The Wedding Cake (and Wedding)

My sister got married this last weekend and we wanted to make it a nice celebration for her.  Everyone pitched in and did the different preparations.  Invitations, flowers, decorating, etc.  My job? The cake - which is why I have so many pictures of it. :)  I had lots of help and with my sisters and Mom we ended up making a great cake!!!  Here are some pictures of both the cake and the wedding.

I made the lilies a few days before out of gum paste.  So first a picture of those:

I was going to try the fondant for the two styrofoam layers at home before leaving for Idaho but it was rough because there was too much icing.  So off it went and I waited till Idaho.  The first layer I had everyone helping me roll out to get the right size before putting it on the cake.  Kristen helped me smooth that part out! With help from Mom and Jill too. :)

The second layer I did myself and got the rolling out down better and smoothed it a little easier.   With critiques coming at me from family members I got that one smoothed out.  It was all in good fun and everything turned out great!!

Then on to the last layer which was the actual cake.  I've decided real cakes are SO much easier to put fondant on than styrofoam is! It just plopped right one and smoothed out perfectly.

 

Next came the stacking and the ribbons.  All of us made sure it was all even, and then it was time for the flowers:

And here is the finished product:

The ring ceremony was beautiful and my dad did a GREAT job with his speech and the ceremony part.  One that will never be forgotten - by anyone. ;)  Jeff and Rachelle looked so happy and Zoe and Emily were adorable in their white dresses with their flower baskets!!

The weather was perfect, the food was perfect, the decorations were perfect. It was great!!   Here are some of the pictures from the wedding. Sorry, they're a little smaller than the rest.  They didn't want to get bigger for some reason. It was a great day and I'm so happy we got to share it with Rachelle and Jeff. Congrats! We love you guys!!

     

My Soccer Girl

We've hoped since last year when Ashley started dribbling the ball between her feet, that she'd be good.  She didn't get it from me! Considering I've never played before. ;)

Last week she had a rough time. She didn't like being pushed around but held her own.  This week was a different story.  Daddy had a little pep talk with her and told her to go for the ball and run.  She did!!  

We missed her FIRST goal for various reasons.  The other team was great at scoring goals in our goal in between.  her teammates made several goals.  With a few minutes left to go in the game, Ashley decided to take over.  One time down the field she got within a few feet of the goal when the other team got it from her and scored - in our goal.   The next time down the field she was about to make a goal when a member of the other team decided to pick it up... Whoops!!  She decided to make up for it and took off down the field and kicked it in!  So the last time down the field she was running after her teammate who was about to score, he missed a kick, she took over and scored.  So yep, THREE goals for my little girl!! She just can't seem to stop beating the boys. ;)  That's my girl!!

Oh and just and FYI, this picture is from last week.  I wanted to get a picture of her adorable pigtails with the orange and blue ponytail holders but she took them out too fast!!  We decided they are her good luck charms!!!  She also had a super cute orange skirt too. Quite the clash. ;)

Conversations with 3 year olds

Sometimes I forget how much Gavin knows.  He started talking early and his first sentence at 15 months was "don't do dat!" Just as clear as can be.

So today I was trying to get Gavin to eat his spaghetti. He wants a ding dong for his dessert and knows there's two left.  I told him he needed to eat fast or someone would eat them.  He thought for a second and asked if Jakob and Andy were going to eat them.  I told him maybe a monkey would eat them.

He thought again for a second and started eating pretty fast.  

G:  Mommy, there are no monkeys in the house.

M: They could come through the front door. 

G: Monkeys only eat bananas.  

M: Well what if they want a Ding Dong?

G: They only like bananas!!

 

M: Well then maybe a cow.

G:  Cows only eat leaves.  No giraffes do.

M: How do you know giraffes eat leaves? 

G: I don't know.  Cows  say MOOOOO. Mommy say Moo(he wanted me to put food in his mouth).

A few minutes later he decided he better hurry and eat so that the monkeys won't come.   Guess it WAS the monkeys!!

Lightning Fears and Ear Infections

We've had interesting times in our home lately.  Well, with 5 kids and one on the way that's to be expected. Add 3 kids in soccer and getting a bookstore started up, we're quite busy! But that's not what I'm talking about.

Jakob had a HUGE fear of lightning storms for a while.  He watched the weather like a hawk and if there was even a slightly dark cloud he would get very anxious.  A few Sundays ago I thought he would have a meltdown because of the thunder booming. 

