Cakes and More

I have been a busy little bee. I made a Hannah Montanna inspired cake last week. I have busted out an Africa one this week. I have 4 more this week. One of which will be done when we can get together with Roy and Carol. The other three are a cell phone smash cake, a castle cake, and an avon bag with nail polish and lipstick samples out of fondant. They will all be fun to do! We are heading to church this evening and can't wait. Kenzie and Maddie have been kids. Kenzie had a quick trip to the E.R. because she got a tiny rubberband up her nose, but all is well there. Maddie has been a little model. I will have to put the pics here, but if you want to see them and are on my friends list on facebook, you can find them in there already. If you don't know you can see my cakes here and that is about the update for now... more to come.

"The Clothesline Said So Much" by Marilyn K Walker

I recieved this poem in a baby shower invitation and wanted to share it with you all.

A clothes line was a news forcast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the 'company table cloths'
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck.
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, 'Gone on vacation now'
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told 'We're back!' when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!


I hope you enjoy this! It has almost inspired me to want to get a clothesline!!!

busy busy busy

I am getting busier as the month goes on. I did the hannah montanna cake for Sherika, and went to church yesterday with Ryan. I got another small cake order for a surprise next week. Which is nice. I am also working on checking out how hard it will be to make the fondant animals and other pieces needed for doing the noah's ark baby shower cake for Anita. She asked me what I am planning on charging for it and upon looking at it I quoted her at the 60-80 range and she was totally game for it. Most people I have run across, I find they want to go the cheap route and I have a new outlook on my cake business. I am making a custom designed creation and I am going to be pricing them accordingly. If I don't, I won't make any money on them. We shall see how that works for me.

Kenzie is enjoying her summer off, but is so ready to go back to school.

I have Cecilia and Isabella tonight along with Kenzie. Ryan took Maddie to the bowling alley with him.

Not much else is going through my brain right now....

things

so i haven't been on here lately. friday we had a storm that knocked out my internet and i had to get on the phone with brighthouse to get it back on yesterday evening. finally nearing 8pm we got it done. i am doing a hannah montanna cake today and then I have to do something for roy and carol since monday is their anniversary, and wednesday of next week is roy's birthday, so he has requested a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting! yummmmmmmy stuff! and then I have a cell phone and castle cakes for a 2 year old birthday party. followed by an avon party, then two babyshowers and of course the monthly birthday cake for work... how will i get it all done? WITH JESUS is how! the girls are staying with roy and carol tonight because our friend max coomer is in from indiana. ryan and max are out golfing right now and i just got home from work, so here i sit waiting for the cake to bake... derrick and amanda came in this past weekend... we had dinner over at roys house with them all and ed, gayle, and dave. fun times. amanda and i looked at calanders to confirm that we will be able to come to their house this september and she will watch the kids so we can go to tameka's wedding in daytona. that is gonna be fun. and that is about all that has been going on around here...

The academy cake

a couple pics of what i have been doing today..

we started out by going to walmart to pick up something i forgot for the cake... and then picked up lunch and headed to the playground to eat and let the girls have some fun before heading home to bake... i baked the cake adding 1 tbs of meringue pouder to each cake batter to make them stiffer to prevent the cracking that happened with the last cake. i proceeded to work on it... was an all day project. ryan took maddie bowling with him tonight and i stayed home to work on this piece of art. i can't wait to add the oscar to it and present it to my boss tomorrow at the party!

derrick and amanda are coming in this weekend to spend time with jen and alex and their kiddos' and she is brining the bowling pin cake pan for me for a cake in july. i just love living so close to her that we can converse about the cakes and I am hoping that as I do more of them again, I will have my skills improve over time. I never worked with much fondant, but I am sure that as I get used to using it, it will become easier.

and that is that.

God is like..... (according to 5th graders)

I say Amen!!!!

Fifth grade teacher in a Christian school asked her class to look at TV commercials and see if they could use them in some way to communicate ideas about God.

