Cookie Cake

I haven't done a cookie cake in some time and needed a practice run before I make 2 for a Lingerie Shower coming up next weekend. It turned out delicious! I wanted to practice drawing a margarita glass so I made it with bright colors for my bunco group I hosted this week.

Embroidery Projects

I embroidered a few more items over the weekend for gifts: a little girl's 1st birthday party in a ladybug theme, a burp cloth with a lady bug embroidered on it. To be honest I had to test the ladybug on something so why not do a gift at the same time?! Well I put the little girl's name at the top to realize midway through that it was not spelled correctly so I stopped it to start over and well...I did my best to make it look like I wanted the letters to go up ;) The baby is just going to spit on it right?!? I'm using "It's a new font I'm trying out" as my excuse!

This was my first time to do letters over an applique. I love it and her momma is pleased too!

Okay so you see I had to put the letters at the top of each letter....It's suppose to look like that right?!

All things Boy

I am thrilled about having a boy. It is harder than I thought to make things cute but boyish at the same time. I went to get some boy patterns at HL and quickly realized there are not any. So I bought a simple romper pattern but they only had it is sizes 1, 2, and 3. I have a few outfits I can compare to the size one and see where to shorten/take in...other than that there is nothing to make but some cute onesies with his name and a boyish applique. So to introduce his name to the world of facebook I made his first onesie. It turned out so adorable...but in a boy way. Also, here are some pictures of the Airplane Nursery! It will look so good once all the ideas in my head are played out. Blake is being a bit of a downer on all my ideas because it is "too much", but I suppose he is right...I don't need to have EVERYTHING in airplanes, he is too small for a growth chart, and childish airplanes with WW II airplanes do not mix.

Summer of Cupcakes #2

I made these cupcakes for a brunch this past weekend. They are homemade shortcakes with homemade whipped topping and fresh cut strawberries. They turned out so good! I think I can say these are perfection!

Sewing Laziness

Since the nursery took over my 1/2 craft room - 1/2 Blake's space we have had to merge ALL of it into one closet. So some things are trying to be sold and we are finding places for the rest of it. Anyway I wanted to make sure both of my machines fit so I packed them in nicely and now I too lazy to don't want to take them out. I haven't made Bailey anything since Disney World in March...so 3 months. Over the past week I did get out the embroidery machine to make a few things for upcoming babies. They turned out great after I put my machine in "time out" for the night. Embroidery machines have a mind of their own sometimes...at least mine does. Here my embroidery creations from last week for a big brother and another boy on the way.

It's a Boy!!

It's a boy! This pregnancy has been much easier on me because I stopped being sick after 3 months verses 8 months with Bailey. It has flown by way too fast. I have so much to do and no way to plan which makes it hard to make decisions on things and takes away some of the fun. You know what bothers me this pregnancy "Are you excited?" I do not like HATE that question - does it help you to know if I'm excited?! I know people are just being nice, but I get asked at least 15 times a week or day if I'm in a crowded area. Yes, I am excited but I'm also very hot, I'm gaining weight and my feet and calves are swollen. I do love my friends and family for their support and "congratulations" about it being a healthy boy - I know you truly are excited for me.

One thing to be excited about is - I'm done! After baby #2 gets here I will be scheduling my "no more babies" surgery. It's just not healthy for me and since it's a boy we feel like our family is complete. I really wanted a boy - I'm ready for the trucks and action figures. Meiko, our dog, is going to be thrilled eating and playing with boy toys. So although we can not plan for the next year it feels good to know that this is it! I'm done at the age of 26. I don't have to gain weight for another baby or save any baby stuff. This week I plan to go through all the 10 bags of baby clothes in my attic and keep maybe 5 of her dresses - the rest will be going in the yard sale. If it's pink and frilly - its out of here.

Cupcake #1 of the Summer

You know I thought making everything from scratch would take longer but it really doesn't and it does taste different...in a good way. I made a mistake by not buying the right flour but I went with what I had and they still turned out great...a little lighter than I am used to but still really good. My taste tester group said they were "really good" so if I actually used the right flour (smack on the head!) they could have been better than "really good" (the goal is: "Best I've Ever Had"). I made traditional birthday cupcakes with a butter cake and chocolate frosting. The recipe said it would make 24 but it only made 15! Which is fine with me since I only needed 10. Some of them were really big so I could have stretched it to 18, but not 24. Also, I love, love, love frosting and used almost all of it so I would definitely have to double the recipe for a bigger party. We had our luncheon at a mexican restaurant so I captured some tortilla chips in the background. Zeta Tau Alpha is all about pink ribbons for breast cancer, strawberries, and crowns ;)

Summer of Cupcakes

This summer I want to finish start my business plan for my boutique I want to open in a few years. I know a few years seems far off to start on it but I am a planner and will be absolutely crushed if it fails so it has to be perfect :) I started on it a little bit when I realized I should probably figure out what cupcakes I will be making first. So this is the summer of cupcakes! I want to have 10 perfect cupcakes completed by the end of the summer - they will be my top 10. I have a bunch of parties and luncheons to attend this summer so I thought...make those people my taste testing groups. It will be pretty hard seeing as I will be baking at at least 1-2 nights out of the week to complete my top 10 list but it will be worth it and I can check off that part of the business plan. Bailey loves to help with the mixer so she will be my helper spoon licker.

Summer of Cupcakes
1. Traditional Birthday Cupcakes - June 9th ZTA Alumnae Lunch Crew
2. Strawberry Shortcake - June 18th ZTA Alumnae Brunch
3. Coconut Cream Cupcakes - Father's Day
4. Key Lime Cupcakes - June 30th ZTA Recs Meeting
5. Lemon Ice Box - July 14th ZTA Alumnae Lunch Crew
6. Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes - July 30th Wine Tasting Night
7. Peaches & Cream Cupcakes - August 11th ZTA Alumnae Lunch Crew
8. Mint Chocolate Chip - Amanda's Birthday
9. Red Velvet Cupcakes - Alabama Football Kickoff
10. ??? Still deciding on this one ???

Update on Us

So this week is 18 weeks - it's hard to believe that I'm about half way through. I have been trying to sell a few things, get rid of a few things, and find places to put things so we will have an empty room to get an actual nursery started. There are so many things to do but I'm not ready to start doing them. As soon as I make plans to do something the lovely Air Force will change its mind on something and my plans are drastically changed. It's just hard to plan on anything these days while Blake/our family is in limbo...I guess that would be an appropriate word for it.

Bailey started back at the Child Development Center on base yesterday. I fought back the tears when she she whispered, "Momma, can you please stay. I don't want to go" with tears running down her beautiful face. When I went to get her after work she told that she likes her teacher and had a lot of fun...what a relief!

We went to the beach with Blake's parents Thursday - Sunday the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. It was beautiful and so nice to get away. Bailey started to get REALLY brave in the water on Saturday and can now swim under water for about 5 feet until she runs out of breath and loves to jump off the side of the pool by herself. Her swim lessons are not until mid-June so she will probably be put in the middle class since she is doing so good already.

Bailey and I planned an "After School Party" for the little girls in her class last Saturday. The menu was PB&J's in the shape of dogs, Cheetos Twists, grapes, little cupcakes, and grape Capri Suns. The only thing I made was the sandwiches...not even the cupcakes. Bailey was so excited to have her friends over for the day. They played with all her toys...ALL of them! What a mess. They had lunch in the fort and played in the sprinkler afterwards.