Jordan's 8th Grade Formal

Jordan is growing up so fast. She just had her final dance as a Junior High student. It was fun doing her hair and her make up and watching her eyes light up when she looked in the mirror. It was a wonderful mother daughter bonding time. We went to Ronnie Vanzant park and took pictures out at their pond. It's beautiful out there and plenty of places to take pictures. As we were taking the pictures my heart was breaking, she isn't that tiny baby we brought home from the hospital,she is a beautiful young lady now. She is getting ready to spread her wings soon and take everything we have taught her and fly on her own. We have but just 4 short years left of her being here every day. Jordan is heading to college and she has no desire to stay in state. It made it hard today watching her take another step towards spreading those wings.

Here she is before the dance

Should I or Shouldn't I

I have been given a great opportunity to make a wonderful cake for some wonderful people. My nephew and his fiance have asked me to make their wedding cake. I was thrilled with the prospect of making the cake and the process of being creative and getting to do what I love most. Then reality hit and well it took the wind right out of my sail.
First big down fall is when they are planning the wedding, SUMMER.. Anyone who bakes cakes in Florida can tell you the weather here during SUMMER is not ideal for cake making. HUMIDITY is a huge issue and NOT TO mention the HEAT or the chance of RAIN! July is a great month for a beach wedding. So I can't say I blame them for wanting to do it then.
Second they choose to have the reception in a hotel ball room. I am not a license baker so I am not to sure that the Hotel will allow me to bring in the cake. I have asked them to check on this but no word yet from them on what the rules are. I will for sure need a cool room to place the cake in and a place to set the cake up at for the reception. I have read the laws and know what I can and can not do here in the this state. And I for sure don't want to be fined for bring it into a hotel. I just hope they let me know something soon.
Third the task at hand is overwhelming all in it's self. I am worried about getting there, worried about the amount of stuff I will have to buy just to make this cake. And then the set up and the transporting of the cake it's self. IT'S very scary to think about but, really exciting that they would ask me to make the cake.

The bride and the groom have gone through about 60 cake ideas that I sent to them and have picked 3 that they really like.

They really like this one and the way it is set up but they want it in a square shape and they want different flavors per cake. They also want to room the shells and add ribbon and flowers.



I think they are leaning more towards this set up with the square cakes.


I am hoping it all works out and I will for sure keep everyone updated.

Teacher Appreciations Week

Teacher Prayer

Dear Lord, bless these teachers mightily
as they seek to teach, enrich and guide
Your precious children.
Grant them abundant resources to do their job,
intelligence, wisdom, sensitivity, kindness,
and the material things that make it possible
to turn some of these tender green plants
into the strong, stable trees that will lead our nation,
to transform some of these buds into brilliant flowers
that will bring light, color and happiness
to all who encounter them,
and to give every one of them the tools
to be creative, and productive and to develop
their own kind of success in the world.
Lord, wrap Your loving arms around these teachers
who give so much of themselves to grow our youth
into creative, responsible adults.
We pray that You will immerse them
in your boundless, transcendent love.
We pray that You will strengthen and soothe them
when they have given so much of themselves
that they need Your extra attention, Your extra care.
We love, respect and admire these teachers, Lord
and we pray that you will watch over them always--
these special people who hold our children
and our future in their hands.
Amen.

By Joanna Fuchs



It's the time of year where we say THANK YOU for all the hours, they put in the time they spend and give to the kids.

This year I have had the privilege of working with one of the most amazing teachers anyone could ask for. She loves the kids in her class like they are her own. She worries when they are out and she gives them a hug when they are feeling down. She cheers them one when they have that light bulb moment, she praises them when they get the answer right and encourages the ones who didn't get it right to keep trying and to never give up. She guides them in making good choices and helps the ones that have made bad choices to make better ones the next time around. To her it's not just a job that pays her bills, it's something she was made to do. She has a great love for teaching and you can tell it the moment you walk into her classroom. Her walls are decorated with thank you cards and I love Mrs.Dean pictures. She keeps them all and hangs all of them up. Makes every kid feel important and she doesn't allow others to tear the other one down. I am amazed everyday by the growth of the kids in her class. I am happy that my kid got lucky and got to spend a whole year with her. It will be sad to move on to 1st grade and have a new teacher but, I'm hoping that the next one will be equal to Mrs Dean.

