My little Picasso kids

I haven't posted pics of the kids in sooo long! Sorry grandparents! :) I've been taking them, just haven't been sitting down to process them and get them out of the camera! :) Here are a few from today...I got out the finger paints and spread out some paper in the play room and they went to town...until they got their hands "dirty"! They both wanted to wash their hands several times in the first five minutes and finally I just decided to get out the paint brushes!!! I kept saying, "It's okay to get dirty...don't worry about it!" But ohh no...those hands had to be clean! :) What have I done! - I've created clean monsters!! :) LOL!! Easton was even taking the wipes and trying to clean the paint off his painting!!! :) Oh well, it was still super fun!!

10 years old????

Here's a 10 year old singing ballerina that is AMAZING!!! She sings like she's 40! For real?! Who are these people!?? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w96NhXWO4Vs

A Poll...

Check out the poll to the right! If you have any other ideas for me, please email me!! :) I need to set up a blog so my cakes don't take up space on our personal one...so, I need a name to call the blog! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

It wasn't my dad's b-day yesterday, but rather a few weeks ago. But, because they were in AZ, we celebrated yesterday in between working on our fence!! :) My dad and mom came up for the day yesterday and we got all the rails on for the taller fence and the pergola top for the big gate. Pretty cool!! So, I made him a cake to say thanks, and to say happy birthday! I of course tried a few new techniques, not all of which worked very good...but hey, it's all learning...and it's my dad, so he didn't care! I tried a new technique to roll out the fondant and when I flipped it over to put it on the cake, it had all these tiny air bubble marks all over the fondant...but, by then it was too late because it was laying over the cake...so, I won't be doing that again!
And, I realized you NEVER want to use the generic marshmallows and powdered sugar when making marshmallow fondant. The last batch I made gave me a head ache and I knew something wasn't right. So, I read about generic powdered sugars use beet sugar not cane sugar and it can effect the quality. Well, I used the name brand stuff this time and the fondant was SOOO much better! Crazy something like that would make a difference, but it did.
I used brown sugar for the sand trap and painted the water on with blue food coloring. I had these grand plans to do thin stripes and such on the sides, but I got sooo busy the day before and was up until 11:30pm working on this, so I decide to end it and keep it simple!! :) Afterall, it was for my dad and he didn't care. I also realize I need to invest in some letter cutters...cutting out the letters from fondant are hard!! It doesn't want to cut right...
Anyhoo...there is a few tips and learning things for you!

Michael's Coupons

Hi All! I just wanted to throw out to you if you all get any Michael's or JoAnn coupons and don't use them, will you think of me, throw it in your Bible (I know, sacreligious) and bring it to me at church?! :) I'm trying to buy cake making stuff with coupons because I'm not in a hurry to stock up on cutters and things like that, but anything helps!! :) Thank you MUCHLY! :)

The beginnings of a fence...

WOW, what fun it is to work out in the yard on a beautiful day! Praise the Lord for an amazing weekend! Although we didn't get done as much as we had hoped (thanks to our beautiful children who enjoy playing with us), we had fun!! We got 13 posts measured and set in concrete and this small part of the fence done - which helps us visualize how the rest will look. We're doing this horizontal "screen" look all the way around the front and side of the house with 2x2x8. And, I think we're going to paint it a dark charcoal color (YES, we've heard why we shouldn't, but I still think we're going to do it anyway)!! We want the fence to "go away" and not be as prominent. When it's painted dark, it will blend in with the road, the barkdust and pavement a bit more...and be a bit funky...which is kinda what we're going for...different! :) We're on a corner, so we need to keep the kids contained when we're out playing. And we figure, in the next few years, we'll have child laborers and they can help us paint it every few years!! :) haha

I took this pic out the window of my kitchen...between the blinds and in front of the screen...hence the "effect" you get! :)