I'll Have A Piece of Bad Baby Pie

I am a bad friend. Bad, bad, bad. Last Saturday was Melissa's birthday and yes I did call her, and yes I did give her a fabulous gift (a scone pan from Harry and David), I did not post a birthday message for her on this blog. So, here goes...


This is Melissa, on the left. This is when we were pregnant with Sydney and Madison. Melissa is my bestest besty friend in the whole wide world. We're BFF's. And that stands for Best Friends Forever, for all you who might not be up with the texting lingo. I love this picture. Aren't we cute? Melissa and I have always done everything together, even pregnancy! Now, Melissa is pregnant with twins. So, while we were going to start trying for another baby in the new year, we'll probably wait until mid-year because I don't want any of her twin karma. Like I said, we always do everything together, but I think I'll let her do this one on her own! I already volunteered to come over after the babies are born and fold laundry, but that's it!
Anyway, I know that Melissa is feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of twins and a very busy toddler, but if anyone can handle it, she can. She's like supermom, without the cape. And while this pregnancy was very planned, twins were not, which leads me to the title of this post. Anyone ever see that great movie with Keri Russell, The Waitress? Darn good movie in my opinion. The main gal makes a new pie every day in her diner and names it, things like "I Hate My Husband Pie" and on the day she finds out she's pregnant, she makes one called "Bad Baby Pie" because it was an unexpected pregnancy. The guy who plays Matlock is in that movie and that's what he orders. I would suggest some for Melissa except it would probably make her sick, everything does these days (although today she was chowing down on fish sticks...gross).
Anyways, Happy Late Birthday, Melissa! I love you, you are going to be a fantastic mother of three, and 26 will be an amazing year for you. When you can keep things besides fish sticks down, we'll have some pie to celebrate.

Flower Cakes

Last night Melissa and I finished up the second course of our cake class. Hard to believe we've been working on cakes for 8 weeks now. I have to admit I was not looking forward to this last cake, or class for that matter. The first course we took was so much fun. There were lots of other women in the class, and we sat across from these two ladies who were so funny. They were sister-in-laws and called each other "sister." As in, "sister, please pass me the spatula" or "oh my, sister, what a lovely buttercream dropflower." They made us giggle through most of the classes. This class was much smaller, and we only made a cake the last week. Each week we made flowers out of royal icing, then we saved them to put on our finale cake last night. It turned out to be such a fun and surprisingly easy cake, but it looked so great (if I do say so myself). Here they are...

Here is my iced cake after I did the hardest part, which was the basket weave.



From the front...



and a bird's eye view...


these flowers we such a pain to make and store, but made it easy to finish the cake. I just slapped them on and Ta-Da!


I am such a bad friend, I post four pictures of my cake and only one of Melissa's. I'm sorry Mel! Her cake was stunning, too. She was much better at the basket weave then I was. Here is her cake.



We're going to do the next class soon, a class on fondant, so that should be lots of fun! Stay tuned for more pictures.

A Walk in the Park

This past Wednesday was absolutely beautiful, it was 70 degrees and clear. Chris and I decided to take Sydney to a nearby park for some fresh air. Sydney mostly had fun. There were a LOT of kids there, running around and screaming, so she was kind of timid and wanted one of us right next to her at all times. But, it was a fun evening and here are some of the pictures we took.

Who is Looking at our Blog?

To the right of this column and down a little, there is a map and it keeps track of who looks at our blog. I love seeing the different parts of the country where people look at the blog. I can see the family in California, Marilyn in Oklahoma, and of course all of our local friends and family. Today a new dot showed up, in Alaska! So please tell me via the comment box below, who are you in Alaska? Is it Chris' step-sister Shawn? Is it Uncle Tim? Is it Sarah Palin? Please tell me, I'm so curious!
PS-If it is Sarah Palin, I'm so sorry but I am not voting for you. But, can you tell me how you make your hair pouf like that because I want to do my hair like you and Tina Fey?!

Peace and Tranquility (or lack thereof)

What a busy week this has been! I usually try to post updates at least twice a week so the dozen and a half of you that keep tabs on us know what we've been up to, but it has been a full week and I apologize. Last week's post on the pumpkin patch was so fun, but that afternoon it all fell apart. Wednesday evening I tripped over a toy as I was carrying Sydney and fell really hard. A trip to urgent care and an x-ray later thankfully confirmed I had not broken anything, but I had a bad sprain. It was so painful, and my arm got all swollen and my fingers were numb. I had to wear an awkward brace and it was my right arm, so I was helpless. So was my dear sweet husband as he was trying to help me get dressed the next day (funny how men can take bras OFF, but they can't seem to help you put them on--sorry for that image, dad). Then, the next morning I was watching Madison so Matt and Melissa could go to their first appointment with their doctor for this pregnancy. While they were there, they found out they are having TWINS! I still can't wrap my head around the idea of twins, I tell Melissa I would probably still be crying, but she has taken it in stride. She has been looking at bigger cars and strollers and preparing Madison for 2 babies. I couldn't go to work this weekend because of my arm, so we completely organized our closet and got rid of, get this, over 200 items of clothing to Goodwill! We also worked on the garage so I can now park my new car in there. We had company over for dinner, and my cake classes in the middle of all of it. I'm ready for a nap!
Things are sort of back to normal this week. We're going to the pumpkin patch again with friends this weekend, and I'll be back at work. Hopefully things will stay calm again and there will be no more sprained arms and hopefully Melissa doesn't find out she's having triplets or anything like that. Anyway, here are some pictures of Sydney from today in a darling little dress. Notice that is carrying her purse, too, which is her latest thing. What you can't see in the picture is that the purse is full of my make-up, which she loves to pretend to put on. What a silly girl!

