Happy 30th Birthday

Emile had his birthday, and it was a BIG one! Not only did he turn 30, but we decided to go on a small trip to celebrate. It was our first time leaving BOTH boys, so we didn't go far or long, but what a WONDERFUL time we had, and I really couldn't be more excited to celebrate someones birthday!

We sang and ate cake!

I even made this cake for the day before his big day! (Yes... we ate the chocolate cake above AND this one too!)

and he punished the pinyata with a golf club!

But none of this was before our mini vaca....

These are the feet that took us ALL over San Francisco!

Thanks Nance for the GREAT suggestion of riding bikes over the Golden Gate to Sausalito!

Thank goodness for this sign...

I know it was his birthday, but it almost felt like a honeymoon.
I would marry him all over again without question!
Happy Birthday!

mmmm... yum.

We had a BBQ!
Wanna come over? We had leftovers.

A good laugh

I'm not usually one to post these things, but this new Minute Maid commercial has me laughing EVERY time. If you haven't seen it, I hope you smile...

Before Mother's Day it was....

...National Train Day! Did you know?

Trenton's imagination is really busy these days. But the most fun thing for us is showing him that his miniature trains and his imagination can be part of the big world. This train just about put his brain into meltdown! He was shaking with excitement and little boy adrenaline when the steam engine blew its horn.

(this picture is just before the horn blew)

(this picture is just before his brain fried)

(Thank goodness Simon can't process any of it yet)

(He is sitting in the caboose and about to find out that we had to get off... not pretty)

Just as we were leaving... we even got to see this.
He slept the whole way home!

Simon was getting in on the act.... he started saying "All Aboard!"
We were almost in disbelief when we heard this...

Drumroll please....

Thank you everyone for playing along with my cake giveaway.
Trenton was really excited about pulling names from his cowboy hat.

And the winner is....

Stay tuned for more great give aways.

A contest?

I LOVE MY CAKE CLASSES!!!!

I finished this mega cake last night. This was the grand finale to my course. I started another one though, so don't worry... my cakes won't end here. :D


After last night I ended up with this cake that tastes delicious and we've been pigging out on the bottom layer all day (and all night!) So heres the contest. You have 24 hours from right now to respond to this post. Tomorrow at this time (Thursday, May 7th), I will enter your names into a hat that Trenton will pull from, and you will have a cake delivered shortly thereafter. No strings... nothing. I just don't need two cakes.. and I thought this would be a fun way to give the cake away. :D

So, again... tomorrow at 4 o'clock we will have a drawing. All posts must be before that time. And... oh yeah, you can't live out of the state.

One last thing, the cake is a Sour Cream chocolate cake in 3 layers. It is covered and layered in a white chocolate butter cream (apparently made Italian style... appropriate huh?), and layered with a white fondant. It is the top layer to the pictured cake.

By the way, if you are privileged enough to win this great prize, don't look too close at the flaws... I'm still learning.

Good luck and thanks for playing along.

Taco Bell: Mid 80's to 2009 - R.I.P.

My beloved Taco Bell,

I can't believe this is "goodbye". I first met you in my teens and have fallen in love with your adorable pinkish bell. Your delicious food and nutritious meat has kept me coming back for more. Really, where else did 69 cents get me a lunch in high school? I couldn't have been more thrilled when our new home was located so close to you. I used you as a landmark, a comfort food, a break from my walks to the nearby mall, a diet coke stop, and most of all for my fourth meal! Thank you, Taco Bell for creating that ever important fourth meal. See, my husband and I used to call it a "bed lunch", but thanks to you, I now have a real name for that late night craving. Even more, you offered supurb late night service. Common, not everyone is as dedicated as you were. It seems like just yesterday when your fourth meal saved me when I was pregnant. Your saucy refried beans were just what my developing babies needed. For years I could always count on you to come up with an endless menu using the same 6 ingredients. Genius!
TB, I will miss you. It was pain staking to watch this horrible creature of a tractor destroy you. Although I wouldn't have missed this chance to say our farewells.
R.I.P.

Spring fever.

I promise I haven't given up on blogging. The sun has been out! When the sun is out... I'm not in front of the computer. Instead I am chasing Trenton with his new bike and dinosaur helmet around.

and laughing at Simon with his Elmo helmet on..

Trenton had his first preschool field trip the other day, and he was FAR more excited to ride the bus than he was to go to the zoo.

and... I sat in front of him and his adorable buddy on the way there, and he was so fun to listen to. He is apparently a babbler, and the sweetest thing is that this buddy just listens and encourages him. See, after awhile... I sadly tune him out.. not her! She is SO good to him!!!
We LOVE preschool.

Oh yeah... I had a GREAT birthday!!!

And... Easter was wonderful. With all the egg hunts, church, and special meaning behind this holiday, I managed to snap a picture with my boys and their Great-Grandma. She is so cool!!!

My new cake class started. This cake isn't too fantastic, but it was exciting to make. Our next cake is a tiered cake. Hopefully it won't topple over before I can get some pictures.

Easter Best!

This is what Shonda did! The first photo with my boys TOGETHER... and the first picture with the cousins together.
I LOVE THEM ALL!

Just the miscellaneous in our life

I haven't forgotten about this blog. We just haven't done too much. We had some amazing weather and we did yard work (nothing worth taking pictures of), and the rest of the time we did some of this....

(ate food and made messes)

(drank smoothies ...aka... smoovies)

(smiled and made silly faces)

(drew pictures of ourselves)

(and...rode the new train)

Watch out Duff!

For those of you who aren't up on the Food Network's Ace of Cakes, the master cake maker is named Duff. He makes some pretty crazy cakes( ie snowboard terrain park, fire breathing dragons, tiki huts, etc.). I just wanted to state for the record that he better watch out! Here I come with my red roses, nicely arranged leaves, and dots. :D

This was all done in my new cake decorating class!!!
Just you wait and see what course #2 will bring!

Preschool prankster!

I am torn between being proud and emotional. I know it's a strange time to begin preschool, but thats just the way this little school works. We are so excited for Trenton to go, and a bit nervous. He has NO separation anxiety, which is GREAT, but a "good-bye Mom & Dad", might have been nice too.

Kona got SKUNKED!

Yes... skunked! Literally!
Most animals know instinctively to stay away from these lovely little creatures, but no.. not our genius dog! So, if we smell a little funny for a few days, I'll be hoping that you smell the febreeze, glade, vanilla, soap, and Listerine.
Poor Kona had to have a nice bath of Listerine to help get the smell out... he is minty fresh!

Golf on Valentine's

New clubs... clear skies...and love fluttering all around the driving range.

Emile was THRILLED to go with the boys to teach them a thing of two. Fortunately for me, I ended up with a few pictures, and a video to show you all.

Painting in our PJ's

I might have a Picasso on my hands... or maybe not. Either way, I think his art work is near perfect! Colorful, slightly abstract, unique, and very put together.

I tried!

So, I had a wild hair the other day to try to bake something I saw someone else do PERFECTLY! It required me to make fondant, which I've never worked with before, and it was supposed to turn out like this...
While it was fun to try, and I learned a lot. I managed to have a RAGING oven fire, cut my finger open, got red dye all over my tile counters and grout, destroyed the "truffles" into the melted chocolate... all while spending a small unnecessary fortune TRYING to make this.

At least I had fun...I have a few pictures to show... and I got to eat a little cake in the mean time.This is the bottom of ONE of the pans that got burned up in the fire.

Here is the heart cake... fondant on... no truffles though.