Christmas

What would Christmas be without decorating sugar cookies?  What makes it even better is doing it with a best friend!

 Somehow putting whipped cream and Christmas sprinkles on hot chocolate makes it magical to little kids (and maybe grown-ups too!)

Leaving milk and cookies for Santa.  Oh and don't forget carrots for the reindeer!

 I know this isn't the cutest picture, but I love it because of everyones morning eyes.  Two of my little's didn't even want to open their eyes, but at least they smiled!

 Our oldest got an American Girl for Christmas against my better judgement, but it was the only thing she asked for and I got the new one that just came out when it was on "sale".  I do have to say that the hair is so much better than other 18 inch versions we have, but really!!!!   That much more for good hair!    But she loved her and takes really good care of her so hopefully she can give it to her daughter some day.

 Babe just wanted a Fijit and only Fijit.  Again this is not something I wanted to buy!  I knew it would be one of those things that would be played with a few times and then collect dust and boy was I right.  But a kid should have some excitement on Christmas morning, right?  At least thats what I keep telling myself!

 Porkchop wanted a spiderman skateboard and Santa delivered.  He loves it but hasn't quite been able to get the coordination down and his parents are very good examples to follow either.  We both STINK at skateboarding we discovered.  Who knew skateboarding takes skill?

 Piglet just enjoyed trying to figure out how to unwrap the paper.  I think it took her 10 minutes per gift to open.  

 Hope everyone had a great and safe Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Halloween

This is a totally lame picture but Halloween this year was a VERY crazy day.  We picked costumes that we already had on hand (which was totally fine by me) and made do.  I don't think the kids knew any different once they had their loot.  Amidst the craziness the kids had a great time and I think even though I am writing this entry months after Halloween I believe we still have leftover candy.

Porkchop's Fourth

I am a horrible mom!!!  These are the only 2 pictures I took of his 4th birthday.  However I would like to share a story of why these 2 pictures are so special.  Porkchop woke up on his birthday and I greeted him with something to the effect of "Happy Birthday my big 4 year old boy!!!"  His reply to that was "Mom, I am not 4 yet!"  And I told him, "Yes you are!  Today is your birthday!"  He continued to disagree with me until he finally said, "Mom, it's not my birthday till I blow out the candles!"  So that morning I made him pancakes so that he could turn 4.  So here he is officially turning 4 with the blowing out of the official birthday candles! 

Babe Turns 6

 Babe wanted to have a baking party for her birthday with all her best girlfriends.  We made aprons for all the girls with their names on them and then each of the girls received a chef hat that they got to decorate.  They each got to take home a cake that they decorated and their own cake stand that I made out of dollar store candle sticks that I spray painted white and glued a white plate to the top.  The highlight was the edible pink spray paint that they got to decorate their cakes with.  I think they had a good time and we got them sugared up just in time for them to go home!  In the last picture check out Babe's super big breath before she blew out the candles.  Too funny!

     

Apple picking fun

I am trying my hand at blogging from my phone! Since I seem to be on the go lately I am hoping this will allow me to blog more frequently. A couple of weeks ago we went apple picking. We also picked pumpkins and made cider! Yum!!!! But those pictures will have to be for another post. We had a lot of fun and am hoping this becomes a tradition!

Honey's Baptism

Our family belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  In our church you get baptized when you turn eight years old.  Honey was lucky to share her baptism day with her cousin.  It was so great to share this special day with both sides of our family.  I was going to have a friend of mine take professional pictures of Honey however time seemed to escape me and I found myself rushing to get her pictures taken in her baptism dress.  A day or two before I needed them to make the baptism program I ran to the temple grounds and tried to get some pictures.  It was SO HOT when we got there.  It was only around 10 in the morning and it was about 90 degrees.  So we made it quick and did the best we could.  This is obviously my disclaimer on the pictures that follow.  On a side note . . . something that's kind of funny . . . I made her dress and didn't realize how shear the fabric was.  I realized this as we were stepping out the door to go take pictures.  I didn't think it would be very appropriate if you saw her underwear in the pictures so we ran to Target to try and find a slip.  However, Target at the time didn't have slips for girls.  Of course!!!  So I had to buy a women's XS slip and then use a rubber band that I had in the car to tie it up around her chest so it wouldn't be to long or fall of her.  So AWESOME!!! Keepin' it real!

Honey's Eight Birthday

This year my baby turned eight!  We had a great family party and enjoyed the festivities poolside at my parents house.  Honey wanted a rainbow layer cake so that is what I made and HOLY MOLY it was bright!  It was a great, very warm day and I am so glad that we got to celebrate with some of our family.  

Wedding Weekend

This week was FULL of baking!  Not only did I do those cupcakes, but I also did a wedding cake for a different wedding.  This is my first time doing two weddings at once and everything went off without a hitch!  So here is the cake I did . . .

Cupcakes . . . Lots of Cupcakes!

If you've ever wondered what 225 cupcakes look like . . . well you don't have to wonder any longer.  This is what they look like.

Lemon cupcakes with strawberry filling and a vanilla buttercream.  Tastes like a strawberry lemonade. . . Yum!!!

 Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I love how the little flowers turned out with the pearl in the center!

 White cupcake with white chocolate buttercream!  This is the best tasting buttercream . . . EVER!!!

These are chocolate fudge cupcakes with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream.  Oh my heavens, if you love chocolate these are a taste of heaven.  I used pearls to decorate these.

 I LOVE making cupcakes.

Chalk Art Festival

The girls wanted to participate in the local chalk art festival.  For $3 they each got there own square of cement to draw on, artist quality chalk, as well as a bunch of prizes for participating.  One of the prizes was a free donut at Spudnuts.  Anytime we can get a free donut from there count us in!!!

This is the same Spudnut shop that Sarah Palin would go to!

Here are the girls creating their masterpieces.

Here is Honey practicing her shading.  

 This is the artist that was next to us.  She was kind enough to teach the girls how to shade.

This is one of the finished pieces of art work.  I wish I could show better in this picture how brilliant the colors were.  The chalk the gave them was really amazing.  It was so sunny though all my pictures look washed out.  Bummer!

Lovin' our Backyard

I have to say that I love our location right now!!!  The weather has been SUPER mild which is totally uncharacteristic.  It's normally blistering hot right now.  I am especially loving that we have a almost finished backyard right now that makes the outside so much more enjoyable.  Here are some pics of our evenings enjoying our backyard!

 Do you see that???  Is that grass in the backyard? 

 This is the lower level and the start of a firepit.  We are forming our own concrete surround.  On the lower level we also have room for a garden, swing set and trampoline!  Loving the yard!!  So worth the sweat and tears!  And boy there was a lot of sweat and tears!