Here are some of the results: scroll down.
God is like.
BAYER ASPIRIN
He works miracles.
God is like.
a FORD
He's got a better idea.
God is like.
COKE
He's the real thing.

(This is great)
God is like.
HALLMARK CARDS
He cares enough to send His very best.
God is like.
TIDE
He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
God is like.
GENERAL ELECTRIC
He brings good things to life.
God is like.
SEARS
He has everything.
God is like.
ALKA-SELTZER
Try Him, you'll like Him
God is like.
SCOTCH TAPE
You can't see Him, but you know He's there.
God is like.
DELTA
He's ready when you are.
God is like.
ALLSTATE
You're in good hands with Him.
God is like.
VO-5 Hair Spray
He holds through all kinds of weather.
God is like.
DIAL SOAP
Aren't you glad you have Him? Don't you wish everybody did?

(that one is my favorite)

God is like.
the U.S. POST OFFICE
Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor ice will keep Him from His appointed destination.

God is like.
Chevrolet. . . .the heart beat of America

God is like
Maxwell House. . .
Good to the very last drop
God is like.
Bounty. . . .
He is the quicker picker upper. . can handle the tough jobs. . .and He won't fall apart on you

blogger neglect!

I am so sorry for neglecting the blog. I have been really going crazy this week. Last Tuesday was the last day I blogged, so to try and catch you all up, here goes:

Wednesday, I went to work, they sent me home because I agreed to work another day for them. I then did what I could to help Ryan and Kevin with our brakes. When we did the brakes, we had grinded down to metal! And all of the sounds and vibrations with my car stopped! It's amazing what will happen if you just change your brakes. We then all went to bowling. I had a good time with Andie, Deb, and Nita!

Thursday, I worked. Status quo. Then I skipped back over to ccwc for Thursday evening service. I dropped Maddie off at her class and walked away as she started flipping out. I then walked Kenzie to her class and by the time I got back to the door to the Sanctuary, Maddie had chilled out. I really enjoyed this service and it went right along with what Dave Ramsey taught me.

Friday was my friday off and late in the day, the ac started acting up. We were miserable so Ryan took Kenzie to Roy and Carols and picked up 2 fans for us to use.

Saturday: I woke up to 87 degrees in the house. So I went on in to work and by the time I got home, the ac was working again, although it went out again that night but because we had the fans going it was bearable.

Sunday, I worked and roy came and cleaned out the overflow for the ac, and it is working for now.

Monday I am here blogging and just chilling with the girls. we just had snow cones and are gonna call it a day soon!

Calvary Chapel Worship Center

I have been told many times about going to this church by friends at work, and I finally felt it was time to give it a try. I called Tina G on my way and let her know to look for me. I got the girls settled in the class they would be in and Maddie didn't even whimper. This has never happened. I then went out to the main area to wait for Tina to get there when I saw another friend from work Robson. I didn't even know he went to that church, so I chatted with him and when it was time to go in the sanctuary, I went on in and was told by my buddy "Men on the right Ladies on the left!" (good ole Rob!). So I followed instructions and proceded with the praise and worship part of the service. When that was over, I found Tina had come in and didn't even recognize me out of my scrubs! So I then moved to sit with her and her friend. I think her name was Shiela. The pastor prayed and we split into the womens group and the mens group. We women had a wonderful discussion about uplifiting our children. I really believe that God wanted me to wait until tonight to try this church because it was a message I really needed to hear. When our service was over, we prayed and I had the girls in our smaller group pray for me due to a situation that happened at work today, I have given it to God, so just keep that in prayer and He knows what you are talking to him about. I then picked the girls up and they decided they don't wanna quit going to this church. We will be going on Tuesday and Thursday nights and then the Sunday Service too! The girls are ready to go to bed, so I better go get them settled.

Calloused and Bruised

I have found a new favorite song and the lyrics are below. It is the last song on my playlist, so if you wanna hear it, do the pop out player, and then go down to the bottom of my songs and select it. Ryan even likes it!

