved by a life guard didn't help, so what am I to do, except put him on a leash!
Now the story of Kiara. She seems to be afraid of EVERYTHING! So on the first day they took her class to the diving board at the deep end. Well she came running to me sobbing that she was too scared to go to the diving board. So I told her that no one would make her do it if she didn't want to. I then asked her to stay with her class and at least go watch. (I wanted her to see they were not only safe, but having tons of fun.) They were jumping onto a noodle that the teacher was holding and then he took them to the side. Well, you would have thought I told her I was going to go throw her in and then hold her down! She continued to sob for about 3 minutes despite my reasurring her that no one would make her do it. So I stopped talking and marched her down there to just watch. She finally stopped crying, and watched, but as we were leaving she was vowing to never come back and telling me how much she hated swimming lessons! (typical girly drama). Well Paul has some magical touch that I was not blessed with and reasoned with her that night that she needed to at least try and that we wouldn't ever ask her to do something that wasn't safe for her. Sure enough the next time they went to the diving board she confidently strode up and just jumped! No tears, not even a small hesitation! Crazy girl! Now she loves it and told me today that she was thinking about what it would be like if they didn't need to use the noodle. The last picture is of her landing after one of her diving board jumps!

Kegan and Zander stories

2008-06-30T14:34:00.001-07:00

I have a large strawberry patch and was picking some today. Well, Zander was almost as fast as I was. He was scarfing them down and spitting out the leaves. Reminds me of when Kiara was the same age and she would pick tomatoes from the garden and just munch on them like crazy! Of course she had sensitive skin and would end up with a rash all around her face.....

Now for the "kids say the darnedest things" moment with Kegan. Grandma A. took the older three kids to paint ceramics and then they got dipped ice cream cones from Arctic Circle on the way home. I sent them outside to eat them and Kegan came in a few minutes later and said "That Grandma is always messing up my life." (yes, an exact quote) I choked down my snicker and asked what he meant as I turned to look at him. Well, he was referring to the big mess the hot sun had made of his ice cream, shirt, face and hands. He said "she just always buys us messy things." So apparently his whole life revolves around his face and hands...... MY life revolves around his messy clothes. We love Shout, and oxy clean at our house! -And Grandma A, he seems to be over it now, apparently you didn't mess his life up too badly! Thanks for being such a great Grandma!

Zander's 1st B-day

2008-06-28T10:52:00.001-07:00

I have a million and one things to post, but we are on our way out the door so I'll have to just do one, just know that more is eventually on the way!

Zander had his first birthday on Father's Day! I made a lion cupcake cake. (Put all the cupcakes together and frost as if it were a cake. He had fun smashing one of the cupcakes and devoured it pretty well. His grandparents all came as well as the local aunts, uncles and cousins. Thank you everyone for making his day special!

Bite Me!

2008-06-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

My favorite books right now are the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. I was hesitant to read them at first, despite rave reviews from friends. I mean, come on, Vampire books??? But after having them forced on me, I love, love, love them! As does a majority of the women in my ward. So when the Relief Society asked me to make a cake for an Enrichment talent show/display night, I came up with this cake. It is a poppyseed cake with Orange flavored Italian Meringue Buttercream. Yummy! The stem and leaf are gumpaste as are the baubles on the bracelet (replica of the one Jacob gives Bella for graduation.) I did make a chain out of gumpaste, but it didn't look so great and then broke, so the chain is metal. I couldn't decide whether to write "bite me" on it or not, as it was a church function, but since I put a little placard explaining the inspiration went ahead and did it. We'll see if I shock any little old ladies tonight.....

Empty the Camera!

2008-05-16T07:47:00.001-07:00

So we are heading to Utah this afternoon for National Clogging Competition at Lagoon tomorrow and I needed to empty the camera, so I figured I'd post them while I had a minute.
This is my cute fam in their jammies hanging out. I love our round brown chairs. We all pile on them for scriptures in the morning, everyone fighting over who sits with dad of course!
This lovely injury was my Mother's Day present. The pictures do not do it justice. About 45 minutes before all Paul's family and my parents were coming to dinner at our house, there was a colliding of Kegan's and Payton's heads with Payton's lip caught in the middle. There was quite a bit a blood and it looked pretty deep. We took him to a friend who is in the medical profession so he could tell us if a trip to the ER was needed. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it looked at first and is healing pretty good. But it still looks really nasty, especially the part that is inside his lip....Yuck!
He thinks he's pretty cool now, but he was pretty freaked out in the beginning.
I was trying to get dinner done last night and Zander was fussing at my feet so I had Kegan take him to play with him for a few minutes. Well about 1 minute later there was complete silence. There are two things that make my "spidey sense" tingle as a mother. Complete silence or uncontrollable laughter. Either will make me envision crayon drawings on the wall, spilled nail polish, toilet stuffing and flushing, you know that sort of thing. So I went in search of Kegan and Zander and this is what I found. A cute sleeping baby on Kegan's shoulder. He must have fallen asleep instantly!
All right. Here is a quiz! What in the world is this? Cake and rice crispies and fondant? What in the world have I done now!? Scroll down to find out!

