Cakes = Christmas!

So this last week I did a couple of cakes. They kept me pretty busy.

The first cake I did was a butterfly cake for a little girl named Lybee!

Side view.
I cut a round cake in half and used bits of a square cake for the center. I got the idea from google images. I always go on there and get ideas and then come up with my own. I loved how the butterfly turned out. Kurt said it was probably his favorite cake that I have done. I liked it too. I might even do it for Ayla's second birthday.

The second cake I did was a wedding cake. I didn't use fondant either.

Here it is.
Fondant eat your heart out!
I definitely prefer to use butter cream over fondant, at least homemade fondant. It wasn't as much work and it was easier.

Here is the side view.
The couple was married in Vegas and that is why there are dice on the cake. They said they wanted a simple cake and they got it. I loved the polka-dot ribbon I used. It added to the dice.

Here is what it looked like after they put rocks and candles around the cake. I was really pleased how it turned out. I wished I would have just used butter cream for my friends', Nanette's and Amy's wedding cakes. I guess, you live and learn. I think their cakes would have been better even if I had used pre-made fondant instead of homemade. They weren't that bad though. I still think they looked pretty but they weren't my best work. Maybe I am being a little harsh about it but you are always your worst critic. I don't have a post with Nanette's but I do have one with Amy's. You can see it here.

I took Ayla to the reception. She really enjoyed the rocks.

She also loved standing in front of the AC. She cracks me up!

Front view! I love her hair!

I did make some money from the cakes and between these cakes, and another cake I made a month ago, we had enough money for Christmas presents for Ayla and everyone. And guess what? Yesterday, I pretty much finished all of our Christmas shopping. YEAH!!!! I feel good!

While Ayla and I were shopping yesterday, we picked up an extra family member.

It is a Kitty Cat.
Well, it isn't exactly real but it feels like it is. Have you ever seen the FurReal animals? They move like real animals. While Ayla and I were at Toy R Us, I put her down and showed her this cat. She loved it. I haven't seen her like a toy like she liked this kitty. I couldn't get her away from it. I finally took her away and of course she wasn't happy.

Later, I met up with my mom and my sister, Marion and we went to Walmart. While we were there, I showed them how Ayla loved the kitty. This time the exact same cat had a kitten in the package as a bonus and it was on sale. My sister and I decided to go half and half on it for Ayla for Christmas. We ended up giving it to her right away. We didn't have the heart to put it away until Christmas. She loved it too much. So she got her main Christmas present from her parents and her present from her Aunt, Marion early.

See how she loves it? Ayla constantly Meows all the time now. I even asked her what she wants to name her kitty and she says, "Meow." So I guess the cat's name is Meow!

There is nothing like watching your child enjoy something so much. Her happiness is my happiness.

Merry Christmas early, Sweet Heart!

Ayla Lip Syncing!

In an earlier post, I promised that I would show some clips of Ayla lip syncing. Well, here are 2 of them.

Enjoy!

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween!

It all started with my Dad, Lane and Uncle Ernie when they came over for breakfast.

Then my sweet dad took apart our washer because it went out that week, along with our dryer. Yes, our washer and our dryer went out last week. Our dryer still kind of works.

Anyways, my dad found a broken coupler and I bought a new one on Monday. He is going to put it in on Saturday. I hope it fixes the problem. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I guess that is what you get when you buy used washers and dryers.

Here is Ayla during the day. Doesn't she look so adorable?

Krista, Morganne and Baby Kurt came over to visit us and to show us their costumes.

Morganne was a witch. Here she is flying away on her broom.

Baby Kurt was an elephant, AKA a tantor. Tantor is his nick name.

Of course Ayla loved having her cousin over.

Not so sure what Ayla is trying to do here.

They ended up staying for dinner.
We had brains (spaghetti) and goblin eyes (corn).

And of course we couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time. That is why I have both pictures on here.

Then my mom and Lane came over. I needed to get Lane ready so we could go to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Krista, Morganne and Baby Kurt ended up joining us.

Here is the whole gang in their costumes. Ayla in her dog costume and Lane is in his ghostbusters costume, I made him.

