70/365

Oh What an Imagination  (and 2 days worth of fun!)

First it was a "Pillow Tower"

Then a Trampoline

Why is she in her room with a bunch of boys?? Right now, ok. In about 10 years? not so much.

Then a Beach

(didn't get pictures of this one, but all the kids had swimming suits on and they had a umbrella on the bed that was "shading" all the stuffed animals.

69/365

COMPETITION DAY!


 
I'm so happy today is over! I had a great time competing tonight.  I didn't win, but it was a lot of fun.  There were 3 of us competing against each other.  We had 2 hours to decorate an entire cake, with nothing done before hand.  It went by sooooooo fast! I could have done a better job with a little more time. I didn't get everything done I had planned, but I was overall happy with the final piece.  I named the cake "Relaxing after a day working in the yard".  Every side of the cake was a different room in a house with the top tier being a big bathroom with a girl relaxing in a bubble bath.

It was fun, but I don't think I'll be doing any of those Extreme Cake Challenges on Food Network any time soon! :)

This is the "Mud Room" Side of my house

This is the stairway.. The pictures on the wall are the 3 judges

This isn't a great picture, but this was my favorite "room" The family room with the striped walls.  The TV in the back is the show that the emcee is on. (Fresh from the kitchen on Channel 2)

The very large ugly flower is a "secret item" they gave us at the beginning of the competition and we had to incorporate it in the cake. 

I had spider mums! Really?? Have you seen the size of spider mums?  About the height of my tub! 

So I broke it down as small as I could and threw it in a vase. It's still too big.

Mud room again, but you can see some of the other sides at the same time.

This is the back of the cake or the backyard.  

This is the side I ran out of time on.  It was supposed to have a cobblestone path.. more grass and flowers, and it would have been nice if I put the path aligned with the door.  

Oh well.

Not the best picture, but here's the lady in her bubble bath.

A better homes and garden magazine and the Salt Lake Tribune (sponsor of the show) on the floor

68/365

Sorry for all the cake posts.... it's my life this week.

Today was "cake run-through" day.
Competition is tomorrow.  Here's the rules for the competition.

2 hours in front of a live audience
3 Judges and 2 emcee's that will be going around talking to us while we work
Theme:  Home and Garden
Nothing can be done on the cake


My dry run was pretty successful.
I feel a little more confident for tomorrow.

67/365

Cake Competition is in 2 days. This was in some magazine that went to all the homes in SLC.

Today was spent making cakes, making 20 pounds of fondant, preparing for my practice run tomorrow.
Went to bed at 3:30.

I'm so glad Brian is home to be with the kids... because I'm not getting the Worlds Best Mom Award this week.

66/365

Just a whole lot of baking and decorating today.
2 American Flag Sheet Cakes
1 Mario Galaxy Birthday Cake
A whole lot of kitchen cleaning

Now tomorrow the fun begins.  I'm only 3 days away from my competition.  I really need to start working on the details.
6 Detailed sketches. A whole page of "to do's" and loads of details to get done.  My imagination is much larger than my time frame I have to make this cake. Ahhhhhh!!!!

65/365

This little guy LOVES to play with his hands.

and my oh my!!  look at these eyelashes?
 One of my MANY favorite things about him.

64/365

What happens when Kaden and Avery have a sleepover in Avery's room?

They have a "Checkers Champinhsip"!

(Can't you see the sign?)

And of course there will be trophies.  

1st and 2nd place.... I know it looks like 2nd place is *@!    (I love 1st grade spelling)

Then for the dress code.
Avery had to get earrings, rings, bracelets, hat, lip gloss and high heels. When I asked why, Kaden said, "Girls just do that mom. They have to look pretty"

Let the Championship Begin!!!
(This was about the time I got kicked out of the room)

And the winners are???????

Kaden 1st.  Avery "S ht" (2nd place)  

Now go to bed. It's Late.

63/365

Brian took one for the team today.

1 Dad  1 Mom  3 Boys  1 Girl  

       Final Score

I couldn't help but take a pic.... the placement of the ice pack cracks me up.

62/365

I gotta take advantage of admitting that I love homework time with this dude.

1st grade homework is great.  I'm sure 6th grade homework won't be as fun.

Gotta love the fruit punch mustache too!

61/365

It was one of those days.... 

Didn't have a chance to get to making this cake till 10pm and it had to be done by 9:30 in the morning.  Needless to say, I didn't go to bed till about 3.

When I woke up, Brian's first words to me were.... "You've never had braces before have you?"

