Let's do the basket weave...

I learned something new!!! I love baking cakes and decorating them, I'm not a professional by any means but I love a challenge. My sister asked me to make a baby shower cake for her so is started looking for ideas. Several hundred photos later I settled on this design, it reminds me of the old style baby carriages, (a pram?) and I loved it. Only one problem, I had no idea how to basket weave! So I placed a phone call to *T* from church and she was more than happy to teach me! Yay! I love that women! She rocks! And so here is the finished result... A strawberry cream filled cake with butter cream icing and a fondant baby face with it's own itty bitty binky!!

We have been cleaning out my mam mam’s house recently. And as I went thru each cupboard and each drawer I was feeling sad, not because she’s no longer with us, but because of the things I was finding.

You see in her closets hung coats and clothes with tags on them, she was always waiting for a “special occasion” to wear them. In the kitchen were special serving dishes that had rusted new in the box and I thought “what good are these to her now?” Isn’t every day special, simply because God made it? Why then do we hold back on using things or wearing things for that ‘special’ time, that perfect moment?

I say get up and wear that special dress to do your simple every day errands, make a meal and serve it to your family on those beautiful dishes! Why wait? Scripture tells us that our life is but a “breath” Psalm 144:4 and it also tells us not to “store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy” Matthew 6:19

It was a good life lesson for me, and a very teachable moment for the kids. Live everyday as if it were your last...

Aren't they just the cutest 'lil things!!!

Look at these cute 'lil cake bites!! I just think they are the cutest things!! I got the recipe from another blog Bakarella. Only hers are way prettier! I think for the first time they turned out cute!! I think I was a bit impatient and the chocolate was not quite set or I just have really hot hands, but when I went to dip the top of the cute 'lil cake the chocolate would begin to melt and then I had to move real quickly so I didn't drop them. These treats are for my son's school, they are having a meal for the teachers tomorrow and I love to try new things. As an added bonus I'm also sending the butterbrickle cream cheese ball from Tastefully simple!! The cake bites are really sweet and yummy!!

Like Father...Like daughter

Every night before bedtime we gather the kids for prayer. It's a nice time for us to unwind from the day and take time to review. Each night we ask What made you happy today? Sad? and Thankful! We never know what responses we will get. Now lately Dave has been calling on the kids to start the prayer and then he or I will close the prayer. Josh doesn't seem to mind, but Hannah not so much! Last night after our happy/sad/thankful she randomly said "OK guys I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100" So of course we all made our guesses. She proudly announced that daddy had won and his prize was that He was going to pray tonight!! LOL Didn't see that coming! So why did I title this "like father like daughter"?? Dave can be pretty tricky sometimes, and every so often he hits me with, "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 5" when I guess he automatically says "yep, now your getting up with the kids tomorrow" Nice!!! I think the best part is that Hannah has never heard Dave do that, she's in bed!! So for her to play the same card is pretty interesting!!

Ready for the runway...

I have no photos, yet, but I had to write this down! Yesterday I went shopping, by myself, for clothes.

A. I hate to shop for clothes
B. I generally don't have a good fashion sense
C. I almost never go alone.

Those things in mind, I went to the Dress Barn outlet. I was searching for an outfit for an upcoming wedding and my closet is seriously lacking in "nice" outfits. After much trying on and all that fun stuff I found an outfit that I liked!! I loved the feel of the material and the pants are flowy and I felt so pretty! DONE mission accomplished! Came home and my husband gave me a thumbs up as well, actually his eyes said it all, then the smile and head tilt, I know he liked it. I had one more hurdle to conquer, Hannah! When she came home I said Hannah I found an outfit for the wedding and immediately she ran to her room got a pad and a pencil and said, "OK I'm ready, try it on." Odd I thought, paper, pencil?? So I did the runway once again, she scanned me up and down and said, "turn" and then she wrote something in the notebook and held it up, a number 3! I said what's that for, and she said she rated it a 3!! I said well is it 3 out of 5? She said "actually it's out of 10, sorry mommy, I don't like the black socks" LOL I'm not wearing socks with the outfit silly girl, now re-calculate! Life in my house is never dull with the Diva of style!!

It's going to be a Happy Birthday!

I'm so excited to share these photos! It's my daughter's 9th birthday March 8th and she has been asking for a bed for her doll she got for Christmas. The "original" bed that is part of "Julie's" collection is $118 not including shipping and most likely you have to put it together, are they crazy??!! So I found an alternative and I got to be crafty!! My friends husband (Thanks Duane) made the bed frame for me, cost $30. I then headed to Joann Fabrics and purchased the fabric & bling, cost $12. Then I went to work and here are the finished results! I do believe we are going to have one Happy birthday girl on our hands!! :)

A Valentine's date for the record books!

