Making progress

Since I had class last night I wasn't able to work on my showcake, however, my wonderful husband cleaned the house...check that off the list, and I got my homework done...check that off the list too. I started a load of laundry this morning so I can just stick those in the dryer when I get home. I think I'm going to clean my car out in the morning and work on my cake tonight as long as I need to. I still feel like I have a lot to do and because of that I worry that I'm going to forget something. I really don't want to leave anything off of my cake...luckily I did draw a sketch of the cake when I first came up with the design.







So, this guy that I have known since we were in the first grade is now a Marine and just made it over to Iraq. When he first told me that he had joined the Marine Corp I was confused. Marines? Nick? No way! But then I started thinking...Marine Corp, Guns, Nick, ok now it fits. Hahaha. Anyway. He's in Iraq now so I'd like to ask everyone to keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Also, coming from a family that is now full of Marines I can say that letters of encouragement, baked goods, etc. go over really well with the men and women serving overseas. If you'd like to mail a letter to Nick or send him some homemade yummy stuff. Let me know and I can get you his address or I can mail it for you.



Look at this picture of Ava. Hahaha. The other day I was on Janet Wisner's website (http://www.janetwisnerphotography.com/) and I was looking through all her wonderful work and up pops this picture but in color. She took it of Ava last year at the park in downtown Plano. I just love this picture. How can you not laugh when you see this picture? I want to kiss her cheeks so stinkin' bad when I look at this picture. Doesn't her face look squishy? I can't wait to see the pictures she took a couple weeks ago. I just know she's going to post them when I'm in Austin this weekend without a computer. That's ok if she does but Matt will not be looking at them without me. No way! Hahaha. I'm excited about it. I just love photographs! Pictures preserve a moment in time that you can't physcially get back, but when you look at the picture a part of you is back in that moment. Pictures can make you laugh or cry, feel happy or sad. I especially love old pictures. I love looking through pictures of my parents or grandparents from when they were young. I wish I could take pictures of beautifully as Janet does, but my husband would hate it! My girls already have about a million photo albums filled to the brim. If I could take photos like this...we'd have to rent a storage unit for all the photo albums. You really have to have a talent for it because I can tell you that there are some "photographers" that just aren't good.

Anyway...this is my last blog until after the Austin Cake Show so wish me luck and hope for a medal!

Blessed

Today I have been thinking about how incredibly blessed I am. I guess it's just one of those days but really if feel like I couldn't ask for more! When I think about how stinkin' cute my kids are, I sm

ile and laugh. I love that my husband and I can laugh together when we talk about how stinkin' cute they are. I love the silly smile that Matt gets on his face when we are talking about the girls. Talking about Ava and Colbi makes you want to shout because there are no words to describe the way you feel. It's just... YEAH! Hahahaha. Look at Colbi's face in this picture. She was so excited that she was sitting in the booth and not the high chair that she was all smiles. So funny! Colbi and I made a deal the other night. I was looking at how little and cute she is while she was playing and I kissed her tiny, smooth cheeks and I said will you stay little for a long time? "Yeeaah!" Promise? "Yeah mama, I ughooou ( love you)" My husband and I are fortunate to have jobs during these though times. My dad made it through his heart surgery yesterday and had great new to follow. My mom is getting married. My sister and her husband are the greatest. And we're going on a honeymoon after 4 years of marriage. Hahaha! Better late then never.

In all the wonderfulness that I am feeling today, I should really be panicing. The Austin Cake Show is THIS WEEKEND! AHHH! And I am way behind. I still have so much to do on my cake. Oh but that is just the tip of the iceburg. I have class tonight and won't be home until close to 10 pm. I don't think I made enough butter cream for class which is never good. I still need to do laundry for my trip to Austin because I am wearing my last semi-clean outfit today. I need to clean my car...it's hard to keep your car clean when you're working part of the time in the car and part of the time in the office. So that HAS to be done before we can leave. I have to clean the play room for nephew Bryson because his mommy is going with me to Austin so the playroom is going to be Bryson's room for the weekend. I need to finish my cake, I need to do all my homework for the week which FYI I haven't even started on. (If you're asking your self why I am writing this massive blog instead of doing some of these things...I'm at work)

What am I thinking?! Why didn't I start all this, this past weekend? Because I am crazy. I was motivated to do nothing this weekend. I always want to do or need to be doing something, but this weekend when I actually needed to be doing about a hundred different things, I didn't want to do anything. I wanted to lay around the house in my pj's and do nothing. That is not like me at all. Maybe I was sick.

As for my cake, it's coming a long. I have the hardest part done which is covering the tiers with fondant. I spent 4 hours last night trying to master the biggest bottom tier. I'm not 100% in love with it, but I think it will look fine once I get everything on it. Here's my deal with it...any little flaw or mark can be the line between winning and losing. I'm not going to win this thing by a mile if I even place. It's going to be a tough competition...I just know it. Anyway, the next part is really the easy part. I have all or almost all of the pieces made that will be going on the cake. The top tier and I can't decorate until we actually get to Austin and put the cake together. I don't want to damage anything during the four hour drive down there so the top tier will wait...but I need to make sure I have all the pieces made, painted, and ready to be placed on the cake since I will only have three hours to set up. That might sound like a long time, but it's not when you need everything to look perfect. So I just need to finish smoothing out my bottom and middle tier to make sure that look as perfect as I can possibly get them, add the diamonds and stars to the bottom tier, add the keys to the middle tier, and make sure everything else is packaged well and ready for the ride. I'm so nervous but in a good way. So honestly, if I starting working on my homework now, then work on the cake for an hour tonight after class while a load of laundry is going, then clean my butt off after work tomorrow (my car and playroom), then work the rest of Thursday night on the cake and cake pieces I should be good to go. That's assuming that I am able to finish my homework today. It's 1:30...I can probably pull it off.

