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).