We had to talk to him many times and finally starting showing him that while yes, lightning is dangerous, you don't HAVE to be afraid of storms!  That started as we were driving to Ikea last week. The weather was TERRIBLE and he was looking at all the lightning.  We got out of the car and I had him inhale the wonderful smells that lightning and rain bring. He LOVED IT.

So then comes today.   He had a scrimmage for his Arsenal soccer team and it was rainy.  Lightning was everywhere and he sat there being goalie just as calm as could be. HE learned to enjoy the lightning.  I had to keep telling myself that I couldn't freak out for his sake. It worked for both of us!!  The lightning never got close but they did get dumped on.  Jakob was great and even stopped a goal with his head!!  So I was very proud of my son and his overcoming of his fear. If only I could do the same with heights and spiders...

On to the ear infections.   We have gone swimming a lot lately and forgot Ashley needed ear plugs with her tubes.  WAY TO GO MOM AND DAD!!  The first time we went, she complained about her ear and after that there was no problem.  Then we went to the lake last week. I didn't expect her to go under so I didn't worry... I forgot that I have 5 little fish.   

A couple days later her ears started draining. I was thrilled because I knew the tubes were doing their job and all was great - until Sunday in St. George when I noticed it wasn't so... fresh. BLECH.  So on our way home(We had an AWESOME time in St George by the way!!!), we took her to the doctor and got drops and medicine.  

Her ears are finally doing really well after 4 days of drops and medication.  One awesome thing came from all this.  My little 4 year old can count to 60!!! And I have to stop her a lot of times because she keeps on going.  Its because she had to let the drops soak in for 60 seconds so I had her count.  For the first few times she missed all the 4's.  She'd miss 15 and then 24, 34, and so on.  I noticed last night she was counting perfectly all the way!! Probably not the most ideal way to teach your child to count but it worked for her!!

New Table!!

Today we decided to go to Ikea (sorry Katy, I know you wanted to go!) to check out the bookshelves for good ones for our store.  We found some awesome ones and can't wait to get them.

We found a few really nice tables and fell in love with one. $599 wasn't too bad for the size but we knew we couldn't do that for now.

We were down next to the checkout and decided to check out the clearance items - and there was our table!! It was bein

g discontinued so we got it for WAY cheap and we were THRILLED.   After maneuvering things around in the car Steve managed to get the whole thing(gotta love Ikea and their do-it-yourselfness) in!! 

We got the whole thing put together and it is SO NICE... Here is the table we had before. Don't mind the knife on the table. The kids were in bed and we had to use the knife to open the box...

And here is our new table. the picture doesn't do it justice. Its a good 8 feet long and will be 10 if we put the leaf in it!!! The whole china cabinet and cupboards we were thinking of doing may have to change a little but its so worth it!! Now we just have to work on the folding and patio chairs we're using... 

Catch Up Part 2

My blogger was being lame so I had to save it the way it was. Its probably better that way so its not quite a novel this way!!

July has passed quickly. After Gavin's birthday we had two more parties that week. One for our neighbor girl and then another one the next Saturday for Gavin and two little neighbors. It was fun! We had pinatas and cupcakes and all kinds of fun. It was rainy at first but decided to become blazing hot at the end. I preferred the cloudy!! The kids didn't care because they had good food, a playground and other kids to play with!!

The next weekend was Andy's birthday along with a million other things.  It was all fun though. We did some errands and then took the kids swimming. Jakob had another party to go to at the Legacy Center so we took our family to celebrate Andy's at the same thing. It was a BLAST.  Ashley was swimming every, Jakob was doing rock wall climbing before swimming, Andy was just playing and Gavin only wanted to slide.  He cried if we did anything else. And Ethan? I couldn't get the kid out of the water!! He didn't care if he went under, he just wanted to keep playing. There is a part in the pool that is only 5 inches deep and I had to stay there with him so he could crawl around without getting TOO much water in his face. He LOVED it!!

We went from that to our neighbors(same neighbors as we did for Gavin's) and had a party for their two little boys.  Andy didn't care if it was for someone else - he just got to play!! We had yummy food, good friends and warm weather. Nothing better!!  We got home late because we stopped by Smiths Marketplace to get groceries and some presents for Andy.  Andy did groceries with Dad and Ethan while I took the others to pick out gifts. 

The next day we had a party for Andy and a family friend.  We had burgers, hot dogs, salad. and chips. YUMMY!!!!  I even made a black forest cake and a Superman cake for the party.  

