Emerson's School Program-12/1/10

Emerson had to get all dressed up for his school program at school. I was so proud of this little guy because he doesn't like to sing AT ALL but he did fabulously!

Thanksgiving-11/25/10

Thanksgiving was absolutely fabulous this year! Besides burning the top of my sweet potato brulee (twice!), the food was delicious. A family in our neighborhood (the Catlins) joined us as well as my SIL Steph and her man Tom. The Catlins have 4 wonderful kids and our kids loved having them over. I set up our kitchen table in the main entryway so that they could sit close to the adults in the formal dining room.

A special thanks goes out to Holly and Ted for joining us on turkey day. We thoroughly enjoyed having you guys and your kiddos with us!

Emerson's 6th Birthday Party-11.7.2010

I know I am seriously behind on updating my blog but the past couple of months have been a whirlwind. I just haven't been able to keep up. Better late than never, huh?

Emerson's birthday was on 11/8 and it landed on a Monday this year so we celebrated the day before. He chose to have his party at Jumpin' and to have a Spongebob theme. His party was very low key with about 10 kids. I didn't do much for it since I knew that they would want to jump almost the entire party time. I was also still on pain meds from my surgery so I was a little spacey. It just made things easier on me to go easy on the party since I didn't need to stress. In hindsight, I wish we would have done something much bigger for him but there's always next year, right? All in all, Emerson had a blast and that is what really matters.

Daniel, Emerson and Elijah

This is a bad picture since E's eyes are closed but I just had to post it. He was super thrilled to get this present from Grandpa and Grandma Logan. I wish I could have caught his expression better because he was ridiculously excited about this gift.

Finn and Hayden

Spongebob Cake for Emerson's Birthday

This isn't the best photo that I could have taken but oh well. I spent way too long making it for E's birthday. Using the star tip that much will kill your hands. I really wanted to make him a cool 2-tier fondant cake like the Star Wars one that I made recently but he wanted this instead. Ugh. I will never buy another character shaped pan again. It would have been much easier to have transferred an image of Spongebob onto a sheet cake. Lesson learned, lol.

Halloween 2010

Emerson

Cupcakes

Me (please excuse the drugged up expression, lol)

Halloween night is one of our favorite holidays. I decided to host a large party before the kiddos went trick-or-treating but it didn't go as smoothly as I anticipated. I had no idea when I set the party in stone that I would be having surgery just 2 days before. When I found out my surgery date, I figured it would be okay because my last one went so easily. It was back at Easter and I ended up grocery shopping right after I woke up from the anesthesia. It was crazy. I didn't even need to take much pain medicine. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this time. I hurt. The morning of the party is a total haze to me. I don't even remember making the food at all. My guess is that the pain meds made me stupid and so I can't remember jack. That night was kind of weird too because I wasn't up to speed. I didn't really enjoy the party but at least the kids did (which is what really matters).

Hayden (he's some kind of Bakugan creature)

Silly Boys

Roller Skating-My Favorite Childhood Activity (10/2/10)

Emerson, 5

Hayden, 7

Hayden got an invite to a skating party back in October and I had no idea what was going to happen. My kids had never been on skates and all I could think was that my kids were going to break a limb. Clayton had to work so I was on my own to watch out for the two of them. They were really unsteady at first but then they just took off, much to my surprise. I was so relieved. See, it wasn't all about the relief that I didn't have to worry so much about them falling as it was for me to be able to skate on my own, lol. I love to skate! I skate better backward than forward and I can do spins. My abilities come from spending all my weekends at the rink as a middle schooler. I worked there too when I was a teenager so I have been on skates quite a bit during my younger years.

We all had a blast so I believe that Hayden is going to have a skating party for his next birthday. I am so glad that the kiddos love skating as much as I do. :)

My First Client Cake

I had an absolute blast making this Star Wars cake for my friend Shannon. It is hard to see, but the edging of the words are sprayed with silver graffiti spray (it's edible and made by Duff). The white stars are painted over with white shimmer powder but you can't see that at all in the photo.

Overall, I am pleased with how the cake turned out. I got the design idea from someone else on the web so I can't take full credit for it.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

Challah

Basic Boule

Have any of you tried this method to bake homemade bread? I borrowed the book from the library and it was an amazing way to bring homemade bread to the table every night without a lot of fuss. I can't believe how professional my breads turned out. It blows my mind how simple they were to make. If you do a google search on it, you can find tons of information on it. Try it out. You will amaze your family with your awesome baking skills. ;)

Here's the basic boule recipe and info: http://www.seattlepi.com/food/386357_bread05.html

So you want some Carolina BBQ?