Fall Traditions

Hello, one and all. It's my favorite time of year again, fall. It is so beautiful and you should all really consider living in the Pacific Northwest if you already don't because of days like today. It's cold, crisp, and clear. It's the perfect day for a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and a trip to the pumpkin patch, which exactly describes my morning. First, though, here are some pictures from this last weekend. We were driving home from a football game and stopped to give Sydney a break, and she was "helping" daddy steer as we sat in the parking lot. Then, she had some caramel apple when we got home. Yum!



Today, Sydney and I went to the pumpkin patch with the mommy group from church. It was so much fun! Sydney, Madison, Eli, and some of their friends had a blast.



Melissa's new baby on the way is making her very sick, so Madison came with Nana Kay.


Why are you worried, Eli? By the way, Eli's mom, Alisa, is also expecting and due in April. If you haven't met her, she's very sweet and her voice sounds like a Disney Princess. I think birds dress her every morning.


Here's me and Syddo on the train, or the "choo-choo" as they are known in our house.


Eli finally got into the train ride!


Isn't this beautiful? Shame on you, Marilyn, for not living here! This looks like Heaven to me, except that Heaven would also smell like Starbucks and Sephora.


Sydney loved the pumpkins, or "pugs" as she calls them. She kept trying to pick up the big ones. She did great the first half of the trip, then wanted to be carried the last half, which made it interesting to carry her and the pumpkin.



Sydney and Eli on the boat ride back to the entrance. They would NOT look at the camera, at each other, or their pumpkins!



Having an apple snack back at the entrance.

Sole Mates

My little Sydney loves her auntie. She asks for Abbie at least 100 times a day, and I am not stretching that number. Everywhere we go she asks to see Abbie. When we play peek-a-boo, and I call out "I see you," Sydney says "I see Abbie!" We all miss her dearly when she is away at school, and I'm thankful we get to see her often when we go to the football games. Abbie is known for her love of Converse shoes, and I had to put this picture up to show you the converse Sydney wears. Syd has had a pair of pink Converse in every size since she was born, and this season she even has some red ones. "Converse?!" you might say, as you gasp in astonishment? I know, we are a Nike family, but did you know that Nike owns Converse? Also Cole Hahn and Jack Purcell (and if Jack Purcell doesn't bring back visions of 8th grade, I don't know what will). So, our love of Converse is justified and acceptable, and readily available at the Nike employee store. We miss you, Abbie, learn lots and we'll see you at the next game!

Becoming a Big Girl

If I was writing thig blog 10 years ago, I would have been talking about homecoming and football games. 5 years ago, it would have been about being a bridesmaid so many times and would I ever get married?! But, I'm writing it today, and I'm going to write about pee. Yes, that's right, pee. Little girl pee, to be exact. It's a big deal in our house that Sydney is mostly potty trained. She has her accidents, but she is very proud of being a big girl. Madison has been potty training, too, and both girls are doing great. When one of them goes potty, everyone gets a chocolate chip, even if they didn't go. They clap and cheer for each other, and Madison's potty even sings a song when she goes, so it's a very noisy time when they are both in the bathroom. It's sometimes a bit much for one mommy with 2 potty trained girls, but we have been managing, mostly by letting them run around in their undies because by the time you pull their pants back up, they just have to go again.




Another way that Sydney is becoming such a big girl is by imitating me every day and "putting on make-up." She loves to play with my make-up containers, sponges, and brushes. Every time we pass a mirror, she stops and pretends to put make-up on. It is so cute!

"Hilary and I don't agree on everything/anything."

Unless you've been living in a cave, you know that Tina Fey has returned to Saturday Night Live to play the part of Sarah Palin. This little clip is one of my favorites, it makes me laugh so hard. It amazes me how much Tina Fey looks and sounds like Sarah Palin, I can't even see Palin in an interview without thinking it's Tina Fey! I think this will end up on the "best of" movie for Tina Fey. Enjoy!

3 Years

Today Chris and I are celebrating 3 years of marriage. I can not believe how fast these past 3 years have gone. This last year was nice and relaxing compared to the first 2 years. Chris and I met and married in a year, then 14 months later had Sydney, then we moved. This last year the biggest change was Chris getting a new job, but there were no babies or moves this last year which made it nice and quiet. I can't promise the same for this next year, but that's ok. We are still so happy and in love, and it's amazing how having a child can make you love someone in completely different ways. I am so thankful to God that he prompted Chris to come up to me at that game at Autzen stadium and introduce himself. Exactly one year to the day later we were flying home from our honeymoon! Last year on our anniversary I posted some pictures of the wedding, but today I'll put some up of our honeymoon to Hawaii. It was such a beautiful trip, and we'll cherish those memories forever.

This is my favorite picture from that week.


There were so many beautiful waterfalls our island.


We were exploring some caves on a hike.