Cakes part 1

Nicole~the bride (on the left) and our friend Roseanne. Nicole's brother, Phillip was also a big help. And you'll notice we had chocolate to help us survive. =)

You can't really see but we stamped pretty swirly flower designs on the cupcake tops. Then we (meaning Roseanne and Nicole) brushed silver sparkly dust stuff on top.

We wanted to use the black fondant on the the white cupcakes but as you can see the icing/powdered sugar got all over it and was hard to get off, you couldn't see the stamp well at all and when we tried the silver dust it just made a mess. So we scrapped the black and covered all the cupcakes with white.

we made a big mess. It was really nice to use the school's hospitality classroom though because we had 4 ovens, 3 benchtops, 3 sinks, all their utensils, knives, trays, etc. to use.

This is the cutting cake. It was supposed to be a big cupcake but the top layer didn't turn out right. So I kept it simple. It has figurines to go on top so I put a cake board just under the icing, hence the triangle at the back so they know where I cut the board so they could cut the cake.

I'll try to get pictures of the cakes tomorrow at the reception. They're not perfect by any means but who was expecting perfection if I made them? =)

Mom, I tried to take another picture of the girls' art on the back porch but most of the chalk is now on their bike tires. =) Definitely an activity we'll try again though.

Nicole's headed this way to pick up the cake then we're off to Maryborough to the only shop I can find 12x12 frames. Need them for Beka's and the baby's pages in the front room and a gift for Nicole. Need to do that up this afternoon.

Have a great weekend!!

Right this moment

This is what the girls are doing outside on the back porch. Thanks goes to Skip to My Lou and the myriad other places this idea can be found on the internet.

Murphy's Law for Children

had to laugh when I read this on my grif.net email this morning.

Murphy's Law of Children

1. the later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.
2. For a child to become clean, something else must become dirty.
3. toys multiply to fill any space available.
4. The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.
5. yours is always the only child who doesn't behave.
6. If the shoe fits, it's expensive.
7. The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.
8. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.
9. Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.
10. The more challenging the child, the more rewarding it is to be a parent. Sometimes.
    

Making stuff

trying out stamping fondant and putting it on cupcakes. That's what we're doing for Nicole's wedding cake this week. not snowmen though. =)

found out if you put it on too soon the heat makes the fondant wrinkly. Glad I did a practice run.

finished the bibs. my favourite is the dinosaur.

made some iron on transfers for the kids. Emma just told me that she was hoping to wear her "pink shirt with the football on it" today. I told them they have to wait until there's a baby brother to wear his shirt. =)

Like mother, like daughters--this is the aftermath of their "making stuff" =)

Garden

right side garden bed--two cabbage plants, one zucchini plant on each end, marigold and calendula planted across the front. you can't see the seeds though--two rows of corn around 3 sides, 2 watermelon, 2 rockmelon and 2 cucumber. This will be a viney garden. =)

left garden bed--one tomato (staked on the right) with two basil plants near it, one red capsicum (staked on the left), alternating lettuce, broccoli, marigold across the front, two zucchini plants--one on each end, and corn seeds in two rows on three sides and a row of spinach seeds behind the lettuce and in front of the corn.

Dot Points

because I haven't done them in a while. =)

• haven't seen any mice since we caught those two!! YAY!!
• blood test results were normal. YAY!!
• we're planting the garden today. YAY!!
  
• the girls have nits/lice and it is taking forever to get rid of them. I'm almost tempted to use nasty chemicals. YUCK!!
  
• One of the elements/burners on my stove blew out a week ago. Too bad it's the only one I can use my frying pan on. YUCK!!
  
• Thankfully, I have an electric frying pan. And I can still use the other 3 burners and the oven. YAY!!
  
• Beka knows the baby is coming soon and has turned into a whingy, clingy, temper tantrum throwing, sooky, stubborn 3 year old. And she knows exactly what to do to annoy her sisters. And they fall for it EVERY time. DOUBLE YUCK!!
• The girls have apparently grown since winter started because their pajama pants are getting too short. And they are eating and/or hungry ALL the time. At least they are healthy! YAY!!
  
• Well, we're headed off to the grocery store and Bunnings. Hopefully that's a YAY!!
  

Mouse update

Josh bought a new trap. You put cheese or whatever at the top of the trap. when the mouse goes in to get it the trap tips and the door shuts. We caught two mice within two hours of setting it in the craft room. They seem smaller than the one I've seen so we might have more. I hope not!! The only problem with the trap is that it doesn't kill the mice. Yesterday was bin day for us so we dumped them in the empty bin.

yes, my bin is disgusting and I posted pics of it. But see?? we caught a mouse!!!

Now we need to get some poison and put it in there with them.
Here's hoping the mouse is leaving the house. =)

The mouse saga continues

So, after Josh took the mouse down the street we didn't see him (the mouse) for awhile. but I think he has made it back home. I see the mouse at least once a day. Yesterday he was under the computer desk because he ran out and bumped into my foot. don't know if that freaked out him or me more. =) We often see him running between the couch in the main room and the piano in the front room. Every single thing we've put on the trap in the craft room he has eaten off the trap without springing it.

