Cake #2- The Jack-o-Lantern

I thought I'd try another cake today. This is my first attempt at a jack-0-lantern cake. I think it turned out pretty well! The kids are really excited to eat it! Next up will probably be some Halloween cupcakes and then the kids both have birthdays coming up! Aiden has already picked out a Lightning McQueen cake. It looks pretty complex... I may need a practice cake before the real thing!

Dad's Handy Helpers

Ok, well maybe not so handy, but they are super eager to help out daddy with all our home remodeling projects! You can check our our project progress here.

My First Cake

Just thought you all might want to see what I've been up to! Not that I need another hobby, but I thought I'd try my hand at making cakes. This is my very first. Thanks to a little tutorial from Aunt Connie, I think I did ok! I made it in time for her to come up for Grandparent's Day at Sophie's school. Sophie thought we should write "Welcome Aunt Connie" on it. I thought that was a fantastic idea!

Waffle's Birthday

August 22 was Waffle's Birthday. He turned 1!!! Sophie, being the party planner that she is, required that we throw a party for him. So here are the details...

Waffle, a.k.a. The Birthday Boy

The Cake for the Humans

We made dog treats for Waffle. The kids had a lot of fun doing this little project. It was much like making sugar cookies, but not nearly as tempting to eat the dough! The dough consisted of cornmeal, flour, chicken broth, peanut butter, eggs and a little oil.

Mixing it up...

Rolling it out...

The final product...

Waffle loved the cookies. The kids loved making them. It was a big puppy party success!!!

Vacation- Part One

Ok, ok, I know.... we went on vacation in July and I'm just getting around to showing you all what a great time we had! This year we went to Wisconsin Dells for vacation and got to do a lot of very fun things. Our "biggie" this year was going on the Zip Lines. Both of the kids loved the zip lines and Travis and I did too! It was an absolute work out as well!! There were 6 zip lines that each started at the top of a 6 or 8 story tall tower. And on an 85 degree day, with zip line gear, a helmet and gloves on, it was a lot of work climbing every one of those towers. Yeah, that's right... we climbed close to 40 stories that afternoon! Travis climbed all of them carrying not only his gear, but also carrying Aiden! Whew... makes me tired just thinking about it!

On Sophie's first trip down, she wanted to go with a guide. As soon as she saw that it was safe, though, she decided to go on the next five by herself!!! What a brave girl!!!


You can't see Aiden's face in this picture, but he was LOVING it!!! He went with a guide on all but the last zip line. That one was a double zip line and he got to "race" momma, so he decided to go by himself. I got to watch his face the entire way down. It was awesome!

Daddy....

.... and Mamma.

Ok, zip lining was so much fun. You should all try it! It was our adventure for this year. If you remember, last year we went white water rafting. I wonder what kind of adventure we can take the kids on next year! I'm open for suggestions!! Stay tuned for more vacation pics!!!

This one's for Aunt Connie... (and of course everyone else)

Aiden started t-ball this year. These are the kind of things I live for as a mommy!!! He has so much fun and loves playing!!! Here are some pics from his first game.

First time on the field.

Some pre-game stretching.... is it bad that he can't quit looking back at his momma???

"Hey Batter, Batter!!!"

His first at bat. He was so proud to finally get to put on that helmet!!!

The first swing wasn't successful, but the second swing was!!!

Yay!!! I hit the ball!!!

Running to first...

Looking for second base...

Scoring his first run!!!

High-five for the coach!!!

This game was soooo much fun! It is such a joy to see your children completely enjoying themselves! I loved watching his little personality come out when he was interacting with the other kids and the coach. It's not very often that I get to watch him "from a distance." Even more than that, it's so much fun to see the self-confidence they build when they accomplish something! He was so proud of himself. He felt like a really big boy! We have four games left. I'll be posting more pics soon!

It's been a long time...

Yeah, I know it's been a while, but get ready... A LOT has happened since my last post. (That's about 2 months ago.) School started for the kids today and school is OVER for me in less than 3 weeks! That means more blogging, or at least less excuses for not blogging often enough!

So here we go. Let's start with back to school photos!

Today was Sophie's first day of 1st grade and Aiden's first day of preschool. I recently went part-time at work, which allowed us to put Aiden in preschool this year instead of daycare. It is seriously A LOT cheaper!!! He is going to have a great time! Oh, and that's also one less excuse I have for not blogging very often... you should hear a lot more from me!

This is Sophie's new outfit that she picked out just for her first day of 1st grade. She has been daydreaming about a new outfit from Justice, so we went to Justice and picked out a look and then went to Kohl's with my 30% off coupon and tried our best to re-create that look, obviously for less $. She was very happy with the result. I was very happy with the price! Everyone wins!!! (Except for Aiden, who had to sit there while she tried on outfit after outfit.)

Aiden was super excited about his first day of preschool. The let the moms stay for the first 45 minutes on the first day so the kids can get used to their new classrooms. Aiden was ready for me to leave as soon as he got there! I stayed for 5 minutes and then he said I could leave! I almost, just a little bit, wish he would have wanted me to stay!

That's it for now. Check back for vacation pics...coming soon!!!