DHS Band Banquet Cake

For those of you who wanted to see the finished product from last week...here it is! Nothing major, and not an incredible picture, but it works. :) There is the "display" cake, then the sheet cakes set back.

Stay tuned...tomorrow I start TCHS Band Banquet cake. Hopefully Aspen won't eat the side of this weeks... :) Or, dig left over frosting out of the trash either. :) Wish I had a picture of that! It was similar to the cake...I heard "mmmmmmmmm", and looked over to see her standing on her tippy toes, reaching & looking into the trash can; then, her hand was covered in frosting, her mouth too. Kinda gross...but really cute. No worries people...there wasn't anything terrible (like raw meat) in that trash bag!)

May Birthday Lunch

Last Tuesday was my sister (in law, but who cares?!) birthday. We went to the Tea Room, just like for my birthday. The atmosphere is by far the best, and the food...absolutely delicious! I love it! The best part was being all together. Suze was even as to come too. I love spending time with my sisters & Mom! Happy Birthday Rebekah! I'm so thankful for you!

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day was a fun one this year. My husband spoiled me(details to follow), and I was able to spend time with both my Mom's. After a crazy morning at church, we headed to Joshua & Rebekah's house for lunch. Arrangements had been made for the guys, plus Suze (Rebekah's sister), to prepare our food. Brian grilled yummy chicken, Dad did the crescent rolls (lol), and Joshua cooked up some delicious squash & asparagus. Suze made delicious mashed potatoes & layered dessert. Since Caleb & Becky couldn't make it (:() I made the salad. It was a really sweet time of fellowship & honoring Mama!

Next, Brian, Aspen & I headed to Galveston to honor Mom Moreno. The highlight (apart from getting ice cream at Sonic ;)) was watching Nanny & Popo help Aspen feed the birds. Aspen absolutely LOVED it!!! We were out there for quite a while. They fed them all the bread they could, then Dad went inside & came back with popcorn. Aspen helped Nanny by picking some up to throw to the birds, but, I think she held it too long, thus forgetting it was for the birds and ended up eating it herself. Silly girl... It was such a special evening!

Brian absolutely floored me this year. When he slightly mentioned a few days before Mother's Day that he had a plan, I was proud of him, but didn't expect anything, just in case whatever it was fell through. Then, on Saturday (before MD) all our plans canceled, so we went out to lunch, then dropped by my parents for just a short visit, and he decided to go shopping with Daddy. I asked no questions. :) We finally made it back to our house. After getting the baby to bed, and doing a few things, Brian convinced me to sit down for a few minutes. He then goes and gets this big bag and says, "I can't wait til tomorrow." He's too cute. (I was proud of him that he wrapped the gift!) I pulled out the cute, pink tissue paper to find a brand new camera! Yay!!!!! I had just told him earlier that mine was on the brink. He said he decided it'd be the perfect Mother's Day present since I wanted a new one to take picture of our family! He's so thoughtful! :) Brian spoiled me tremendously. It's a 16.2 megapixel camera, with touchscreen. :D Unfortunately, the pictures here, are still from my phone, but I promise you, I took LOTS with my new camera. Then! On Sunday, after church, Brian gave me another gift. I had wanted to order these really cool, reusable bags from Pampered Chef for our Mom's, but the idea was kinda shot down. Instead, Brian ordered me one, and our consultant got my name embroidered on it too! :) So sweet and thoughtful. I'll have to post a picture of the bag. It's really cool! (Thanks DeAnna!!!)

Thank you my love for making Mother's Day so special. Just being with our little one was wonderful! The gifts was icing on the cake. :) I'm so thankful to the Lord for such a precious family. He has blest me so far beyond measure!

Our Big Girl

This sweet, big girl, climbed up the slide to her play-place, then just sat there... :)

Cracker Barrel

Last Wednesday, (a week ago) our church was canceled due to power outage. So, we met up with Brian's parents for dinner. We were able to have a very nice evening with Mom, Dad, Roni, Jason, our nephews & niece. :) Aspen loved the extended family time. We quickly snapped a picture when Uncle Jason had her, because just until recently Aspen had nothing to do with him...she'd even cry when she saw him. In the picture she looks a bit unsure, but I promise, she was smiling!

Cakes...

I'm busy filling a 300+ cake order today. Aspen had been down for a nap, but woke up and was playing around the house. Then I heard the sweetest, "mmmmmmmm..." :) I forget she's tall enough now to reach the tabletop... Thankfully it was just a little, and easily fixed. :) Thought y'all might like that little story...stories & pictures from Mothers day coming as soon as I can!