Calloused and bruised
Dazed and confused
My spirit is left wanting something more.

My selfish hopes
My selfish dreams
I'm lying with my face down on the floor,
Crying out for more
Crying out for more

Give me words to speak
Don't let my spirit sleep
Cause I can't think of anything worth saying.
But I know that I owe You my life.
Give me words to speak,
Don't let my spirit sleep...

Every night, every day
I find that I am nothing I can say.
So I stand here in silence
Waiting for guidance
I'm wanting only Your voice to be heard
Let 'em be Your words
Let 'em be Your words

Give me words to speak,
Don't let my spirit sleep.
Cause I can't think of anything worth saying.
But I know that I owe You my life.
Give me words to speak,
Don't let my spirit sleep...

I just don't understand
This life that I've been living
I just don't understand
Just don't understand
I just don't understand
These lies I've been believing
I just don't understand
Just don't understand

So give me words to speak
Don't let my spirit sleep
Cause I can't think of anything worth saying.
But I know taht I owe You my life.
Give me words to speak,
Don't let my spirit sleep.
I know I know I know I owe You my life...my life.

I heard this song while I was at work the other day and all I could remember was Calloused and Bruised, Dazed and confused... I typed those words in and you wouldn't believe the hits I got on google. I did it so I could find out who sang it so I can go get a copy of the cd. The artist is Aaron Shust if you are interested! The name of the song is Give me words to speak.

Have a good one... I am in the middle of a cake and took a break to put this in here!

Riding Miss Maddie

I have been looking for a child carrier of some sort on Freecycle for some time for me to attach to my bicycle when i found one like this (after I posted this link, i found that it is broken. I took a pic and will post it later)and decided to claim it. When Ryan went to pick it up over the weekend, he said a lady was there putting it in her explorer when he pulled up. I e mailed the lady and told her what happened and got "THAT WASN'T YOU?" and when I told her it wasn't I got told "IF THAT WASN'T YOU IT WAS STOLEN TOO BAD MY HUSBAND WASN'T HERE HE IS A COP" and I gave her a description of the vehicle from what Ryan had told me. A couple days later I got an e mail from her saying that it was another freecycler who had looked her up on the internet to find her address and she had gone and taken it, but when she heard what happened, she promptly returned it, so yesterday I went and picked it up. Her husband was really nice and put it in the back of the van for me (we had the seat out so it would fit in). I also stopped by while I was in the neighborhood and registered Kenzie for her new school. Kenzie came out of the school saying "Mommy, I love my new school" and I am so happy for that. Now, fast forward to today...

I dropped Kenzie off to Carol since she wanted to take her to see the movie Up. Maddie and I went grocery shopping and had dinner. Then she came in the bedroom as I was about to blog and said, "Put you soos on Mommy" So, I said, "What?" and she said "I wanna doooo out and wide" and I immediately knew what she was talking about. I had promised her I would take her for a ride in her trailer. I put my tennies on, rolled up my scrub pant legs, and hooked the trailer to the back of Ryan's bike and then buckled her in and closed up the protective netting to protect her from any bugs that might have been out and away we went on a fifteen minute ride. Upon getting home, I got off of the bike and almost lost my footing. It has been like seven or eight years since I have been on a bike, and I have never pulled anyone or anything behind me as I rode, so I felt it. I had a little wheezing (exercise induced asthma), but all in all we did great. She said "Mommy dat funnnn. Lets doooo adin" I told her we would go for short rides every evening until Mommy can go on longer rides. Build up my endurance again. I am so happy that she enjoyed her ride in her new toy! And I enjoyed getting my heart pumping.