Sully! And Mike! I had so much fun doing this for my twin nephews. I do question my sanity a little though....
I got to buy a ball pan for Mike. I have wanted it for a while, it has so many possibilities!
I belong to a website called Cake Central and there has been much discussion about doing licensed figures in cake. Apparently it is a huge no-no if you are selling them. Disney has no problem suing the little guy for copy right violations. So let me say that these were a gift and NOT for profit! (Which makes me question my sanity even more! But hey, like I said, it was fun!)

New Background and Caking

2008-04-28T13:58:00.001-07:00

So, I have been noticing really cute backgrounds for all of my family and friends blogs. I finally found a place to change them, and it was really easy too. Cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com Try it out!

I've been caking a lot lately it seems. The first is a GIANT cupcake or mini cake, depending on how you look at it. (6 in cake) The second picture is of some cupcakes I made for one of my friends Senior Recital. She conducts our ward choir and is conducting the Cornerstone Choir at the Twin Falls Temple Dedication. So I made them look like our Choir! The bald one is Paul....he is the accompanist. ;) I am currently planning my twin Nephews' birthday cake for in a week or two. I hope that it turns out as cute as it is in my head...I got to buy a new pan, which I LOVE! Look for those photos soon!
Yellow cake with vanilla frosting for the "cupcake paper" and chocolate for the frosting! This was for one of my primary girls turning twelve as well.
Butter Pecan cupcakes (new Betty Crocker flavor - yum!) with Burnt Butter Frosting. It was the perfect skin color, and delicious too! It's flavor kind of reminds me of my Grandma's Olympia Creams she used to make at Christmas time.

Stuff

2008-04-16T10:11:00.001-07:00

This is a thank you picture for "Aunt" Amelia. Zander really is a Chick Magnet. He wore this shirt to Activity Days and all my girls thought it was "so cute." I don't take him there very often because the girls don't want to do anything when he's there, except play with him! So thank you to "Aunt" Amelia for the cute shirt!
This is Kiara and her new glasses. Genetics are not on my kids side when it comes to seeing well. Kegan is very jealous and I keep telling him that he shouldn't worry, eventually he will need glasses. She has been really excited for them. Today is the first day she is wearing them to school. I really hope that she doesn't get teased so she won't want to wear them..... But she's so cute in them surely that won't happen!

Princess Adarah's Cake

2008-04-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

My brother and sister-in-law asked me to make my niece Adarah's birthday cake. They gave me free reign to do what I wanted. I have been wanting to try a pillow cake and tiara for a while, and Adarah is such a sweet little girl that I figured this is my opportunity. I tried Marshmallow fondant, which is definitely a step up from regular fondant, taste wise. I also made the tiara from royal icing. Sometimes I think I must be crazy doing all that work! (I chose the cake, I knew what I was getting myself into.) But I love it, and I had fun!

Front view

Back view

Close up of the tiara

My Favorite Place

2008-04-11T08:08:00.001-07:00

This is a story Kiara wrote in school. (Keeping all grammar, puncuation, and spelling as she had it.) They were given a topic and then told to write about it. The topic was "My Favorite Place." She got slightly off-topic, but its a pretty cute story. It reminds me of when my dad used to tell us he found us on a fence post. Maybe we will find Kiara's sister on a fence post in Salt Lake.....

"My favorite place is Salt Lake city it is Big and fun. Once upon a time there was a family who lived in Salt Lake city they were having fun there was kiara, kegan, Payton, Zander, mom and dad. Kiara wanted a sister so badly But her mom and dad did not let her. She cryed. So a little girl was standing on the sidwalk and she stoped crying and asked would you like to live with me and she said yes. She said my mom does not want me any more so she dropped me off right here. I really wanted to live in salt lake city so I am glad I live here with you I had 5 brothers and zero sisters and I wanted a sister so did I. They hugged ech other. I am so happy so am I. So they went to tell kiara's mom She said yes."