In my oh so groggy state, all I could do is hope scream.  Why did I put the braces in the wrong spot??

Seriously?? This cake was for a dentist from an orthodontist...... of course they would notice the braces were on the wrong spot. DUH! I'm such a dork.

(I told them to tell the dentist that the intern put on these braces)

60/365

Big Day for Avery...   Kindergarten Shots are over and done with!! 

Today was the day that has caused much anxiety for the past several months... but when the moment actually came (and with a little bribing), Avery did AWESOME!!!!! Didn't even flinch with her shots. She was so brave.
She is so excited to go to kindergarten she was worried that the doctor would tell her she wasn't allowed to go if she didn't "pass" her check-up.

Luckily, she passed.
So cute.

59/365

Connor has an eye infection today.



So sad.

58/365

Another relaxing Sunday. Well,  once 2:00 hit.  The morning is a bit crazy trying to get myself and 4 kids ready and out the door by 8:30 (it's still not happening).  But then the chaos is over and we have the rest of the day to be together.

We spent it playing games, making cookies, coloring pictures, writing Thank you notes, had FHE and everyone even pitched in to help get the house clean. With half the kids asleep and the others playing quietly upstairs, I got a little quiet time just with little ol me.  It was wonderful.  

57/365

I love my two little dancing princesses....

Yes... that is Brighton in the Snow White costume.

At least he's got his trains.

56/365

My kids are hanging out with grandma and grandpa Sohm tonight for their infamous "Cousins Camp".  This is something my parents do every 3 months.....

NO PARENTS ALLOWED (#1 Rule)
I literally got yelled at from the kids to leave because I was taking too long.
10 Grandkids under the age of 8 sleeping over at Grandma's
Grandpa sleeping on the couch downstairs with all the kids
Movies. Popcorn. Crafts. Pizza. Pancakes in the morning... and some of the greatest memories they will have of their childhoods.
(all this with my mom still recovering from a foot surgery just two days ago!)
She's Super Grandma.

55/365

I'm not one of these moms who keeps every paper and picture that comes home from school, but this one was too cute.

Today was 100th day of 1st grade.  This is the picture Kaden drew.

Ok... so I have a couple questions/comments

1) Apparently he's celebrating he's 100 because he's got a balloon attached to his arm

2)  He must need a cane for his extra long arm

3)  I guess he'll have glasses when he's old.   (pretty clever to think about dude!)

4) ummmmm.... did he turn into a caterpillar with two long legs? I'm not quite getting his body here.

54/365

Cakes. Cakes. Cakes and more cakes today.

But I did get to take a super fun break from it to go with Avery to the Fire Station preschool today.

She asked the fireman, "How does the fire trucks go so fast?"

I was proud of her. She was really shy about asking and wanted me to to it, but I told her if she wanted to know the answer, then she had to ask herself. Pretty soon, her little hand was raised in the air and she spoke out.

Cute little thing had the biggest grin on her face after she asked her question.

Way to go Aves.

53/365

I gotta say that one of my favorite things right now is that Brighton is turning into a bit of a mamas boy. He loves to cuddle after naps, he loves to give me kisses, and he loves to come crawl in bed with me early in the morning and fall back to sleep. The cutest thing is that anytime he hears the garage door open (even if I'm not going anywhere), he runs down from playing with his trains and says, "Mom... don't leeeeeve me!" Then rushes over to me so I can pick him up.

Just a few minutes ago, I opened the door to take stuff to the freezer... he ran downstairs and when he saw I wasn't going anywhere, he turned right back around and went upstairs again.

I love this kid.

52/365

Every year we go to Crystal Hot Springs on Presidents Day..

It's something the kids look forward to for months.

This year I decided to stay home with the baby, but everyone else had a really great time.

This is a typical scene at the hot springs.... all the kids hangin out with grandma.  I think it's their favorite part of the day.

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without a little geo caching.  Oh, look at the cute couple! Brian and his brother are geo caching junkies.  (But we love them anyway) :)

51/365

Sunday Family Night at my moms house.

Grandma and Grandpa always find ways to help us be better people. Tonight we got to work on a humanitarian project for FHE. She told the kids about all these children in Africa who don't get very many toys. Then she told them we were able to help these children by making stuffed animals for them. All the kids got to stuff these homemade bears that my mom had spent HOURS on just to get them ready for us to stuff... then the adults sewed them all together. I'm so grateful for their constant effort to make meaningful memories for me and my family.