Carlie's Cake

I know that I am always going on about time. How I can't believe how fast it goes by. Well, today is no exception. I really and truly can't believe that Carlie is 6. Where has the time gone? She is in the 1st grade too. Really! So Sheri asked me to make her cake for her. She is no different from any other girl. She couldn't make up her mind. She finally chose peace love and softball.


This is the peace sign. The colors are really bad, but I can't complain, I used my phone. The base cake was orange and the peace sign was blue on a purple cake.

Like I said, the color isn't great. The softball was the actual color of a fast pitch softball with the red stitches.

This one is better...color wise. I think it turned out really cute!

Sheri said she loved it. I couldn't be there because I had a Scentsy party. Sad I didn't get to see her face...it's the best part of making a cake.

A lot of cake! Still working on trimming skills. It's okay...the birthday girl loved it.

8 is Great!

I can hardly believe that it has really been 8 years since my baby girl was born. Her entry into this world was a sign of what was yet to come...lol She is my more headstrong child. She definitely has her own opinions and is very intent on seeing them out. What can I say...she takes after her mother, bless her heart. Bless my heart, nope bless Josh's heart!

Case in point...her cake. They don't make iCarly cakes around here. She was dead set on it, so I gave it to her. Yes, I did it myself. I looked at the picture online and drew out my stencil and made it from that.

She wanted strawberry cake. So it was strawberry cake with chocolate cream cheese filling and of course butter cream icing! It was very good!

What's that? You want to know what happened to her hair. That's another blog in and of itself. She is soooo beautiful, but I am jaded! The candles are neat they are spiral. She had a bit of trouble blowing them out too. We had to throw this party together because of so many schedule conflicts. At least this year she didn't have stitches in her chin. She was a little upset at first when she couldn't invite her whole ball team!!!! I know, I would have had to take a nerve pill for sure...lol!

Here she is with all of her loot! She racked up! She loves clothes and shoes and make-up and pretty things. She got plenty of those things. All of them had a great time! They did stay up and watch Flicka 2 twice. I believe they went to sleep well after 2 am.

I woke the poor little things up at 8 the next morning for pancakes! We went to Church and then to Carly's birthday party. I know that when I blink again she will be 16...gasp! I shan't think of such horrible things! For now 8 is GREAT!

Laura turned 30 and I made cake

I really enjoy making cakes. I didn't think that I would, but I do. I started out just making them for my children. My children have very weird requests as far as birthday cakes go, so that's when I started my adventure. Anyway, back on point. I made Laura a cake on Saturday for her 30th birthday. I started with one of my favorite boxed cake mixes: Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla. I love this flavor of mix. I spice it up with a little almond extract and let me tell you, it is the perfect combination. It also goes well with the butter cream icing. For this cake I used 3 boxes of cake mix. Two boxes in my 12 inch circular cake pan and one box in a 9x13 standard cake pan. I know it's not perfect...I never claimed to be a pro. I divided the round cake and filled it with the butter cream icing. Clint didn't want anything fancy.


For the number 30 I started off by drawing the design on paper and cutting out the template. I used that to carve out the 30 on the 9x13 cake. Let me just tell you that Betty Crocker didn't lie when she said super moist. The 30 was the hardest thing I have ever had to dirty ice before. It kept falling apart. I had to count to 10 several times, just to keep from crying or throwing the 30 up against the wall. Finally I decided to stick it in the freezer after the first attempt and that did the trick. I have learned a valuable lesson...freeze a cake after carving and never dirty ice it immediately. This should keep me from whaling or cursing under my breath the next time.


I know that I skipped ahead, a little...sorry, I was pressed for time people. After dirty icing both the round cake and the 30 I tinted my icing. I used a hot pink for the base cake (12" round), Lavender for border on the 30 and the top border on the base cake, Leaf Green for the stars on the 30 and the bottom border on the base cake, Yellow for the lettering and loop pattern on the side of the base cake.


The cake turned out really good, or so everyone told me. I hope that Laura enjoyed all the blood sweat and tears that I put into making this cake on her milestone birthday. It is unfortunate that all she got from us was the cake and really really funny card from us. I know, what a bad sister-in-law I am, but I did show her what her birthday present money went to...a new tire for my van. Just another one of those unforeseen expenses in life. I know that she would much rather we be able to ride safely in the mini-van.

Cinnamon Rolls...yummy

Trust me people, the pictures does not do these yummy cinnamon rolls justice! They are soooo good! I got the recipe from one of the blogs that I read, The Pioneer Women. Not only are the cinnamon rolls delicious, but the icing is to die for.

Just look at it in every single crack and crevice...my mouth is watering just thinking about them again. They were very easy to make. My house still smells like cinnamon and maple syrup.

We ate some for brunch that day and and breakfast the next morning. I had to give my dad the other pan. I was scared I would not be able to resist the temptation. He was grateful. Below is what happens when I am tempted by yummy cinnamon rolls.

Taco Night with the Teens

Always fun when we fellowship with the teens from our church. To be honest I don't know who has more fun, us or them. Tonight was no exception. The key to a successful event with teens is food. There wasn't a shortage of that. I didn't have a chance to get a picture of the taco bar we had set up, for fear of having my arm mistaken for a piece of meat. Just know that we had every fixin for tacos available. We also had cupcakes and cookies and enough Dr. Pepper, Coke and Mountain Dew to fulfill there sugar needs. In the picture above Clint and Ashley were testing out the cupcakes, they passed the taste test. Well done Ashley.

Here I go again, getting my pictures out of order! One day I will figure it out, til then you will have to try and follow my storyline with no rhythm or reason to their order. The above picture is from our game of Mafia. Out of 4 games the poor townspeople only beat the retched Mafia once. Let's just say that was the only game I played and Jay narrated and selected the Mafia and of course I was one of the retched Mafia. Coincident, I think not.

But before we stared the game of Mafia all the kids played "Boogie Superstar" on the Wii, I think Katie won. In the picture above was my lovely Kalan, so beautiful! Bless her heart she is clueless as to what Nikki is doing to her.

Bo was the first of the Teens to try Ashley's green cupcakes. They were green to represent the spirit of St. Patrick Day of course. He gave his stamp of approval by consuming 3. I love all of these kids. They are a great group and make me strive to be a better christian. I do believe that the award for most food eaten went to Jay. He consumed 10 tacos, cookies and cupcakes. Way to go Jay. His competition was stiff. Clint put in a good show consuming 7 tacos, 4 cupcakes and cookies.
Good luck with the diet Clint, never challenge a hungry 15 year old teenage boy...lol