Isn't it sweet, and kind of sad too? So if any one sees a little girl on the sidewalk in Salt Lake, she just might me ours!

The Box

2008-04-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

My kids' favorite toy has always been a nice big box. Kegan especially. Well we got a new grill, (our old one had rusted out in a few places where the gas comes out from the little holes, and lets just say our food was seriously flame broiled.....) so we got a new box for the kids in the deal. It is a car on the outside and a house on the inside, complete with a shower. Kiara and Kegan just started showers instead of baths, so I think that is why that feature was included. Kegan slept in it the other night. And even Zander has enjoyed it.

I know this picture shows the opposite, but Payton had the lid closed and Zander was laughing and giggling. But he probably spotted me running away (or heard me) to get the camera and was not happy when I got back to snap the picure.

So the recipe exchange was fun as always last night, but they changed it from 5 ingredients to desserts. Not complaining, everything was great. And next time will be 5 ingredients, so thanks for everyone's help, I'll still get to use your ideas.

HELP!!!!

2008-03-26T10:31:00.001-07:00

I need help!!!! My ward has a recipe exchange group. We meet every other month or so and have a different theme each time. This is a very popular group and tons of fun. We all make our recipe and take copies and then we sample everyones and take home a stack of recipes. I have gotten A LOT of good recipes (and quite a few nasty ones, but thats the way it goes.) Well, the next one is on April 1 and the theme is 5 ingredients or less. I have been racking my brain and going through my recipes, but I cannot find something to take that fits. So, if any of you have a recipe that is really good and has 5 or fewer ingredients will you please help me out? You can post a reply (it should fit in the comments -which I fixed Megan- since 5 ingredients is a short recipe,) or you could email me if you have my email. Please, I am begging for help! I will even pass along any good recipes I get if you'll help!

Girly Time

2008-03-19T09:49:00.001-07:00

So Kiara has been begging me to color her hair ever since Aunt Megan did it. I have been telling her no because she is too young. Well, I've been thinking, my mom permed my hair since I was in Kindergarten, so maybe she isn't too young. At least for highlights anyway. And then my sister visited last week, and when they were leaving, Kiara wanted to go with them and live with them. After some joking about her doing all the chores and sleeping on the floor, all of which she was willing to do, we asked why she wanted to go. Well, she said that then she could have a sister, Sierra. She was DEAD SERIOUS. So I decided we should have some girly time and we went ahead and high lighted her hair this morning. Here are the before, during and after pictures.

BEFORE
DURING

I kept poking her head - I told her beauty came at a price - she wasn't happy with that answer.

AFTER

So pretty and shiny!

Little cake

2008-03-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for one of my activity days girls who turned twelve. She is moving on to Young Women's. :( I will miss her, but at least I get to teach her on Sunday until next January!

Zander Crawls - kind of

2008-03-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

So Zander is finally crawling. Well, one leg scoots, the other almost walks. I think one of my neice's did a similar crawl. Very cute, and I have to say he is getting quite quick with this method. Last night Paul turned on the faucet to get a bath for Kegan and Zander was in the middle of the kitchen floor when he heard it. I think he was at the bath tub in 20 seconds. He loves the bath. We need to get him some bath toys though. All our old ones from the other kids were rather gross and were thrown out. He needs a rubber ducky!

He used to need motivation to get him to crawl (the graham cracker). Now he's all over the place without the lure of food. Oh, and sorry about Payton in his under wear, he'd rather not wear pants for some reason, and I let him get away with it on occasion.

Hair Poll

2008-03-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

It was hair cutting week at our house. For the older two boys at least. I'm trying to decide whether to cut Zander's hair..... My kids have all needed haircuts around when they turn 1, and Zander has 3.5 months to go..... But his hair is soooo uneven. But cute still. Check out the new 'do's and tell me what you all think, is it time to trim Zander or wait? Kegan looks studly with his spikes. Now if he would just smile for the camera...
My sweet Payton and his slick 'do!
Can we say clown hair? Well, should I trim him up?

(It doesn't stick up on its own, I did that - if it makes a difference to you.)

Photographs of Spring! It's coming!