So for all the teacher's out there who give of yourself each day to our kids. THANK YOU!! Thank you for caring more about others then your pay check, Thank you for spending your own money on the supplies that aren't always covered by your school district. Thanks for spending the extra time with each kid, making sure they are on target. Thank you for your devotion and dedication to our children and their future!

Happy 3rd Birthday Serenity

It's so hard to believe that she is just three years old with the year we have had. Seems has if a whole life time of stuff has happen to her in the three short years she has been with us.

We had real reason to celebrate this year and real reason to be grateful for all that has happen and all that we can slowly put behind us. Just two short days before her birthday we were told by her GI doctors that she looked great. That her labs had come back all in healthy range and that she was finally right at the correct weight for her age and height. She was no longer showing signs of flair ups and she seems for once to have her colitis and crohn's disease under control. That was like music to my ears, it had to be right up there with the day she was born and we heard her first cry.

I made a huge cake for a big BBQ and we had tons of family over for her big day. She loved every minute of the all the attention she got. She loves to be the center of the attention. She got tons of barbie's and dress up stuff, a tea party set and clothes. Everything a little girl could ever want.

The BOSTON CREAM PIE is Rob's Birthday cake. He turned 39 this past week as well.

Cake Baking crazy

Here lately I have been so busy baking cakes. I keep improving my skills and it's really starting to show in the cakes I am making. I have even started to make a little money now off of them. I never charge what they are worth but that is ok. I enjoy it and it's never been about the money anyways.

This cake was a Pirate/Princess Birthday party. It was for a great little girl name Jacalyn. Her mom is my son's Kindergarten teacher.







This is my first attempts at making roses. I can't being to tell you how many went in back in the bowl before I had some really great ones.



This is the cake that all the flowers went on. My niece need a large cake and cupcakes for her baby shower. She came to me with an idea for a black and white cake with small hints of pink. It wasn't much to go off but I knew she was counting on my to have an amazing cake for her. So I had to come through. I decided that I wanted to play around with fondant. I made a batch of Marshmallow fondant and colored it pink. I made the ribbons around the bottom of each layer in fondant. The frosting was a simple decorators frosting.

How with the old and in with the new

Seems like 2009 just drug and drug right along. I can't say I have ever been so happy to see a year over with as I was last year. It's seemed there were more things wrong with last year then there was right.

This year I am hoping to have a better year. I have never been good at making resolutions for what I want out of the new year. I have always felt those are just huge promises you make to yourself that you never really keep and then at the end of the year you are let down again. So instead of lying to myself from the get go, I just take each day as the come and embrace whatever happens and keep on moving. I can't say that I don't get down or get mad about things because that would be huge lie. I just try not to dwell on it.

I am hoping to get better at baking this year. I really want to start making better quality cakes. I also want to make more from scratch and stop using so many store bought items. I have been working on cutting our budget down at the grocery store. I don't know that I am really making head way there but I am truly trying.

I do need to work on me but I am not going to get hung up on that or worry about it if it doesn't happen. I need to loose weight. I have needed to do that for years. Sometimes I lose a little and then I stay there but for the most part I have stayed the same weight for 4 yrs. So I am pretty comfortable with the weight I am. Not that it's a healthy weight or that it's something I want to stay at. I just don't worry about it or get all hung up on exercising or eating things that taste like cardboard. We eat pretty healthy and I don't over eat and I try hard not to stress eat. I drink lots of sweet tea and diet Dr. pepper and very little water. So I am sure if I cut those things out and maybe walk a mile or two I would be fine. I'll just play by ear and see what happens.

So far this year in the baking department I am off to a busy start.