I even dressed up. I was Maleficent for the 3rd year in a row. This was taken at the trunk-or-treat. After the trunk-or-treat, we decided to trick-or-treat at a few houses in the neighborhood.

Cute little witch with her bag of candy.

There was a man dressed up as the Headless Horseman at one of the houses we went to. Lane freaked out when he saw him and ran and wouldn't get near him. We thought he looked pretty cool so we got our picture with him.

We had a very fun filled Halloween.

How was yours?

Made for Halloween!

This post is long but it is mostly pictures.

I wanted to post what we made for Halloween.

First, I baked cupcakes on Monday. We decorated them for FHE. 

Here is Kurt decorating his.

Here are the ones he did. 

Top row: cockroach's (he would), spider, Boo and "Blam!" Blam is a word we use when Kurt and I are playing a game of chess and the other one takes out a piece. We scream "Blam!" aka in your face. One time we were playing scrabble and he yelled it and put it down as a word and then said, "Just kidding." and fixed it to the word "lamb." He cracks me up!

Bottom row: Ace ( Ace is a character he made up with his works logo. He makes animations for his work with Ace), a guy who got the pee scared out of him, a man who was stabbed a bunch of times and is  bleeding to death and a nose with snot, Yuck. I don't even know how he ate that one.

These were the ones I decorated, one ghost, a cat, a spider, 4 pumpkins and 4 mummies. I got the mummy idea from my friend, Cherie's blog. There are a lot of cute other ideas from her post. You can see the post here.

Here is Ayla after she ate the cockroach one. Yuck! She doesn't look too happy. I don't think I would be either after eating a cockroach cupcake! LOL!

The next day, she did enjoy one of the mummy ones I decorated. She actually enjoyed both cupcakes.

I think I prefer cupcakes to cookies because they don't take as long to decorate. This is one of the traditions we do, decorate something sweet for Halloween.  We did cookies last year. You can see them here.

I did make some cookies this week. They were:

Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies.

They were so easy 

Here is the recipe:

1 box spice cake mix

1 (15 oz.) can solid-pack pumpkin (the small can)

1 cup of chocolate chips

preheat oven at 350

Spray cookie sheets lightly with vegetable spray (Pam)

Mix together cake mix and pumpkin. You don't need eggs or anything else. Then put in the chocolate chips. 

Drop by large rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet; they don't flatten out much so however you place them on the sheet is pretty much how they'll look after baking.

Bake for 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

Pretty easy huh?

Speaking of pumpkin....

I carved a pumpkin on Thursday and baked the pumpkin seeds.

Here it is on the table for us to enjoy. When we go to bed, he goes outside to stay fresh. Don't you love Ayla's little pumpkin?

Ayla enjoys our pumpkin. That is why I carved it. 

This is what he looks like in the dark.

3 years ago, my nephew, Lane wanted to be a ghostbuster for Halloween. So I made him a costume.

This is what a ghostbuster looks like. I am sure most people know. The one in the middle is Peter Venkman. So that is who Lane wanted to be.

Here is his costume 3 years ago.
Look at how little he was! So cute!

See Venkman?

Here is the logo I made. I printed these patches on the computer, then ironed them onto a shirt, then cut them out and then sewed them on. It was a lot of work.

This is the pack that we made him. My dad and my sister, Marion helped me with this one.

Well, Lane wanted to be a ghostbuster this year again. My bother, Robert called me to ask me if I knew where the costume I made him 3 years ago was. I was like, WHAT? YOU GUYS KEPT IT! Apparently it was lost. I was mad because I had made that costume big enough so that he could where the shirt part over his coat and so he could wear it again if he wanted to.

Well, Lane asked me to make him another one. I couldn't say know to my Lane. So that has been the project I have been working on the past 3 weeks.

My dad had some vacation and he helped me make Lanes pack again.

Here are the materials we used:

Styrofoam, piping, tape, drink holder, news paper, tubing, ice cream bucket lid and black paint.

We ended up cutting the bottom of the ice cream bucket instead of using the lid.

Dad putting the tubing in.

We used a lot of duct tape. We used it for the straps. 

