Audrey Cate

I'd like to take a moment and welcome the newest member of the Williams family to the world.  Audrey Cate, was born Saturday morning to her proud parents, Bryan and Anna.  Little miss Audrey was ready to come see us, a little sooner than we expected, but we're glad she's here.  She is doing well and gets to see her parents twice a day.  Would you please pray for her over the next few weeks as she gains her strength and grows bigger?  Thank you so much!

Lights! Camera! Action!

I did it!  My first, real cake order that was going to someone not in my "inner" circle, therefore making it a real cake order.  A few weeks ago a lady who is moving to Saudi Arabia with us saw a picture of one of my cakes on Facebook and asked if I would be willing to make a cake for her daughter's 9th birthday.  I said yes, of course, just so that I could practice with cake decorating.  She told me their party was going to be at the movies and she wanted to know if I could make a cake in the shape of a popcorn container.  I did some research and decided that I would use her popcorn container idea as the cake topper and make a cake that had edible pieces surrounding it.   Here is what it looked like!!!

 

I took a class on fondant and gumpaste about a month ago and learned how to make homemade fondant which tastes 10X better than the store bought kind in a box (not to be confused with Satin Ice's brand in the containers).  Anyways, I drew out my pieces and began working on them early in the week so they would have plenty of time to dry by Friday.  The movie ticket, reel, and clapper are 100% fondant.  I used rice krispie treats as the structure for the popcorn container and sealed it with royal icing (to keep the RKT from shifting), gave it a layer of butter cream, then covered it in white fondant and added the red stripes.  The popcorn was miniature marshmallows cut up and sprayed with yellow icing coloring called color mist.  

Since the birthday girl was turning 9, I tried "diva-ing" the cake up with a red carpet and made miniature fondant balls to look like lights.  The border of the cake had alternating colored stars and bigger stars were put on the side of the cake! It took some time to cut out each one of these pieces, but it was worth it! The little girls face was PRICELESS!!   

Now, I can't go through this post without mentioning that Brooks helped with this cake, just like he helps with all my other cakes.  Brooks, being an engineer, has an eye for straight lines, the ability to calculate ratios,  determine proportion sizes, and pays very, very, very close attention to the small details.  Therefore, when it was time to place the popcorn label on the front of the container, he got that job!!!  He did an awesome job measuring out the distance from the stripes to the circular label, did some cutting, then gluing (with food safe glue of course) and VOILA... it turned out perfect!!  I even let Brooks ice the edges of my cakes because he can get them to be exact angles and smooth as can be. He is really talented with it!  Thanks babe for all your help!  I couldn't have done it with out you and thanks for being so understanding that the house wasn't cleaned, didn't get picked up, and no laundry was done all week.  I appreciate you more than you know!

Heads up: my next cake is due April 10th and it's for a crawfish boil.  I can't wait to show you what's happening with that cake.

I totally had a.....

A New Moon Party.  

So, unless you've been living under a rock (as I was told over a year ago), you've probably heard of the Twilight Series books by Stephanie Meyer.  It's about a "love" triangle between a girl and two guys, who just so happen to be a vampire and a warewolf... I know, I know... dumb, right!?  That's what I thought until I spent 2 months listening to all 4 books on my IPOD (I downloaded them from http://www.audible.com/) and became hooked.  They are really, really easy books to read and the authors use of writing is intriguing and catching.  Well,  a majority of my friends are into these books and we've invested in many discussions about our thoughts and feelings on the characters and their "story".  New Moon (book #2) came out on DVD this past weekend so I decided to throw a New Moon party.  The whole reason I decided to have a New Moon Party in the first place was all because I saw pictures of Twilight/New Moon inspired cakes online for a cake contest and decided that I wanted to try and make one of the cakes, not for the contest, just at home... therefore, I needed to throw a party!  

Here is the cake.... because of this...

I made invitations, a banner, cake, found downloadable quote signs and put into frames, had door prizes, made a trivia quiz, and pretty much themed everything around the book (welcome sign, bandaids, food, etc).  The sign at my front door was copied from the City of Forks actual sign (where the movie takes place).  I used copies of the books, candles, and apples as part of my decorations.  All my guests received the New Moon soundtrack, as well as a goody bag with lipstick, nail polish, and sweets (all of which, went with the story line of some sort).  I absolutely had a blast planning this party and putting it together.  I had even more fun getting to hang out with all my sweet, sweet friends.  Several of the girls had never read the books or seen the movies, but came anyways for the girl time.  A few of them left, with copies of the books and asking to borrow the movies.  They may get hooked if they aren't careful.  Of course, after we ate, played trivia, and gave away door prizes, we watched the movie New Moon.  It was fun to listen to girls giggle over silly parts in the movie.  