On a side note, the Lord is really blessing today, and causing these cakes to go incredibly fast! :)

Trip to the Park

We had a free evening a week or so ago, and decided to have a fun family outing to a local park. It was such fun watching Aspen's excitement as she tried out new things. The best part was just being all together!

(stay tuned for my Mother's Day blog...it's coming!!! This week is just super busy though.)

The Beach!!!

At the beginning of last week, my oldest brother, Joshua, organized a McDonald Family Beach Day. We have many email conversations planning out day. I was SO excited to take Aspen, I had a feeling she would love it; and she did. Joshua & his family got to Stewart Beach early to reserve a great spot, and get set up. We were able to pull right up and park. It was so nice! I didn't even take my bag out of the trunk, because we were so close. (we typically go to a different beach were we walk a little bit away from the car.) It was a bit over cast, thus almost cool with the wind, but that didn't slow the girls down from playing in the water!!! They LOVED it! I didn't take Aspen to the water right away, because I thought she might get cold from the breeze, but, after playing in the sand for awhile, she spotted a bird (in the water) and decided to go check it out. She walked over and into the ocean with the determination to see that bird! She didn't exactly like the little waves, and couldn't figure them out, but being closer to the bird made it worth it. (silly girl!) Eventually, Annabel & Alyssa came & played in the water with Aspen, which she really enjoyed. I don't have any water pictures on my phone... :( They're all on my real camera. Aspen really, really enjoyed the sand. I think it may have reminded her of the dirt from the backyard... :) She played, and played, and ate some, and then played more in it. I honestly am not sure how much sand she consumed, Rebekah guessed probably around a Tablespoon. I just prayed against any yucky germs. :) I assume the grittiness of it didn't bother her, due to her only having 3 1/2 teeth. :) The fun day absolutely wore my little girl out...she was asleep pretty quickly after getting rinsed off and into her car-seat.

Joshua grilled some yummy burgers for lunch, and we enjoyed just being together at the beach. Thank you Joshua, Rebekah, Mom & Dad for a great beach day! We greatly missed Caleb & Becky...looking forward to planning another day soon so they can go too. Oh... :) Brian too!!!! :)

Thank you also to Uncle Ruben for the cute yellow Cr0cs. Those are the best! So versatile!! :) I thought the waves would've washed them off Aspen's feet, but they stayed on. :)

Granny & Nanny Fun

Last Saturday was super busy for me, so Aspen was shipped off to Granny & Paw Paw's, then after that Aspen, Mommy & Daddy went to Nanny & PoPo's for some family TLC. :) I'm pretty sure Aspen enjoyed the day with her Grandparents! Here are some snapshots that were sent to me throughout the morning, then one I took myself.

Granny kept her busy by riding the horsey, having a picnic lunch inside, playing with the toys, and a wagon ride.

Nanny kept Aspen in giggles. Aspen was just cackling when Nanny made funny faces after Aspen hit her block on the cabinet. Brian has the video of that on his phone... :( Nanny also got the Bird out of her cage...that was very exciting for Aspen. Aspen enjoyed "petting" it, but wasn't quite sure what to think when it walked onto her little hand. Mommy broke down, and let Nanny spoil Aspen too...she had her first Blue Bell Ice Cream Sandwich. :) And she ate all of it...minus the tiny bite I snuck. :)

Dirt...

Last week, my sweet little girl was sick. And, it took pretty much the whole week for her to feel better again. Last Thursday morning, she was feeling well enough to go and play in the backyard. I was in the kitchen, and she was playing on her outside play-place. (yes, we have an inside one too:)) I could hear & see her, and of course, popped my head out to check on her; plus, the door stayed open. At one point, I turned around to see Aspen's adorable little hand FULL of dirt/mulch mixture. She was just standing at the door looking inside, at the floor. Then, she throw that handful of dirt right inside, and scampered off for more. I told her "no", and swept it up. Then, I left the dust pan for her thinking, "she can put the dirt in there, and then she won't carry it to my kitchen." A few moments passed, then I turned back around, just in time to see Aspen bringing the dust pan, that had several handfuls of dirt, to the kitchen door, where she dumped it inside. Next, she decided it needed to be stomped on. It was one of those opportunities to teach, but in the long run, it really didn't matter if she did dump dirt in the kitchen.