Ha-Na's castle cake

We decided to have family parties for the kids this year so I told the kids I would make any cake they wanted for their classes. Ha-Na asked for a castle and this is what I came up with.

Here are the three layers with fondant and the brick imprints.


Here is the the cake with the turrets put on and the fondant banner in front. The turrets are made from Rice Crispy Treats that I colored while making and sugar gum paste.



Here it is all finished with Belle and the Beast. These were one of her birthday presents.





I was really proud of this cake, it was my first time making and using fondant and I was really pleased with the outcome. I learned a lot in the process and it was a fun challenge and everyone at school was really excited when I brought it in the lunchroom. There were lots of oohs and ahhs but the best was how excited and happy Ha-Na was to see it, I had kept it hidden from her so it would be a surprise when she saw it. The kids ate almost the whole thing in like ten minutes.


Now I will take a couple of days rest before I need to get started on Carl's cake.

Painting Handprints

I have been promising the girls that I would paint their room for a long time now. We had talked about colors but I have put it off for other things that seem more urgent. Then, Madison comes to me one day and says "I painted my room purple" with great excitement. I didn't worry too much because I knew we did not have purple paint in the house so I went on with the day. Later Ha-Na came home from school and asked me if I had seen the walls in her room. I knew instantly it was going to be bad. I went up to look and saw that there was purple paste all over the the wall. Apparently she had taken the Aquafresh that has three colors and mixed it together which turned into purple so she then used it as paint. Resourceful, yes but man what a mess. She got in big trouble, then went on to do it again a few days later with the bathroom wall.

Sunday morning Carl went downstairs to find that she had dumped out the hot cocoa mix to pick out all of the dried marshmallows, when she was done she left the powder on the floor for the dog to lick into a paste. It was a mess.

After the toothpaste incident I decided I should get to painting the girls room so Madison would not feel the need to do the walls herself again. We went and picked out the color and I spent a day taping off and painting the first coat. I let it dry for the day and had wrapped up the roller and the brushes in plastic so I would not have to clean them out between painting. The kids were told the room was off limits and I went down to make dinner. The kids were playing so well upstairs and I was so proud of them since I was busy cooking. We called the kids down for dinner and sat down to eat. As Madison sat down Carl asked her what was in her hair, as we stared at her it dawned on us both what it was and then I realized it was on her hands and feet also. Carl ran upstairs and I heard him exclaim loudly. I ran up and was stopped in my tracks as I got to the girls room. First I saw the window which was covered in paint, next that there was paint on their dresser that I had painted for Ha-Na just before she was born, then I saw the painto on the floor. As I was cleaning that up first I looked over and saw that on Ha-Na's quilt that my mom made for her also had paint on it as did the door. I was in shock and then I just started to cry. I got it out of the carpet saw hat she had also painted a birdhouse that we have in the room, I went to work cleaning that the whole time crying in frustration. I looked at the window and saw that amont the rolls of paint (she had gotten the roller out of the plastic and used that as her weapon) there were also tiny handprints. I walked arround and saw the back of the dresser was also covered in the handprints. Now that I am not crying anymore I think I will keep the handprints on the back of the dresser just to keep the memory of this stage that she is in and be so happy when she is out of it!!!!

She continues each day to get into trouble, I am not sure what is going on with her but if it is quiet I am terrified. I have been keeping her with me continually to keep her leashed in. I will post one of the pictures I took of it (I had to have evidence)

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!!!!

I am sooo happy tonight, Carl is on a plane coming home right now. Well, actually he is on his way to Paris right now but tomorrow he will be here.

Everyone has been asking for pictures so I did another slide show. I am giving a warning though, there are a lot of pictures. I should have cut it down but I didn't want to leave any out so I didn't. If you make it through them all give yourself a little cheer.

So what is this enormous slide show? It has the kids in their Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve. Then it has Christmas, Madison's birthday in Florida including Jessica's marching band and then some from New Years Eve.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Madison had a great time on her Birthday although she is dissapointed that turning four did not make it so that she could suddenly do all sorts of new things. She chose to go to cheesecake factory for her birthday dinner and when we got there and asked her what she wanted she looked at us like "duh" and replied "lots of cheesecake." We ordered her some dinner but she did not eat anything til the cake came. She also insisted on wearing her knit cap that Grandpa Shull made for her, she wears it everywhere. I think she is going to love it to it's death.

We also have pictures of our new house project, we want to use the space under the stairs for more storage so we cut down the wall, removed a few beams and with some more boards and shelves I will have lots of much needed storage.

We have really loved the new member of our family Yoshi. Carl kept asking me if he could have a little brother and he has decided that Yoshi is even better. I love that he is already housebroken, no three years of waiting to potty train!

Summing up

We have been settling in at home. Carl was not able to come home for Thanksgiving we went to my brother Andy's house in Ohio and had a blast. The kids had a great time with their cousins and it was nice to be around adults for a change. Madison and I are having fun with our outings during the day. She is really enjoying her mom time. We go to the YMCA each day she likes playing with the kids and I like riding the stationary bike. I get an hour to read without interruption while I am doing something good for my health.

Carl arranged to come home for Christmas break so I got all my cookies for my plates done before he gets home so it didn't take up our time with him. We drove to Virginia to pick him up. It was so great when he came to the hotel, I started to cry. The kids were so thrilled and it was really great to be all together again.

We took goodies around and even sang to a few of the people. We just had a really great time getting ready for Christmas and hanging out.

I think Carl and I were more excited for Christmas than the kids were. We had the inside scoop and knew that Santa was going to be dropping off a puppy.

That morning the kids came down and saw the puppy and presents and were over the moon. The puppy took most the attention for a while but then they got to opening presents. We settled on Yoshi for his name, we had an Australian Shepherd before and we wanted to keep the tradition of using Russian words that describe them. Our previous dog was Lapka which means paw because he had such big paws. Yoshi means Hedgehog, he is all fluffy and he is soo cute. Carl had pet hedgehogs when he was on his mission and so we thought it was fitting. Sometimes he reminds us so much of Lapka, we slip and call him Lapka. He and Carl have bonded really well and the girls love to chase him and be chased by him.

We played with all our games and really, really love Rock Band. We started a family band and we have one with our friends here. Their teenage daughter says we are too old to be playing that game. I asked her what she thought she would be doing at our age. I find it so funny cause I can look back when I thought back when I was her age and I probably thought the same thing.

We went to Florida on Madison's birthday to see Carl's sister Jessica and her school marching band compete to play at the football game half time. It was a lot of fun and we loved seeing her, we only wish we had more time to visit.

Shortly after Carl had to go back Bahrain but he should be back by the 14th. We will be really happy to have it all settled and be together again.