I must say that I did go over the top for this... a few people, including my wonderful husband, mentioned several times that I have too much time on my hands to have been able to do all that I did, however, I'd like to think I was just focused with my time.  Brooks was wonderful throughout the party planning, creating, decorating, etc and I'm grateful that he was willing for me to do all of this for my awesome friends.  It was a fun party and a blast spending time with everyone.  Now, if only June 30th will get here!  

PS: If you know of anyone who is in need of any New Moon/Twilight decorations please tell them to call me. 

Kids these days...

A few weeks ago, Anna and David (my sister in law and nephew) came to Houston for a few days while my brother was out of town.  We had a fun time shopping and hanging out together.  The boys played around and got to spend some time with Kimmie and got spoiled, of course!  

Last weekend the weather here in Houston was BEAUTIFUL!!!  Gavin has loved getting to play outside and run around.  Here is my new favorite picture of Gavin... he looks like a little boy (no baby in him at all) in this picture.  By the way, he is so proud every time he gets to wear those crocs.  It's precious.

I meant to post this pic on St. Patrick's Day, but was busy making a cake and planning a party (pics and post about that to come soon) that I wasn't on my computer much.  Gavin was willing to stop sweeping the kitchen floor for me to take a picture of him.

This weekend my brother Kyle, sister in law, Liz and their daughter, Neve, came to visit us before going to the rodeo on Saturday.  Gavin and Neve played all day with each other, sharing toys, chasing each other, swinging, etc.  We even took a walk around the block with them in a double stroller (Bryan and Anna bought it from my neighbors who had a garage sale a week or two ago and it hasn't made it's way to LC yet) and they loved it.  We had a blast watching Gavin and Neve taking turns with the toys... of course, if one of them was playing with a toy the other one wanted that same toy... go figure, huh!?!?  We were glad Kyle and Liz got to come and stay with us.  It was a fun and eventful weekend!  Neve even helped me decorate the cake I made for my party Saturday night.  That girl can use those cookie cutters!  

Cricut Time

Did you read my post last week about a Cricut Machine?  It's used for cutting out words, letters, designs, etc onto scrapbook paper.  If you've never heard of it and are an avid scrapbook person OR are into crafts, this is the machine for you.  I have a Cricut Expressions which can cut 12x12 paper, it can also cut vinyl, and other materials.  I LOVE IT and am really starting to use it more and more.  In the beginning I used it just on pages in Gavin's scrapbook, but then I used it to make two banners for different parties (I'll show those later), as well as invitations for a party I'm throwing next week.  I was at Hobby Lobby looking for black cards and envelopes and found a pack of beige cards and had the idea to make my own greeting cards using my Cricut, too.  So, in one day's sitting I decided to tackle these projects all at once.  I loved getting to use my different cartridges and try new things with the Cricut.  

Here are two of the cards I made so far!   

   

Can you guess what this invitations for? I'll tell you more about this later... let's just say March 20th can't get here soon enough!

By the way, if you have a Cricut of any kind and are tired of buying cartridges for $60-80, there is a program called Sure Cuts a Lot... it's a computer program you purchase and download onto your computer. It allows you to use any standing font that is on your computer (which means you can download any free font and your Cricut can cut something out for you using that font).  You just hook your Cricut up to your computer and VOILA... there's the program!  Try googling Sure Cuts a Lot and search for coupons and deals.  

While we're talking about fonts... I'm always looking for cute fonts to put on my computer (especially when I was teaching) and I've come across some websites that have a lot of different types of fonts that are free!!!

Check out www.fontface.com , enter the website, then search font archive.  You can click on any letter and it gives you all the fonts that start with that letter.  Download them to your computer and voila!

I also found this website that has a TON of FREE and really cute fonts that you can download to your computer AND incorporate it into your blog.  This site has some really good ones.  The website explains how to download them to your computer and use in blogger.  I hope that you find these as useful as I have.  Enjoy!   http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/

Birthday Celebration

Last Monday was Brooks 26th Birthday and it seems we celebrated all week.  On Monday, while Brooks' mom was still in town we had a birthday dinner with chicken enchiladas and birthday cake.  Brooks was blessed with money for his birthday, a super hero card from Gavin, and tickets to see the Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers basketball team this month!  He was really excited.  My favorite part of his birthday was being at his office (for my Saudi Wives Meeting) and we got to see each other!!  Here are some pics from Brooks' day.

Friday night, we went to dinner with some friends to celebrate Brooks' birthday.  It was a blast.  We loved hanging out and visiting with everyone.  Here's Brooks and our friend Nathan.  