(this pic is of the real deal Lexington BBQ from theeatenpath.com)

I miss Lexington-style BBQ so much since I moved away from NC.  Luckily for me, I just found a good recipe that is pretty close.  I fully warn you that your house will smell like vinegar while it cooks as that is the base for NC BBQ in the Lexington region.  The recipe calls for cayenne but I think it should be left out.  The meat was hotter than the real stuff so next time I will only do the small amount of hot sauce.  Chop it up after shredding to make it even more like the real deal.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Carolina-BBQ/Detail.aspx

Sorry and an explanation

It's all confusing, lol.  I couldn't password protect my site like I have in the past.  Blogger only lets me choose to do authorized readers if I want my blog to be private.  If you are reading this, then you are authorized. :)

Under the advice of a friend, we decided to temporarily deactivate Clayton's Facebook account and make my blog private.  It would be unfortunate for a potential employer to see too much about our lives.  We aren't bad people or anything but we don't want to be judged based on a previous blog post or something else of that nature.  In this day and age, people are too easy to research.  You can find too much information on someone.  I have no qualms with unknown people reading about me and my family (heck, I read about others' lives all the time and I am not a stalker, lol) but I don't want anything I have posted to sway opinions on my husband.  That would be unfair to him.  He is a wonderful engineer and he has worked hard to climb the ladder.  Heck if I want to be the reason he doesn't land a job.

BTW, keep your fingers crossed.  NC might not be too far away!!

Will have to go incognito for a little while--email me for password

I need to password-protect my blog for a little while. My husband could be talking to potential employers and my boobs being on the net probably isn't a good thing (unless his future boss is a perve, lol). If you are subscribed to my blog, just stay that way and eventually my blog will go public again. It will likely be public again next year just when I may be starting my 3rd surrogacy journey. If you want to keep up with me during the privacy shutdown, email me for the password. It's really not a big deal. I don't care who reads my blog as long as it isn't Clayton's employers or future employers. ;)

BTW-The blog will go private sometime late tonight or early tomorrow.

Boom Boom Pow-Take 3

Before pic 7/2/09 & after pic 11/12/10

I feel a little bit weird posting pics of my girls online but oh well. I hope that anyone considering having their girls "enhanced" learn a little bit from me before making the decision. I had my first surgery 7/3/09 and ended up having 2 revision surgeries afterward (4/2/10 & 10/29/10). It's weird but I managed to have each surgery the weekend of a major holiday (July 4th, Easter and Halloween). Anyway, I want others to know that one surgery can result in additional surgeries. Do not go into cosmetic surgery thinking that it will definitely end up being a one-time deal. That may not be the case and you need to be sure that you can afford any additional surgeries. I have done extensive research on the Internet and a lot of girls have more than one surgery for the same procedure. It is unfortunate but common. I was hopeful that it would be a one-shot deal but it didn't turn out that way. My first surgery went great but one of my girls fell below the crease line, causing the scar to move up and be seen. It wasn't that bad but it needed to be fixed before it got worse. Surgery #2 resulted in beautifully perfect cleavage for a few months and then both girls fell below the crease line. It was annoying. It turns out that my pectoral muscles are too tight. I opted for the implants to be placed under the muscle and that ended up being my problem. Whenever my muscles flexed, they would push my implants down and that is why they would fall. Surgery #3 fixed this problem and I don't anticipate any more issues now. I can flex my muscles and nothing happens to my girls because they are now on top of the muscles (body builders opt for this for that reason). I was so against this procedure initially because the people that chose this placement on the Internet tended to look completely fake thanks to the implants only being held in place by tissue. You could actually see the implants sitting on top of the body in some patients. It looked horrible. Anyway, my doctor placed them on top of the muscle but below the tissue. On top of the muscle is a thick tissue called the fascia. He put the implants under the fascia so that they would be supported by that and so you cannot see them through my skin. This procedure is referred to as being"subfascial" placement. It's a great compromise between over or under the muscle.

***Sorry for the grainy "after" pic. I had to take it myself in a mirror and I used my little camera rather than my good one.***

All I Want for Christmas (is his 2 front teeth, lol)

Hayden has now lost both of his front upper teeth. He talks kinda funny and has a harder time biting into food but isn't he cute?!

My Final Cake-Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste Class

This was a super simple but fun cake to do. I should have added a twisted rope border on the bottom but I ran out of time in class. Each of the yellow centers have yellow sugar sprinkes to make them extra pretty. I meant for the centers to be a little bit smaller but I think that it still looks cute. The cake is strawberry with a new buttercream icing recipe that I found (made with real butter instead of all Crisco like Wilton's recipe).

On A Sad Note....

