Rodents of Unusual Size

The other night after the girls had gone to sleep I opened the refrigerator to quite a surprise. Apparently we have an infestation of Rodents of Unusual Size in our house and they found the block of cheese! I think this particular ROUS' name might rhyme with fabbie. I could have died laughing because it wasn't just one little nibble, there was a whole corner of the block missing! Yes....I really do feed my children!

Abbie's dance recital was a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we got there a little late for a good seat. It was packed! So I was watching the wrong little girl for a while because I am blind. Luckily Drew recorded it with the zoom so I was able to actually watch Abbie perform the dance later when we got home. She did a wonderful job and now we are glad dance class is over and I don't have to drive back and forth any more!


This is Abbie with her cousin Katie who was in the same class. I told them to strike a dance pose and this is what I got.

Last week we had a picnic dinner in the park followed by the second tennis lesson for the girls courtesy of their dad. So fun to watch! They are both actually doing a really good job. They might have lucked out and not inherited their mother's complete lack of coordination and athletic skill after all.

We have a little panty snatcher in our house. Savannah likes to raid the girls' closet and put on as many pairs as she possibly can at once. This girl is crazy. She keeps us laughing for sure!
And finally, we went on a trip to the zoo with the Maxfield cousins. It was a perfect day for it (only in the 60s) and the girls had a lot of fun. Savannah especially liked the tigers. She would watch them walking along the fence and point and say "Yook! A tiga!" and then growl at it. We also loved seeing the baby elephant eating strawberries and playing with a tree branch.
The first weeks of summer have been treating us well. I quit my job at IHC (not long-lived I know) but I am happier and much less stressed now that I'm back to 20 hours a week instead of 40. Drew is still plugging along at work. He is turning the big 33 on Tuesday so wish him a happy birthday if you get the chance. The girls seem to fight all the time and might drive me insane before the summer is over but I'm going to try to hang in there!

A cake blog

I have started a new blog to display my cakes and for "business" purposes. Check it out at :
http://acakegirl.blogspot.com/

My Baby is Two!

Savannah's birthday was yesterday. I can't believe my baby is 2! She is so much fun right now. Her little voice just melts my heart and she says the cutest things. Some of my favorites include "ah peem" for ice cream, "wub you" for love you and "danna" for Savannah.

We had a little party with family. For some reason, when my girls turn 2 they do not enjoy having "Happy Birthday" sung to them and Savannah proved to be no different. She had a little pout on her face and looked like she might cry. But she thoroughly enjoyed the rest of her party, especially getting to be outside!


Here she is riding her new tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield. I'm hoping she'll get the pedaling concept down one day as well as steering. Right now she just sits and enjoys a good coast down the gentle slope of the driveway.

Here she is actually smiling (a fairly major accomplishment when it comes to picture taking) with her birthday balloons.

Here is her birthday cake. She loves monkeys and Nemo so I opted to make the monkey cake. It was Neapolitan with layers of white and chocolate cake and a strawberry mousse filling. I nearly lost it when party attendees started saying they didn't want any cake. WARNING: If you come to a birthday party at my house and I've spent 6 hours making the cake, you will be having a piece! ;)

Another event these past couple of weeks was Savannah's hernia repair. She had a ventral hernia just above her belly button. It was very small and didn't really bother her so the surgery was elective. But the surgeon told me that if it was his daughter he would have it repaired now in case it became a problem when she got older and young children heal so much faster. We decided to go ahead and have it done now before it would be too traumatic for her. Things went really well. We had it done at the new Primary Children's wing of Riverton Hospital. They were so good with her. She got to play with lots of new toys and they gave her a mild sedative before they even took her back in the wagon to the operating room. I had envisioned something much more dramatic like her screaming and crying and reaching for me as they walked away down the hall. I'm so glad things went well. The nurses were amazed at how well she came out of the anesthesia. She as actually pretty happy when she woke up, which is more than I can say for her waking up from her nap every day!

Here she is in her hospital jammies with Daddy. They were a little big for her and she looked so stinkin' cute!

And finally, I thought I would post a picture of another cake I did last week. This was for my friend Lindsay's little boy who was also turning 2. It turned out okay, although a little crooked and bumpy for my liking. If you know anyone in the market for a cake I'm trying to start up a little biz so spread the word. I'm doing two-tiers like this for $40 or shaped cakes for $50. (Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. I've got to get started somehow, right?)

My First Wedding Cake

After days of stressing out and 12 hours of standing on my feet (not all at once mind you), I present to you my first wedding cake!Ta Da! I'm really happy with how it turned out. I was pretty worried for a while there. I've never made gumpaste flowers before and it's probably not a good idea to try something for the first time on a wedding cake, but oh well! The bottom layer is french vanilla cake with raspberry filling, the middle layer is chocolate with still more chocolate filling, and the top layer is lemon cake with a lemon pudding and cream filling. I hope it tastes good. It weighs probably 35 pounds or so. But the best part about it in my opinion is that it is done! YEAH!!!

Dropped off the face of the Earth?

