Rainbow Trout

Again the picture is a bit fuzzy, I swear I'm going to get it under control. Anyway I made this cake a couple of weeks ago for my B.I.L. Dave. His friends were flying in for a fishing trip. He insisted on carrot cake, with pineapple, which I have never done before. But I turned to Ina Garten, who has never led me astray, and like the rest of her recipes I tried, it was perfect. (p.s. I almost doubled the pineapple and omitted the raisins and walnuts, because that's just gross, If anyone wants to google her recipe, I recommend it with those few adjustments)

Also this was my first hand-painted cake, although I think it doesn't look quite as good in the picture as it did in real life, I really thought it turned out good. And on top of that I was glad to try out this new technique, and get it under my belt a little bit, because that will open up some new options in the future. Also it's hard to tell, but I put the gills underneath the fondant, which gave it a cool look, which I haven't done before.

Overall I liked this cake, I didn't feel there were any issues with it. Happy Fishing!

Just a few random things.

I was making dinner and Rylee was playing so quietly in her room, so I peeked in, and had to snap a quick picture of her in her toy box.Just trying to think of things to do, and we ended up finger painting. Obviously Reese is embarrassed I'm taking a picture of her in her panties.
Reese loves when they have things that match, and Rylee got handed down a pair of these Jammies from Heather's girls. They were being so cute, doing all these poses for me.
Cute cheeser. Oh there's nothing snugglier than a cute baby in feety jammies.
I think this was on labor day, we decided to have a quick fire, and look at the stars, it was really nice.
I'm pretty sure this was Rylee's first experience with a fire, and she really liked it. She's such a scavenger though, you take your eyes off her for a second and suddenly her mouth is full of marshmallows and she's unwrapped bars and bars of chocolate.
I know Reese's eyes are closed but it was cute of Rylee.

Preschool!

Reese just started preschool, (yes she was not in preschool last year.) I'm slightly anti- preschool, somewhat because they're learning things that she already knows, but mostly because I don't want her gone, and I don't want to pay for it.

But she seems to love it, and it's a good experience for her. I went with her on her field trip the other day. It was cute to see her having so much fun. But I was pretty shocked because she wouldn't really play or talk much to the other kids. She usually is so social, (maybe she just needs some time.)

Don't you like their matchy shirts? Reese loved that. Down below is a pic of them all in a big nest.
We had snack today, and I whipped these babies up, I should have used fondant for the nose and eyes, but I was too lazy to whip up a whole batch of fondant just for a few noses. Plus I figured the 4 yr olds wouldn't care. Reese said "mom you're working so hard on these, and they're looking so good, I love you!" (And that's what we do it all for, right moms?) Apparently the kids liked them, Reese said they all were laughing, so I guess that means they liked them.
It's funny to think that Reese is so old already, it seems like I haven't had her that long, although it seems right that she should be in school, because she talks and acts like she's old.

I'll tell you what though Rylee asks "Where's Reesie?" about 10 times while Reese is gone. I think she misses her sister.

Fun, fun!

So Rylee has figured out dressing up as a princess. I really didn't think she was old enough for that yet. (Classic "cheese" picture underneath, apparently for my girls if you smile big you can't really keep your eyes open.)So cousin Kennedy was in the hospital with some bad tonsil infection issues, so we got to hang out with Hadley for awhile. (Don't you love the look Rylee is giving Hadley? She just loves to be apart of what's going on with the big girls.)
Just had to put this one on here. She's even got to have the little high heels on, don't ask me how she can even walk in those.
The next morning we grabbed Hadley, and went out to the Hill Aerospace museum. I've been wanting to go for awhile and check it out. I wouldn't say it was super fun, but it's free and it's something to do other than stay at home. I thought the girls would like to get out and do something. They did like it, but we were super bummed to find out that we could not go in any planes, because I've been told by other people that you can.
These planes were humongous, once you got up close it was crazy how big they were.
Well, I decided we needed a little more fun, so we headed to Discovery Gateway. We have a free pass so I try take them here and there. This time Hadley got to come and take Jeremy's ticket.
The girls love this little house, and when we go they usually spend most of the time in here. In fact, we don't even make it to the upstairs anymore.
My camera was having issues that day, (well really operator error, not the camera's fault, I'm sure.) Anyway this pic is fuzzy but still cute.


Poor Hadley said, "I just want to play at Katie's house." Here I thought I was being so nice to take them to do something special, and she really wanted to just play at our house.
In the end she got to for a bit, and my house didn't get too messy, which was definitely part of my plan of being gone all day. I'm happy that the girls have cousins that they love so much. Even though we spent plenty of time with her, they were still so sad when she had to go home.

p.s. Kennedy is doing just fine, but most likely has to get her tonsils out, which means we probably will have another day or two to play with Hadley.

Sisters, Sisters..

There were never such devoted sisters. (I don't know how many of you will get that old movie reference.) These were taken on different days, but I thought it was so sweet. Rylee loves to read books, so one day I peaked in and Reese was reading for her. I had to grab my camera.

This was a different day, I think she was singing her songs, again I had to run for the camera.
Don't you just love when they're getting along.
(p.s. don't you think that quilt behind them is cute, apparently the Overman girls didn't, so lucky me, thanks Megan and Chelsi :)

Bird Rescue... sort of

I should not tell this story, because it shows that I am a bad person. We have tons of birds making nests in our car-port. This little guy fell out one day, but we couldn't get him back in his nest. So we got Reese's little bird cage, (yes it's more decorative then functional.) Jeremy fed the little guy with a dropper, and we were going to take him to the bird refuge in the morning. Well, poor little guy was making so much noise at about 6:00 am that I put him outside. And when I came to get him and hour later he was gone. (Yes, great rescuer I turned out be.) But the door was still shut, and those bars aren't that close together. I'm hoping that he was hungry and chirping and his mom came by, he squeezed out, and ran away with his mom to safety. (That's the story I'm telling Reese any way.Moral of the story is, if you want me to save you, don't wake me up to early and you'll be ok.

New York!

My brother just got a job in New York, working for Entertainment Weekly, which is awesome. We were having a little party to send him off, so I hurried and whipped this cake up. I'm not sure what is going on with my camera lately, it's such a fuzzy picture. I'm not sure what happened, if it was the heat, or what, but the top cake shifted, and it's crooked. That has never happened to me. It kind of sucks to spend that much time on something and then when you go to show it off, it looks retarded.
Anyway despite the slightly askew cake, my brother is off to have an awesome adventure. Good Luck Ben!