Why I love Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart

As I posted last, it was AJ's birthday last week. We had my family and his family over that night for a little gathering of presents and cake. I love making cakes and wish I could do it more than 2 times a year (AJ's birthday and Lily's birthday) I most love when I can make them into fun shapes and decorate them. The last 3 years I have made AJ's cake into a shape. The first year was a guitar (so much fun to do!) second year was a golf ball, and last year was a tennis racket. This year I asked what he wanted and he replied "Just a round cake." Bummer. I think he might be a little old for a "shaped" cake! So, round cake it is. Well, I've got this great Betty Crocker cook book and it has a small section on tips and techniques for making/decorating cakes. It was fun to look at and very helpful!I know, nothing special. But I was quite proud of it :) I couldn't just not decorate at all! He didn't mind either!

Fun huh? I found this cool way to wrap presents in the Martha Stewart magazine. That lady has got some pretty amazing ideas. Anyway, it was fun to try it out and it makes it so the package has this nice pocket to hold a card in it! I love finding new ways to wrap things-well, when I make the time that is! Cake table LOTS of presents My husband actually asked for Fritos for his birthday. He's too cheap to buy them because he thinks they're so expensive! Whatever works though :) You can tell he's happy about it!

Some of the family: My brother Joel, his friend Katie, AJ's sister Andrea and her husband Jeff

Lily did not want her picture taken! You can tell I'm squeezing the life out of her so we can get a picture together!

Lily kept herself busy when she found some Kleenex in my mom's purse. She had the best time pulling them out one by one and ripping them. Whatever keeps her occupied!

She was so happy when people were singing "Happy Birthday" that she clapped her hands when everyone was done. It was pretty cute!

Lily helping her daddy blow out his candles!

It was a fun night of celebrating AJ and we love our very giving family! Thanks for helping us celebrate!

Happy 32nd Birthday AJ!

My husband is old! :) Just kidding-well, I'm not. He's old compared to me! He's a good sport about it so it's fun to tease him about his age! But I wanted to dedicate this post to my wonderful husband! He means the world to me, he is such a loving husband and father and I couldn't ask for more!

I love how goofy he is. He doesn't care how others will react to him and his crazy ideas! He is very funny to me!

I love how he's always looking for "new" ways to play with Lily-like with a hose! He loves being with her!

Happy Birthday AJ! I'm so thankful the Lord brought us together! God is good! I love you!

Just One of Those Days....

Ever have one of those days when nothing goes right? Well, I had that day on Wednesday. It's just one of those days when you feel down, sorry for yourself, your toddler is driving you crazy because of the way she's acting, you're just plain grumpy, and the blustery and rainy weather is making you feel even worse! Well, that was me! And by the grace of God I got through it :) My husband, he is such a wonderful man and really does treat me amazingly well. He comes home from work with these to cheer me up:

Aren't they beautiful? And they are my favorite flower too! They cheered me right up!! :) I'm so lucky to have AJ as my husband!
(sorry, no Lily pics. today! Soon though!)

In the life of Lily....

Just a few pictures of Lily I took recently that really don't go along with anything we've been doing:Lily and her bff Zoe just hanging out and watching a movie. Lily doesn't watch TV (I guess it's good she doesn't, but there are times I wish she would so I could get stuff done!) but with Zoe, she'll do whatever she does!
I hate that this picture is blurry, but it's so sweet I had to put it up here. Lily isn't much of a cuddler these days, but is getting better as she gets older. She's more into books now than ever before and wanted her daddy to read her a story before bed. It's so sweet!
This is my little ballerina/lobster girl! My brother and dad went to Maine a couple months ago, and Joel brought back this sweater for Lily! It's the first time she's worn it and she looks so cute in it. And a friend of ours gave us this tu-tu and Lily was just wearing it, eating some cheerios, and playing with her toys! I do think she's cute! But then again, I am her mom!

Lily is also saying all sorts of words and becoming quite a copy cat! Anything we do, she'll imitate. So, now more than ever I need to be careful in what I say and do around her-especially if I don't want her to copy me! Some words she's really into right now are:

"Gargie"-garbage-she's obsessed with garbage cans and whenever we're driving somewhere, she'll get so excited when she sees a garbage can she will yell "gargie!gargie!" over and over again!

"Pumpy"-pumpkin-sounds like puppy, but it's not!

I know there are more words I just can't think of them right now! These are her top 2 though, that's for sure. We're sure having so much fun with her as her personality grows more and more each day!

Happy (Late) Halloween!

I've decided I'm a lazy blogger. I've just been busy lately or when I do find those few minutes of peace and quiet I always fill it with other things like doing my Bible study, or laundry, or dishes or even taking a nap! So, this post is a bit late because of my laziness! But, alas, here it is! Over a week ago my sister Leandra and sister-in-law Andrea threw their 3rd annual Harvest Party. (They became friends when AJ and I started dating! It's so fun to hang out with them when we all are such good friends. I'm blessed that's for sure!) It's a lot of fun of just hanging out, eating some good food, carving pumpkins or playing some games. Lily was supposed to be there as kids are invited to come, but she was falling apart. The only problem was that the party didn't start until 7pm. Lily goes to bed at 7:30. Needless to say, she was a wreck! I quickly called my mom to see if she could put Lily to bed at her house for a bit so that AJ and I could enjoy the party! Unfortunately, Lily never fell asleep! She's in this weird stage right now and is doing all sorts of unimaginable things. Anyway, it was lots of fun! Here are a few pictures of the evening:My hairy younger brother and beautiful older sister! :) No offense Joel (he never reads this anyway!)I love himDorri carving away on her pumpkin!The spread! TONS of good food! My sisters did this all! All I did were the cupcakes and little "mummy wraps" (also called pigs in a blanket!)They had a crazy hat contest too. Dorri won in a category, Andrea had a bird's nest on her head, my sister has her mickey mouse hat, and I borrowed my brother's band hat! I'm lacking a bit in the creative environment :) My husband the pumpkin head! He carved this bad boy out, rigged something in there to put a little padding in the pumpkin and set it on his head! He won in a category also! And his prize was a gift card to Starbucks-which he gave to me because he doesn't like coffee! YAY!I just thought this hat was pretty creative. Not the best picture, but it was really cool!Scary Steve who also won in a categoryAnd my silly brother and husband.

All in all it was a fun evening!

Then...

For Halloween we took Lily trick-or-treating to her auntie's house (Andrea had other plans and wasn't home that evening) and of course we went to the grandparent's houses. Both grandmas gave Lily healthy treats! And some cute clothes! This girl is sooo spoiled! Our church was also having a harvest party. We got there around 7pm and only stayed 3o minutes. They had a dunk tank, lots of games, face painting, and yummy snacks. The games were a little old for Lily to play, but she loved running around in her little costume. Everyone loved her outfit. I'm amazed she kept it on. By the time we were walking out to go home she was screaming and throwing a fit because she didn't want to go. And everyone was staring at us. Awesome. I didn't take any pictures of us at the party, but here's just a couple of her before we went trick-or-treating.

My little poodle-not looking too happy! But she didn't mind her costume!
And the full body shot...I just love the puffiness around her belly!
And her backside that wiggled when she walked!

It was a fun Halloween and I look forward to more when Lily can actually go trick or treating and know what it means! I can't believe it's November already! AJ's birthday is in 2 weeks and then Thanksgiving then Christmas! I actually JUST saw my first Christmas commercial-and it's November 3rd! I'm excited for the upcoming holiday season!