How to.....

Make a Rapunzel cake for a 3 year old's birthday party.

Step 1. Bake a 9x13 cake.

Step 2. Frost it green.

Step 3. Figure out how to make brown frosting, then add a windy stripe down the middle of the cake.

Step 3. Mix dark and light blue sugar crystal sprinkles and spread down the middle (covering most of) the brown frosting stripe.

Step 4. Place/sprinkle flower shaped sprinkles along the 'banks' of the river you created on the cake.

Step 5. Bake cupcakes.

Step 6. Stack 3 cupcakes on top of sheet cake. Use toothpicks as rebar -- more substantial structural support might be needed, so possibly shove a 6" long x 1/4 or 1/2" diam. item down the middle of the stack.

 Step 7. Frost the 'tower.'

Step 8. Make sure it's late. Make sure your husband is an architect. Ask him "what do you think?".....and this will be the result:

 I love my husband!

....using a toothpick to get the stone detailing....

 Step 9. Grab a wad of tinfoil and shape it into a roof-type shape. Wrap it in saran wrap (why? it seemed like a good idea....) Shove about 3 toothpicks (aka rebar) into the bottom of it. Stack it on the tower. Frost with the remaining brown frosting. Put entire project in the fridge and go to bed.

 Step 10. Make a batch of decorator's icing and make it dark green.

Step 11. Have princesses come give their approval.

 Step 12. Pipe 'ivy' vines onto tower and roof. Add flower shaped sprinkles to the vines.

Step 13. Find small Rapunzel doll in playroom. Brush her hair and braid it. Also find small Pasquale in playroom and wash him off. Put them on the cake.

Step 14. Invite friends and family over. Put 3 candles on the cake.

 Step 15. Sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! and blow out the candles.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Mostly due to Bob surprising us on Monday evening, so we got to see him ALL DAY on Tuesday.

 Quite the lineup of presents.....

 ....complete with BEAUTIFUL roses that my FABULOUS husband got for me!!!

 The girls.....hm, can you tell Danielle just got off the bus and took her hat off about a minute ago?

 Cheese!

 Double-cheese!

 Showing off her cupcake necklace from Grandma Sweetie and headband from Aunt Linda...

 Showing me HER cupcake necklace from Grandma and headband from Aunt Linda!

The shoes.....

Lastly from this past trip, these were 'the shoes.' Way taller than anything I'm used to, they were perfect for the bridesmaids dress. I also discovered they were super cute with jeans and a fun sexy top...... and I promised Taylor I'd take a picture of them.

 The picture really doesn't do them justice -- they were tall!!!

 ....and sparkly!

The BEST tree ever!!

The one time I remembered I had my camera, I had to take a picture of a very special tree. It's the tree in front of the church....and also right next door to Yen Ching. This tree is so special because Bob and I took our engagement picture leaning up against it -- then we used that picture as our wedding favor bookmarks.

 So yes, I love this tree. (and no Ann, I did NOT hug it!)

 Such a pretty tree!

Back to getting the BRIDE ready!!!!

....and after a few days, it was finally time!!!! We had a relaxing morning at the hotel getting ready.....

...getting hair done....

 ....the stylists were wonderful!!

 Then it was time to get into our dresses, and Stephanie and Salisa helped Andrea with her dress.....

 SOOOO PRETTY!!!!!! (and getting all laced up in the back.....)

 Then it was down into the limo and off to the church!!

 Quite possibly my favorite picture from the day!!

From this point on, I pretty much forgot I even had my camera, so......yeah, kinda kicking myself for that.....

My sister is so weird....

You all know I love her dearly. But yes, my sister is weird.....and definitely has BOYS. The GIRL side of the family says "Ewwwwww!!!" So what am I talking about? One night while I was out there, Beth got a babysitter and we were able to get some sister-dear-sister time in. On the way down the hill (for those not used to Beth's house, this translates to 'out of the neighborhood') we saw what looked like a dead hawk in the road. My DLS immediately turned around and went back to investigate. Yep, before I know it, IT'S IN THE CAR!!!!!

 On her work-out mat, I might add....

 ....and here she's telling me I'm a sissy and the boys will think it's so cool. Yes, I am a sissy.

 The boys DID think it was cool. It was a small falcon of some sort (sad, because we think this type mates for life....) and we have no idea how it died. There were no external injuries.....which I do have to say that Beth checked for before she scooped it up with a spare magazine.....

 The feathers were cool, and they spread out the tail and wings. I'm still slightly grossed out by this.....I totally love the princess world that the girls and I live in!!!

The boys!

I also was able to go to see the boys at Tae Kwon Do....very cool. They had a blast!

 Austin starting off with the jumping relay...

 Zac and Darren running around the nunchucks (how do you spell that?!?!)....

 REALLY cool picture of Darren kicking the dummy....

Look close, and all three boys are in this one!

 The boys also graduated to the next belt!!

Zac's Birthday Party!

On Sunday, I was super-happy to be able to be at Zac's birthday party!! He is officially 8 years old -- I can hardly believe how big ALL the boys are getting....

 ....money is ALWAYS cool....

 .....and Legos are a must.....

 .....showing off the new clothes....

 ....and blowing out his candles!!

All about Andrea!

Some of you know that I was in California for a week and half a little bit ago. Some of you don't know WHY I was there -- Andrea got married!!!! So my wonderfully gracious husband agreed to watch the girls and let me have some Mommy-time. I had a blast, but missed my family SOOOO much!!!! I flew out on a Friday, and Saturday morning several of us met at the Glen Ivy Spa in Brea -- the real bonus to this place is that you can sit in their lovely bubbling hot tubs for as long as you want before or after your treatment. Paired with a massage, it was absolute bliss. Following the week of complete crazy that proceeded it, there are just no words. After this wonderful time of unwinding, we got ready and met over at La Vie en Rose, a FABULOUS french restaurant that Ann had always wanted to try.....let's just say that I'm very sad that the family that owns it has decided that they are ready to retire. It was so good!!

One half of our table....not sure why we didn't get the other half.....

Dinner was great, but the purse that somehow carried two bottles of wine was a pretty great hit, too! (One of Ann's friends loves wine, so she brought a couple REALLY good bottles along with her!)

 We DID manage to get a picture of all of us!! What a nice time out with the ladies. Of course, this wasn't the end of the night.....we then headed over to The Twisted Vine in downtown Fullerton to sample some more wonderful wines. Lots of laughter, great conversations, meeting a few people that I have heard their names for many years but never actually seen face to face, we had a great time!!