We decided to use newspaper to cover it, to save on tape. Last time we used a ton of tape because we found out that, when you painted it, the paint ate the styrofoam.

After we built it, my dad painted it.

Next, I printed the patches out on different transfer paper. This time I didn't need to sew them on. 

I just had to iron them on.

.

Here is the whole costume. 

And here is Lane in it.

I think the patches turned out better this time. I wish I would have known about that transfer paper the last time I did it. It would have been easier.

Here is the "Venkman" patch.

And here is the pack. I put stickers on it this time. 

I think the costume turned out awesome and I told them to give it back to me when they were done. Then I can keep it and if he wants to wear it again, I have it. You never know. Maybe we will have a boy some time and he will want to wear it.

The night I took the pictures of Lane at my parent's house, my dad and I decided to put my dad's skeleton out for Halloween.

We put it in the rose bush. It looked the best there.

I tried to take a picture of my dad with my dog, Chico in his jacket with the skeleton. And this is what happened. I thought it was cool. His reflectors on his jacket glowed. Just like a ghost. OOOOOOH!

Last but not least, on my way home from my parents that night, I drove past this awsome Halloween house. I discovered it a couple of weeks ago. It is really creative.  I love the windows. 

If you click on the picture you can see what is in the windows. One has a groom holding a bride's head with a strobe light. Another has a witch in it with a strobe light. The living room window has a massacre scene. There are also graves in the yard. I think the man made up his house very well.

Anyway, there you have it. I know this post was pretty long. I hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Halloween!

My sister's birthday party!

My sister, Marion's birthday was last Thursday but we celebrated it last Wednesday.

I love to make Marion's cakes because I like to do Halloween cakes. I know that her birthday is not on Halloween but it is in the month of October and that is good enough for me. This year I did a mummy cake for her. I wanted to do a grave yard scene but she wanted a spice cake with cream cheese frosting not chocolate, so I went with the mummy cake. One year I did a pumpkin cake for her. You can see it here.

We celebrated her birthday at my parent's house.

Marion's boyfriend, Monty came too this time. 

Gotta love Lane brain!
We had Marion's favorite, hamburger soup.

Ayla loves her Aunt Marion.

My brother, Robert with the cake.

We all sang "Happy Birthday!"

And Dad cut the cake.
He killed the mummy. Is it possible to kill a mummy?

When we were teenagers, we always went to a haunted house for Marion's birthday. It became a tradition.

I am so glad she lives here again. She lived in Washington state for 10 years. She has been home for 3 and a half years and we have started the tradition again.

We went to "Nightmare on 13th" a week before her birthday.
Don't you just love my Photoshop job? Hee, hee!
It totally looks fake but I love it!

I had Kurt take a picture of us at our house the night we went to the haunted house. I didn't want to take my camera to the haunted house but I got my picture with us and the haunted house now, didn't I?

I took this on Monday when I went grocery shopping at Walmart a cross the street from "Nightmare on 13th."

I think the picture turned out okay. I could have done better if I had more time. I could have messed with lighting and everything but I don't have the time for that now. It took me long enough to cut us out. I am starting to get better at Photoshop.

As for the haunted house, we had a good time. It freaked me out a couple of times. My favorite was the insane asylum part. It had a hall that looked so real. It really looked like a run-down insane asylum.

I didn't care for the extra rooms that you pay extra for. It was really closed in and sometimes it felt like you couldn't breath and I am not even claustrophobic. It did freak me out thinking I could get the swine flu from all the faces that touched some of the sheets that hit your face. Yuck! I had to shower when I got home. I felt so dirty. Next time I think I will just stick to the main haunted house and not do the extra rooms.

I know I enjoyed Marion's birthday. I hope she enjoyed it as well.
Happy Birthday Marion! I love you!

Watch Ayla Grow! #5

Ayla turned 20 months yesterday. It has been another 4 months since the last time I did a, "Watch Ayla grow post." So it is time for another one.

Here she is at 16 months, playing in the water at aunt Marion's.

Here she is at our table at 17 months.

This is still 17 months.
We were at my friend, Ann's house for her daughter, Mary's birthday party. Ann took this picture and I borrowed it from her blog. Thanks Ann.

