Tyler's Soccer Game

Addie and I finally made it to one of Tyler's soccer games. It was indoor soccer, so Addie was a tad more contained (less chasing for me) than if we were outside on a field.

Ellie was so sweet to Addie!

She played ball or chase with her almost the whole time!

Tyler's game was actually a playoff game. They did awesome! He is quite the little soccer player! It was fun to watch him!

And of course she was way excited to see Di and Tim too!

Flashback Friday

The minute Tyler got the pumpkin patch, he told me we just had to get a picture like we did last year! He even remembered who went where! I love that kid!

Look at how much they've changed! Bigger smiles! Missing teeth! Grown up faces!

And all 3 just as cute!

Pseudo Siblings

Tyler and Ellie's mom and dad (our best friends, Diane and Tim) went on a much deserved trip for their 10th anniversary...to Cancun! It's hard for me to believe they've been married for 10 years...which puts us at 9!

The kids have spent days with grandparents and nights with aunts and cousins. They've had a blast but are clearly ready for mom and dad to be home! I got to spend the day with them on Thursday though!

After Addie's morning nap, we headed to the Chick-fil-a drive-thru to pick up lunch and then onward and upward...to the zoo! Now mind you, the temperature here was projected at 92 degrees. 92 is the temperature, not the heat index combined with close to 100% humidity.

However, this is what my car thermometer finally landed on when we loaded up to head home, courtesy of my Bl@ckberry phone:

But no lie, this is where it registered when I started up the car, and it definitely felt like!

Can you read that through the thick humidity...? I couldn't even get my good camera to focus on it! That says 103! 103!!!

...it was H.O.T!!!

But that's not the point of this post. It's just to give you an idea as to the conditions in which we were functioning existing.

We loaded up Addie's stroller with:

3 Chick-fil-a kids meals,

4 drinks,

2 sippy cups,

diaper bag fully loaded with all items necessary for a wide variety of emergencies or unexpected needs,

my camera (the big one),

extra hat,

oh...and Addie!

How did I forget the sunscreen in the car...

...in the H.O.T. 97+ degree weather?

We actually made it into the zoo, with all 3 children, all in one piece with me on the phone with the bank about possibly refinancing our land. What timing!

Before I could hardly sit down, Ty and Ellie had their food out, condiments open, and half way consumed. So I proceeded to cut tear up food for Addie. But before I knew what was going on, there were three (not one) hands shoveling food into Addie's mouth. Well...I took full advantage of Addie's helpful pseudo siblings, including a sweet face wiping big brother...and I actually got to eat my lunch.

Our 1st stop? Addie's new favorite animal: birds! (everything else that exists with four (or two or no) legs is now a dog, accompanied by a barking sound...except for the lion, and it growls but is quickly followed by the word dog and a bark)

There were also turtles in little ponds! Check out the tiny baby turtle!

Then it was off to find some cats! But before I knew it, Addie's hat had disappeared off the top of the stroller. My favorite hat from the G@p eb@y! We retraced our steps and found nothing. So sad! Well by the time we did that, Ellie's legs were killing her. I pulled encouraged her along for a few more exhibits. Tyler was pushing the stroller driving the stroller at high speeds (camera in my hand but baby on board!) with Addie having a blast! So with Addie taken care of, who could resist pleas from this:

...to relieve her aching legs? So Ellie hopped on my back and off we went...to see the reptiles.

All in the H.O.T. 97+ degree weather...

So much to see and so much to learn! I was amazed at Tyler's knowledge and reasoning skills. This kid loves learning, especially about animals and nature. I mean, what kid recognizes a macaw and alligator lizard before I even have time to read the signs and then reads the signs to you?

This one:

We made our way through jaguars, ant eaters and otters, lynx and cheetahs, zebras and lions, (none of which were housed together, mind you) and finally found the chimps basking in...

...the H.O.T. 97+ degree weather!

The chimps all of a sudden went berserk, making all their crazy, scary chimp noises.

{Oooo, ooo, ahhh, ahhh, ooo, ooo, ooo}

But this Little Bit wasn't afraid in the least. In fact, she started doing pull ups on the fence so she could see better!

Not to worry. There is a moat (& electric fence) around the island where the chimps live. Apparently, chimps can't swim. Did you know that...? Me neither!

Addie had officially had enough of her stroller (back at the lions), so this was more what things looked like by then:

Yes, that's the newly turned 5 year old riding in the stroller. When we were on the move, I pushed with one hand and held Addie in the other arm, and the big brother made Addie laugh by jumping and doing silly dances up ahead of us.

That is, until a beetle made it's way into his shirt! I don't have a picture of this because
1.) Addie was in one arm and I was helping him strip his shirt off with the other hand.
2.) Ellie jumped up out of the stroller, to squash the bug of course, resulting in the stroller (and my camera) tumping to the ground.

I got the shirt off, and went to pick up the stroller commenting that I really hoped my camera lens wasn't broken. Tyler's reply..."Who cares about the camera, I have a bug in my shirt!" Ahhh...it's all about perspective!

I'm relieved to report, however, that the camera only suffered a few scratches to the hood, the beetle was squashed dead, and we all survived. Whew!

All in H.O.T. 97+ degree weather...

We made it to the playground and to some ice cold water at $2 each...worth every penny!

Then it was past the bengal tigers, my favorite! Click on this one to enlarge it.

And onto the train.

Thankfully, there was a fan hooked to a hose underneath the train depot, and we all enjoyed a cool breeze! Check out that sweaty hair!

I attempted to get a picture of the 3 of them, but this is what Addie thought of having to actually sit, unrestrained, and have her picture taken!