I took a bunch of awesome pics of the butterfly after he dried his wings. The kids both held him and then I got some great pics of him up-close. At least I *thought* I did. The problem is that stupid me didn't have the card in my camera. Ughhhhhhhh! By the time I realized that it was sadly too late. The butterfly took off high into the sky just as I was running back outside from retrieving the card. I was devastated. He was so gorgeous! His wings were remarkably perfect and I was in awe of his beauty. The pics I took this morning did him no justice. Oh well, at least we got to witness the miracle of a butterfly's life cycle. It was very cool and I look forward to doing it again in the future. Maybe next time I will manage to get pics of the release. :P

Transformation

I woke up to the shriek of my children this morning. They were excited to find a butterfly in the caterpillar jar. I ran downstairs because I was afraid that he would fly out and get lost up in the vaulted ceilings where I would not be able to retrieve him. Thankfully his wings were still wet so he didn't leave his home (it probably helped that he got stuck on the electrical tape that I used to tie the sticks together, lol). We plan to release him early this afternoon. How cool is he?!

BTW-He is known as a black swallowtail. :)

In this photo, you can see the leftover shell from his chrysalis. I don't think that he had been out of it for very long at this point.

Menu Plan Monday (with recipe links)

MONDAY---TNT Garlic Chicken, risotto, peas

TUESDAY---TNT Quick and Easy Chicken, rice, green beans, TNT The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake

WEDNESDAY---Girl's Night Out (hubby will take care of dinner for himself and the kiddos)

THURSDAY---TNT Famous Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, sautéed squash

FRIDAY---Queso Fundido Burgers, TNT Baked Oven Fries

SATURDAY---Out (Hayden has a skating birthday party to go to that is far away and just before dinner time)

SUNDAY---Greekin' Up Spaghetti, The Bread

***I will be adding reviews as I make each recipe, so be sure to look back to this post if you want an opinion. If the recipe has TNT before it then it is a proven tried-n-true recipe for us that we have had in the past.***

Gumpaste Daisy and Mum

I made these last night at my gumpaste & fondant class. They were a lot of fun to do and were very easy. The center of the daisy has yellow sprinkles to make it even prettier though it is hard to see in the photo.

Gumpaste flowers

Please excuse the poor photo quality. I made these flowers for the first time in last week's fondant & gum paste class. They were a lot of fun to do. The Calla Lily flowers have yellow spinkles in the center but the photos don't depict it well.

Menu Plan Monday (with recipe links)

MONDAY---TNT cream cheese, garlic and chive stuffed chicken, buttered egg noodles, broccoli, TNT honey wheat rolls

TUESDAY---cola pork chops, rice, fruit salad, biscuits

These were just okay. They weren't good enough to make again though. I thought that they were blah.

WEDNESDAY---Mexican chicken casserole, fiesta rice, refried beans

THURSDAY---leftovers

FRIDAY---melt-in-your-mouth meatloaf, green beans, hash brown casserole

Both of these recipes were fabulous! I ended up doubling the sauce for the meatloaf and it was magnificent. I can't believe that it cooked so well in my crockpot. The hash brown casserole was yummy. I haven't had it in years and this was close to the recipe that I used to make. It could stand to have more cheese added but is still great as written.

SATURDAY---sausage & pineapple pizza (using this new crust recipe)

Let me just say, blech.... The crust was horrible. I have made lots of good pizzas in the past so I will stick to my regular recipe for crust.

SUNDAY---TNT slow cooker chicken stroganoff, buttered egg noodles, green beans

***I will be adding reviews as I make each recipe, so be sure to look back to this post if you want an opinion. If the recipe has TNT before it then it is a proven tried-n-true recipe for us that we have had in the past.***

Our Resident (Transformed)

Yesterday, I checked in on our caterpillar and noticed that he looked like he was up to something. Sure enough, he was! I found him today in the chrysalis phase of life. How cool is that? This guy happens to be a black swallowtail and it may be next spring (April-May) before he emerges.

Our Newest Resident

Isn't this little guy pretty? I found him and 2 of his friends on my parsley plant. We looked him up and discovered that he is a black swallowtail. He is common in CO and likes to eat parsley (obviously). We originally had all 3 in a jar so that we could watch them change to butterflies but then I felt bad for them. I released them all back into my garden. Unfortunately, 2 of them disappeared and we think that the birds got them. I took this guy back in after the fiasco so that he wouldn't be bird food. Hopefully we will get to see him change. :)

Cruise News-A Totally Unexpected Surprise!!

Well, it isn't set in stone yet but the Barnes' family may join us again on our Disney cruise coming in January. We are thrilled!! I got a message from Natascha over the weekend telling me that they were thinking about going (I am giddy, to say the least). We had so much fun together last time that I just don't think that it would be the same going without them. She messaged me today that they have a reservation on hold barring Jason's approval. Hopefully he will say yes! How can he say no? It's 6 against 1 so he is the odd man out. We may just have to kidnap Natascha and Jasmine if he refuses, lol.