2008-02-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

I've been going to a photography class (enrichment) so I went outside with the kids to take some pictures. Our camera has tons of different settings but I don't think I've used them, other than auto. So I used the sports setting on the kids swinging and jumping on the tramp (it stops the action), a portrait setting on Zander (it focuses close up and the background is more blurred). I think thats the setting I used for my tree picture as well. And then back to regular old auto for my emerging daffodils. So enjoy my celebration of spring!

I think Payton would swing for hours. He kept saying "Mom, ush eee! No ic ure!" But I did get a few of him smiling!
It took a few tries to get someone in the air, but I got the timing figured out. That is Kegan's friend from down the street.
First time Zander is feeling grass on his feet, he kept lifting his feet up and wiggling his toes. Then I decided to put socks on the poor guy. He was much happier. But he had fun watching Payton go back and forth on the swing.
See the little buds on my fruit tree! I think this one is an apple, but it might be the peach tree. But all the fruit trees have buds; leaves are on the way!
The Garden restaurant has a gazillion daffodils in front and I noticed the other day they were already several inches tall. So I have been watching for mine and I finally have a few. (The Garden daffodils get sun all day, and mine only have sun in the morning, so we're slower.) But soon we'll have pretty yellow flowers to look at!

EARTHQUAKE!

2008-02-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

So I had just stepped out of the shower this morning when I felt a little shaking and heard things rattling about. I figured the kids were running around the house, but when I opened the door they were all sitting down. (They were yelling at each other about someone farting and then being pushed off a chair, but still, they weren't running.) I thought, "hmmmm, that's wierd I wonder if that was an earthquake." But I figured I was imagining things and went about the morning. Then as I was taking Kiara to school, they were talking about the 6.3 earthquake near Wells, Nevada and about how they felt it! So I wasn't crazy after all! Kiara heard them talking about the earthquake and wanted to know what it was. So we had a quick plate techtonics lesson and talked about what to do if there is a really bad earthquake. Hopefully Kiara doesn't hide under her desk at any small sound today. She left the car so excited and couldn't wait to tell her friends about how she felt the earth move under her feet. (Well, the kids did NOT notice a thing!) But her and Kegan both have some great tall tales of what happened. Kegan's story is helped by watching The Land Before Time, I am sure, because he calls it an "earth shake" instead of earthquake. Hopefully all is well in Nevada, it sounded like it was not too bad from the story I read online. Have a great day!

Payton-isms

2008-02-19T09:46:00.001-08:00

So Paul and I were both sick with strep throat last week and all I could think about while lying on the couch were ideas for cute and funny posts. But I had tons of catching up to do and now finally have the time to do it!

Payton is talking up a storm, but as is typical of 2 year olds, it takes some time to really figure out what he is saying. So I thought I'd provide some translations here for everyone.

Nanner - Zander

Ra Ra - Kiara (a lot of little kids seem to say her name like this)

Ki Ki - Kegan (Kegan does NOT like this at all, Kiki is a girl's name)

nummy - you'd think this was yummy, but nope, its money

eeee all - cereal (EVERYTHING Zander eats is Nanner eeee all)

atch oo bee -watch movie

oh man - snow man

upe ah man - Superman

uh-er wear -under wear

ipe -wipe

bee bop -Sponge Bob

ack - snack

ee go -Diego

ooby - Scooby

eee - cheese

ink - drink

ohr - more

ap in - napkin (I know, that a two year old even attempts "napkin" is amazing, but he won't leave the table without wiping his face, he is sooo OCD already!)

Basically, when he says something you can't figure out, quickly run through the alphabet adding each letter to the begining of what he said until it makes sense. Works well until he leaves out the end sound too, and then its a little tougher.

Payton and his Ooby uh -er wear!

Kiara's Competition

2008-02-19T09:19:00.001-08:00

Kiara had her first Clogging Competition this weekend. She performed two solos and one team number. We had a lot of fun and she did very well. When we left the competition she was very tired and hungry and told me she wanted to quit clogging, but when I tucked her in that night she wanted to do three solos at the next competition. Amazing what a little food in your stomach and rest will do to your outlook on life!

This is one of her solos. She got first place for both of them. (Placement is not determined by comparing dancers, it is by a point system, at least for the younger age groups.)

This is her team number, dancing to Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis!

This is her team. Kiara is always excited to do shows and competitions because we spend so much time on hair and makeup. Everyone got a participant medal. They also got a "first place" on their team dance, but did not recieve a trophy this time. They are all excited to practice and will be doing two numbers at the next competition.

