Happy Birthday Kaisey Bear

A year ago today, I had my LAST (Trent are you reading this?) LAST baby. I had 5 hours of false labor, and two days later, went into REAL labor at about 1:00am. We were pulled over on the way to the hospital. Wheeled into a room, and I was BEGGING for the epidural. When the nurses checked me they said that I was a 10 and crowning. Two contractions later Kaisey came out without the help of any drugs. I think we were inside the hospital for a total of 10 minutes before she came out.

I love this little girl with all my heart. I can't imagine my life without her!

Photos by JulieWilliamsPhotography.com

Kaisey's Party

We had Kaisey's 1st birthday party last night. This is her cake. I wish I could say I was getting better but I guess after try #2, I still kinda suck. It looks way cute, as long as you don't look too closely at it. Adding tiers was NOT easy! As in life, the foundation is definately the most important part!

Kaisey wanted the pizza crust more than she wanted her cupcake. She finally decided to try the cupcake with a little coaxing from dad, and a few tears.


And back to the thumb she goes!

Sick Baby

This is my poor Kaisey with Croupe. She's not been sleeping well, and she's had a fever. She's been drooling a lot, has runny swollen eyes, and a runny nose. So last night, I thought maybe she's getting new teeth too. YUP...she has broke 2 new top teeth WHILE being sick. Poor thing.

Kali's Sick Days

Kali missed her first day of Kindergarten on Thursday. My hilarious little girl found her new swimsuit, and insisted on wearing it her entire sick day.
Kali seemed fine for school on Friday. A little tired, but nothing out of the ordinary for her. I got her ready for school, and decided to drive them. We got no further than the driveway, and she asked me if I had a bag for her to "puke" in (refer back to Disneyland trip). I told her no, and as we were scrambling to get her out of the car, she opened up her backpack and refunded in it. Way to go Sis....way to save the car. Now her homework on the other hand......

My Little Angel

Photos by JulieWilliamsPhotography.com

Valentine's 2009

We had a cute little dinner for Valentine's. Heart shaped pizza, heart cookies (my grams sugar cookie recipe) and a Coldstone cake for desert.

Here are the kids with their Valentine's gifts. The girls all got new shirts and earrings, and Kaleb got a new Webkin.

Mini-Adult

Here is Abbi with her glasses. Not only did we pick up her glasses (which are only needed for seeing FAR) but we also got her braces off. She is becoming my mini-adult. She is becoming interested in her hair. After the girls shower, they all run downstairs for a "blow dry session." It's really pretty cute yet scary to watch them grow up by the minute.


Abbi came home from school yesterday and told me that she "really does need a Valentine's box for school tomorrow". Mind you....I've been asking her for about a month if they needed one. Kaleb and Kali both made theirs in class. Here's a pic of all the kids watching Abbi. They REALLY wanted to get in there and help! LOL
Baylee has been off track, and we've LOVED having her here. She is so excited when Kali gets home from Kindergarten and they can play. Then once school's out she can't wait to play with Katie.
Finished product. Pretty good for a last minute thing. THANK GOODNESS for my vinyl machine. I made the polka dots and Abbi's name. Under the flap it says "Treat's Here" with an arrow out of black vinyl as well. AND thank goodness for Jenn Branum who had an extra box laying around!

AND how fantastic is it that the graffiti has been removed from the neighbors house! YEAH!!

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Ingredients

• 16 ounces white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 lbs icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

DIRECTIONS

• Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.

• It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

• Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

• Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

• Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.

• Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

• Its best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

• Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.

• MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make 2 batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance.

For a mini batch: 1 cup marshmallow, 1 tbsp water, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar.

First time....not perfect. But I will DEFINATELY do this again. I had a lot of fun! If you have any questions let me know. Youtube has lot's of help videos! Happy Caking!

Always on a Sunday

Why does my dog insist on doing his "adventure" on a Sunday? Doesn't he realize that I can't get him back until the following morning? (At least I've gotten him back eh?) Or better question is....why don't I have a tag on him that says my name and number?

I went to let Binx back in right before I left for church. YUP....gone. I still am unsure of how he escaped. So I drive around the neighborhood for a quick once over, and go to church to teach my cute 9 year olds. I'm doing my best to not loose it. Well....I lost it! Thanks to all of those who were concerned for me...I'm just a big boob. Drove around after church for a while and nothing. Apparently some of my WONDERFUL friends and neighbors went on a search party. I had several friends call me concerned.

I called this morning to the vet and nothing. I was weeping like a baby as I'm trying to give the vet my information. About 10 minutes later, the vet returned my call to tell me that Troy McDonald had found my dog. Apparently the little stinker got tired of his escapade, and pooped out right in the middle of the road. Troy picked him up, and brought him home. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you friends, thank you angels, and thank you Troy! Stupid dog :0)

Ghetto

I opened my back blinds as usual this morning to discover this.....

This house has been vacant for several months now. I'm upset to tears. I have to look at this for how long? And how long before it happens again? And again? I'm really wanting to move now.

Kaisey's Butt Dance

Kaisey was going like mad...we were scrambling for the camera....we caught the tail end of her "dancing" moments. It's pretty cute!

1 or 2.....2 or 3

I took all the kids for an eye exam today. I was most worried about Kaleb. He has been getting some really bad headaches lately. I took him to the doctor, and all the blood work came back normal...and the Dr. suggested getting his eyes checked. Duh Amy. So Kaleb's eyes are fine. Which now makes me happy yet nervous. Happy no glasses...but nervous that there could be something going on. Nobody actually saw when he broke his femur 2 years ago. He could have hit his head. The headaches have been progressively getting worse since the accident. MRI here we come!

So back to my story. The Dr. was checking Kali's eyes.

Dr. "#1 or #2?"

Kali "1."

Dr. "2 or 3?"

Kali "3."


Dr. "3 or 4?"

Kali "1."

I'm laughing my head off at this point.

Anywho. Abbi turns out to be the one who needs glasses. Kali was just fine. She can't listen...but her eyes are fine.

Total Destruction?

Kaisey has some mad destruction skills. Seriously? She was supposed to lay into the cake for the photos, and I actually made this hole for her. She really didn't want to touch it. She kept putting her feet on it, and kicking it. It was really funny. She did such a great job. I can't wait to post some of the pictures.

My First Fondant Cake

Judge not ya'll. I did the best I could....and I'm quite proud. This cake is for Kaisey's first birthday pictures. So she is going to destroy it....but I have found a new interest. This is made out of the marshmallow fondant which tastes MUCH better than regular fondant (thanks Amy Christensen). I think regular fondant tastes like fish GROSS!

Round

I've decided (AGAIN) that it's time to get back into shape....and I don't mean round. I ordered the wii fit. How fun is that? I am super excited to be able to start changing up my routines. The eliptical can get quite boring.

Sunday morning, I decided to go for a run, and I thought I'd take Binx with me.

Binx started out really well...other than he wanted to sniff EVERYTHING! So we are about halfway done, and I realize he is totally pooped. I ended up carrying him several times. So I guess the dog and I will get into shape together!