*I have three pics like this because the mouse is too quick for the camera*

Josh has tried EVERYTHING including super-gluing the cheese to the trap. he did that last night and within one minute, before he was even out of the room, the mouse was nibbling on it. However, most of that cheese is still there. Peanut butter is apparently too easy for this mouse. Even when put under and over the bait part.

Last night Josh set up a container type trap and the mouse figured out how to get the cheese without springing that trap, too!! The first time he barely escaped and dropped the cheese but when we got up this morning the cheese is gone and the trap is still set. So not only do we have a mouse problem we apparently have a mouse pet that we feed every day. GRRR!!!!! Maybe we need a cat, or a snake. I'm thinking maybe a better trap. Might have to go check out the trap selection at Bunnings this afternoon.

Well, I'm off to find a way to kill a mouse. I'm scared of using poison because he'll crawl somewhere we won't be able to find him (like under the wall pocket doors and into the walls) and stink out the whole house. Wish me luck!!

Silhouettes revisited

I did silhouettes before for the hallway. and I still like them hanging there. After reading a post on Chasing Cheerios Wednesday I decided to let the girls have some fun with silhouettes. I took their pictures, printed them out and drew them onto contact paper. I cut them out of the contact with a razor blade so I could use both the positive and negative silhouettes. I stuck them onto watercolour paper and a canvas. Then I let the girls have paint and paintbrushes. After they had filled in all white space I peeled off the contact. They thought it was so cool. I really like them too.

Baby update

Spent half an hour at the clinic on Monday and then 1.5 hours at the hospital today. On Monday I met with a doctor that I don't really like so that kind of annoyed me. She pushed the ultrasound up until 38 weeks. And when I told her that I'd started itching a lot she gave me a request for a liver function blood test. We (the girls and I) went to the hospital Tuesday morning for the blood test. It is a fasting test so I hadn't eaten anything. And we were running late as I wanted to be there early so I could be at the front of the line. Well, the parking lots were completely full and I would've had to park out on the road and walk in with the girls. Being that I was already cranky I decided not to do it. I went to an independent pathology lab but was told that this test had to be done at the hospital. Phooey!! Ended up running a bunch of errands with the girls and ran into a friend at the grocery store so we went out for lunch. I was super hungry!! =)

This morning Josh didn't have jury duty so I dropped the girls off at the school with him and headed to the hospital. I decided to give their x-ray dept a chance and went to book the ultrasound with them. surprisingly they had an appointment open. so I go in 3 weeks from today for that. Then I headed down to pathology. one guy was already in the chair getting blood drawn and there were 6 more people ahead of me. One hour later I was done. And probably 10 minutes of that was the tech trying to find my veins. Apparently cold and fasting doesn't help with veins that are already hard to find. =) I'll find out next week about the results of the blood test. If it comes back that I have cholestasis, they normally induce at week 37 for baby's health. That's in 2 weeks!!!

One of my friends who works in the clinics called and asked if I could help out with a teaching class. So I stopped in to see her and get the info. On Saturday I will be a "live model" for the rural and remote doctors to learn about palpitating a pregnant belly. Up to 5 doctors will have a feel of the baby and I get $50. Sounds good to me. My (and the baby's) first and probably only paid modeling job. hee hee =)

Christmas in July

So, here it is July already and as usual my thoughts are turning to Christmas. This cooler weather makes it seem like Christmas is approaching soon. And this year it probably will come sooner than I expect. Josh and I found a cute wooden dollhouse for the girls for Christmas. Josh wrapped it and put it up in the storage space above the school room. The girls saw it yesterday and are very excited about Christmas presents. I bought these for them and they will each get a family of dolls. I'm going to paint them sort of like this. I was going to make (well, technically have someone else make) dollhouses similar to the ones on grace violet but was happy when we found the dollhouse.

The girls also like to use our building blocks so I'm thinking about buying them some of these. We were given a set of wooden blocks but there aren't enough in the set for all 3 girls. This will help round out our set. And I'm thinking the baby NEEDS this. =) Too cute. We'll round out the girls' gifts with some books and a few odds and ends and that's them taken care of.

I've decided on pillowcases and name plaques for the nieces and nephews. I'm mostly done with the names. I just need help on this one. It's too plain. What should I do??Then I need to sew up the pillowcases. I have all the fabric ready. Just need to sit and do it. Then Mom and Dad can take them home in their empty suitcases. =) I'm cheap like that.

I've been making a couple other things too.

Bought a pack of 7 bibs on sale for $8 so am having fun adding a little cuteness to them. (does that red ric rac make anyone else want to say "Good grief"?) Also trying my hand at making a sock monkey. He obviously still needs his right arm and ear to be put on.

And I spent my morning etching pyrex for a bridal shower.

