November/December

Thought I better get some pics up before the family comes in a few days so I don't have to hear "You haven't posted pics on your blog in forever!"

:P

My cake helper

I heart legwarmers

Sisters

Raina's new bed and painted room

Fun with makeup

Cakes/cupcakes...

Going into business. Kinda. Maybe. I dunno.

Self-doubt. It sucks.

Especially when it comes to finding a purpose in life. I'm not talking about anything deep and metaphysical. Just a job. Something other than mom stuff.

In less than 3 months I start teaching again. Don't even get me started on how completely and utterly unprepared I am for that. I should be getting in shape, losing 30 pounds, and coming up with material for 4 classes. I'm not, mostly 'cause of the whole self-doubt thing, which is totally stupid, I know, 'cause at least this teaching stuff is something I've done before. I should know that I can do it. There are even people out there who tell me I'm somewhat okay at it, so that should make it easier. *sigh* I'll get it together, I will. I'll start tomorrow. Ha.

Now, however, there's talk of me doing something else, too. Cake stuff.

I love decorating cakes. Around a year ago, I went to a wedding and had the fortune of sitting at a table with a woman who just happened to have pics of her cakes with her. She's a teacher and decorates cakes on the side. She passed her pics around, and we got to talking about her hobby. A couple months later, I enrolled in a short and simple cake class at JoAnn's and since then have had the opportunity to make a few cakes for friends. I love it. It's my escape. It's my time to tune out the loud children, the messy house, the mounds of dirty laundry, and just focus on making something pretty or whimsical.

At the urging of some friends, I am venturing into "business" territory. I am getting to the point where my very limited number of friends are running out of cake occasions. Come mid-December, I have nothing on my cake calendar. So sad. To that end, I am making business cards. I am also the proud (and hesitant) owner of cakemomster.com. Cake Momster. That's me.

Ugh.

The whole process is scary. And really, like I have the time for this? For business cards and website design?!? And then comes the self-doubt. Can I even do this??? Ugh.

All that being said, I might as well show off my latest creation, a Toy Story cake for Raina's friend, Wynnie, who turned the big 3 this weekend. Other than the TS characters, everything is edible.



All I see are the imperfections. I SOOOO wish I had the money and time to make 2 or 3 practice cakes for each project. I learn so much the first time around, so many things I'd do differently. Oh well.

I dunno. Are there people out there who want this kind of thing? And more importantly, will they want me to do it?

I hope so. But then again, I kinda hope not.

Self-doubt sucks.

Birthday!

Can you believe Raina is 3? I can't. Really. It's crazy!

Three of Raina's friends came to the house for a little art party followed by cake. Four toddlers makes for a little chaos, so I'm afraid I didn't get many pics. Here are a couple...

Mmmmmm. Cupcakes.

Each girl got to decorate their own. Very serious business.

One of the art stations.

Raina's "favorite things" cake.

Complete with edible me, daddy, Phoebe, Fozzie Bear, Maggie, Hamilton, Ferocious Beast, a giraffe, Eve, a dog, pizza, cupcake, and ice cream cone. And then, of course, the big cupcake.

Bye-Bye, October

Raina, Daddy, and Phoebe went to the grand opening of the new Babies R Us/Toys R Us combo store and met Sunshine Bear,

...and Wow Wow Wubbzy,

...and Brobee!

This year, Raina was a kitty and Phoebe was a snowman.

Raina showing off her kitty assets. Get it??? :)

The costume even shed like a real kitty.

My Halloween chocolate cauldron of pudding and cool whip.

Nap time at the farm petting zoo.

Raina wasn't too sure about this thing...

Phoebe didn't mind, though :)

Tractor.

Fire truck slide.

An attempt to prove that I went to the farm, too.

Fun with corn.

Unlike Raina at this age, Phoebe's not thrilled with the bouncer.

Such a daddy's girl.

Picture catch-up

Yummy.

Such a modelesque pose.

Real baby/real boppy, rice krispie baby/cake boppy (scary RK baby, I know!).

Early b-day present from Grand-daddy Rich.

During our fantastic warm spell last week.

At the Yo Gabba Gabba show, with our DJ Lance Rock glasses on.

:)

Tinkerbell cake and cupcakes for Mikayla, friend of Raina's, who turned 2.

The best part :)

Wanna be my guinea pig?

So, I submitted 4 class proposals to the local community college (CCAC for all you local folk), thinking that maybe 1 or 2 of them would get accepted. Guess they liked what they saw 'cause all 4 are making it into the spring catalog...

Fitness Bellydance
Finally, a fitness class that embraces your softness! Learn basic belly dance steps to stay in shape and tone your tummy, hip, arms, and buns. Veils will be incorporated for an amazing arm workout. This is a class for all ages and fitness levels. Dress in comfortable clothes (costumes more than welcome!) and bring a mat for a bonus ab workout.


Yoga Strength
Ready for yoga with a kick? Try combining traditional yoga postures with hand-held free weights, resulting in toning, strengthening, and increased muscle definition. This fitness yoga class will make you sweat with its vigorous flow but will also reward you with a deeply relaxing stretching section. Please bring light-weight dumbbells, yoga mat, and water.


Plugged In
Research has shown that people are more successful in achieving their fitness goals when they have group support. This is such a group! Not only will you participate in cardio, strength training, and flexibility workouts in class, but you will also meet a group of people with similar fitness goals. Joining this group means providing support to your fellow classmates both during class AND outside of class via a private online message board where classmates can share their journey to better health and the instructor can provide daily fitness challenges. A mat and hand-held weights are needed for in class, while internet access is needed for out-of-class participation.


Mommy Time
As everyone knows, us moms are the busiest people around. Very rarely do we take time for ourselves. Well, Moms, this is YOUR time! Through the use of interval training, we will burn more calories than your average workout. Time is not something moms have a lot of, so join this class to maximize your results! Please bring light and heavy weights, a mat, and water. Other than maybe your own, this is a tantrum-free class!

OMG. What did I get myself into?!?

If you'd like a front row seat to my possible undoing, REGISTER!!! :)

The Neverending Story

Why, oh why, can't I have a few days of pick-your-own-adventure???

And this was the less mild of her tantrums today.

I have to laugh. I HAVE to...or else I lose my sanity.

I feel stupid for even writing about this...

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Cullen family supposed to be beyond beautiful?

How, then, can Jasper go from this

to this


???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Vacation, art, and other stuffs

I never did put up pics from our vay-kay...here are just a few...

Raina LOVED the seaside. She even sat so that the water would come up around her. Brave, I thought :) Little Swimmers clean-up afterwards not so fun, though.

Sittin' at Mom-Mom's house.

It was so hot at the beach that most of our pics look like this one, all fogged up. I'm not complaining. It's an improvement for me.

THE MOST ADORABLE BABY :)

Moving on to home happenings...

Our own zoo. Still under construction. Yay for cardboard boxes!

She got bored with paper, soooo....why not?

Nature walk project for daddy to take to work.

Playing in the back yard. We hardly got any use out of our playground this summer; just too danged hot. Looking forward to cooler Autumn temps.

The infamous day at the zoo with the family that I don't remember because of sleep deprivation. Chris is in the background, though, so he really was there.

This one makes me laugh. It's like she's modeling but smelling something really bad, too :)

And Pheebs :)