31 Flavas

So Yesterday was my birthday.  Hooray!  I'm older! :)  The festivities started the week prior when Preston and I took an evening out to eat at Tucano's and catch a movie.  My gifts (as usual) were received prior to my birthday.  One, I have already mentioned (Dance Central on the Kinect) which, by the way, I totally rock at now!  How many people can say that they achieved a 5 star rating on Rump Shaker??  OK, probably anyone who gives it a shot, but it's worth the bragging rights.  The other gift is 2 tickets to Les Miserables in SLC in May, which I am totally excited about.  I have seen it twice before, but will gladly see it 100x more.

   So yesterday I took the kids out to a nice lunch at Arby's (I know, so fancy!) and then to the

dollar store so they could pick out a present for me.  Thurston chose a baton, and JoJo chose a recorder.  Sadly, neither of these have survived past 3pm the next day, but it's the thought that counts- right?

I also splurged on a couple items myself (big spender) and one of the items included a silicon pastry brush.  Below is Aleah hoarding all 3 of these items.  I will say that she DID NOT LET GO of the pastry brush until this afternoon.  She still picks it up when she sees it though.  This included:

a nap

Dong Khanh Vietnamese diner

The Cheesecake Factory

BEDTIME

all around the house

all meals in between

and a second nap time. 

She's so funny!

 Here she is at breakfast this morning (with her pastry brush)

 So we had an extra crib mattress after we gave away the car beds.  I had this idea that I wasn't sure would work, but thought I would give it a try.  I have to say, I out did myself with how cute it turned out. I purchased a sturdy 2'X4' board from Home Depot, along with 4 metal leg attachment kits and 4 little legs.  I used some scrap fabric to make the pillows and put elastic on a larger scrap to make the cover stay.  I LOVE IT!!  The white pillow turned out my favorite.  This is Aleah's reading 'couch'.

 She LOVES it! (notice what is in her left hand....)

 snuggling on her couch (with pastry brush)

 This was taken after her nap.  She did let go of the brush during her nap, because now it is in her right hand.  HAHA!!!  Did I mention she cracks me up?

 So we have planned a family vacation that is not in SLC (shocker!) for once.  We are headed to San Diego this June and are SO excited.  With this, I realized that we will be on a public beach. Yikes.  Preston and I both love each other more than words can say, and accept each other no matter what condition we are in.  This being said, we both agree that we have put on a little extra padding in the last 9 years.  Stretch marks can't be helped- they are battle marks, but the flab must be eliminated.  My abs must be avenged! ;)
                                   So of course, my neighbor brings these by as a thank you for watching her kids.  They are so, so ,so amazingly delicious.  I told myself that I could have one, only after doing 100 jumping jacks.  Of course, the need for more came, so let's just say that I have done a lot of jumping jacks today. So for fun, you can now imagine a 31 year old housewife in spandex pants doing jumping jacks in the kitchen in front of a tub of goodies.  That's how I roll... and why my stomach does too.

   Here is a fun picture the night we got engaged.  How young and naive we were...

Farewell to Rob

We have a dear friend who is moving to San Jose this week to work for Apple.  We will definitely miss him!  So we had a farewell party for him, and naturally we needed a cake.  So first a back story.  Rob likes cats and one day the men were playing Halo and Jazz was playing close by in a paper sack.  Rob thought it was hilarious, so of course we bring this up constantly.  He's been a good sport.  We first gave him a ceramic cat that resembled Jazz and put it in a lunch sack to keep with him at all times.  So when I saw a cake similar to what I made  below (cannot recall what website I saw it on), I HAD to make it for him.  It turned out awesome and he's a good sport for letting us keep this a running joke for so long.

 view from above

 Rob enjoying his cake.  Have to point out the paintings of  Michigan Bill and Michigan Kim.  Makes a Mama proud. :)

 Not sure why we had him blow out candles since it wasn't his birthday.  They say it was so he could make a good luck wish, but I'm pretty sure it was so Bill could use his blow torch. :)

 Offering the cat his forearm. (long story) ;)

 As a final gift, I took this picture of Jazz and framed it.  Jazz signed the matte with his paw.  Awesome.  Rob said he would treasure it forever.