I am sitting here blogging as she lays on the couch sleeping, so I better go get some shut eye myself!!!

a new iep, new school, new found happiness for mommy

I have been communicating with the Prinicpal at Kenzie's school a lot lately and got an e mail last night saying that I would be getting a call from the group meeting on her behalf sometime after 11 this morning. I got the call from Mrs. Bunnell the speech therapist wanting to go over the iep with me. I threw on my shoes and went to the school for a totally unexpected meeting. (I threw it upon them when they called (amazing what a little surprise will do) their eyes got buggy big when I actually showed up). I get there and we go over her new IEP. Here is what her new goals are:

she will correctly produce /k/, /g/ in all positions of words for 5 minutes of conversation with 90% accuracy for 3 sessions without correcting by the SLP (speech and language pathologist).

she will demonstrate her knowledge and use of vocabulary words/basic concepts by correctly identifying a word/concept presented by the slp with 90% accuracy or greater for 4 sessions

when given a two step direction, she will follow both steps without verbal/visual prompting with 90% accuracy for 4 sessions.

she will corectly produce /l/ in all positions of words for 5 minutes of conversation with 90% accuracy for 4 sessions without correcting by the slp.

she will correctly produce the /f/ and /v/ sounds in all positions of words for 5 minutes of conversation with 90% accuracy for 3 sessions without correcting by the slp.

when the slp/teacher presents a one-syllable word and asks mackenzie to tell her the sounds in the word mackenzie will produce each phoneme in the word without any modeling from the slp/teacher with 90% accuracy or better over a 9 week period.

by the end of the school year, mackenzie will gain a minimum of one year's reading growth as measured by school based assessments.

she will write at least three sentences using beginning and ending sounds to write words, and use capitalization and punctuation with 70% success rate on 3 occasions.

she will count, identify, and match numbers to 10 with a 70% success rate on 3 occasions.

she will initiate a classroom assignment independently on 8 out of 10 occasions.

she will receive 60 minutes a week of speech therapy, daily instruction in modified curriculum in all academic areas. she will also receive small group instruction, repeat, clarify, or summarize directions, additional time to complete assignments/assessments and special transportation services (school bus).

she will also spend 18% of her time at school with non disabled children. she was placed based on 40% or less of time with non ese.

all in all we are very happy with the new iep.

she is being moved to a school that is a 5 star school. she will be in a class of 10 students. she will do much better and the principal is open to communicating with me where the other school principal was limited in her openess to communication.

ryan isn't sure this is the right move because she will be leaving her friends, but i say she can make new friends. and this is going to be a great move for her!

back to semi normalcy

so, we are officially back to semi normalcy...

sunday we had the birthday bash... see this post for that info...

monday mom stayed in plant city to rest since she had a very long drive on saturday, and then a long day with the party on sunday.

tuesday mom came and had lunch with kenzie at school, then condo/house hunted here in new port richey with ryan until it was time for him to go to work and i picked kenzie up a few minutes early from class so that she could have some extra time with nana. we went to ci ci's pizza for dinner and as we were finishing, our neighbor and his kids came in to the place, and let me tell you five screaming kids makes for a quick exit! between my two and his three, we were outta there in no time. we then showed her where the bealls outlet is on 54 and seven springs, then headed home so I could bake a cake, and she said goodnight and what I thought was goodbye.

today, i was at work doing what i do after delivering a cake (you will see that pic as soon as I find my adapter!) and I call to check on ryan to find that he, carol, mom, aunt ann, and maddie all piled into mom's car and took a little trip to clearwater beach WITHOUT ME! kenzie was at school for her last day, and I was stuck working when they were having the fun! they had a great day, and when I got home from work, I RODE kenzie's SCOOTER to her school to pick her up and shortly after getting back home from school, they got here. I surprised Mom with 2 8 by 10's of Maddie. I had already given her what she thought was going to be the only pics of the trip (kenzie's spring pic) and they said their goodbye's because they are spending tomorrow in Plant City and then heading back north on Friday, but they are planning to come back down around august. maddie was heartbroken saying "nana come back!" and now I am sitting here trying to relax before going to bed...

for future: I had one cake this week... none next week. one the week after and one two weeks from now... then I have 2 baby cakes in July and one birthday cake. I am happy things are picking up. I am hoping I can come up with a Independence Day inspired design for the birthday party cake in July since it has to be a 1/2 sheet cake for work.

oh speaking of the cake, the one i took in today was a 1/4 sheet cake. It was white with pink. It was really cute. and everyone loved it! I like Amanda don't care for cake, but I decorate them. I am just glad everyone else can enjoy them. Hope to find that adapter soon so you can see what I did for the cake!