Good job, Kiara!

Zander High Centered

2008-02-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

So the past week or so Zander has been developing some pre-crawling moves. He can get from sitting to his stomach pretty good now. Its a little amusing. He stretches out to one side as far as he can and then brings the other hand over and kind of falls the rest of the way to his stomach. He does little push ups, but mostly just flops like a fish on his stomach. He can do a full rotation when he is sitting up and can scoot a foot or two. Yesturday I put him on his hands and knees to see what he would do and he managed to walk his hands back and sit up a couple of times.

Now we come to the title and the pictures. Today I put him on the floor with some toys by his high chair while I was cooking. I looked down to see him high centered on his high chair. He played that way happily for a few minutes, but then got frustrated and uncomfortable I imagine. Of course he probably didn't understand why I was taking pictures and not helping him out!

Cake Mania

2008-02-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a good couple of weeks for cakes! We had cake night for Paul and my birthdays. Our birthday's are close together so we usually pick a night near both of them and have friends over to eat the cakes we choose each year. The first two cakes were for that. And then Paul's dad's birthday cake is last. All were delicious and fun to make!
This is Almond Biscuit Roulade filled with Raspberry Cloud Cream. (Paul's choice) We put some of the left over Raspberry cream in some hot cocoa, it was yummy!
This is the tower of chocolate. (My choice!) Chocolate Fudge Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream and dark chocolate curls.
This is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Paul's dad used to have a model train collection and is now getting into them again. They are converting a bedroom and have all sorts of fun things planned. So I went a little crazy and had fun designing and carving this cake for him!

Success already!

2008-01-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I think it is safe to announce that Payton is officially potty trained. It has only been two and a half days, but he has only had two "real" accidents the whole time. After feeling like somewhat of a failure because of Kegan's two and a half years (and counting) of training, I really didn't want to start Payton. But I was looking into buying him some training pants for when Kegan was (hopefully) done. The training pants were all gone (there must be others with the same resolution) but they had some underwear on clearance. So I got some Scooby Doo, Diego and Spongebob underwear for Payton. Well of course he wanted them right away. So on Friday about 11am I put them on him and told him he was a big boy now and he had to keep Scooby Doo dry. Well, he did! I had him go a couple of times and then just let him alone to see what would happen. He wet a few drops and then stopped and ran to the potty. He went, and then changed his own underwear and put his in the laundry. I said nothing, did nothing, he did it all on his own. This happened a few times that day. He did have one "real" accident when he wet significantly. He stayed dry all of Saturday and today until just as I sat down to write this, but he went and cleaned himself up without any prompting from me. Ha! Ha! Now, for Kegan. Sigh. He did show some improvement for a day or two, but really its just the same old same old. We are trying to appeal to his competitive nature and have him do "better" than Payton, but he doesn't seem to care.

Oh, and for a less disgusting update (by the way, if you are afraid to come to our house with all the pee-ing and pooping, don't be. We have a steam cleaner that gets used frequently!) I got my scrapbooking software and I LOVE it! I haven't had anything printed yet, but I tell you I love just dropping my pictures on the pages and adding my stories and captions. We'll see how the printing goes!

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Although I'm not usually big on New Year's Resolutions, I have made a few this year. One is I am going to scrapbook more. All the kids pictures are stuck in a drawer (pre-digital camera) or in files on the computer. So I want to make them more accessible. I like to scrapbook, but its hard to do with a baby and a toddler around. By the time I get all the stuff out, someone needs a diaper change or to be fed. So I have ordered a computer program that has layouts and stuff so I can just plug my pictures in and add text and then print! Hopefully this will help me out.

