The End is Near...

...of the year of course! I can't believe it's almost 2012. Crazy how time flies. And with the year at its end that means Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone in a whirlwind as usual. I took special note of a line for A Christmas Story this year when he says something about how Christmas is the point in which the entire kid year revolves. Isn't that so true? I had exactly that feeling when I was a little kid. Once Christmas was over it was pretty much time to start counting down the days till the next one. I hope my own girls have that same magical feeling about Christmas.

But let's not forget about Thanksgiving. This year we had a quiet dinner with Drew's parents. It was really nice and we appreciated Linda going to so much work just for us. Abbie and Savannah both had pilgrim hats from school and Brooke was decked out in a turkey onesie I made for her so I made them all pose for a photo.

Now onto Christmas! This year we got to visit with Santa not once, but twice! This is an event which we usually sk because it just seemed to scare the girls so we figured why bother. But Santa was at Savannah's preschool party and at a family party this year. And much to my surprise, there were no nears shed!
Amidst all the hustle and bustle, Brooke has been mastering the art of sitting up unassisted as well as crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks but then kind of gives up and resorts to an army crawl. Still very mobile! I'm afraid she has reached the next-to-impossible-to-change/dress phase, which means any time you lay her on her back she is instantly trying to roll over and crawl away. It's quite a battle around here at times.Christmas morning started at 5:30 at our house. We were planning on getting up at 6 but Drew and I were both too excited to wait any longer. Technically, Carly had woken up at 3:30 when one of the younger two were crying and wanted to get up then, so I guess 5:30 wasn't too bad. The girls were excited about all their gifts except Abbie was almost certain that Santa had gotten confused because he brought a 3D DS to Carly and not her. Hopefully she will learn to be happy with her bike. :)
We spent the rest of the day at church and then visiting family. A day well spent indeed!
And of course there have been a few little crafties in the works. I made a winter carseat cover for Brooke that is out of a little thicker fabric than the other one so as to keep out those nasty winter drafts.And I knit washcloths and crocheted dish scrubbies for my visiting teaching ladies. Complete with a little note (idea courtesy of Marge...thanks Marge!)

I made little felt owl ornaments to tie on the girl's teacher gifts (homemade caramels and Big Hunk candies).
And I made little ruffle tree skirts for all the girls. This one is Savannah's.

And what post is complete without a cake? My nephew's request this year was a zombie head. He wanted it to have a knife stuck in the head too, but we figured that when we cut the cake that knife would do. And so I give you the Christmas Eve Zombie cake...(He's supposed to look like he is emerging from the grave)

Exposed slimy brains? ... check!

Worms crawling in and/or out? ... check!

Eyeball hanging on by the optic nerve? ... check!

Bony fingers and brittle nails clawing through the dirt? ... check!

I've opened an Etsy shop!

I've decided that since Drew and I both enjoy digital design, we ought to try to make a little money at it. I've opened a shop on Etsy where we are currently selling custom Christmas cards. We'll be adding party invitations, party decorations like cupcake toppers and things, and also home decor. All things printable!

So if you get the chance, check it out! And be sure to spread the word!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PattycakePrintables

Holidays & Handicrafts

Halloween has come and gone and now the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is in full swing. Something about this time of year just makes me want to make something crafty. While in line at JoAnn's I saw a free flyer for a baby poncho knitting pattern. It was too cute to not take home with me and originally I had the thought that perhaps I could commission my sweet mother-in-law to make it for me. But then I decided what the heck? I'll try and make one myself. So five days later and numerous phone calls and personal visits to my mother-in-law's for instructions and corrections, I ended up with this:
Pretty cute. Brooke is not yet modeling it because I still need to get a little lesson on how to weave the back together. So now I'm making washcloths. I probably should have started with these because they are a little easier. However, you'll notice that it is not even close to square. I obviously need to work on my tension a bit. Hopefully that will come with time.Just before Halloween we went up and spent the afternoon at my brother and sister-in-law's in Idaho. It is such a fun place, especially for the kids. They have two little piggies, a very playful dog, a stream to throw rocks in (see Savannah's picture and notice all the rocks above her head), and a mini truck that made for a great ride up the mountain.

We also went to Drew's parents and carved our pumpkins. Nothing short of masterpieces!As for Halloween itself, it was a lot of fun. Scott and Kelley came over again this year to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. It's become our tradition and the kids love it!
We also got our family pictures taken at Fotofly. Love!She's six months already. Can you believe it?!?

