At a school assembly we were invited to, Diana got the award for her class for the moral focus of the month: Compassion. She was so thrilled, and has prayed since then for "everyone to have compassion...just like me!" I guess we won't get the humility award anytime soon. John escaped a few seconds after this pic was taken and was pushing the stroller to D's class as fast as he could.
Michael has begun to learn balloon art. The next one he's trying to master is a wearable balloon mustache. Of course!
I took on a huge project for a dear friend and had the time of my life! I made a four tier wedding cake. All different flavors inside, with the outside frosted in buttercream. Two tiers had piping designs and they all had a cascade of edible gold with decorations that corresponded with the flavors inside. I added royal icing charms around one tier that had musical things because the couple is very musical. SO much fun!
Caramel work is tricky but so beautiful.
Candied lemons are super tasty!
These roses turned out way better than I thought- I would add another rose or two if I were to make this again :)
Once that cake was set up on the table, I was able to breathe :)
Then Jim brought me dinner and the kids and we partied until hours after their bedtime. We'd planned on staying a short time and leaving, but it was the funnest reception. Lots of fun music, tons of glow sticks to run around with, a photo booth with props (Mike's fav), food trucks in the parking lot, each table decorated with vases full of a different kind of candy, chocolate fountain with tons of dipping options...the kids stayed until the VERY end. We all had a blast.
The cutting of the cake! Amazingly enough, this cake disappeared so fast. There were three slices left at the end of the night.
Just a sampling of our photo booth fun.
For Mother's Day, Mike made me a balloon sword. Definitely the best gift he could think of, I loved it.
Jim got me king crab legs and let me eat as much as I wanted before sharing :) It was SOOOOO good.
Diana wearing her glow sticks from the party days later. She danced that night without stopping. Jim and I were in awe of her energy.
A doctor Jim works with asked if I could make a cake for his dad's 90th birthday. This is a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese icing. His dad is an ocean fisherman and they had a cool fishing topper that went well with the wave frosting pattern. I love brainstorming and making a cake that makes a celebration just a little more special for that unique person.
I was called into the primary presidency and made cakes to thank some of the previous presidency members. This was a Crème Brulee cake- vanilla cake with vanilla custard and caramel buttercream.
I made buttercream flowers for the first time for this cake. They weren't hard and they were so pretty!
Katy had a few teeth that looked iffy at her first dentist visit, so we went to a pediatric dentist. It has an awesome jungle theme.
John was enjoying himself immensely.
No he's not napping. Just snuggling.
Practicing saying "ahhh" after the dentist appointment.
Scripture study! So hard to make it happen, but brings us all to point in the right direction. Long-suffering but worth it :)
Mike's music performance with his class. They learned to play the recorder!
Cultural dancing
Diana had art this quarter. Of all her artwork we found, this was my favorite by far. It's right above her head with the person looking up at the bees screaming.
Finally made it to the beach! Beautiful day and the kids were in heaven!
Memorial Day is a nightmare to travel, so we stayed in Apex and played soccer at a local park.
Then we drove 15 minutes to the lake and took out our kayaks
Digging in the sand/Carolina clay
John loves the water. At the beach, at the pool, at the lake. He loves it!
Jim and I were talking and we finally noticed Diana way out on the lake on my board, asking "Dad how do I turn around?" She just fearlessly paddled way out. She had her life vest on and the lake was practically empty because it was about to rain so we hadn't been watching as closely as we would otherwise. That girl is fearless!!
The kids found tadpoles and make pools for them to "swim" in.
Back to the dentist for round two of treatment. I need to make our playroom like this. Seriously awesome dentist office.
In preparation for our first public concert that we put on for neighbors and friends, I made 100 cupcakes to make the night a little sweeter. It was fun to come up with different flavor combinations that would hopefully appeal to a wide variety of people- Maple Bacon, Triple Chocolate, Funfetti and Lemon-Strawberry.
Diana with her dollar store prizes from her adventure with me going shopping.
So very close, but he didn't get one :) We spent two hours setting up the band under a canopy. We've hired a teenager to help us with sound check and setup as well, so it was a big undertaking. I was the last to sound check. I looked up and saw storm clouds coming in. Within 10 minutes it was POURING rain. And the concert was supposed to start in 4 minutes. So I quickly posted online that we'd play later and we put everything under tarps and ushered the crowd into the house. There were probably 30 kids, 10 adults. Sparing you details, it's a miracle our house is standing and it was quite the cleanup in there after the hour of waiting. Anyways, Jim and our helper moved everything into the garage, and we redid the whole sound check (ahh) and then, just over an hour after we were originally going to start, we were able to perform. The rain had let up 95 percent so it was pleasant for everyone.
We did awesome on a lot of songs, royally messed up one, and learned that we really need the metronome in the drummer's ear since it's so easy for Jake to get distracted. There were a few songs that were especially fun to do together, I had a wonderful time and Jim said it was a dream come true. The kids loved partying and grooving to the music. And the cupcakes.
Mike at school working on a science project.
Nicole has a limited use cellphone. Since she only texts me and Jim and two church friends, I get a lot of love. This includes a lot of jokes. I love my baby girl. And I'll admit I've refused to do a height check with her lately, I think she's passing me up!!
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