Open Water Swim

My kiddo doing her first open water swim. 1 mile at Cave run lake-looked really far-was about 1/2 way across the reservoir and back 2 times.

....there's an app for that (iphone cake)

This is my wonderful hubbie's 38th b-day cake. He got an iphone from my daughter for father's day-yep, my 10 year old saved her christmas and b-day money the whole year to pay for it. Just trying to carry the theme a little further, and yeah, I know the ipod is on upside down, Kenzie pointed it out, but by then it was really stuck to the fondant and I couldn't move it.

Kenzie's Funky Flower Cake

For Kenzie's 10th B-day she wanted a slightly more grownup girly cake. Got the basic idea from some other blogs. Bottom layer is my new favorite which would be perfect wedding cake-white chocolate w/ raspberry, orange marmalade filling, cream cheese white choc icing, 2nd layer brownie w/ choc ganache, and 3rd and 4th layers pistachio. All covered in homemade fondant of course and decorated w/ gumpaste gerber daisies. First time I've trimmed w/ fabric ribbons, but it was easy and worked great-almost stuck to the cake w/out icing. Painted also w/ shimmer powder.

Olympic Swimmers

Kenzie with Olympians Eric Shanteau and Carolyn Burckle(who's also from Kentucky) at the University of Louisville for the Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic. She got to swim with these guys which was really cool. They actually seemed like super nice people. Eric found out he had testicular cancer I think right before the Olympic trials and after he made the team, waited on his treatment until after he swam the Olympics-don't blame him-he did with Dr.'s counsel. It was a fun day.

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES

THESE CUPCAKES WERE IN APRIL FOR MY MOTHER-IN-LAWS 60TH BIRTHDAY. THE FLOWERS ARE GUMPASTE. THERE'S DIFFERENT KINDS OF CUPCAKES-STRAWBERRY, BANANA, CHEESECAKE, AND KENZIE'S FAVORITE-BROWNIE/CHOC CHIP COOKIE. I LOVE THE SIMPLICITY OF CUPCAKES.

AFTER HALLOWEEN

I STILL DON'T HAVE HALLOWEEN PICS ON HERE YET, BUT HERE'S A CHEAP COSTUME FROM AFTER HALLOWEEN-75% OFF. GREAT FOR REECE JUST TO PLAY IN. I BOUGHT A COUPLE MORE AT WALMART TODAY-POWER RANGER AND NINJA-I THINK HE'LL GET THOSE FOR CHRISTMAS-I KNOW CHEAP. I COULDN'T FIND ANY OTHER SUPERHERO ONES MARKED DOWN-I WANTED BATMAN, SUPERMAN, AND IRON MAN-SO IF ANYONE FINDS CHEAP ONES IN 4-6 SIZE, THEY'D BE PERFECT FOR CHRISTMAS.

HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY RYAN SWIMMING HALLOWEEN CAKE

I MAY NOT HAVE A GREAT BLOG, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE NO ONE ELSE HAS THIS CAKE ON THEIR BLOG, OR ANYTHING LIKE IT. MY DAUGHTER WANTED ME TO MAKE HER SWIM COACH RYAN, WHO TURNED 31 TODAY ON HALLOWEEN, THE 31ST OF OCTOBER A CAKE THAT INCORPORATED ALL THAT PLUS SWIMMING. WE CAME UP WITH A JACK-O-LANTERN-OR A RYAN-O-LANTERN WITH SWIM GOGGLES WEARING A GOLD MEDAL WITH THE NUMBER 31 AND A RIBBON WITH HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN AND GO AAY(OUR SWIM TEAM). I SERIOUSLY THINK ALL CAKE DESIGNERS SHOULD BE 9 YEAR OLD GIRLS-OK, MAYBE NOT.

HERE'S THE CARD MY SUPER TALENTED GRAPHIC DESIGNER, PHOTOGRAPHER HUSBAND MADE TO GO WITH THE CAKE-ALL AROUND A PRETTY COOL GIFT I THINK

HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES

I MADE THESE LITTLE HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES FOR MY DAUGHTER TO TAKE TO SCHOOL TODAY. MOST ARE OUR FAVORITE, BROWNIE AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. THERE WERE A FEW YELLOW FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE-WHICH I REALLY DON'T GET UNLESS IT'S A FOOD ALLERGY. I THINK THEY ARE PRETTY DARN CUTE.

CAKE DECORATING PARTY

My daughter had some friends over tonight, all from swim team except one. I gave them a little cake decorating class and this was their end product-really pretty good, though most of the cakes prior to the fondant looked pretty rough. They loved it. I think I could take it on the road for birthday parties.

My daughter is in the pink polk a dot shirt and has a purple mouse on her cake w/ cheese-of course.

I LOVE MY FAMILY !!!!!!

Here's some pics of my wonderful kids. Kenzie is 9 now. She swims and does triathlons as you can see-this is a collage she took to school for a "me museum" of herself.

Reece is 4 now-I can't believe it.

We had a party last night. No one's birthday or anything-at least not at our house. We had presents for the kids, balloons. Roasted weiners and marshmallows. Jerry even got a new fire pit for our deck.

Why have a party:

1. My was of saying sorry. I've been in the middle of switching jobs. Leaving a job you've been at 13 years-your entire adult life that you thought you'd retire from didn't bring out the best in me. I love my kids and family for putting up with me. Guess they didn't have much choice.

2. Reece is FINALLY potty-trained. I

thought it would take longer. Reece has a language disorder and most kids with it don't potty-train until at least 4. My normal languaged daughter took till 3 1/2, so I figured. . . . Anyway, he's catching up rapidly and we are really proud of him

3. Kenzie is doing great in everything as usual-school, sports, life. She's just one of those kids-takes it all in stride. She was baptized this summer-by her swim coach who's a minister-asked him on her own-we are so proud.

4. My husband is just awesome!!!