Busy Baking Month

This month was really busy when it came to baking. I guess it is the season when goodies are made and given...I unfortunaltely don't know how to cut my list short. Every year I think, "Why did I do that....not next year" and then I do it again and again. I also had my brothers (twins) birthday cake, a nephews birthday cake, and some cupcakes I made for a little boy's 2nd birthday party. It was a lot of fun...but I had to take some shortcuts on my brothers cake due to time-and it showed. Instead of coloring my fondant...I decided to paint it-and it was just ok. I now know to always color my fondant if I want vibrant colors and an even coating. Maybe I just need to get an airbrush-that would be MUCH easier. Hmmmm....there's an idea for next christmas I guess. I also made some holiday truffles to give to grandparents for a gift. They were Oreo truffles in white chocolate, and then PB in the milk chocolate. I packaged them in cups and boxes and they turned out looking really cute. I was proud. Ok, enough of me talking...now for some pictures of all of my treats! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year!!

Oh yeah....I made a New Years cake for me and Dan to eat too! Can't wait!

Our New Years cake. Chocolate cake, caramel frosting, pecans in layers and all around. Chocolate pecan turtle was my inspiration. Poured some caramel on top of cake to look more tasty!

Chocolate Truffles for the holidays-yummy!

Cars cupcakes for 2 yr old b-day party. 72 cupcakes total!

My Nephew Mj's Birthday cake. He wanted a tractor cake-this is what I came up with.

Bret & Beau's Birthday cake. They like TMNT and 1 likes vanilla, and the other chocolate.

Where's Parker?

I was making popcorn yesterday while the girls were playing and Parker was chilling on my bed. The girls were scaring each other and also added slamming my bedroom door into the mix. Yes, as usual...things were crazy. I've got popcorn popping, the microwave going, 2 girls screaming and laughing, a door slamming and opening, and then a baby fussing. Parker was SUPER fussy yesterday...he has been sick for 3 weeks now, and the cold has led to an ear infection. We are treating him to the best of our ability-but 3 weeks is such a long time! I'm done with being up all night. (like I have a choice?!!) All this chaos is going on...and I could hear Parker fussing. He wasn't crying....so I just continued making the popcorn and threw out a few " your ok", "Parker, your fine" comments. Just then I realized that slamming my door could be a very bad thing....my thought of cut off fingers and ER's popped into my head. I had to stop them. I went over to my bedroom door and told the girls to stop with the door-and to go play in their bedroom. I then looked up to the middle of my bed to comfort sweet parker-but he wasn't there! Where could he be-it's not like he can walk, crawl, or even roll for that matter. PANIC set in. I could hear him fussing though. Where was he?

I spotted him! He was between my bed and the pack'n play laying on the floor. Both legs underneath my bed, and half of his head underneath the pack'n play. How did he get there? I picked him up and he stopped fussing immediately-then he gave me a big smile. What a relief-he wasn't hurt! I then turned to the girls who were completely unaffected by what had just gone on-and asked them how Parker ended up on the floor. The response was short and innocent. Hailey said, "Whitney put him there." My response was..."How?" Hailey then replied, "She pulled him off the bed and put him on the floor." I just stood there like a dear caught in the headlights-shocked. We then had a serious talk about NOT picking up or moving Parker EVER! I then added a few threats if they ever did anything like that again....just to scare them. Has anything like this every happened to you? Talk about scary. I hope this never happens again. I'm so thankful that Parker didn't get hurt and that he wasn't scared or anything. Thank Goodness!

Parker and his crib mobile

Parker is growing bigger and bigger everyday. He now needs to be entertained during his awake time. We put him in his crib and turned on the mobile-and he seems to like it. It gives me a few minutes to make me and the girls some lunch, or get a few things done. Whatever works right?!

Glad he's taking an interest in toys and in his surroundings. It's so fun to watch them develop their personalities. I just love our little guy!

View from underneath

Parker watching the mobile move
Isn't he a cutie?!

I think he likes it!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was wonderful as usual. There's nothing like preparing some of your favorite foods for hours and hours....just to gobble it all up in 20 minutes! What a great holiday-it's all about being grateful, being with family, and stuffing your face! I love Thanksgiving! This year my in-laws were in Hawaii, and all of Dan's sisters were in Utah....so we celebrated with my family. We had dinner at my parents house, ( all the yummy stuff: Turkey, sweet potatoes, broccoli, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffed celery, stuffing, pie, the works) and then we let the kids play outside in the grass for awhile. My cousin Becky and her little family were in town and came over for pie. We finished off the night with pie, and we watched the movie"Up". We had a nice day and very full bellies!

The Table
Our decorations

Whit got into the costumes after dinner

Grandma and Quinn

Grandpa and Parker

What a mess!

Cute little Whitney

Me and my Mom

Mandie and Noelle

Bret and Beau

My cousin Becky and Mia

Grandma bouncing the girls on the Yoga ball

Thanksgiving was a success! On a side note....I have to mention that I made the sweet potatoes. For future reference....crispy marshmallows are only good when roasted over the camp fire. That's what I get for taking my eyes of of them for 30 seconds! They were still good-just not perfect. Oh well.

Lizzie & Adam's wedding

Lizzie and Adam are now married!

We went up to Utah for the wedding last week, and we had so much fun! Things were super busy: preparing, planning, a bridal shower, the wedding, and squeezing in a few family things in between. We played a lot, and even got to enjoy some snow-yep-it snowed the day of the wedding. Hailey and I both enjoyed our new winter wardrobe-nothing fit us...so we bought new clothes for the trip! I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to, I guess I already had my hands full. That's what happens when you stay in a house full of things you could never afford to get fixed if your kids broke them. Thankfully-no disasters! Hailey got a stomach bug the day before we left-poor thing, I hate when kids barf. Whitney had a high fever and felt awful all the way home-and a few days later...she's just starting to act like herself again. It was great to see family members and to show off our latest addition-Parker. We are looking forward to the next time we can go and visit.