PEACE OUT!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!!

Here are the pics from a busy day for Maddie's birthday party! We had a blast and are so happy that Amanda was able to be there to do pics for us! I didn't take the time to put them in any certain order, but here you go! (yes, I made the costume and the cake)!!!Yaya's angels
Maddie taking a hit at the pinata, but watch out momma!

Toni and Maddie!

Ryan, Kenziem Mom, Me, Maddie, Spongebob, Carol, Roy all have to pose for the blended family pic LOL. It is nice to have a sponge in the family LOLOL!

I made this cake on Saturday for her party. I had ordered a cake then decided last minute to just make it myself. I was satisfied with how it came out!

Shelby and Spongebob
Riley and Spongebob
Time for presents
Nana's angels!

Nana and Maddie
My baby girl!
Ryan, Kenzie, my Mom, Me, Maddie, and Spongebob take time out for a pic.

Maddie meets Spongebob! She was so upset because the pinata was coming apart and she didn't want her spongebob to be torn up!

"Wait there!" in this pic, we were trying to talk her into hitting the pinata! Not much luck there!

"I think I will take your favorite hat from you. Besides, It's my Party!!!" LOL

Maddie wasn't sure about the box coming to life and talking to her, so I had to hold her just to get a pic of her with him!
Kenzie and her pose with Spongebob.
Singing to Maddie, she did what lots of babies do and got really really shy! We all but had to coax her to come out of my shoulder just so she could see the wind blow out her candle!!!
Grillmaster "My Dewwock" is hard at work doing what men do! Maddie has dubbed Derrick "My Dewwock" and at one time she didn't really wanna have anything to do with him, now he is her best bud!
Ryan and Yaya havin fun at Maddie's 3rd birthday!!!

cakes cakes cakes

i am going to be really busy through next wednesday... if i post at all, it will likely be sugar induced... i had two cakes tonight... i have two due on monday and then one big one due on wednesday... another on the 16th, one on the 25th of june... three baby shower cakes this summer... not one but two wedding shower cakes and a bachelorette cake (these are all before the end of august! i got busy in a hurry!

busy

sunday is maddie's birthday party. this week i will be really busy, so i may take a little blog break, but promise to fill you all in as i can. also, i have four cakes to design, a dress to buy and two babyshowers to plan. a graduation party on saturday evening to boot! update: maddie is going on the potty more and more on her own thank goodness. kenzie is missing school and she only had one day off. work has been increasingly like a psych ward this month. and that is about that.

this week

has been a little crazy...

it is getting close to the end of the school year for Mackenzie. I am trying to get everything together for her for the end of school year activities. the school was on a lock down the other day... I have been dubbed the "yeller" outside of back gate. As we wait for our children earlier this week, a car came speeding through the school zone, so I yelled at them to slow down. Must have caught them off guard, because they stopped in the middle of the road and gathered themselves. I as do other parents don't feel like it is fair for them to speed through the zone and put our children at risk. i have made several calls this week for various things... i have more calls early next week to make... maddie has made some progress with potty training. she has been doing some going on her own and it is getting closer to her being trained. she is able to go on the potty, we just have to get her to go on a regular basis. she is very sporatic. i am in the middle of making the sponge bob costume (it has been raining for a week) i can't paint it outside because of the rain, so I ended up laying a drop cloth down in the garage so I can paint it... I am about half way through with painting the yellow on the box. i have managed to keep myself awake after the kids go to sleep all week long enough to read well into the night. I have finished the second book of the twilight series and love it!!!

