Fondant class

I just finished my fondant class last night! I really enjoyed working with fondant; it really is like play-doh for grown-ups! Here's a picture of the cake I made for the "final project."
We also made little favor boxes in class, and while playing around with modeling something out of fondant I ended up with an elephant that I kind of fell in love with, so I attached him to the box. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but for now it's adorning my kitchen island.
Of course now with Amelia's birthday coming up this weekend, and my newly-acquired cake skills, the pressure's on to do something really cool for her cake. Oh, and did I mention her birthday party isn't until next weekend? So really I have to do two cool cakes. We'll see what happens.

Being sick STINKS!!!

Well, the last few days have been pretty nasty. Sunday morning Amelia woke up with a fever and proceeded to get worse throughout the day. We did take the kids to trunk-or-treat for a little while Sunday night (against better judgment, I know), which was fun. Then Monday Amelia was really lethargic all day, feverish, coughing, etc. I didn't want to jump to conclusions but I was really worried we might have the flu! Amelia rested all day Monday and started feeling better Tuesday, thank goodness. However, Tuesday morning Andrew woke up with a fever and was very lethargic, so he went to the doctor. The doctor said he didn't think it was flu, but to watch him closely. Yesterday he started feeling better and today he seems fine (no fever!). Poor Amelia was coughing constantly yesterday afternoon and last night (not much sleep), so we took her to the doctor today. She doesn't have the flu either, but her asthma is acting up, so we have a prescription to pick up for her meds. Through all of this Bryan was sick for a couple days (he's fine now) and last night I started feeling gross. Being sick STINKS!!! We had planned to go to Arkansas today for Harding's homecoming weekend and to see family, but because of all our sickness we had to cancel the trip. Hopefully we'll be able to reschedule soon.

So, that's what we've been up to. Oh, and before all the sickness hit, I made a bunch of pajamas for Amelia. Here are some pictures of them, as well as a couple from trunk-or-treat. Here's hoping the sickness is almost gone from our house!!!

The Grand Finale!

As I posted a few weeks ago, I've been taking cake decorating classes at a local JoAnn's store. Tonight we had our final class of Wilton course #2! During course 2 we made a BUNCH of different flowers, most using royal icing. It is definitely a different animal than buttercream! We saved all the flowers we made over the four weeks for the grand finale cake, which featured the basket-weave and the flowers (oh, and a couple birds). Without further ado, I present...my cake!
I've signed up for another class starting the first week in November: Fondant! I am really excited about learning to work with fondant, as I've never used it before. It seems like you can do so many different things with fondant, and I look forward to experimenting. I'll definitely keep posting pictures!

And the award goes to...

...Amelia! She was chosen "Super Student of the Week" in her Pre-K class. This award is given by the teachers to a student who "makes good choices all week." Amelia got a certificate, and got to choose a prize out of the prize box (a little spinny top). She was quite proud of herself, and we were quite proud of her!Last week was fire safety week at Teddy Bear Daycare, and the students got up close and personal with a fire truck and firemen! Each student received her very own "Ypsilanti Township Fire Department" hat; it's already gotten a lot of wear, but not by Amelia...see below! Every time Andrew puts the hat on, he shakes his arms for a couple minutes. Who knows what that's about, but it's cute!

My Little Ponies: A New Musical by Amelia Jobe

Enjoy this original song Amelia came up with today while playing. Broadway, here we come! ;-)

And so it begins...

Last week, Bryan and I each reached a milestone; I became a soccer mom and Bryan became a coach of his kid's team! Amelia is playing soccer in the preschool-age league run by our township. The first practice/game was quite an experience (Bryan compared it to herding cats)! Amelia had a lot of fun playing, and even scored a goal! Bryan is a great coach and I think the kids will have a great experience being on his team.

Amelia also started pre-ballet and pre-tap class last week, so we're getting kind of busy (thus the title of this post)! She has really enjoyed class the last couple of weeks and informed us that she likes ballet better than tap "because the shoes are prettier. They're pink." So there you go! The class is closed to parents except for the first week of the month, so I'm looking forward to next Thursday when I get to see what she's actually learning. If I can video, I will!

Andrew, of course, is too little for much organized activity, but he's quite a trooper in tagging along and cheering (he can actually dribble the soccer ball quite well!). He has recently started saying a lot of words, including bus, tractor, truck, (do you see a theme here?), cracker (which sounds a lot like tractor), puppy, ducky,doggie...and that's all I can think of for now. Oh, and he calls Amelia "YaYa." I think that's pretty cute, myself. Hope all is well with everyone in the blogosphere! Enjoy the pictures!

Return from a break!

Hello, readers! If you are reading this then you've been very faithful. :-) I've taken a break from blogging over the summer, but now that we're back in a routine, I figured I'd better get back to blogging!

We had a great summer, but we're glad it's fall! Amelia started school again last week, which we're ALL happy about. The Early K program we'd planned to send her to ended up falling through (thanks for pulling the funding, Michigan government), so she's staying where she's been and going to Pre-K every morning. There are two Pre-K classes this year, so she has a different teacher, which is nice and will give her a bit of a different experience. Her class is going to learn some French this year, which I'm excited about since I studied French in high school and college! It should be fun to practice! Amelia will also get to be present for music class at school this year, which I know she'll love. Here is a picture of her first day of school (it was raining, and Andrew wanted to be in the picture too!). Doesn't she look old? :-(

Of course the other reason we're glad it's fall is that college football is back; well I should say Michigan football is back! And BOY, IS IT BACK!!!!! We are pumped about the first two games, can you tell? :-) We have tickets to five home games this year so we will really get to get into the spirit. Here's a picture of us with our friends Anne and Ted Ledbetter after the first game.
And finally, I am taking a cake decorating class! It's the first course in a series of Wilton cake decorating classes offered at our local JoAnn Etc. and I'm really enjoying it! I'm really looking forward to taking a couple of the more advanced classes, but you have to take the 1st course as a pre-requisite. This is the cake I made for the first week's lesson, which was on using the star tip. Nothing spectacular, but it was tasty, and we ate it when we had friends over to watch UM's victory over the Irish! I'll post pictures of the cakes I do each week, so hopefully we'll see improvement!>Happy fall to everyone, and if you're reading, thanks for hanging in there!