The next goal is to have only 1 child in diapers by the end of the year. This means no pull ups at night either. So I was going to start with Payton as he is the one in diapers. But Kegan has recently been having trouble with more and more accidents and even reverted to pooping in his underwear again. Sigh. I am becoming worried that there might be something physically wrong. So I have been researching on the internet and have found a program that hopefully we can get him accident free in the next month and then we will work on the staying dry at night thing. It is going to be a fun program, let me tell you! The first step was to get a urine collection device which measures how much he goes each time. We then have a "contest" to see if each time he goes he can go more. (This should help increase his bladder capacity.) The next step is when he has an accident he has to wash his own underwear and pants in the bathtub. We are supposed to emphasize smells with this. We smell his clean underwear and comment on how nice it smells. Then as he washes the underwear, they have to pass the smell test before he is done. That means he has to get them within an inch of his nose and smell them. Oh, yum! The last step is the practice step. When he has an accident we are going to practice going potty 10 times. We will go to different areas of the house and pretend to be playing blocks, or reading or coloring, or watching a movie, or outside, etc. Then we say "ow, ow, I really have to go," and run to the bathroom and pretend to go. And then we'll say "ahhh, that's better!" Instead of sticker charts or little treats as rewards (all of which have failed with him) we are supposed to reinforce the relief of going as the reward. I hope, hope, hope this works! He goes to Kindergarten next year, and we have to be done with this! As for Payton who is next in line, I have ordered the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" I read this when I trained Kiara, but obviously have forgotten it as we have failed with Kegan so miserably. So I will read it again and be much better, I promise! (I WILL NOT be training him for two years straight!) He already will go once or twice a day, and thinks its great fun, so this is a good sign!

Rub a Dub Dub!

2008-01-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

Three Men in a Tub!

Zander is big enough to join the boys in the tub, which he is very excited about, until he gets splashed in the face of course! It is a bit crowded though, Kegan I think will soon be on his own. Man, they grow up fast!

Fun times

2007-12-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

This is what Santa brought the kids this year. Santa and his elves built it in four or so hours on Christmas Eve. We have been looking at the stuff for a while and have been telling the kids we want to build one in the summer. Well Kiara informed Paul that thanks to Santa, he doesn't have to build one now! Thanks Santa for that favor! Zander got his first front tooth for Christmas! (well one day late) He is also sitting up and just discovered the cat - or the cat discovered him.
This is a short video of Christmas morning when they discovered the play ground. It was way too cold! They haven't played too much on it yet. They go out for about 10 minutes at a time a couple of times a day. But I know they will spend tons of time on it when it warms up; they already have planned games of pirate and house and picnics, etc.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed seeing all our family. We can hardly wait for next year!

This Weekend

2007-10-29T08:16:00.001-07:00

Here are the cupcakes. They are even filled with Strawberry Danish Dessert for blood. Gross and fun!

Here is the final of Kegan's cake. I need more practice with fondant so it won't droop. But it was a huge hit with the kids. They wanted to eat everything, and tore poor Superman apart. They couldn't eat the Daily Planet on top, it was a rubber ball spray painted gold. I could have used a jaw breaker and painted it with luster dust mixed with vanilla, but I didn't think of it in time to order the luster dust, and well, its hard to find stuff like that here. But I did see Michael's has it now, so next time I guess.

Kegan's b-day

2007-10-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Drumroll please..............

Kegan's cake and party are - what else - Superman theme! This is his cake, not completely finished. Only the two sides showing have windows. I ran out of fondant and need to make more to finish. Or maybe no one will look at the other sides.... Hmmmm. No, I'll finish, I want to clean up the corners and I want Superman to tilt up instead of down. This is still a work in progress, thank goodness fondant keeps cake fresh for longer. Oh, and slightly less than half is actually cake, the bottom is styrofoam. His party is Saturday, as well as our ward Halloween party that I'm doing cupcakes for. So I'll post the final picture of the Daily Planet and the cupcakes later.

Ummm. Can't wait to destroy this one! Why did I choose a hobby where you plan to cut into your creations from the get go?!

Some past cakes

2007-10-24T12:50:00.001-07:00

Here are some past cakes. I have more to post, but I'll wait until later, don't want to over load it now!
This was for our neighbor.

The youth of our church had a fundraiser and I donated a kids birthday cake. The little boy liked big trucks and bulldozers so I decided to try making one. It worked out okay, but the food coloring acted different with white chocolate and the frosting so the scraper thing (can you tell I know nothing about them) is different colored. I was annoyed, but what can you do!?

I made this for my niece the day she was blessed. I was teaching myself how to do frosting "embroidery." I just guessed how to do it, I saw it once and decided to figure out how to do it. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

This was for my niece. The car is a toy. You know, black frosting and kids is just too fun! Hee hee.

I made these for my twin nephew's 1st birthday. They were a total mess when they were through with the smash cakes.

This is Kiara's 7th birthday cake. It was my first time using gumpaste, and I really liked it. The kids loved the walls too, they ate more of them than the cake. More for me, it was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! Yummm!!!!!

Just Checking the Blog

2007-07-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my Blog