I wish I had pictures but I have to get them off my phone - once I find them. :)  Right now I think its about bedtime!!!

Playing Catch Up

I am SO far behind.  I'm not really going to try and fit everything in but I'll at least get the big stuff.  We missed a few birthdays in there I'm sure...

We went to Stadium of Fire for the 4th of July. We all had lots of fun. We got to go to Olive Garden before and stuffed ourselves.  We walked right in, were seated, ordered and served withn 1/2 hour!! It was crazy. The food was EXCELLENT.  I was so full I still can't believe I managed to finish a cheesecake slice... but hey, it was cheesecake! 

We got to the stadium really early and found great parking. We played some of the games and got a bunch of free stuff. It was fun.  I even got to see the Jonas Brothers from 20 feet away.  I heard loud shrieking from all the girls in the stadium coming closer so I peeked between two mobile homes under the stage and there they were!! Jealous?! just kidding. Really, I went for my kids...

The kids had a blast.  Ashley got into the concert and sang t

o every song. She had fun standing on Daddy's lap and dancing the whole time.  Jakob and Andy had fun but refused to dance or sing.  Gavin sang along to some of the songs but held on tight for the fireworks.  And Ethan slept through the whole thing. Until the fireworks which he LOVED.  He kept pointing and giggling.  Jakob decided that maybe it was okay if we go again next year... we'll see.

The next day was Gavin's birthday and he was proud to turn 3!! He got bubbles from "the girls"(i.e. the nursery leaders) after church and he didn't want to open his presents from us because he loved his bubbles so much!!   We went to a neighbors house and had excellent food and then Gavin got to blow out his candles on his mickey mouse cake.

Revenge of The Bumblebee

The other day we were putting together puzzles.  One of them was Hello Kitty, the other was Transformers. Bumblebee to be exact.  So of course I start singing I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee.   The kids are giggling and we have a great finale.  

So the next night we were playing outside and the kids were swimming.  When we finished dumping the water out I asked Jakob to stack the buckets and head in the house.  Next thing I know, he's SCREAMING hysterically and running around slapping his neck. After finally getting him to stop running around, I found the sting on his neck. It was a pretty good size.  I sent him in with Steve who put meat tenderizer on it.  I walked over to the garage.  There, staggering around was a very large BUMBLEBEE!!!  My poor little boy. So I lightly swatted it to kill it but not smush it. At least we know now that Jakob's not allergic to bee stings!!

Ethan's First Step

Steve and I have worked with Ethan to learn to walk. Not constantly. We don't want him growing up TOO fast.  But all he has done for us is leap at us.  And giggling. LOTS of giggling.  There's nothing better than hearing your little one giggle hysterically.   So I decided to let him do his own thing - as I've had to do with about everything for him. Stubborn little boy!!!

So then yesterday I walked into the living room and looked over as he was la

ughing at Gavin and took a step.  He wobbled for a second and looked at me very proud of himself. He was about to take another one but got too excited and sat down.  Among all the giggling and laughing and feeling proud of himself, we couldn't get him to do it again.  He did have fun following after Gavin for the rest of the day - crawling.

Then this morning I was washing dishes and thanks to our high counter, I missed seeing him take three steps to Jakob.   I thought the "I'll do it myself" phase would wait another year... or at least a few months!

This picture has nothing to do with the post. I just thought it was really cute.  I think he's worn himself out..

Way Behind!!

I just keep missing events left and right. It doesn't help that its all happening within a couple of weeks.

So first of all,  Ethan turned ONE on May 22nd.  I can't believe my little one is already a year!! We got to celebrate in Idaho.  He wasn't too thrilled about the cake but he LOVED his bath afterwards!  He got some really fun gifts and his cousins liked them as much as he did!!

Next came Steve's birthday. We spent it visiting cemeteries in my hometown.  It was nice and we enjoyed the drive through my beautiful town.   The cake below is a black forest cake. I couldn't believe how good it actually turned out!!  This is Steve's favorite cake and I decided to go all out with it.  My family sure enjoyed it!

The rest of the week was spent cleaning and getting ready for our next event. Jakob's baptism!!  It was a very nice experience and Jakob was happy. He has been SO excited for his big day! It flew by. I couldn't believe how fast it was.   We had a really nice dinner afterwards with family and a few friends.  It was a very nice day.

I could go on but its late, I'm falling asleep typing and this is already long enough. I'll talk about this weekend when its all done. :)