My Year in Review

I meant to post this last night but due to a fussy and sick baby, I completely forgot. I know 2009 was a horrible year for many people in my life. But I must say 2009 was really good to my family and I.

~My husband graduated phase 1 of the PA program gaining his 2ND bachelors.
~We moved from San Antonio, Texas to Ft. Knox, Kentucky allowing us to be close to family for a year.
~I got the chance to meet up with my 3 best friends. Lou and Paul who were visiting from the UK, Stephanie whom I visited in FL, and lastly Roxanne and Josh.
~We took the kids to Disney and had an amazing time!
~Ryleigh joined our family in July!
~Enjoyed a wonderful visit from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Also meeting my nephew finally!
~Got the chance to meet my biological grandmother, aunt, uncles, cousins, etc!
~Had a fabulous vacation in Pittsburgh for Roxanne and Josh's wedding. Which I was maid of honor and made her gorgeous cake! :P
~Saw my little sister not once but twice this year!
~Made new friends!
~Lastly and most importantly, I spent the year loving God, my husband, and children every single day.

I know 2010 will be an even better year for us. My husband will finally graduate the PA program in May with his Masters. Also we will make yet another move to a location unknown at the moment. We are ready for a new adventure in our life.

Happy New Year everyone! Many blessings to you and your families!

cake stand love

How adorable are these birds!!! I also love that the plate can be personalized. Serious love right there.


Now in my experience with cakes, I prefer cake stand that have flat "plates". How much fun would this be with a festive and bright cake?


Now if you're looking for something a little more glam and sophisticated, I'm in love with this one!

Fall Friday

The flower of Fall. I love mums! The colors make me feel all warm inside.

photo via photobucket

I want to do this to my pumpkins!! Metallic Glazed Pumpkins
Ok I've been trying to upload the picture into photobucket for 5 minutes now and it won't work. Sorry no picture but make sure and check out the link. It's still pretty cool!

This is going on my wishlist

I still have a few months before I start giving Ryleigh solids but I'm officially putting the Beaba Babycook on my wishlist. Anyone have this?

Talking my husband into buying it might be a hurdle but hey I'm saving him tons of money by breastfeeding and cloth diapering. So he can bite the bullet and buy this for me.

Tea for One

How cute is this!

It can be yours here for just $9.95! It's going on my Christmas list this year. Sure I know I can purchase it myself but I have to come up with some things for people to buy me. hehe..Now if only I can decide which color to get.

It's a winner ~ Puppy Chow!

I officially started my running schedule today. I look up to my husband when it comes to running. He's simply amazing. Check out a few highlights of his track career. As of March 2009, he's still the best! and of course the infamous under 4 run. (btw my husband's name is Kell.)

He started me out with 1 mile walk at a 3.0 pace. Then 1 mile run with 1st half at 4.0. Then 2nd half at 4.5. Once I finished that second mile I walked for a few minutes to cool down. Here's my proof.


I celebrated with Puppy Chow AKA Texas Snow.

My best friend Stephanie used to send us Texas Snow all the time and I figured it's about time I make some of my own. I enlisted the help of two of my sweeties.


Gathered our ingredients.


10 cups of Chex, either corn or rice
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of semi sweet chips
4 cups of powdered sugar
1-2 cups of peanut M&M's (optional)

Combine butter, peanut butter, and chocolate in a saucepan.


Cook until completely melted and smooth.

Measure out your Chex.


Add chocolate mixture to Chex.


Combine well and add M&M's.


Next add powdered sugar. (I started with 2 cups but realized I really needed the full 4 cups)


Put a lid on your bowl and shake shake shake...shake your booty! hehe sorry


When well coated, chill for 1-2 hours. Then serve up with a ice cold glass of milk and enjoy!!

Oven is out

That's right my oven doesn't work. Yesterday morning I was going to bake some cinnamon rolls for breakfast before church and the stinking oven wouldn't heat up. Hopefully housing can get out here and fix it soon because I have lots of baked goodies planned for the next two weeks! So stay tuned. Today's goody however is something that doesn't reguire baking. Puppy Chow! I'll share pictures and recipe later on in the day.

Also thanks to the girls that shared their feedback last week. I've decided to keep the name the same. :)

new title...maybe

I'm thinking of changing the blog up a little bit. I rarely post about cakes anymore so now my blog title seems kind of pointless. I'd rather not start a new blog. I'm taking suggestions on blog titles. Anyone care to help me?