January 6th- I am making a cake for Logan's teacher. It's her birthday and she loves Chocolate,cheesecake,strawberries. So she will get my Cheesecake stuff chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and chocolate covered strawberries on top.

January 9th- I am making a ton of cupcakes for my niece's baby shower. She is doing a black and white theme for her shower. I will be adding a little pink since her baby is a girl. We are super excited for her arrival and I can't wait to make the cup cakes.

February 1st- Is Logan's birthday. I have not clue on the cake as of yet but it will be fun. Also cupcakes for his class.
February 1st- Is my mom's birthday. I want to make her a nice cake and have her over for dinner. She rarely does anything on that day and her husband doesn't push her to do stuff. So I am wanting to do something great for them.
February- My Mom and Step dad both turn 50 this year. We are having a big party for them. So that is another cake.

March 14th is my Anniversary and I will make some kind of fun cake for that.

April 4th Easter and I am hoping to host an Easter egg hunt and make a ham and cake and some other great goodies for that.
April 14th- Rob's birthday and I am going to make him a boston cream pie(cake)
April 17th- Serenity will be turning 3. So that is another cake with lots of pink.

May 9th- I will host my mom and my MIL over for a brunch. I am hoping to do a small desert of some sort for them.

June 20th- Father's day. Not to sure if anything will happen that day.

July 4th- I am sure we will cook out and I'll make a flag cake or something like that.
July 27th- Jordan's 14th birthday. WOW (tear tears and more tears) I have no clue on the type of cake or if she will even want one. Teenagers are so funny.

That is as far as I have gotten with my baking and party plans. I am sure the details and plans will all fall into place and things will work out nicely.

Hope everyone has a Happy and healthy and a blessed 2010.

Christmas has come and gone

While it has come and gone, it's not completely over for me. My oldest has taken a trip with her Nana and Papa and isn't home as of yet to celebrate with us. She left on the December 18th and won't be home until after the 1st of the year. While I have been on edge I am so happy she got to go and see parts of the world she may not get to see other wise. It's always nice when anyone things enough of your child to want to them with them on a long car ride and even nicer when a family member has open their home up to your child. So until she is home I have to look at the tree and the stockings all hung up. I am ready to see it down but I want things to be just like she was here on Christmas morning when she opens her presents.

I baked and baked and oh yeah baked. I made so many cookies this years, I can't even being to tell you all the dozens that have come and gone out of my kitchen this year. I made most of the ones I wanted to and a few that I hadn't planned on. I gave many as gifts and many we passed along to people who had stopped by to visit. I made my first ever Yule log. It turned out nicely and it was very tasty.

The little kids got everything they wanted and then some. We opened up our home to a couple who need a place to have a Christmas dinner at. It was really nice to have them in our home. They are lovely people and I hope that we get to have them over more often.

Sweet potato pie, Oh MY!!

I am not much of a baker when it comes to making pies and breads. For some reason I just can not get the hang of it. Either I over mix things or I don't mix it enough. Something always goes wrong.

While I was in Logan's class working, his teacher was reading them a story on how to make a sweet potato pie. After she was done reading she asked Logan if his mom baked pies. Logan then told her to my surprise yes. Then in a joking way she asked him to get his mom to make her a sweet potato pie. I love doing things for the teachers. They work so hard for the kids and need that little extra special thing.

Now here comes the tricky part. I had never baked a pie from scratch. Sara Lee and I are great friends when it comes to pies. But at the time I couldn't just go out and buy a pie. So off to google ville.

After searching I end up find a great and simple pie crust



EASY PIE CRUST FROM PILLSBURY BAKE OFF
Printed from COOKS.COM

2 cups Pillsbury All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
5-6 tablespoons ice cold water

Whisk or sift together flour and salt until well mixed. Rub shortening into flour with fingertips or cut in using two knives or a pastry blender until mixture has lumps the size of small peas.

Fill a small glass with ice and water. Using a tablespoon measure, spoon out 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time, stirring quickly into the flour mixture, using only enough water (5 or 6 tablespoons) for the pastry to come together (mixture will be crumbly).