All in a Day's Work....

The title of my post says All in a Day's Work, but I actually meant to write All in a Week's Work.  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week making icing, baking cakes, and experimenting with fondant (I tried making my own- it was an interesting process and one that I plan on learning more about in the days to come).  I actually have 4 cakes scheduled from now until the middle of April (two of which are commissioned) so if you need me I'll be in the kitchen!  

Have you heard about a Cricut Machine?  It's an electronic machine that allows you to cut out words, letters, designs, images, etc from scrapbook paper to use instead of stickers.  It's really neat and has a lot of potential to make some really cool things.  It doesn't have to be used just for scrapbook pages, as I'll show you in a future post.  Anyways, Cricut, is coming out with a machine called Cricut Cake.  I've been really interested in seeing how it's used and what it can produce on cakes and I've been very impressed with it's capabilities.  I'm not very good with hand work, so the idea that a machine can cut out words and designs for me.... YES, please!  I'll take it.  The only problem is it's like $500 and since I'm NOT planning on opening up a shop, I don't think I'll be pre-ordering one.  However,  I recently learned that the Cricut Machine I have has the ability to cut gum paste and fondant using a different blade and tweaking a cutting mat.  I'm sooooo wanting to try it out on my machine and have been doing a lot of research about it.  I'm in the process of getting some needed supplies to try it out!  I just have to decide if I'm willing to take off a few rollers from my Cricut and I'm not quite sure I'm willing to do that.  We will see though.  

To get back to what I did this week, sorry,....

I had a meeting on Monday for just the wives going overseas so I decided to make a cake for the event!  I didn't tell anyone I was bringing it so all the women were surprised!  It was a fun cake for me to make and it was my first sheet cake... isn't that odd?  

I also made Brooks his own personal cake for his birthday.  Out of all the things I could have done, he wanted a white cake, with white icing for the borders, and the base to be teal.  Random, but it's what he wanted so that's what he got!  

However, since we were having a birthday party with our friends I got to make another cake! I wanted to make a more elaborate cake so I decided to try out carving a shaped cake.  Brooks always wears ties to work.  Everyday, no matter what, he has a tie on.  NO ONE in his office wears ties.  At several company meetings that I've attended, many of the men have commented on Brooks' ties!  So, for his birthday, I made him a neck tie cake!  I picked out one of his favorite ties and recreated the cake to copy the tie!  I think it turned out cute!

Here's the tie I used... what do you think?

Izzo's!!!

Do you remember a few months ago when I posted about my brother opening a restaurant, called Izzo's?  Well, it has been doing great and Lake Charles is keeping them busy.  This past week, my brother and Izzo's were featured in a local magazine.  Congratulations Kyle!

Click HERE to read the article.  When you open the link, find page 21!

Two at a Time

Gavin has a girlfriend!!  Okay, Okay, what I really mean is Gavin has a friend, who is a girl.  Her name is Peyton!  Her parents are our small group leaders.  She is a precious young lady and she got to come hang out with us last week for the day.  

Gavin and Peyton always have fun together.  Last summer they took swim lessons together and hung out at the beach.  This week, they pushed each other around in our toy cars ( I forgot to take pics of that), played on the slide, read books together, and SO much more.   I LOVED having these two together.  They were so easy.  Whatever one of them was doing, playing with, or had... the other one wanted.  They laughed together, chased each other, and shared their toys.  It was the cutest thing.  I tried taking pics of our day together when I had time.

Gavin had just woke up from his nap and Peyton came with me to get him out of bed.  As soon as they saw each other they started giggling.  Again, soooo cute!  Gavin wanted Peyton to get in the bed with him so I placed her in his crib and they giggled even more.  

Peyton playing with the lap top.  I think Gavin was in the kitchen finishing lunch. 

I decided to bring this slide into the living room and move the coffee table.  This is normally in the garage, because our weather has not been good at all, but there was too many things for them to get into in the garage, I didn't want to referee the whole time they were playing.  So, I brought it inside and they had a blast!  They took turns climbing up the steps then sliding down.  Once they slid down, they would run back around to climb back up!  They both wanted to be on the slide at the same time.  

We love having Peyton with us!  I know one thing boys and girls are SOOOO different!  

Rodeo Round Up

The Houston Livestock Rodeo is in town so we have been taking advantage of having it here.  Last weekend, they had a parade to start off the festivities, so we took Gavin to see the horses and he was sooooo excited to watch them.  This past weekend, we went to the actual Rodeo, walked around, and enjoyed all the activities.  Brooks' mom (Grammy) was in town so we got to spend some time with her.  