Whatever floats your boat...

I've had this recipe saved in my "to try" box for quite some time. I finally decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did.

Whatever Floats Your Boat Brownies (credit Karen from recipezaar.com)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT
1-2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, white, butterscotch, peanut butter) or raisins or chopped maraschino cherry or chopped nuts or M&M' or Reese's pieces or miniature marshmallow

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil.

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved.

Add sugar and mix well.

Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined.

Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not overmix).

Fold in "WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT"!

Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.


My "Whatever Floats Your Boat" was 1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips. I then decided to add a "cheesecake topping".

8ozs of softened cream cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup of sugar

Beat the 3 ingredients together until smooth. It will be kind of runny. After you've put the brownie batter in the pan, top with the cheesecake mixture. Swirl cheesecake around in the brownie batter to create a marbeled look. I had to bake the brownies a lot longer then the recommended 25 minutes noted above because of the cheesecake mixture. I didn't time them but they definitely cooked for atleast 40 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and check with a tooth pick.

Marbeling


They were very moist and chewy and thick. Great flavors.


Here's a piece just for you....


So What Floats Your Boat???

Fall Fridays

In honor of my favorite season I'm going to start doing "Fall Fridays". I'll be writing about anything that reminds me of fall. Crafts with the kids, fall decor, fall inspired food, including desserts and cake, and well whatever else comes to mind.

My first fall item is farm fresh Apple Butter. I had this yummy goodness on toasted wheat bread this morning!



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I'm loving the color gray for fall! I have not one, but 2 new purses that are gray! I'm also currently wearing a new fingernail polish that I bought at Target the other day.
Sally Hanson Xtreme in Gunmetal
It's a cool gray that has a blue tint to it. I love it!

5 stars

Lemon Brown Sugar Chicken


Super easy to follow. I baked the sweet potatoes with a little butter and brown sugar. Then roasted the asparagus with some olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper with a couple of sprinkles of mozzarella cheese. Delish!

1,2,3,4

Recently I discovered a new radio channel, well it's not exactly new but new to me! 100.5 GenX..it plays old school songs from the late 80's and 90's. This morning I was driving to get a yummy Iced Mocha with the windows down on this gorgeous day while jamming out to old school TLC and some Coolio! Great way to start the day if you ask me.
After a pitstop to the hospital to visit my gorgeous husband in his white "dr" coat. I made this beautiful lunch!

It's a simple Salmon Salad that I made. I kind of stole the idea from Eat, Live, Run (love that blog!). I took left over salmon from last night's dinner (baked with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, basil, and garlic) and flaked it with a touch of olive oil, half a lemon and it's juice, and an avacado. I put the salad on top of some lettuce with sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and cucumber. Lovely! This eating clean stuff is great!

Now if I can get started on running. Our treadmill should be arriving sometime this week. I can't wait for it to get here! Kell came up with a great running program for me to start with. So pumped!

I'll end today's post with a picture my mom took at Brogan's soccer game.

Is it me, or does she look like she's watching the game, smiling?

weekend goodies

This week I went to my local Dollar Tree and found some really cute placemats that I just couldn't pass up! Check them out!

Don't they look like something from Pottery Barn. Love them. :)

I also wanted to share this cute picture of my little bohemian baby. Caitlyn wanted to put on her necklaces on Ryleigh's head. It was cute.


Yesterday was Brogan's first soccer game..well actually the first game was last weekend but we were in Pittsburgh. It's so great living back with family because my mom, step dad, dad, grandma and grandpa, and my uncle all came to his game. It was so nice having everyone there and seeing them all cheer him on. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for a little soccer game. Here are some action shots.
Kell's the assistant coach this year.



#8

Caitlyn cheered him on the entire game.

I really need to play with my camera so the action shots don't come out blurry...any tips on that? camera is a Canon Rebel Xsi

Wordless Wednesday

*sisterly love*

Redecorating..in every sense

It's time to redo some things in my life. Recently I've fallen in love with the Eat, Live, Run blog that lots of people I know read..yes I realize I'm late to the bandwagon. But Jenna's blog is helping me realize I want to change some of my habits. Starting tomorrow, hubby and I will be changing the way we eat. While we have mostly cut out white flour, I plan to become a little more strict about this. Eat more fruits and veggies, snack on healthy fats and proteins, try and eat as "clean" as we can. Absolutely no more fast food or processed foods, we are also giving up our beloved soft drinks. I'm am personally "redecorating" the food I eat.