Divide into two portions, with the larger half being for the bottom of the pie crust. Shape each portion into a 1/2" thick disk shape. Smooth the edges. Wrap in plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.

Roll out on a lightly floured work surface to a size 1 1/2 inches larger than the pie pan. Fit into pan loosely.

Bake according to directions given in the pie recipe being used.

recipe and an a simple sweet potato filling recipe.
Sweet Potato Pie I


Ingredients

* 1 (1 pound) sweet potato
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions
1. Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2. Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.


The crust was light and flaky just like every yummy pie crust should be. I missed the nice butter taste but was happy that it was easy to make and baked up nicely.
The filling was so simple and easy that I can now spout off the recipe with out think twice about it.

I didn't give myself much time to get this pie done. I had 2.5 hours to get it all put together and cooked and in the car to take to the school. If you know anything about baking, it's not a good idea to rush things or to not leave yourself plenty of time. The potatoes alone took 40-50 minutes to boil and become soft. So that didn't leave much time at all for baking which took an 50-60 minutes.

The crust mixed right up and only need to rest for a few minutes before you could work with it. I decided to roll it out and put in the baking dish and go ahead and blind bake it for half the time it called for due the filling saying put in an unbaked pie crust. Worked out amazingly, not one brunt edge and the crust was not tough at all. I took it out to cool and it was time to finish up the filling.

The potatoes were easy to peel and for the most part mashed up nicely. I did have to use a strainer to strain any parts that we not smashed. I was surprised at how easy this all came together and how it made my whole house smell of all the wonderful holiday smells you get. The nice cinnamon and nutmeg and vanilla smells filled my whole house and my car and the school hallway and Mrs Dean's classroom.

Down to the wire. It took all but 3 minutes of my time to get all of this done. I quickly took the pie from the oven found a nice towel and tray to put the pie plate on and ran out the door. The pie was still bubbling hot and smelled wonderful.

Arriving at the school and having a hot pie and a sleepy two year old was interesting to say the least. Serenity was slowly waking up from her nap and really wasn't into walking on her own. So I had to balance the pie in one hand and the sleepy Serenity in the other.

I walked into the classroom and Mrs Dean yells out "Oh no you didn't, You really didn't did you." And then as proud as she can's she turns to her wonderful class of Kindergarten's and says Mrs. Holloway made Me a sweet potato pie. They all get excited thinking they were going to get a bite or two. She let them down not so gently by saying "Oh no this is my pie, I'll bring you guys some in the morning."

New mission for the Room mom. Make some very sad children a sweet potato pie so that they could have some too.

LIGHT BULB MOMENT!!

What if the pie for the kids were mini's and they were bite size so that there wouldn't be a mess?

Off to figure out a way to do that.

MINI MUFFIN TINS.

So more pie crust making and enough pie filling to cover making the little mini's and for a pie for Thanksgiving.

The pie crust works beautifully in the muffin tins. Use a small juice cup to get the right size when cutting it out. And a tablespoon to fill each cup. I did blind bake them as well. This time I watched them closely and pulled them out after about 5 minutes. It took half the time to bake the mini pies and they were very tasty. Just the right amount of crust to filling. It was a perfect mix.

I took them into the kids on the next morning and they were so happy. I was given my container back empty.

I wish I would have taken pictures of this whole process. Being in a hurry cloudy my mind and made me forget my camera. It would have been wonderful to have pictures of it all.

To the average baker, don't be scared to bake things you never have before. Try baking things and if you fail no worries just try it again another day. I think now that I have done a pie and it has turned out wonderful I will be doing plenty more of them.

OFF TO BAKE SOMETHING NEW........

I am thinking Christmas already

and it's only June.

I am gathering up ideas of what I am wanting to make people for Christmas. I know for sure this year I am going to do some kind of cook book. I am forever being asked how did you make that or what's in this or that. And people are always calling and asking for a recipe that I made or something I brought to a party. While I enjoy making those things I think it's time I start sharing my recipes with them so that they can enjoy the foods with out feeling like they are bothering me by asking for recipes.