At the parade, Gavin sat on Brooks' shoulders so he could see everything.  He would point every time he saw horses coming.  

We got Gavin a rodeo "outfit" and he looked so handsome in it.  Kimmie (my mom) got Gavin these boots at Christmas time and they finally fit him.  Just in time.  I found this shirt at Target and couldn't pass it up.  I went ahead and bought him some dark colored blue jeans just for the heck of it.  The wind was blowing bad and the weather was cool so we tried a hat on Gavin to see if he would wear it and he did!  He actually kept the hat on all night! 

We found a petting zoo at the Rodeo filled with pigs, goats, sheep, lamma's, deers, kangaroos, etc.  Gavin was skeptical at first.... he stood really close to us and wouldn't move around a lot.  It took him a while to be willing to pet the animals, but once he realized it was okay, he touched more of them.    

Brooks and I found a tent that was having a mutt-bustin competition (where little kids ride sheep) and Gavin found this tractor.  He decided he wasn't interested in the sheep, but rather wanted to ride this.  Grammy took him to the tractor and he "drove" it for a while.  He touched every button, pulled every knob, and turned that steering wheel over and over.  Saying he loved it would be an understatement.  

Okay, so the big event from the rodeo was Gavin taking a ride on his FIRST EVER "roller coaster", or carnival ride.  I don't really know what to call it.  By no means was Gavin tall enough to ride this ride, but Brooks insisted on us trying, the worker let Gavin in, and we found this airplane that had a single seat, and we strapped him in.  The fact that there was a wheel for him to turn kept his attention on not realizing that mommy and daddy weren't in the plane with him.  The kid behind him came up right before the ride began so he kept Gavin company.  Actually, once the ride started, Gavin kept turning around to turn the other kids steering wheel.  It was cute.  Now, it's important for you to know that I was a NERVOUS wreck.... Brooks' mom and I kept telling Brooks that we did NOT think this was a good idea, but Brooks told us to trust him and let Gavin try it.  So, the ride started and Gavin's airplane went up and down, up and down.  He was so excited to be flying.  I eventually calmed down when I saw how much fun he was having and in my heart, I realized that my little boy is growing up.  Since Gavin loved this ride so much, we went and got a few more tickets to let him try some other ones.  We found a car ride that bounced up and down (I got to ride that one with him).  It wasn't his favorite, so we went back to this ride and let him have a few more runs with it.  

We went inside and walked around and watched some of the livestock show.  They had cows EVERYWHERE.  We passed by some owners of these Bahamian cows (I don't remember what kind they were, just that they started with a "B" and I called them Bahama cows), and they asked if we wanted to SIT on their cow... yes, SIT on the cow.  We said sure and took this opportunity for a family pic!  Gavin had some reservations so this isn't our best picture, but it shows our time at the Rodeo.  

YEEHAW!!!

Happy Birthday Brooks Lee

Happy 26th Birthday 

to THE most amazing man in the entire world!  

Brooks Lee, you are the best husband ever and an incredible father to Gavin.  We love you so much and hope that your birthday is filled with lots of love and joy!  

It's Been One Year!

It's been a year since I started blogging and I've enjoyed every minute of it.  It's been fun getting to share our lives with you all.  I hope that you've enjoyed being apart of it.  I'm looking forward to sharing many more fun times.    

18 months

On Sunday, Gavin turned 18 months old... it's official, we have a year and a half old son.  Gavin had his 18 month old check up Tuesday and it went pretty well.  It seems that he has the height and weight of a 2 year old.  He is 34 inches long (no wonder I had to start buying 24 month pants) and he is 28 pounds (which allows him to start taking Children's medicine versus infant medicine).  Gavin is in the 90th percentile for his height and the 70th percentile for his weight.  His doctor could not get over how "cut" and muscular Gavin looked (she kept saying that over and over).  She also told me to be prepared for him to be much taller than me when he grows up.  All I can say to that, is I hope so!!  He got two shots today and did okay... he did cry, but it was more because I was laying over him to hold him down... he did not want to lay back for the nurse.  Once I picked him up he was fine and quit crying.

**Funny story... all the patient rooms have sinks in them and underneath the sink is a cabinet that stores supplies for the doctors and nurses to use.  When Gavin was about a year old he opened one of the cabinets and found these cups that are used for urine samples.  I remember him playing with one while we were waiting for Dr. Lee to see us and she had him put it away for her because she wanted to see him open, close a door, follow a command, etc.  Well, ever since then, any time we go to the doctors office and we walk into a room, Gavin immediately opens the cabinet and grabs a urine cup to play with.  It's so random and kind of embarrassing, but I can't get over how he knows those are there (we've been 4 times since he turned one).