Bring the Rain

You may notice the new box to the right. I just started following this blog. I cannot read one of this woman's entries without crying! I encourage you to check her out. She has a link to start at the beginning of her blog so that you can "catch up" on where she is coming from. She is such an encouragment and inspiration.

Fondant Gift

This is the first cake we did in our fondant class. The fondant looks really cool, tastes gross and is too expensive to buy the good tasting stuff. I peeled off all the fondant after I took the picture, iced the cake with buttercream icing and we're good to go!

In anticipation of summer...

We had a beautiful day on Wednesday so we took full advantage of the sunshine and spent the afternoon outside. Chase spent between 30-45 minutes playing with his trucks in the dirt. It was everywhere by the time he was done!

After the dirt it was time to mow! Our neighbor fired up his lawnmower so Chase had to get his out right away. He is very intent on the job!

Meanwhile, this little cutie just hammed it up for the camera and loved every second of being outside with us.

The best part of today (Thursday) happened this evening. I heard Chase playing in the living room while I was cleaning up from dinner but I wasn't really paying attention. I happened to look up at one point and this is what I saw! Chase had been giving Alexa all her toys and then settled in next to her. He was "reading" to her from one of his car books. He was explaining the page and talking to her. It was such a precious moment to catch. I am so proud of how well he takes care of his sister and is bonding with her already.

Fun!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! This year was my first as a mommy of two! It was a beautiful, albeit windy day, so we spent much of it out of doors. We have been doing major landscaping work so I mowed the grass and Howard continued digging out our soon-to-be flower beds.

Chase has been very much involved in our renovations and being the little boy that he is, loves the amount of dirt to drive his trucks in. He got his very own shovel today and spent a happy half hour helping daddy dig. He mimics everything we do and he quickly got the hang of jumping on the shovel to dig up the dirt!

While Howard was running errands and Alexa was sleeping I pushed Chase around the yard in our wheelbarrow which was the highlight of his day. We also played with his trucks in the dirt and I pushed him around in Alexa's stroller. Howard made an excellent steak dinner for us and we took a walk as a family before the kids' bedtimes. It was the perfect way to spend a mother's day...

Helping fill the ditch

The Grand Finale

Well, I did it! I successfully completed Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1. Here is the cake to prove it. My camera didn't pick up the true purple of the flowers but it looks really cool. You'll have to trust me. This was a yellow cake with chocolate icing and buttercream flowers. Yum!

Here's the awesome thing. Howard had my friend Lauren secretly sign me up for the next decorating class!!! The next course is Fondant and Gum Paste and I am psyched! What an awesome surprise! (Howard really IS the best!) This is another four week course but we only do two cakes so stay tuned...

Happenings

We've been a busy bunch, enjoying the sunshine and warmth ushered in by the last few days. Rather than a lengthy post I'm just putting up a bunch of pictures of the last few days. Enjoy!

Yeah, daddy's wrapped around her finger!

Fat lip from a run-in with the sliding board.

Hammin' for the camera!

Sesame Street knows what it's doing. He's never even seen more than 5 minutes of Elmo but he loves the guy! He was so excited to get Elmo jammies for the warmer weather. :)

Alexa's first time on the sliding board...didn't faze her.

Playing in the dirt...the best kind of fun!

~Our little sunshine~