It's also time I get back into running. I haven't ran in almost 10 years. Not since running track in high school. So Kell has put together a running schedule/plan for me to follow to build myself back up. He, himself, has been trying to train for a couple of upcoming races. I'd love to one day join him in one. So I'm "redecorating" my health.

Since returning from Pittsburgh...which I fell in love with...I've decided to try and simplify things. I've been slowly going through things the past couple of months but have decided it's time to kick it up a notch and really go back to the basics. Meaning, do I really need full drawers and closets of clothes when I really only wear the same 10-15 items over and over? Do I really need the 10 purses that are in my closet, even though I haven't used them in years? do I need half of the things in my junk drawer, or night stand drawer? No, No and No. It's time to clean it all out. "redecorate"

Last but not least..actual redecorating. Not every room since my living room, bedroom, and kids room did just get a facelift. But thanks to Roxanne and her wonderful decorating for her wedding, I've got this big urge to redo the color scheme of my kitchen. My kitchen has always been a mish mosh of "chef's" and "wine" stuff, with rich colors. It's time to lighten the mood a bit. Here's the photo for my inspiration.


I'm loving the blue tinted mason jar..with some creams and white.....

Time to Redecorate!

Coming to you from Pittsburgh

Oh boy it's been a busy couple of days. As my title says, I'm blogging this morning from our sweet suite hotel room in Pittsburgh. One of my very best friends got married last night. I was her matron of honor and also had the pleasure of making her wedding cake. The day was perfect! The weather was amazing. She has some of the most awesome friends and family and I was so honored to be surrounded by such wonderful people yesterday. Every single detail of her wedding, down to the tiniest details were simply stunning and a complete reflection of the bride's personality and love for nature. I can't wait to see pictures from the photographer. I was so busy running around doing matron of honor stuff that I didn't have a chance to take any pictures! Although I do have pictures of the cake. Of course!

Here's a little explanation about the toppers. Her husband is in EOD school right now, for those that don't know what that is, he learns about bombs all day. Roxanne love knitting. It's her life, it's in her blood. So their toppers are unique and orginal but a complete reflection of them. I hope you love this cake as much as I do. It's by far my favorite cake I've done. Oh and when you see the picture, don't pay attention to what the cake is sitting on. The caterer was the one to put the cake on the log and she put the turntable (which is only used in the decorating process in order to spin the cake around) on the log as well. Which she wasn't supposed to do but I didn't even notice she did it, until after the cake was cut! oh well. I loved the caterer so I'll forgive her. :)




We head back home tomorrow (we've been here since Tuesday). I'll be sad to leave but it will be nice to relax at home. I can't wait to catch up on blogs when I return home.

Peanut Butter Jelly time!

I desperately need to make a grocery trip run but since we head out tomorrow morning for Pittsburgh, I'm holding off on the grocery till we return. So I'm all out of breakfast food for myself. What's a girl to do when they have no more Kashi cereal? Why eat the kids Eggo Waffles of course! I thought I would be a fun and tasty twist on just plain boring waffles. Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly! Yummo such a yummy way to start the day.

Ooo I hear baby squealing and laughing from her bassinet....off to play with her before I need to do more cake stuff. Oh crap I have to pack today too! Oy!

Active

Over the weekend, we purchased the Wii Active package! I'm so pumped to try it out! I plan on doing the 30 day challenge. But we head out to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for the BIG wedding! I can't wait to start it up when we get back on Saturday though. :)


Speaking of the BIG wedding..I've been working on the cake toppers this weekend...will take pictures for a sneak peek at part of the "wicked cool" topper. ;P

Thankful Thursday

A friend of mine lost her 6 year old daughter on Tuesday after getting her tonsils removed. I couldn't imagine waking up one day and not having my kids be there. So as cliche as this sounds, today I'm very thankful for my children. Thankful for every second I have with them.

I'm also thankful for:

My sister in law Erin....
My nephew Nils and his "Auntie Jess my chair!" and "Uncie Kell Do it!"...
Caramel Apple Nut Bread from Huber's farm smothered in their homemade apple butter...
The leaves that have started to fall....
E.L.F makeup that is so wonderfully cheap and pretty
Better on a Bagel...yummm....