And we can't forget the latest cake! This was for a baby shower. I made it to coordinate with the decorations, plates, etc. they were using.

A little spare time

Work is kind of slow today and I find myself with a little spare time. Sure...I could clean the house because heaven knows it needs it, but instead I am choosing to add a quick little blog post.

There hasn't been too much going on around here other than a weekend of sickness that plagued everyone but myself. Don't know how I dodged the bullet on that one but I'm sure glad I did! It was also my birthday a couple of days ago and it was really nice. Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch/hayride and then out to dinner, but my actual birthday was on Sunday. Sunday birthdays aren't usually too exciting, but then again neither are any adult birthdays. Man, I miss those childhood birthdays! But Drew and the girls did make my birthday nice. After church I came home and changed into comfy pj's and just got to lounge around and work on a few scrapbook pages while Drew tried to keep the girls from fighting and made my favorite dinner of rigatoni. Delish! I don't have any pictures of my actual birthday so I'll attach a couple of scrapbook pages instead.

I have made a few cakes this month. The first was for a YW activity of wedding planning. I made a mini wedding cake for the girls to have as a treat. Don't have a picture of that one, but it was a pretty simple two-tier ivory ruffle cake with buttercream roses on top. I forgot how heavy buttercream is and a couple of the roses on the top slid down and pulled the ruffles off. Whoops!

Another cake we did was for Drew's coworker who had a little girl turning 1. She requested a pink elephant on a two-tier and an individual smash cake for the baby. They turned out really cute. I also had some extra cake and make a little individual cake for one of the lady's I visit teach.
Just as a little side note on cakes...if there is anyone out there who wants to order a cake from me but is afraid to ask because I am not "officially" in the business any more, don't hesitate to call! I am still happy to do cakes from time to time, I just don't want to go through the licensing hassle and advertising, etc. It should be known, however, thatI am upping prices a little. A two-tier fully decorated cake (like the elephant cake) is now $50. Setting prices is so hard for me. I know that it seems like a lot to pay for a cake, but I'm usually putting in 5-7 hours on these babies and the supplies and ingredients can run anywhere from $15-20 for a cake this size. I'm just trying to make a little money people.

Speaking of money, we have taken on a night job cleaning an office building to make a little extra. I clean M-W nights, Drew does Thurdays, and we trade off Saturdays. It's not too bad, but it is kind of hard to get used to the late schedule. I usually don't get home until around 11:30 PM. And public bathrooms are not the most pleasant thing in the world! Sometimes I think it is kind of sad and ridiculous that I have a college degree and here I am working as a janitor. But it is just one more way for me to try and contribute to our family's finances and still be able to be home all day with the girls. So it is totally worth it!

Once again, I leave you with this parting shot of my little sweetheart! Brooke is growing like crazy. I think she is only a few weeks away from crawling and she eats anything she can get. Love her to pieces!

We have a 9-year-old!?!

Is it really possible? Can Carly really be 9 already? She's only one short year from the double digits...talk about feeling old! Carly's birthday was on Thursday and we celebrated by having family over for cake and ice cream. She had a few ideas for her cake this year and finally settled on Wall-E, which I was very happy about because it meant I had to do very little. Drew had already made most of the parts for a donation box he made for work last year, so all I really had to do was the yellow part. Yeah! The flavor was devil's food cake with cookies and cream filling...delish!Another monumentous occasion this past month was Savannah starting preschool. I hadn't planned on putting her in preschool until next year but when we found out that our friend Cambria teaches the 3-year-old class I went ahead and signed her up! The first couple of days were a little rough for her, but now she loves it. I get a kick out of dropping her off and picking her up because she is so excited and skipping around with her little book bag. Adorable!

The beginning of fall also signifies canning season and this year was no exception. My sis-in-law Kelley and I started off with a bang by making 43 quarts of dill pickles. Phew! Hopefully that will be enough to get us through the year. I also tried my hand at apple pie filling, chocolate raspberry sundae sauce, and black peachberry jam (a special blend of my own invention).

Our little Brooke sure is growing fast! She learned to roll over from her tummy to her back and then a few days later rolled from her back to her tummy. She still gets stuck on her stomach sometimes though and that makes her a little cranky. Not quite as cranky as having ear infections on both sides this week though. The poor little thing was pretty miserable! Now that she is on antibiotics I am glad to have my sweet, happy baby back again.We also made one other cake this month for our friend's little boy. He had a Hungry Caterpillar party.Happy fall everyone!