Fondant Try #2

If I could go back to school and get a degree, one of them would be a culinary degree in pastries or cake decorating. I've took some cake decorating classes but I hadn't done any fondant. I made a cake for John's birthday and I covered the cake in fondant. It was a disaster. It was so ugly and thick that I didn't even want to take a picture of it. It was horrible. This was my second try. John had a little get together on Saturday in Phoenix and so I made a re due cake. Matt helped roll the fondant out and it went a lot better. We'll keep practicing and hopefully we'll get better.

Thanksgiving with Family

Thanksgiving this year was spent in Sahaurita with The Waite Family. We had a really good time playing with Ryan and Amanda and their kids. We hadn't seen them since January '09 which was before they had their twins and we had our Jolie Kate. Thanksgiving was delicious. Amanda and I went to a couple of places for Black Friday. I got what I wanted and was happy with that. My shopping for Jayden is completely done and I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Oh and I got to go to the Country Fair White Elephant in Green Valley. It's a thrift store and it's all run by volunteers. The proceeds at the end of the year go to different charities. I unfortunately only had $2 in cash on me and they didn't take debit so I was very limited in my shopping but I still got some killer scrapbook paper, a picture frame, and some SpiderMan material for Jayden for Christmas. Total $1.90. I did pretty good. Now we're back to our regular schedules. It was good to get a break from school.

Sprinkles Visit

During Matt's school break we took some time to treat ourselves so we headed to Sprinkles. I've been wanting to go since they opened in Scottsdale and we finally got the chance. I was a happy girl. We ended up getting one cupcake for free because they gave us the wrong cupcake. Their bad, lucky me. I have had red velvet before but I didn't really get why people are obsessed. After Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese frosting I understood. It was delicious. Amazing. I wanted to eat five of them. So good. Jolie loved it, Jayden just ate the frosting the little toot, and Matt liked it. So good. I can't wait to go back.

I Highly Recommend It

When we figured out where we would be moving I knew we could only bring one of our couches. Well Matt wanted to buy a new one, but I knew that it wasn't necessarily the wisest thing to do. We hated our couches. With kids they have drool marks and they are just a pain to clean. So I went in search of a slipcover. My mom had a magazine and a coupon with it so I researched them out and decided on this brand. Surefit slipcovers. I went with a White Twill which I was excited for because it was white, and I really wanted something light. So we bought just the one for our sofa since that is the one we would be taking with us to Glendale.
Fast forward two plus months later to when a naughty mommy lost track of her time reading her google reader(it's the best and worst thing. I loose track of time way too easily). She went to go check on her 1 year old daughter who had gotten chocolate raisins that were left out. She had made a huge mess on the couch and I knew it was my fault but it still got me mad. No worries. Take off the slipcover and throw that beast in the washer. 2 hours or so later and it's as good as new. Here are the before and after pictures.
BEFORE

AFTER

I have told so many people about these that Surefit should give me a free slipcover just for all the business I've thrown their way. HINT HINT. I love my slipcovers so I thought I'd pass on the word. Got a sofa you just can't stand the look of anymore but don't have an extra $1000 to throw away... Buy a slipcover from surefit. It really has been the best $100 I think I've ever spent.

Pink is Perfect

Like I said for Halloween I was Pinkalicious. Well if you're like everybody at our party, you don't know who that is. It's a children's book that my niece Emma introduced to us. She was obsessed with it. So I decided Jolie and I would be that. I got a pink wig and the kids loved trying it on. Doesn't Jayden make the cutest girl?!? We couldn't get Jolie Kate to try it on and Sarah wasn't so fond of it either.

Batman & Pinkalicious

What does two pinkalicious and two batman costumes give you...A sore throat, a canker sore in the mouth, and exhaustion and that's just from me. Halloween is over and to be honest I'm pretty glad about that. You see Halloween lasted for us about a month and a half. Oh that's wonderful you say. Not so much when you have a 3 year old that wants to wear his costume everyday. Oh that's no big deal you say. Well try putting that costume on about 20 times a day, no exaggeration. How do you then explain to a 3 year old that Halloween is over?
I really do love Halloween. All the preparation is so fun and watching your kids get excited is the absolute best. Jayden has wanted to be Batman and so his wish was granted. I had this grand plan of Jayden being Peter Pan, Jolie being Tinkerbelle, Me being Tiger Lily, and Matt being Captain Hook, but Jayden's desire to be the ultimate super hero we know as Batman won in the end. Maybe some day I'll get to have my story book characters. We didn't get any family pictures of us in our Halloween costumes which I am so sad about, but there's always next year. I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween.

A Couple of Mugs

I love these pictures of Matt and Jolie. I just think they are too cute. Jolie's dirty look is one I am sure I will be sick of in a few years. Can you imagine that face as a teenager. They are both so scroungy but you gotta love it.

Fire Station Visit

I have been horrible about updating and such, but today we got to take a tour of a fire station. I think I may have been more excited about it than Jayden. Do you ever do that? Get excited to see your child do something that you think they are going to love.? I do this constantly. I loved the beautiful bright colors of the fire trucks. I just kept visualizing all of these amazing pictures I could get. But I didn't because my 3 year old hates getting his picture taken. Grrr. Or he wants to wear his batman mask in every picture. Grrr. I was still glad to have gone. I'm sure one day he'll appreciate it as much as I do, or maybe not.

Arguing with a 3 year old

(Picture from way back in March)
I was visiting with my Dad on the phone today and ended the conversation with "Bye, I love you Dad." Jayden was very quick to correct me in telling me that it was not my Dad. It was his Grandpa. After going back and forth I just laughed and walked away. He was sure to tell me, "Mom it's not funny. It's my Grandpa, not your Dad." We have this conversation a lot about my Mom and Dad. He is so possessive of them. They can't be anyone but his Grandma and Grandpa. I know he's only three, but it sure makes me laugh when he is so insistent and unbending. I wonder where he gets that from.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Last night we went to the Diamondbacks Game. It was a lot of fun watching how excited the kids got and watching their eyes at how big everything was. We sat up in the nose bleed, but on the first row, so we had okay seats. Jayden loved leaning on the railing and sucking the rail(gross I know) but at least we could see. We had 11 people total in our group. Thanks everyone for coming. It was so fun to be with you all.

Matt's Tri

I am a little behind with getting moved in but I wanted to post pictures of Matt's Tri in the Pines. He decided way last minute to do it(he's crazy). He did really well though. I don't know details, I was too busy with watching cheaters only take one lap on the bike, or only taking one lap on the run. I know who you are. I was proud of my athlete. Good job Babe.

What We're Excited For

While I was growing up I loved watching my brothers play baseball. So this weekend I'm so excited to take Jayden to his very first professional baseball game. Jolie's outfit was easy to make, but Jayden's(ugliest shirt ever) has been trying. I've never done sleeves before, and I don't think I'm ready. I tried and tried but they just weren't turning out right. I don't have that many shirts to experiment with, so he'll be wearing a white shirt underneath. That's kind of baseballish(sic) right.

Goodbye Wonderful Summer...

This is our last week living here. I try not to think about it but it's hard when you're packing and forced to think about it. We have loved being up here. It's been a wonderful summer. One I didn't want to end. But it must end and we will make our new "apartment" our new home. I saw a movie recently that really helped me look at things differently. So I am going to try to stop waiting for things to happen, and enjoy the moments more. Goodbye Wonderful Summer, Hello change.

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