Nephew

I loved meeting my nephew last night finally! He's a sweet doll with an amazing vocabulary! I just love him to pieces and want to eat him up! I'll be posting pictures of this family vacation over the next couple of days. We have lots of things planned....sight seeing around Ft. Knox..Louisville Stoneware...the Zoo...The KY state fair...bourbon trail...Huber's Farm for berry picking...and all with 4 adults and 4 children. Action packed for sure!

Meeting the family

My mother in law, sister in law, and nephew come into town today. We're quite excited since this will be their first time meeting Ryleigh and will be our first time meeting our nephew.
BTW not everyone here in blogger world knows that I had my baby. Ryleigh will be 7 weeks on Sunday. She was born July 5th @ 7:17 am weighing in at 8lbs 12ozs. It was a very quick labor and delivery. Seriously if I had waited at home 20 more minutes, she would have been a home birth. The nurses delivered her because she came out before the doctor could get there from the oncall room. She's been such a joy to us. We are so in love with her. The kids especially. They can make her smile and giggle like no other. it's wonderful watching them all interact together.







Monday I'll be making some yummy cupcakes for my mother in law's birthday. So stay tuned...

The things that make me happy today

*Great haircut and color.

*Hanging out with my bestie having quality girl time.

*Strawberry Limeaides.

*Good convos with my mom and realizing she is like my best friend.

*Smiley happy beautiful baby.

*Kids who miss me when they are gone.

*Movie night and yummy candy with my love.

*Feeling like my old self again.

All I need is a beach...

..to go along with this tropical yumminess of cake.

Coconut Pineapple cake with pineapple filling

I have a wedding cake to do in a couple of weeks and this is one of the flavors for the 3 tiered cake. I needed to try out the new recipe to make sure it is good enough for the lovely bride. Which is why it has no frosting and the filling isn't actually in the cake since I was just messing around with flavors. This recipe gets 5 stars from me... definite keeper! I can't wait for this wedding cake!

Handbook for 2009

This was posted on a message board I belong too. Great words to live by!

Handbook for 2009

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s—Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment....
13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip...
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Give a copy of this to everyone you care about.

B's graduation

It's been a week since Brogan graduated Kindergarten. He was so excited and proud of himself. I can't believe he's about to be a first grader. :( Where does the time go? Even my baby baby, Caitlyn, will be in Pre-K this fall. Kids grow up way too fast.

no news really

In Sept, a "bff" of mine is getting married. Not only am I her Matron of Honor, but I'm making her cake as well! I must admit I'm super stoked about it. Kell and the kids will be going with me to Pittsburgh for the wedding. It will be a fun vacation.

Other than this upcoming cake, I have no other cake news to report. I've taken a short hiatis from the cake making. I got so busy with the move. Now that that's over with, I'm just uncomfy and too close to the end of my pregnancy to even be thinking about cakes. Afterall I'm busy baking my own little cupcake to think about other forms of cake. unless I'm eating it of course haha....

Speaking of my little cupcake...I now have 4 weeks left....30 days until the due date. which means crunch time. I have 3 nursing covers I need to make for myself. Yes technically I only need one but I fell in love with fabric..sue me. I better get on that because she'll be here before I know it.

updates

So many people are asking for updates. I'm assuming on the belly but I'm going to update all around. :)

Our movers will be here in 4 1/2 weeks. Ahh! I have so much to do before that happens. Once our stuff is gone we'll be staying in an extended stay hotel for 2 weeks. Hubby graduates April 17th and we say goodbye to Texas the next day. I can't believe how time has been flying. I'm excited to be near family again but so sad to leave my friends here. I am looking forward to being able to spend time with my husband again. :)

We have been going to church together as a family on Sundays and it's been wonderful. After church today the kids and I had fun doing things around the house while Kell went to the library to study.



Oh and what I'm sure most people want...22 week belly picture! Yes it's 22 weeks already! ahh.... Oh we do know what we are having, but we are keeping it a secret from family so I won't be posting it on my blog, but contact me if you want to know. :)

I think the shirt makes me look bigger lol. So here's a bare belly shot.


I want to share a couple of pictures. We have this weird bush/tree thing in our front yard that has these weird nut looking things hanging from it almost year round. Well once a year only for a week, the tree/bush blooms. And it's gorgeous! It has a strong very sweet smell that comes from it. While in bloom it is covered in butterflies, bees and ladybugs. I love it.