My baby

turned three today! it's hard to believe that she isn't a baby anymore! if you ask her, she has said she's a big girl! she goes on the potty sometimes... (LOL) and fights with her sister (and wins LOL) she is such a tom boy! she loves climing trees, etc. maddie started life fighting to survive and now we are so blessed everyday by her sillyness! thank God he had his watchful eye on our baby!

Heading to an appointment

Although today is my day off, I told Renee that I would come in this morning to take a patient out to an appointment. It will probably be a short day for me, but all in all, I am working again on my day off. This means I won't have a real day off again until next friday! I am working both days this weekend and so it puts me on a long stretch, but I don't really mind since the money is good.


GREAT NEWS:

Ryan and I both got raises yesterday at work. Putting Ryan at 12/hr and me at 12.25/hr. This was totally cool! In addition to that they are giving us retro pay for this raise since it was late getting to us. Ryan's is almost 4 months late and mine was 1 month late.

Kenzie is doing great. She asked me for a word search book while we were at the Dollar Tree, so I let her get one. I didn't think she would like it because word searches can sometimes be quite hard to do, but she is loving it and doing very well with it!

Maddie seems to be doing much better. I am thinking she had like a 24 hour bug because she is not coughing like she was and no runny nose. No fever either!

Ryan is going to get the kitchen ready for me while I am gone so I can have that done tonight while he is bowling with Kevin.

Kenzie brought home a note from school. She said there will be NO MORE HOMEWORK this year. I am not really happy about that, but that's ok because she doesn't know it but Momma is getting her a super workbook tonight and gonna do homework every day with her from that. Not to mention our daily routine has now consisted of playing school in one way or another. She is loving it and we are making learning fun for her. She also said that she got enough stickers on the poster at school to get to go to the Ice Cream Party! That was awesome. I don't know the details, but I do know that if they get enough stickers, they get a party.

And I am off to get in the shower so I can be ready to go to work on time. Have a blessed day and will be back later if I find anything to blog about. :)

checking things off the to do list

i feel like today i was able to get quite a bit accomplished. i have:

gone through most of the unopened e mails in my inbox. (i have been neglecting my e mails lately and this is not a good thing but like the fly lady says, this clutter is easily taken care of by simply hitting the delete key)

i went to work and was sent home since i am working this weekend and it looks like i may have a double on saturday and single on sunday... yay i will end up with over time if it all works out for me the way i am hoping it will... always depends on if renee catches what my plan is before or after the shifts start lol. she unfortunately caught today and sent me packing. ryan didn't make it back to work to pick me up, so i had an hour walk to the house, which wasn't bad at 7 in the morning, and i got my exercising done for the day... so that was another thing off of the daily list.

i tended to a sick maddie all day. she isn't feeling much better, she is really suffed up so she is getting mucinex to help with the congestion and when she has her meds she does better. i just feel so bad for the babe.

i finished painting the hallway and the girls bathroom.. it is looking really good. wednesday i will be finishing the living room and kitchen. that will conclude the painting that has to be done before maddie's party.

i went through the party tote and was able to start putting together the goody bags. i just need to pick up a few more things for those and that will be done.

i made a list of things yet to get for the party.

looked up the directions to make a diaper cake because since my friend theresa is having her babyshower in august, i told her my gift to her would be the diaper cake and the baby shower cake (to eat). so I have to work on planning all of that out and I know that diaper cakes aren't really that hard to make, so this should be fun.

i played school with kenzie at the whiteboard today and had so much fun! i haven't had that much fun with her while she was doing homework in a long time. it was nice to be a kid for a while. she played school from the time she got home until about 10 minutes ago, she finally crashed!

it seems like i am forgetting some of the things i did today, so with that i will go to bed since i am feeling kind of exhausted...

poor baby

maddie woke up crying last night around 3 am, so I was happy when renee decided to send me home today since i am working the weekend both days... she is now sleeping... and has been for 2 hours. i think she decided "if amanda can be sick so can i" she has a little cough and runny nose, but she was running a little fever this morning... ibuprophen and mucinex took care of the symptoms, but you can still tell she isn't feeling well..