It's been quite a while since I've done a post. I'm going to blame it on being ridiculously busy as of late! I decided to apply for another transcription job with IHC and was kind of surprised when I got the job. It was quite a process. I had to go to training in Salt Lake the first week and then had to work up at McKay-Dee Hospital until I achieved their required level of speed and accuracy. They told me to plan on at least 2-4 months. This stressed me out to all extremes because it meant I had to find babysitters, and the fact that I have a todder, a morning kindergarten, and an all-day 1st grader only complicated the matter. I eventually was able to line up multiple babysitters every day for my various little ones and I must give an enormous THANK YOU to all of you that were able to help out! I so appreciate it! I had sitters lined up for all of March and April hoping that I could get the training done in 2 months instead of 4. Luckily, I was able to go home after just 1 month! Yeah! So now I am trying to get used to a set schedule working 24 hours for IHC each week, 20 hours or so for MDSI, and and hour or two for the Department of Health. Balancing 3 jobs, 3 kids, and 1 hubby has not been easy and I'm hoping to get the hang of it soon. As far as the fam, we are all doing well.

Savannah is talking like crazy which we all love. She is quite possibly the most polite toddler I know, always saying "deet do" (thank you) for everything and anything.

Abbie is gearing up for her big dance recital in May. I think she will be mostly excited to not have to go to dance class anymore and I'll be glad to not have to drive her!

Carly is busy doing extra chores to earn a "build a bear," so if anyone needs anything done, give her a call! Both she and Abbie have become quite efficient at scooping dog poop!

Triumph & Tragedy

DISCLAIMER: Please do not be alarmed by the title of this blog post. No physical harm or injury has befallen any members of our household.

So it's been a crazy week! Drew's sister Kelley asked me to make cakes for her cutie kids because they were going to have a combined birthday party. She let me have free reign with the design of the cakes, only specifying that they should go along with the carnival theme. So the first dilemma was deciding on what they should look like. We had already done a carousel cake for Abbie's birthday carnival, so that was out. So after much searching and about 9 hours of baking and decorating here's what I came up with:
Sean got a chocolate "hotdog" cake with peanut butter filling (quite delicious if I do say so myself)

And Katie got a berries and cream "hamburger" cake.

So the cakes were the triumph of the week (mostly because I finished them on time and don't have to stress about them anymore) and now for the tragedy.

While make the cakes on Friday I had taken off my wedding ring and placed it on the paper towel holder because I didn't want to get sticky fondant and nasty food coloring all over it. I didn't think about it until that night at the party and made a mental note to self that I should put it on when I got home. Well my brain really is not working right lately and I can't seem to retain thoughts and/or information for more than about 45-60 seconds, so needless to say when I got home I forgot all about my ring.

The next morning was Saturday and so we all got to work cleaning the house. I had cleaned the kitchen and hadn't even thought to look for my ring. One of the last things to clean was the kitchen table and there was a vase of old roses that needed to be dumped out. So Drew threw away the roses and I dumped the nasty water and the few remaining leaves down the drain. I flipped on the disposal and

GGGRAAGHHROARAAAAARAUGGGGRRRH!

"That sure doesn't sound right," I said as I flipped off the switched. I figured it must be some cooking utensil or something because this is not the first time we have heard that sound in our house, but as I reached down into the drain and closed my fingers around the mostly round object, my heart sunk. I lifted it out and glimpsed at it for only half a second before I couldn't look any more. It was my wedding ring. And it was not in good shape. I held it my hand and instantly started to cry. "It's my ring!" I gasped as Drew came over, asking to see it. It took a minute but I was finally able to open up my hand and closely inspect the damage. Sweet Drew just gave me a big hug and let me cry into his shoulder. He is so wonderful! I LOVE THAT MAN! He was very understanding. I honestly have no idea how it got down the drain. Although the paper towel holder is next to the sink, it is still a good 11 or 12 inches from the edge so it must have gotten knocked into the sink by something. Guess I'll never know. So here's the damage:

These pictures really don't do it justice. The ring isn't even round any more. The gold is completely chewed up and five of the small inlaid diamonds from one side are gone. I just thank my lucky stars that the center diamond is still there!

We went to the store Drew bought the ring from but unfortunately they do not have the same setting. It's been over 10 years since he bought it and it seems as though things in the jewelry biz have gone up in price (if you can imagine). To get a setting similar to mine will cost us about $850. Holy crap. That one's going to have to wait a while. In the meantime I have purchased a $7 fake ring from Kohl's to fill the gap on my left hand.

Well there you have it....my triumph and tragedy...at least for this week anyway.

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a fabulous Christmas this year and hope that everyone else did too. I will apologize in advance about the pictures in this post. I got a new point and shoot camera for my birthday and while it takes pictures much more quickly than my old one (which is why I wanted a new one in the first place) I can't seem to take a single picture without blurring it. I'll have to work on that or stop being so lazy and just pull out the SLR camera instead.


Here are the girls making the annual batch of sugar cookies. This is usually only an annual event because it is such a hassle! So many things have to be done at the same time and it stresses me out. But the girls loved it and I loved the results (trust me...I ate more than my fair share!)

We bought a gingerbread house kit for the first time this year and the girls had a lot of fun putting it together. I thought it would make a lovely display for the holiday season but it only lasted one day before Abbie couldn't take it any longer and started eating it.

Christmas morning highlights included a Nintendo DS for Carly and Abbie, an over the range microwave for Drew and Wendy and a water baby for Savannah.
Savannah with her baby. She is a very good Mommy. She has also started saying "baby" very clearly in the last couple of weeks and it is so cute. We love her sweet little voice!The girls also each got a Zhu Zhu pet. Santa must have gotten caught up in the frenzy of the retail world this year...after all, those little babies were hard to find!

And in parting I leave you with a snipet of the Maxfield family Christmas Eve celebration of playing Lego Rock Band. What a talented group!