Clowns...

Yesterday was my 3rd cake decorating class! We learned a TON of stuff, but didn't physically get to do anything but these clowns. We watched our instructor for 2 1/2 hours showing us techniques for different flowers, and decorations on cake squares, and cupcakes. It was quite interesting.

We have a project due next week for our final class. We each had to draw a number out of a hat...and there was a specific cake for each number drawn. I got the poinsettia cake. I have to make 75 POINSETTIAS for this cake...wow!!! Considering the fact that I didn't get to practice the flower in class, it should be interesting. Stay tuned!

Here are the clowns that I made last night for Gracie and Jai. They love that I am in this class, because they get to eat all of my creations. :)

Gracie's clown...

Jai's clown...

Jai kept saying "I don't want to eat him, I love him"...then he would give him kisses. He finally pulled his head off and got started...

haha...this reminds me of a food eating contest...

I saved this one for Paul...since it probably has the least amount of sugar. :)

Princess Ball

Gracie just recently joined the girl scouts. We've had 3 meetings so far, and she seems to enjoy it. They had a princess ball this past weekend...and we arrived about an hour late due to the Indie Flea Trip. We arrived and the party had almost fizzled out. However, Gracie was able to start working on a tiara...while I finished it. Mary Catherine and Gracie were able to join in on a game of musical chairs...and we went home. Super Exciting! (note my sarcasm) haha. I suppose it was my fault for arriving late...although I don't really understand what we missed out on, except food?! Anyways, she had fun and that's all that matters. :)

Here is Gracie with her troop leader, Yvonne! :)

(she is starting that tiara I mentioned earlier)

Musical Chairs...

Mom's finished product! I did pretty good, right?! Haha...

Auntie CC made this one for MC. So cute! We are some crafty ladies!

Can't wait for the Candle Lighting event next week. Should be fun! :)

Kernersville Indie Flea Market...

I first heard about the Indie Flea Market in Kernersville about a month ago...and thought it sounded so awesome. It's so neat to have places like that around here! I have also made the commitment to only buy local or hand make things for xmas gifts this year. So, I was so excited about it altogether. My sister in law has a cute little side project called "JoCo Creations" where she makes Silly Band Soaps, and Silly Band Earrings. They are so cute! (and perfect for stocking stuffers and holiday gifts) ;-)

I told her about the Indie Flea Market...and she was able to go and share a booth with her friend. We went to visit on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun! There wasn't a ton of booths...but I feel like there is probably more vendors during the warmer months. The flea runs from April until November. This weekend is their last weekend...so if you want to check it out, now is the time! :)

I took some pictures of her cute little booth...and was able to get a couple of cute xmas gifts. Yay! I can't reveal now though so stay tuned after the holidays.

Mary Catherine was born to be a sales lady. Chrissy and I stepped away for just a moment and the girls manned the booth. They loved that! I would hear MC telling ladies to take a business card...and suggesting different products. It was hilarious! She is not shy at all, and was proud to be there with her mommy!

Here are a few of the soaps in their cute packaging. They smell like yummy strawberries!

Here are the adorable earrings! She can customize them for you...or you can pick from her creations.

Jai was happy to see his Auntie!

Plug:

If you are interested in any of her cute products...you can look her up here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Winston-Salem-NC/Handmade-Jewelry-by-JoCo-Creations/148829771826943

or here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JoCoCreations?ga_search_query=joco+creations&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

I think she's running some special "Black Friday" deals...so look out for that! :)

Just some pictures around the house!

We are FINALLY about to start installing our flooring in our kitchen! I can't wait to show it to you. It came in a couple of weeks ago, and we've been super busy as always and no time to get it started. I'm so anxious to get my kitchen finished. It's been a long time coming. My husband has worked so hard on it...and I'm proud of him. It's going to be so beautiful. Maybe I'll have it finished for Xmas?! ;-)

Here is a couple shots of what it looks like now.

Ps. Chito, if you're reading this...hurry up and get that leg better so you can help us with this archway. Haha!

(my brother in law is THE drywall master) :-)

My cute little door decor for the fall...haha.

The leaves have all fallen in my yard! So pretty!

My house looks so small next to our monstrous trees! I had to get a shot of the house surrounded by the leaves. I was a day too late though! The previous day the entire driveway was covered by them...and it was so gorgeous. I love fall!

Egyptians...

I received an email from Gracie's teacher on Thursday afternoon that she had to come to school the following day dressed as an Egyptian. Ugh! I had plans for a coupon class that night...and for doing some work around the house. Well, those things didn't happen. :( We ended up going to the store to try to find some things to make her look as much like an Egyptian as possible.

She wanted to be the Egyptian goddess Bast, which is the protector of women, children and cats. I googled her picture...and she actually looked like a cat.

This was a picture that I found online as someone dressed up as her...

So we did our best! Gracie picked out the ornamental pieces for her costume and we had the skirt. I dressed up her face with some eye liner because we couldn't find any face paint..haha. I tried my best to make her the "death mask"...but I didn't have enough materials to make the side pieces.

We were both happy with it...but hopefully next time I will have a bit more notice! :0)

I tried my best with the "death mask" headdress. I didn't have enough materials to do the sides...and Gracie really wanted a snake coming out of the top (sorry Gracie). She was quite embarrassed to wear the death mask to school...but ended up wearing it all day once she saw the other kiddos dressed up just as extravagant.

I was terrible at the whiskers! Haha...

