today was a wonderful family day. we got up and spent the morning cleaning the house so that when we all return home it will be clean. then we ran to louise's to get a cake board and box for matthew's birthday cake. and what day would be complete without a trip to walmart? a good day. but we still went. thankfully we were only gone a couple of hours. a miracle in birmingham. then it was home to bake and decorate a birthday cake.

donald cooked new york strip steaks for dinner along with baked potatoes. delicious. he's such a grill master! it was his birthday dinner, but he graciously cooked it.

matthew's cake came out so good. i was very pleased with it. i hope that he and his family liked it as well.

ethan is doing good potty training. well, i guess i shouldn't say potty training. but he asks to go potty and he will tt on the potty. he'll come up to you, pulling at his diaper, and say, "i want take it off". then if you ask him if he wants to go potty he will say, "i want to go potty". and he will! he's gone several times a day for the past four days. every little bit helps.

goodnight family and friends.

my husband loves peanut butter and chocolate. so naturally you think of reese's peanut butter cups (or at least i do). so i decided to make him a birthday cake based on that theme. i baked a devil's food cake and added 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. then i whipped up a batch of peanut butter frosting. once i frosted my chocolate cake with my peanut butter frosting, i cut miniature reese's peanut butter cups in half and arranged them around the bottom layer of the cake. i also crumbled some and sprinkled it on the top.

the result: a beautiful cake, a tasty combination and a very HAPPY husband.

since he will leave for camp on his birthday, i wanted him to have the cake to enjoy all weekend. i'm pretty sure he will continue to enjoy it. we even shared a few pieces with a handful of people we are thankful for. happy birthday, donald. we will miss you next week.

ethan has been asking to go potty for weeks now and we've been telling him, "you don't know how to potty". he finally asked one day this week and donald put him on the potty. and he went! four times in one day. he went again today. i think he goes just so he can throw toliet paper into the potty and flush it. but whatever works!

sarah is starting to get excited about first grade. i don't know what's so important about first grade, but i've heard that a lot of kids think it's a really big deal. she is no exception. her teacher is going to be mrs. shackelford. i've heard from several friends that she is very sweet. we've been praying for her since may and will continue to pray for her throughout the year. hopefully as we get to know her throughout the year she will share specific requests with us. but if not, we will pray for her wisdom, patience and loving spirit. that's what i think i would need as a teacher.

tomorrow i am baking a cake for a sweet little boy, matthew. i taught him in choir this year and i just love him. i'm so honored that his mom asked me to make him a cake. the plan is to make an 11x15 sheet cake and frost it with green grass. then make a 3d soccer ball out of fondant. i hope i can do this! i've already done a trial run on the soccer ball so i feel confident about that. it's the grass i haven't tried. but i seem to figure out piping really quick and i bought the right tip, so it should be a piece of cake.

well, tuesdays and thursdays are generally my day in the kitchen. i guess that's why they are my favorite days of the week. this week's challenge: a three dimensional soccer ball to put on a sheet cake. mission accomplished. thanks to publisher and my awesome hubby i was able to print out the hexagon and pentagon shapes needed to make a realistic soccer ball. i rolled out the white fondant and drew on the black pentagons. i used a toothpick to make the indentations on the white hexagons so that you could see each one. perfect if i do say so myself. hopefully matthew will think so too when he sees his cake on sunday!

i also did a ton of cleaning today, which is pretty much every day. i keep saying i need a maid. but then it dawns on me that i am the maid. oh well. i know that one day it will be just donald and i. and i will still be the maid. i am the only neat freak in my family. but today's payment was a sweet little ethan toddling up to me with that charming grin on his face to tell me, "i la chou mama" (i love you, mama). i felt like george banks in father of the bride. except that instead of reflecting back on my child at age six, though they are twenty something and getting married, i am savoring every moment of my child at their current age. because i know it won't be like this for long. and i know i'm gonna miss this. and i am going to look back with fond memories and not regrets.

ok, the cleaner is on. and i'm starting to like that show. good night my family and friends.

time to make something for donald. he likes pie, so i decided to bake the butterscotch pie that i've been mulling over for months. the pie turned out good, but the butterscotch flavor was very strong. i think i would've preferred if it were less dominant. he enjoyed it though and that's all that really matters.

ethan has a new cute thing. he is in love with the new hannah montana song, "he could be the one". perhaps that's because they play it every three minutes on the disney station. but he walked into the family room last night holding his sippie cup sideways and strumming it like a guitar singing that song. the boy loves music. too cute.

random thought: what makes paint not stick to the corner of the wall? seems like every corner of my freshly painted house is already starting to look worn. if anyone knows how to fix this i would appreciate some advice. it drives me nuts! :)

this weekend i went on an overnight planning retreat for mops (mother's of preschoolers). those who know me well know that i do not like to spend the night away from home. i never have. on the rare occasion that i spent the night at a friend's house i would awaken at 6am (if i slept at all) and call my mother to come get me. i just do not like to be away from my home at night, but i spent the night anyway. and i had a blessed time. i would've missed out on some middle of the night (or early morning) bonding with some dear friends had i gone home. i'm so glad that i stayed.

this weekend i saw the question: "what's your favorite thing to do with your kids?". i didn't get to answer the question at the time, but would like to answer it now. my favorite thing to do with my kids is put on a concert. anyone who has spent more than a few minutes around either of my children know they both LOVE music. and yes, this is something that they get from their mother. at least one night a week is spent watching videos on demand or listening to songs that we've purchased and downloaded on the computer. sarah puts on a show, many times with multiple costume changes, most often using the coffee table as her stage. and ethan will not be out done by his sister. he may not be able to change his clothes yet, but there is no way she comes close to out-dancing him. the singing is pretty equal: loud, off key and sometimes unintelligible. but that's part of what makes it so fun. because then i don't have to be on key or know every word. but giggles and smiles abound and fun is had by all, thus making it my favorite thing to do with my children.

nothing is baking in the kitchen tonight. staying up until past 4am with friends has made me too tired to cook. but my heart is nourished with sweet fellowship and my mind is renewed and focused on God. and that, my friends, is why my life takes the cake.

today was a baking day. i was in a cake mood. a chocolate cake mood. and i had been wanting to do something with fondant. i tried my hand at a 3d bear the other night and it came out good. today i wanted to do a 2d creation. this is my second time to work with tinting fondant and i think i have the process down now. but this is my first time to create an animal for a cake. once the cake was made, i realized i should've piped the mane and put the fondant pieces on top of that. but i put the head down first and then piped the lion's mane. once the fondant was down i couldn't move it without breaking it.

today's creation: a devil's food cake with decorator frosting tinted sky blue featuring a fondant lion with tinted brown decorator frosting for the mane.

tomorrow the inlaws are coming in town for a few days. i'm planning on taking advantage of their visit to get some free babysitting. i want to go to the movies and eat at pf changs. so that's the plan for friday night. donald wants to try and go see a fireworks show on saturday night. we've done that for the last two years, so it's kind of becoming a family tradition. other than that, we plan on a low key weekend.