Here she is at 18 months.
This was one of the many times we went to the zoo.

Here she is at 19 months.
This picture cracks me up. She wanted to put on Daddy's church socks. I think they look like boots. LOL!! She is so funny!

Here she is again at 19 months.
She had fallen asleep in her high-chair, with a piece of garlic bread in her mouth. Precious!

19 months still.
My beautiful little girl. This pretty dress was a hand-me-down from my friend, Ann. Who got it from our friend, Katie.

And here she is at 20 months.
This was taken before we went to church, yesterday. She is wearing another cute hand-me-down dress. Thanks again Katie and Ann.

Ayla now weighs 21 lbs and is 32 inches tall. So she has gained a pound and has grown a 1/4 of an inch.

During her 19th month, she has learned how to say a couple of things.

"No, way!" is her favorite

"I (pointing to her eye)... love... WEEE!(pointing at you)" Apparently, "weee" is her word for "you." She will get it.

She is such a hoot! She gets more and more fun. She started to act like she is singing when she hears music. She actually doesn't make any sounds. She just moves her mouth. So she is lip syncing. It is so cute. I got a clip of it tonight with the camera and I will post it on another post.

Some of the fun things she got and got to do this past month were:

Go to the zoo with just her mommy.
We had gone to the zoo 5 times together this year but this was the first time we went by ourselves. It was fun and we were there from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. It was so fun just having it be the two of us. Mother and daughter time.

She received a table and chair from Grandma and Grandpa Perry where she got to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal with her soy milk for her first time. She loves to be independent and this made her feel like a big girl. She is getting really good at using utensils.

Speaking of independence, she now tries to dress herself and can strap herself in her high-chair on her own. She is growing up.

Another thing she got this past month was a kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa Perry. It was a hand-me-down from our niece, Brooke. It is so cute. It makes sounds and every thing. Ayla plays with it every day. When I brought it home, Ayla had a hard time getting to bed. It was like Christmas. I love hand-me-downs!

Ayla also got to have her first Tea Party with her friend, The Mummy and her pet tiger. See the fake spaghetti on the plate? She pretends she is eating that all the time and acts like she is drinking out of her baby doll's bottle. It is so cute. She is starting to exercise her imagination. I love it!

Ayla mommy is so proud of you! I love you! Slow down! You are growing up too fast!

Ayla's Halloween Apparel!

I love Halloween and my mother-in-law knows it. She got Ayla some Halloween clothing and I love them. We have been dressing Ayla up in Halloween all month. I want to share how cute she looks in them. Some outfits might have more than one picture because I couldn't choose witch one to share.

#1 The bat PJ's.

#2 The ghost PJ's

What is wrong Ayla? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?

#3 Cat shirt that says, "I'm Purrrfect" with skirt and striped tights.

This cracks me up! A girl on the run with a phone glued to her ear.

#4 The "I love my mummy" shirt with skirt and pants. 

I think she looks like a little biker in this one. I love the boots she is wearing. They are a hand me down from my friend, Ann. My friend, Katie had given them to Ann. I have been using them a lot with the outfits because they are perfect. Thanks, Katie and Ann! 

#5 This shirt says "To cute to scare" and it has a witch on it.

 I love this shirt. I love the long sleeve under the short sleeve look. This shirt looks good with some of the other Halloween bottoms.

#6 The ghost outfit.

Don't you love the ghost tights?

This picture cracks me up too!

It is so hard to get a picture of Ayla sitting still, so Kurt held her up for me.

This is outfit #7 without the shirt on. I think it looks cute with the onesie because it looks like a dance outfit. I had to take pictures.

Here is #7 with the shirt on. It is the cat shirt again and the cute boots again.

#8 The witch outfit. 

This one is my favorite. I think I might put her in this one during the day on Halloween.

Oh, and one more thing. People have been asking what Ayla is going to be for Halloween. Well, she is going to be a dog again. For 2 reasons: 1, it is a warm costume and, 2, she fits in it now.

This is her last year. My cute little wrinkled puppy.

It has been a lot of fun mixing up the outfits to make more outfits. Especially when I have an adorable little model.

Which one is your favorite?