This is what our train looked like (again, more challenging to take pictures sitting 3 across on a 2 seater bench with a wiggling one year old doing everything in her power to escape to freedom all while on a moving train!)

You guessed it, we had the train all to ourselves! I'll let you deduct the reasoning behind that! And it had nothing to do with us and everything to do with...

...the H.O.T. 97+ degree weather!

If you made it to the end of this post, you are a totally dedicated reader. The hat you ask? Someone picked it up and brought it to the train depot where we quickly lay claim to it! Hot wash cycle coming right up!

We had so much fun! Tyler and Ellie are great pseudo siblings! I'm so thankful we got to spend the day with them!

...but how many months do we have before things cool off?

You Can Have Bake Your Cake and Eat It Too!

As I mentioned in this {post}, I had the honor of making my best friend's daughter's 5th birthday cake this past weekend! We explored many options. You know, the typical: ...Princess cake...Hannah Mon@tna cake...B@rbie cake, etc, etc.

But their favorite cake was a 3 tiered cake made with fondant...in Hannah Mont@na colors of course!

Well, it was quite the experience! I'd never worked with fondant, but I was just itching to give it a try. And thankfully Di and Ellie were crazy daring enough to give me the chance! The Wi!ton's fondant we bought was D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G, although it looked pretty! So, I found this recipe for Marshmallow fondant. It was easy to make, but I think I gained a few pounds in arm muscle from kneading it!

I'll spare you pictures of the first two cakes I made for practice, but Paul's co-workers seemed to enjoy them!

So here's my Adventure in Cake Making!

It all started out simple, baking 6 layers of cake in three different sizes. But it got a tad complicated after our dog ate half a layer:

But we I recovered.

So it was onto letting the layers cool, stacking and icing each tier, and waiting for the icing to set.

I'd made the fondant the day before because apparently it's better when you let it sit for a day (in the fridge). But it had to be colored. I managed to color the light pink, dark pink, and purple. But by the time it came to the turquoise, I begged Paul to come in and knead the colors in because my hands were so tired. It turned out to be my favorite color!

Then it was on to rolling out the fondant for the layers and finally cutting out the shapes for decorating! It was really cool to see the progression of:

But then I loved finishing all the layers and watching:

So off we went to the birthday party! It was quite the experience trying to transport it. I know, Ace of C@kes puts theirs together on-site...but that wasn't an option and I'm no Ace of any Cake!

The party was at Pump !t Up.

So imagine this:
4 HUGE blow up things.

2 with slides

a double wide jumpy jump!

10-15 five year olds + moms and 2 dads

and Addie

Well I wasn't going to let her age size or lack of mobility keep her us from having fun. So off we trekked up the very steeply inclined ladder with kid sized rungs meant for climbing with both hands leading up to the top of a very tall slide...held up only by AIR, all while carrying a 30 pound bag of potatoes baby!

and sliding down! Addie strictly forbids you to click on this picture for fear of being dreadfully embarrassed of her mother's fearful look! I love roller coasters, but honestly people, that slide was steep, slick, and FAST!

But you can't have a ball in a room without Addie honing in on it! The 5 year olds were playing with a tennis ball and one kid let it go. Well, Addie was off after it at lightening speed, daring any 5 year old to get in her way! She pounced on it; and as you can see, didn't miss a beat!

One of our friends from church was there and her little sister came along too. Anna (the little sister) has been walking since she was 8 months old. So while she was a tad much surer on her feet, Addie kept right up with her. They were so cute together!

Daddy was a great sport about the whole thing. He drove while I held the cake and yelled kindly requested that he quit taking turns at such high speeds. Ok people, in all reality he probably wasn't driving that fast, I was just trying to make sure the cake didn't melt or slide off!

It was by no means perfect. It had bumps and dimples that I just couldn't seem to smooth out. The top layer wasn't completely centered. And it near about drove me crazy to look at these pictures...but this:

sure did make one precious 5 year old a very happy birthday girl! Happy Birthday El-Bell! We love you!

I think Addie might have enjoyed herself a tad bit too!

...ya think?

One of Many: Part 2

So back to the Big Birthday Day! After a good nap, Addie and I headed to meet some friends at the park for a playdate and lunch. Addie loves to swing:

But she had even more fun swinging with her little friend Anna!

We enjoyed seeing Diane, Tyler, and Ellie too! Ellie's such a good helper! She even held Addie while I prevented the stroller from tipping over!

{Mmmm...dirt and woodchips!)

After the park, we all went back to their house to see Tyler and Ellie's beautifully redone rooms! We were so happy to get to see them on Addie's Big Day!

Presents, Play, and Puppy Dog Tails

I'm SO far behind on my blog posts. As you can see, I've been slightly focused on redesigning our blog layout and header, and I've practically forgotten to post! Well, last weekend we got to spend some time with our sweet friends the Castros. We had fun exchanging slightly delayed Christmas presents, playing games, and eating yummy homemade macaroni and cheese that Paul made! Here are some pictures from the the night:

Addie loves tissue paper...but plastic paper is way more fun!

watching Tyler

Tyler and Walter (they were dogsitting)

watching Ellie, who was furiously running back and forth from one side of the living room to the other, entertaining Addie. As you can see though, Addie was almost frantic that she's couldnt even begin to keep up with Ellie! She will one day...too soon I'm afraid!

Ellie being a sweet helper.

Apples to Apples anyone?

And of course I couldnt resist taking pictures of Walter, who is a 6 week old American Mastiff puppy

sweet puppy eyes!

getting sleepy...

sacked out!

...and so was Addie by the time we got home!

New Years

Although I'm a little late posting these, here are some pictures from New Years Eve and Day.