It was a fun day for her though! Egypt is her absolute FAVORITE! She is so happy that they are studying it. Maybe one day we will be rich and able to take her there. She is crazy about pyramids, egyptians, and all that jazz. :-)

Tree

I had to post a picture of our beautiful tree in our yard. I love how the fall colors have been sticking around a little longer this year due to the warmer weather. Our tree was especially beautiful and it made me happy each time I pulled into the drive.

3 year check up...

Jai recently had his 3 year check up. He did great! He really loved all of the attention! He weighed 25 lbs. and was 34 1/2 inches tall. He is such a little guy...haha! That's to be expected with us as parents, I suppose!

He loves visiting their bathroom because he can reach the sink, soap, towels, etc. He can't really do that at home...so I think he made extra visits to the potty to take full advantage!

The little bp cuffs they had were so small and cute!

Haha...he ate soooo much food that day before we went into the dr.'s and his little pot belly shows it!

He always eats so much food...but never gains any weight! Must be nice!

Clean Teeth!

Gracie and Jai had their dental appointments yesterday. I wouldn't normally post it...but it was Jai's 1st visit, so I wanted to document it. They both did great! Gracie was super anxious because she has a tooth on top that is about to fall out. She didn't want anyone touching it or even going near it. I love how in the 2nd picture of her, her hand is crinkled up like she's terrified it would come out...haha. She did very well other than that. They gave her 2 weeks to get it out on her own....and if not, they want her to come in and have them remove it for $167.00?!?! Dentists are such criminals for charging people as much as they do! Geez!

They did say that Grace will have to have a bottom retainer due to no room for her bottom teeth to come in. Yay! :-(

Jai was perfect! He helped the dental assistant the entire time...and she gave him Toy Story glasses to wear (which you know made his day)! He was even holding "Mr. Thirsty" and each time she rinsed his mouth out...he would put it in his mouth to suck out all of the water. It was so funny!

Yay for clean teeth!

The pictures aren't the best...they were taken with my phone. I felt a little crazy taking my nice camera in...so I didn't.

Sweet Tooth!

I've really been interested in expanding my baking knowledge and possibly doing something with it in the future. It started with Krishna Meal...we have a lot of friends that are vegan, and the meal was mostly if not all vegan. I did peppermint patties, rice crispie treats, cakes, peanut butter balls, etc. These things are very rare to come across when you are vegan, unless you make them yourself. Even being vegetarian and not eating eggs makes it hard to find sweets anywhere that we can eat. It's pretty awesome to be able to bake sweets for our vegan friends and have them really enjoy it and appreciate it!

I always thought of how cool it would be to have a sweet shop that only had vegan/vegetarian sweets! When we visited Asheville, we visited a place called Short Street Cakes! (you can find pictures of it in my Asheville blog) I was thrilled to see that they actually had vegan cupcakes...but noticed that they weren't ONLY selling vegan treats! Why? Why be able to cook such awesome little vegan treats...and not do it solely? People would seriously travel just for that! I have had it on my mind ever since. That would be so awesome to have that here! And I should be the one to do it, right? Well, I'm dreaming big...and hopefully I can stay motivated! I started my 1st cake decorating class last week. I will probably be posting updates and new things that I do each week. It's starting very, very basic...but I think this will be good for me. I have to make myself find the time though, to bake up new treats! I really enjoy being creative and I'm hoping this all works out! I think it would be awesome and fun to do! Any vegan readers out there? What do you think? :-)

This is my first icing rose!

We learned all types or borders. These were the 1st ones that I tried. Some of them are pretty un-attractive (not to mention that I'm not very good at)..haha. I will improve!

Tonight we are doing a character cake! The awesome thing about this class...is that we get to bake our cakes! So, we can actually eat it when it's finished, and I don't have to feel wierd about decorating an egg filled cake. ;-)

UPDATE!

This is from my 2nd class. I'm not going to publicly mention my feelings on this class...I will do that later. I will say that I did this COMPLETELY on my own. No help at all! Not bragging...more disappointed really. Anyways, more on that later...

I didn't notice until later that night that Ariel's forehead is a quite unusual shape..haha. That side should have been her hair. I just didn't sit back and take it all in to notice. This cake was for Gracie...Ariel is her all time favorite character. She loved it! <3

Before:

After:

Zach is 4!!!

November 8th was my nephew Zach's 4th Birthday! We attended his party the weekend before and had a lot of fun! He is always running away from me, especially when I have a camera in hand...so this is the best shot I could get (hiding under the table)

:-)

My dad and brother Jody

Dad being silly...haha!

This is Zach's brother Andrew (who never poses for me either, so I was totally surprised that he did)...and my brother Bryan.

It was hard to get a good picture of all of his presents...this is just a few!

Oh my gosh...my mom actually looked at the camera and smiled?! Thanks mom! Oh, too bad Mary Catherine had her eyes closed! Haha...she's still a cutie!

His Toy Story cake!

All of the kiddos...except Liam! Liam was camera shy too! What's up with these camera shy kiddos?!

Eeeeekkk! He was so close to the flame. Luckily, he didn't burn his little lips off!

Jai eating his homemade cupcake! :-)

Mary Catherine and Gracie

Present time!

Jai didn't mind at all playing with Zach's new toys while he was occupied opening the others..haha!

What a lousy photographer (me)! But still a cute photo of Auntie CC and Grace!

The damage!

We had a great time and were happy to be able to spend it with them! Have fun playing with all of those awesome new toys Zach & Andrew! :-)