I also want to do some kind of photo project for the grandparents of the kids.

And I know for sure I am going to make Serenity some dresses and some PJ's.
For Logan I want to make PJ pants.
For Jordan I would love to try to make her some new bedding and some PJ's.

I think I really want to keep Christmas simple this year. And do more home made things.

Crazy to be thinking about it now but all of that stuff is going to take time and money so I have to start soon..

Summer is here

And they are bored already.

We have a half day of school left and already they are crying boredom. I dread this time of year but look forward to it as well. For me it's a slow down period and for my kids it's boredom run a muck. They love being at school with their friends and all of their after school things. But I long for the days of when I can sit and do nothing or I can take a trip somewhere and no have to worry about making it back on time to pick one of them up.

I think we are going to be spending a lot of time at the library this summer. Jordan has a mile long of summer reads she has to do for her English class. And I am just ready to get back to reading some of the books I have been wanting for a while now. Logan will love the library as always and Serenity might enjoy it a little more this summer. I am sure we will head to the beach a few times and down the Salt Springs to swim. A trip or two to grandparents and a few trips over to my SIL house to swim in her pool and I think we will then be ready for back to school.

I am sure that with all of those plans I will here a million and 5 times I'm Bored..

What's been going on..

Well the last past 2 months have been super busy for us. Everyone has had some kind of sickness and we have been running like crazy..

February was lots of fun. We moved after 8 years of being in the same place. We moved in the same town. The very first day of our move was crazy. Logan woke up and couldn't not bare any weight on his leg. He looked like a flamingo. So I thought maybe he had some kind of serve leg cramp that need a good day of rest and a good day of rubbing and he would be good as new. Well that night he was just in pain and crying. We were carrying him every where. So I decided the next day he was going to the children's hospital to find out what was going on. They put him through the mill that day and I was there for 10 hours to only be sent back home and told that I need to see an orthopedic specialist that they had found a pocket of fluid on his hip. Not a good feeling to leave the ER and not know what all that meant or what was going on. So we waited on the Doctor to set the appointment up for us. Well after waiting for a little over a week and carrying my son around. I called to find out what was going on. The Doctor still had no clue why we hadn't been contacted by the ortho's office and he said he would check into it. (you are the mercy of all these doctor's who claim to know what they are doing.) Well Rob had started to notice that Logan was trying to use his leg some and had him try to walk on it. He got up and walked with a limp for about 3 days and by the time we got the word to meet the Ortho doctor at the ER he could walk and run on his own. He was released from medical care and able to go back to school. And we were told it was viral and it attacked his joints and now he is better. The very next day after one whole day of school he broke out into a rash. Which turned out to be just the virus leaving his body completely.

Now on to Serenity.. (these two together are trouble I tell you!!) During the move we were eating when we could and eating fast food a lot. (something we don't do, I don't like it and I cook as much as I can so I know what's going into my kids) Day 2 of the move I ran to the store to get some milk for the kids so they could eat some cereal the next day for breakfast. While I was there my husband calls and says Serenity had a poopy diaper. Ok I know what you are thinking, what the heck change it and why do I need to know this. Well I thought the same thing and said the same things to him. He then tells me it had blood in it.. I was like get her cleaned up and ready to leave when I get there. Well in the time it took me to get from the store to my house (which is less then 1/2 a mile) she had two more bowel movements. All of them had blood in them. Off to the ER we went,got asked tons of questions and had to explain that she hadn't had good meals for the last 2 days and that we were moving. They checked her over and realized she was dehydrated. So they gave her fluids and sent us home. Told us that it may take a couple of days but she should be fine and to keep pouring fluid into her and if she got worse to take her to the ped's office. Well we all got the stomach bug shortly after that and things got better.