Wish me luck!!

Time Flies When You're Sellin' Fries

I have decided that being a "grown up" is no fun. Time goes by so fast. Remember when you were a kid and it seemed like your birthday or Christmas took forever to roll around? As an adult it's like how do I slow down the time? It seems like Christmas was yesterday and then I look at my calendar and we're already half way through February!? On the bright side dates that you can't wait for arrive faster, but when you look around your babies are growing up so quickly and you time has flown by so fast that you can't remember what you did the day before.

The biggest bum about time flying as fast as it does is that my kids are at a really fun age. I know that I have things to look forward to in the future, school, joining sports or brownies, art projects, etc. But I want to savor this age a little longer. Before I know it Ava will be heading off to Kindergarten and Colbi will be one step behind her. They are at that age where everything they do is so cute. They're still little but they're becoming a little more independent. One can use the potty and the other tells you when she needs a diaper change. They can both feed themselves, play together, climb into their own beds...I could go on. But at the same time they're are still little. They still want mom and dad and need lovins. Before we know it all their "littleness" will be gone.

On a brighter note, Janet Wisner, a fantastic photographer came over this past weekend and captured my little angels in the age that I will love to remember. I can not wait to see the pictures that she took. I absolutely love that she was able to come to our house and take pictures in Ava and Colbi's environment. I was alittle surprised that the girls didn't play on their beds more when Janet was there, but it was Valentine's Day and Matt gave Ava the Valentine Charlie Brown DVD so that had them glued to their TV. Either way I am being so impatient! I can not wait to see Janet's pictures.

I can not believe that the Austin Cake Competition is in a week and a half! I am so excited I feel like a kid a Christmas. I am so excited about my show piece. I'm ready to start building but I worry about my fondant drying out too early. I will post pictures as a begin building. I have a lot of the elements ready and in the freezer. There is a lot going into and on the cake so I'm having a difficult time evaluating what I have left to do without the cake being built. I feel like I am forgetting something major, but I just don't know what it is. I've studied my sketch every night and it looks like I have a lot of my elemements done. Maybe I didn't cut enough piano keys or diamond or stars...I just don't know. By this Saturday I should know what it is I am missing. I plan to make the base of the cake from poured sugar, and I haven't done that yet. Maybe that is what I feel like I am missing...I don't know. Regardless...that show is rapidly approaching and I am so excited about it. I get to meet Bronwen Weber. I get to watch her work. I get to display my work. (Ugh! I hope I bring home a medal so bad!)

The McKinney show is in April so I have been trying to brainstorm ideas for my wedding cake showpiece, but I am having a hard time since I'm still trying to carryout the Austin showpiece. After this piece is completed I'll be able to sit down and evaluate what I want to do for the McKinney show. I'm also having a difficult time because my head has been filled with the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. The Food Network will be there filming the wedding cake portion of the show because Kerry Vincent sponsors the show. With that said I want to go and I want to enter a stunning piece. The theme is Of Sea and Shore. My head has been running nonstop trying to think of something amazing. I wish I could slow it down since that show isn't until the first of October, but the entry fee is $200 and the Food Network will be there so I want to present something amazing. The competitors at that show are fierce so I worry about entering at all.

Anyway, my brain seems to have calmed down just getting these thoughts out so I am going to run off.

Have a Breezie day!

Happy Birthday Hannah

Today I had the pleasure of making a birthday cake and tiny smash cake for a little Valentine baby, Hannah.

I thought the Love idea was really cute with white hearts. I had specific instructions to not use red. So the soft pink with hot pink letters and white hearts and writting looked really cute.

To be honest at first I wasn't sure if I liked the way it turned out but everyone seemed to love it so...it's grown on me.

Tomorrow I will continue working on the showcake for the Austin show! 2 more weeks! I'm so excited. I hope it is everything I'm hoping for. I'm most excited about meeting Bronwen Weber! She is amazing. I'm really excited about my show piece and I think it's going to turn out great. Hopefully I will be coming home with a ribbon for all my hard work. I'd really like to work on the show piece tonight but I've got to get the house clean. We've got Janet Wisner coming over tomorrow morning to photograph the girls. I am super excited about that! About a year ago she photographed our family and then for Christmas gifts she photographed me and my siblings. She is amazing! I absolutely love her work and I'm really excited to see what wonderful things she captures while playing with my girls. It's going to be so much fun since Colbi walks now and has her own little personality. I hope Ava doesn't go into shy kid mode, but either way we're going to have so much fun.

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day Matt is taking me to dinner at PF Changs Chinese Bistro! Yes, you must say the whole name because the food is deserving! Hahaha. The Pe King Dumplings are wonderful and I am super excited about it.

Must run off now. Have a beautiful, breezie day.

Bree