 One more for the road.  This was taken at my birthday party in 2009.  Hahahahah!!!!

Have fun in San Jose Rob, we will definitely miss you!

Little Bit 'O this, and a little bit 'O that

First, I would like to introduce these little guys below.  They are in part happy birthday to Wendy, and part congratulatory to Wendy and ChiMing....awwwe:

 I was going to make a tiered cake for them, but had a miserable failure, this was the result of trying to marbleize the cake, forgetting that one should NOT scrape the pan, because it will affect the non-stickiness of the baked cake.

 So when life gives you a pile of failed cake crumbs, make cake pops... they are quite delicious! :)

 Luckily, I remembered my mistake and was able to save the top tier, so here ya go.  I also tried to cut some corners and use the already colored and flavored marshmallows.  They kind of worked, but were a lot fluffier than normal marshmallow fondant.  They had a lot more volume, hence the fluffy hearts.

 Here is Aleah with TanTo, it was impossible to get a still picture of both of them

 TanTo is wearing the shirt I made for him... haha!

 Just so you know, Aleah is still adorable.

 Joseph wanted me to take a picture of him in his new flip flops

 ....because they have robot sharks on them!  (he's such a boy!)

 Aleah on St. Patricks Day

 She was not very happy that I was walking away from her.  She was laughing right before, I swear!

JoJo the Snowboarder

So I am a little behind here, I've been busy doing nothing and everything lately!

Preston took Joseph up the mountain a couple weeks ago for his first attempt at snowboarding.  Joseph was reluctant at first, but apparently fell in love right away, and was quite the pro.  By the end of (or middle) of the day he was doing jumps (nothing major, but enough to deserve major props)! 

Here he is all decked out and posing right before they left:

I think it is safe to say I have a danger boy on my hands. :)  Good thing Bogus basin is so cheap!

Grey is the new brown...

         So, is it Gray or Grey?  I can never remember, but the spell check says both are good. :) But anyway, I have completed the art/ guest room!  This was a fun one for me!  I used to be all about the taupe and brown, but it's the greys that catch my eyes and heart now.  The room is huge, but is shaped more gallery style, twice as long as it is wide  (at least).  So I got a bookcase from IKEA (woohoo!) to serve as a divider.  I LOVE how it turned out.

                                Here is the desk where I sometimes sew, or the computer desk for the kids.  It works great as a DVD player for the kids when they have sleep overs in there. :)  Hooray for paint and fabric to recover the chair and lamp shade!

                                                       

                     I LOVE these curtains.  Thanks Target! :)

                       Just so you know, I totally made this bed.  The platform is from our old click clack futon, the headboard is a regular board padded with some of the foam from the futon mattress and then covered with some pinstripe fabric.  The mattress?  Yeah, I crafted that as well.  This is a full size mattress, so what I did is I used our camping pads (we NEVER go camping) and foam from the futon for filler and then our old memory foam mattress pad.  The mattress pad cover is queen size, so it managed to fit the whole kit and caboodle in there.  Sounds weird, but seriously, it is soo comfortable with just the right amount of support.  It faces the front of the house, so the afternoon sun shines on it and makes for a perfect cat nap in the sun on a cold day. :)  Not that I do that....  The mirror was a steal for $10 at family dollar.

            Seriously, who doesn't love a good IKEA shelf?  They make the perfect room divider!

     The wall of frame.  (lame name, had to say it...)  What else to do with all those old frames?  They serve as inspiration of things that need to be filled.

    This is the boys' work station.  They love it, and they think its the coolest thing that they got their own work lamps.  I have no idea what is up with Thurston, but yes, his shirt is on backwards, and I love him. :)

                                  This is a picture of Aleah eating chalk

                                                              view from the other side...

                                                          My wall of things I put up

 If you knew me as Rubberlady back in the day, then you would remember these babies.  They served me well, but they were old, not in working condition and about 20 years past their prime.  I felt they deserved a place of honor.  I may not be able to fight like I used to, but I've decided that I'm not done either. ;)

 I found this little gem in a file with old pictures I was going through.  We had this done on our honeymoon when we were in Florence.  I always loved the shark...