Fast forward to the last week in 2 weeks in March. Once again we changed her diaper and she had blood in it again. I was able to take the diaper and her to the ped's office and they did samples to test for any bacteria that they could think of. Those test came back a week later negative. Then they sent us to lab to get blood work and test for allergies and anything else they may have missed. Once again we waited and listen to our sweet baby complain of her belly hurting and not knowing what was going on. Well I go the results back yesterday afternoon and it turns out the little stinker is ALLERGIC to MILK.. So we changed her to Soy last night add some chocolate to it and she loves it and tells everyone that it's her special milk.

Jordan has had some exciting stuff as well but nothing like the other two.. She made Junior National Honor Society this year and we are so VERY PROUD of her.. She works her butt of at school and makes great grades with out much effort. She is in all honor classes this year and loves being involved in everything. She is doing volunteer work now and seems to enjoy that. She is getting ready to turn 13 and boy have we noticed that she is almost a teenager.. UGHH the attitude, but all in all she is just a good girl...

Rob and I celebrated our anniversary in March and we were both sick with the some kind of stomach bug. So we didn't do much other then watch TV and sleep. It was perfect.

Rob and Serenity are getting ready for their birthday's this month. He is on the 14th and he will be 38 and Serenity's is on the 17th and she will be 2. He wants a big bowl of banana pudding and Serenity wants either a princess cake or elmo. So we will see what I can pull out of my hat for that one. Maybe do princess crown with little elmo faces as the jewels. Who knows..

That is our update.. Sorry it's a book..

My Anniversary Part 2

The menu has been picked and I know what we are having now..I am so super excited I can't wait until next Saturday.

Appetizer:Steamed shrimp
Dinner: Bacon wrapped filet mignon
Loaded Baked Potatoes
Salad
bread sticks

Desert: Cheesecake stuffed strawberries dipped in chocolate

I changed my desert plan from my first post. I decided this would be better for us. We are going to wait and eat until the kids are in bed. We are hoping since we can't go out this year that we can eat a nice dinner and watch a movie together.

I am ready to eat that dinner right now.. WAITING IS going to be hard..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DR SEUSS!!

Today is my favorites authors birthday. My kids and I will read his books tonight at bedtime and celebrate that way. My son's class is having green eggs and ham for in honor and reading the book.

My favorite book by Dr Seuss is Oh The places you'll go.. It has got to be the greatest motivational book for any kid graduating school. We give that book to everyone we know who is graduating. Here is a link to read it if you have never read the book Oh The places you'll go by Dr. Seuss.

Ben 10 Omnitrix Cake

Logan wanted an Ben 10 cake and after thinking about all the ways I could make the cake. I decided that it would be easier to make him the watch the boy wears to turn into the aliens.

So here it is start to finish.
This is a layer of milk chocolate cake and simple vanilla cake layer,iced together with plain white icing. Then I started the center of the dial for the top of the watch.



I added the black to finish the dial on the top of the cake.


Here I am frosting the outer edge of the cake. (sorry about the poor looks it was 1am)

I added to pieces of cake to make the wrist band. One is milk chocolate and the other is simple vanilla cake.


Here I am working on icing the wristband. And then what they look like before I add the details to them.



All the details are done, and I am getting ready to write on the cake. (this is the part I still need to work really hard on)


The lettering is all done and here is the finish cake.



I loved making this cake for him. It may not be my best work but it was fun. I worked on this cake until 3am and it was worth every minute of it.

TODAY IS THE DAY

Today is the day we have been waiting on.
Today is the day we lay aside the old ways of government and embrace the new.
Today is the day that a nation of many spoke up for.
Today is the day that we accept the change that has been need for many years.
Today is the day that we embrace a new way of doing things.
Today is the day accept responsibility for our actions as a nation.
Today is the day that we embrace our new Vice President and his wonderful wife.
Today is the day that we help them help us.
Today is the day that we WELCOME with open arms our number 44th President of the United States of America.
TODAY IS THE DAY THAT BARRACK H. OBAMA BECAME THE 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!

What a huge moment for him and his beautiful family. And what an even greater moment for our nation.


CHANGE IS COMING!!! AND IT HAS ARRIVED!!!!