Speaking of the bridal shower I'd better get dressed and ready to go. TTFN!! =)

LOOOOOOONG catch-up

Okay, there's no photo with this post as I don't think you'd appreciate seeing Beka's chapped cheeks and lips, runny nose, weepy eyes, etc. But maybe I'll add a photo later of the yummy cinnamon rolls I just slid into the oven for our breakfast. We needed something sweet in our week.

So the girls came home on Sunday. It was great to see them, of course. They chattered non-stop as we unpacked, fixed some dinner, gave them a bath and put them to bed. And once they hit those beds they crashed. They were all asleep within 5 minutes. =) Catie came home with a runny nose (typical for this time of year). If you look at her in the photo at the top of the page you'll see a big red mark between her nose and mouth from constantly wiping her nose. Poor baby. She's almost over that now. Beka came home with a bit of a cough that has only worsened this week. Again very typical for this time of year. Tuesday night she woke up coughing about every 15-20 minutes. I think it was hurting her throat because she would start crying. The longest stretch of sleep she and I got that night was about 1.5 hours. It was a very long night. Yesterday morning the cough just kept sounding worse so I called and made an appointment with the doctor. Then she had a three hour nap and the cough seemed to improve. Still took her to the doctor to have him confirm that it is just a run of the mill non-complicated viral respiratory infection. I thought it was but was unsure if the cough was settling on her chest. Last night I gave her some Panadol (tylenol) and Demazin (cough syrup) around 6, put her to bed at 7 and didn't hear a peep out of her until she woke up with a coughing fit at 6:30am. I think today will be spent wiping her nose every 2 minutes but she is definitely feeling better. YAY!!

Catie and Emma were so good yesterday. I laid back down with Beka when she took her nap and was able to sleep a lot of those 3 hours as well. Josh had a job he had to go do so the girls were on their own. They brought me the peanut butter jar to open but made themselves sandwiches for lunch. And they played so quietly and behaved so well. When I got up they were playing "church" in the front room. Jennie called to see if Ben could come play with the girls as he had been asking all week. So she brought Ben and Emily over to watch Catie and Emma while I took Beka to the doctor. They really enjoyed that.

Tuesday I ripped everything out of the garden. Well, not everything...I have some cabbages that were totally eaten by worms but then grew back and are growing really well. So I didn't have the heart to take them out. But I took everything else out. We went to Bunnings and bought some 5-in1 stuff (fertilizer, food, and 3 other things.) =) I need to go spread it in the garden. I'll let it sit for a week or two and then start planting. so far we are starting with sunflowers, sweet corn, watermelon, rockmelon (cantaloupe), and cucumbers. Those are all seeds. I'll also get some lettuce seedlings and maybe one tomato plant. Then I need to clear out the front garden and finish planting strawberries across the front of it. So it will be all roses and strawberries, but the snapdragons are so pretty right now I might wait on that for a little longer. And I'm thinking I'm going to try planting potatoes in a container. The girls are going to make garden journals. We'll start by drawing pictures of the seeds and what they think they'll look like when they're done growing. Then every week go out in to the garden and draw the progress the plants are making.

This baby is definitely making himself known. He must be as tall as Josh because he can seem to be laying across my tummy right under my ribs and yet be jumping on my bladder at the same time. =) Every night as I lay on the couch and watch tv he puts on a show moving my belly all over the place. Josh finds it quite amusing. It was funny the first few times but it can be annoying at times now. But all in all I feel much better at the end of this pregnancy than I have with the others. Must be the cooler weather. now if I could only find a pair of pants that stay up!!

Well the timer went off for the cinnamon rolls so I'll quit rambling and go gorge myself. =)

Girls' holiday

as always Gwen took some gorgeous photos of the girls. Looks like they had lots of fun!! =)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

pics

yep there's that baby bump that is measuring 2 1/2 weeks ahead. And there's also my unmade bed. And the cradle sitting on it waiting to be put together. We did put it together shortly after these photos but I didn't make the bed. Instead I stripped it and washed everything. =)

Size 0000 and 000 (0-3 and 3-6 months) clothes. Mostly 000 as my babies never stay in 0000 for long. Even Catie grew out of them in a couple weeks.

Size 00 clothes and size 0/1 clothes.

nappies and nappy bag.

Found these fabrics on sale at Spotlight on Tuesday. Want to make little short suits like the pattern. Mom, the smallest size for this pattern is 1. Will it be easy to make it a bit smaller or should I look for a similar pattern that makes a bit smaller? These are just plain cotton fabrics and I'm guessing he'll wear a size 1 during winter next year.

Went through the boxes of baby clothes that Jennie gave back to me. Found heaps of little onesies and a few sleepers that are boys/unisex. so now there is a second drawer of the littlest clothes. found this really cute little outfit that Mom made for a boy when I was pregnant with Beka. Had totally forgotten about it and can't wait to use it. So cute!! So I did a whole big load of baby clothes laundry yesterday. Didn't hang them out though, just used the dryer. So much fun. now to wait the weeks to use them. =)