We decided to attend the “Weekend to remember” conference this year at the Hershey Lodge. Since we were so close we commuted and decided to go some place really nice for our “date” nite! I had noticed the Quentin Tavern one evening, the parking lot was full (always a good sign) and several friends said it was really good food and a nice atmosphere! So I went to the web site and checked out all the details, the menu looked great and I called and made reservations for Saturday evening, Valentine’s Day! We had plenty of time to get ready for our evening and decided we better leave early, you never know what traffic would be like and it had started to snow. I love when snow is just beginning to fall, it’s so beautiful and just the thought that no two snowflakes are alike is just amazing. And I gazed into the eyes of the man I love and share this crazy life with…ahhhhhh We pulled into the Tavern, and we were a bit early but decided we’d go in and relax a bit before being seated. Yeah… that didn’t happen, the Host (a grumpy older gentleman) said “well your early and your table is not ready but…” as he grabs two menus, “follow me” and proceeds to weave us thru the first dining area (a quaint room with beautiful antiques) , thru the back of the bar area and seats us in the most lovely area, NOT!!! We were seated at the opening of two major traffic areas in the establishment; I had the lovely view of the back of the bar and to my right the bathroom and common area for all the wait staff to congregate! Deep breath…..and I once again gazed into the eyes of the man I love, who by this time was drooling over the menu…. Which I’m not sure how he held as the wind picked up with all the staff rushing by!! I got the attention of the host and asked very politely, “ Had we have waited, where would we be sitting?” and he said “Ohhh, over there” as he pointed to an even more quaint room with large windows, flickering lights and antiques…sigh…. Once again I gazed into the eyes…. All right that’s it with all the gushy stuff, by now I’m ready to cry and he’s just hungry and its Valentine’s evening and we are here and well we might as well just turn that frown upside down and enjoy the evening! OK OK it’s funny, and probably a classic evening for us so I order my meal and try and relax (and stop shivering) and then…………a party of eight are seated right next to us! Ummmm yeah, four couples and the ring leader is a dead ringer for Ray Romano’s mother on “Everybody loves Raymond”, ….no need to elaborate… Our meals came along with even more laughter. See Dave ordered a steak and coleslaw as a side. Only when his plate arrived the waiter said, “Sir, we are out of coleslaw so we gave you macaroni salad instead” word for word I kid you not!! There was no discussion allowed, no other choices offered! We smiled and burst into laughter, here is the irony, Dave hates macaroni salad!! But I will add that in his hunger, he did eat it and said it was not bad. My meal was pretty good, a seafood mixture in a cream sauce over penne pasta. We finished our meal and quickly made our way out the door, yes we paid! LOL We did have a wonderful evening and lot’s of laughter!! God is good and I’m thankful he chose to bless me with Dave!!

The photos:
1. The Tavern, built in the 1700's
2. Exhibit A; where they sat us
3. Exhibit B; Where we could have been sitting!

Scrap time...

Today was the first day in a VERY long time that I sat down to scrapbook actual photos! Lately I've been making mini albums for gifts but not my own pages. So today I was thrilled to get a few layouts completed. Plus, I have my own OCD's about how I scrapbook example, each kid has their own Birthday;School;Holiday & Misc. albums. To make it even more OCD, they are all color coordinated in the WE R Memory Keepers leather albums (I love those albums) It feels so good to have Hannah's School & Birthday up to date as well as Josh's School album! I feel like i've accomplished something and that my friend, feels good! Sigh... As I look behind me and see the ginormous container of photos (all organized by date and child) I know, can you say OCD!! Enjoy

Note: On the "A Year in Review" page there is a mini file folder album on the page which has lot's more photos and journaling inside!

WAY outside my "box"

I was faced with a challenge of making a gift for an extreme teenager!! I'm not a skull and crossbones kind of girl, and I had to stretch myself a bit to make this accordion album but after all is said and done, I kinda like it!! I used the BoBunny "x-treme Teen" line, card stock, black ink, staples and some leather & ric rac! Check it out!

my Diva daughter

It seems I always have much to say about my son Josh, but tonight it's all Hannah, my Diva child. I'm not sure where she got her Diva style, totally more nature than nurture 'cause anyone who knows me knows that I'm no fashion plate! LOL Hannah has a style all her own! It's no joke that Hannah loves shoes, I mean LOVES shoes. She is known to trade shoes in church, school pretty much wherever! And now I can add makes her own shoes to the list! Yep, tonight I walked in on Gheppeto's shoe shop in my kitchen. Cardstock...check Tape...check Staples...check a little girl with a creative imagination...CHECK! I'm not sure I should be worried quite yet at the size of the heels she was attempting to create! Who knows maybe someday people will wear her original designs, but for now it's just a prototype and she may have to rethink the cardstock...Patent Pending

Son of a scrapper....

I am so proud of Josh tonight, even though earlier I wanted to ring his neck!!! Here is why: the kids have been on break from school, and there were days when Josh was "bored out of his mind" and we asked him..."do you have any homework?" Nooooo was his reply. So to my delight (inject sarcasm) he came to me yesterday and said, "Um mom, I have a project due on Monday" And I smiled and hugged him and...NOT I was so mad at him, I refused to help him! He was on his own! So today after church I took a nap,Dave went to work and Josh started working on his project. Oh he did try and wake me several times but I was not helping.... Imagine my delight when I woke up and he had most of the game board finished, complete with rules and cards!! So I softened a little bit and let him use my Cricut Expression to cut out the letters. I think it turned out pretty good!! He is a Son of a Scrapper!!! So proud!!

The SHACK by William P. Young

I just finished reading this book and let me tell you it is amazing. I have not read a book in it's entirety since the "Left Behind" series, sad I know, but this was one that I had a hard time putting down, and some chapters I went back and read again. It's an easy read because the story gets you right from the start. This is one of those books that you can't wait to pass it on for others to read!!! So if you are looking for that perfect gift for the booklover in your life, get this book!!!