Up to my eyeballs in cakes!

Mindy, I promised to post pics of some cakes I have done recently. So here you go. No laughing! I will post pics of the snowflakes I did for the wedding when I get them from Melanie. For Reggie's birthday she wanted a cake of Maddox. I printed out a picture of Disney's 101 dalmation puppy cake pan and I cut a 13x9 cake into that shape. I then changed the colorings and markings to a rottweiler puppy. She wanted all the names of our animals on the cake.


She is our animal lover!

Reagan wanted two kinds of cupcakes for her class at school, Dogs and cats. I had to make 24 of these crazy pupcakes and kittycakes!

This is cake I made a couple of years ago for Reg. She had two care bear cakes in a row. I made wish bear one year and a different one the next (I can't remember!).

Brookelynn wanted a cinderella cake so I bought the wilton cake pan that makes a dress and I bought the doll toothpick to go on top. Brookelynn also wanted the cinderella barbie doll so I bought the doll and removed the tiara, necklace, and wand for cake. She loved it! Her little neighbor friend loved it so much she told her mom she wanted a cinderella cake for her birthday 4 months later. So I made another one as a birthday gift for her. I thought it turned out better than Brookies but I don't have a picture of it.

Jonas and Drayden have their birthdays 2 days apart. They love to share their birthdays and have one big party. I made a huge skateboard cake for the two of them. It is a 13x9 cake in the middle then I cut a round cake in half for the ends. I cut the shape out and added the design with the star tip. The trucks were the pirouette sticks found at a local grocery store and mini chocolate doughnuts for the wheels. They fought over the remaining doughnuts! A fun and easy cake to make.

Brookelynn wanted a Dora cake two years in a row. I made just the head of Dora the first year on a round cake. The second year I bought the wilton Dora pan and used the Star tip. Jason says this Dora is a really tan version!

I made a cake for a friend in the ward who was having a baby boy. The shower was decorated with rubber duckies. This cake was so easy because I cheated and bought ducks at the dollar store.

Big ol', Dumb, Sweet, Maddox

We had to say goodbye to Maddox shortly after Christmas. Maddox was well loved in our home but he had a hard time staying in our yard, even with the electric fence! He ignored the shocks and ran out of the yard at our neighborhood walkers and their pooches. He started to become aggressive towards all the neighborhood dogs. We found friends in the ward that loved him and were able to give him secluded property. Maddox was truly a man's dog! Look and them.

Drayden and Maddox my two thirsty Dog's! They did everything together.

Drayden called Maddox "My Best Friend."

They loved to wrestle together ( Well, Drayden did anyway!).

My girls laid on him like he was a giant teddy bear.

Once I was sitting on my grass in the front yard waiting for Brookie's bus to pull up. I had Maddox on a leash laying down beside me. One of my neighbors was walking by with a jug ( a jack russell terrior and pug mix). Maddox leapt up and tore after them. I flew down the grassy slope on my REAR, skiing down toward the asphault. I was getting really worried about what the asphault would feel like on my rear. When I reached the asphault I threw all my weight into my feet and dug my heels into the last inch of grass. I was immediatley thrown into a standing position and drug sliding on the asphault toward this 8 inch high jug. When we reached the dog, I thought Maddox was going to enjoy a very expensive snack! Instead they sniffed and played. To my horror Brookie's bus pulled up. Their heads were thrown back in laughter and tears were rolling down their cheeks. The bus driver still talks about it today!

Thank you Maddox for being part of our family as short as it was. We will forever have the memories!!

Out with the old, on with the new!

Jason brought home a kitten to help soften the blow of Maddox leaving!

Poor kitty, she just lays still and takes the abuse.

The kids were so excited to name her. The potential names were; snowy, snowball, lynx, snowflake, etc on the names of winter! Jason vetoed all and named her Nittany. Brookie cried because she really wanted snowy, so her middle name is snowy!

Christmas 08'

On Christmas Eve Jason took 43 pictures (I counted) of this pose, and this was the best one!
They calmed down after they opened their Christmas Eve present! The traditional p.j.'s. This was my favorite picture from this past Christmas.

This is my favorite picture from last Christmas!

2008-2009 school pics

Drayden stays home with Mommy. He is my baby at 3 years of age. This picture was a huge surprise, we didn't know this grump could smile!

Hello photogenic! Brookie is in her second year of preschool and she has a perfect smile everytime. This is my poor, sweet, Reggie; she doesn't know how to smile yet. She is only in the 1st grade, we can only hope she'll get better! This is Jonas' 4th grade pic. I put out a nice blue shirt for him to wear on picture day so he wouldn't look so washed out. What does he do? He changed and put on a sweatshirt so I couldn't see the change! Besides looking pasty white, he took a nice picture this year.

OBX: Family Vacation 2008

(Soak it in, this is what a real man looks like)

So, many of you have complained either personally, openly, or both! What I don't think you all understand is that I cannot do this alone. I try, but I honestly lose interest quickly. However, I have decided to update for everyone to see the family.

A few pictures from our Family Beach Trip to OBX. Well to be more accurate, it is Kill Devil Hills, NC. Here are just a few to wet the appetite. We spent a week on the beach w/ practically no one around. The house was directly across the street from the beach, and we had a pool and a hot tub to ourselves in the house as well. I couldn't have imagined the fun and relaxation that awaited us. Even w/ the typical drama of our kids, and work email, we still managed to share a room and not have any casualties. That says a lot!!

Jonas:
Enjoying the surf and boogie boarding, after his haircut

Reagan:
On the pier watching the fishermen pulling em in

Brookelynn:
Brave beyond her years, she didn't want to miss out on any fun!

Drayden:
What can we say, does he have Cali blood in him or what?

Buried Alive:
This is called good babysitting, but don't tell CPS!!

Newly Adopted Kuhnie

So, Not to be outdone by the Mitchell’s, we needed to add to our family again. Since this summer we shrunk by one member, we felt the need to re-add man's, (kid's) best friend.

Our neighbor has friends with a beautiful well trained dog. They have 4 kids ages 2-7 (just like us). Their daughter has autism, and with her increasing needs, and inability to comprehend the needs of the dog, they had to find a new home for Maddox. Knowing that we lost our dog this summer, and that our family structure was very similar to these friends, he agreed to take the dog and work his magic at convincing us we were the right home for the orphaned dog. All it took was seeing this massive thing. The kids kept asking if Maddox can stay here forever. Now how can you say no? What a brilliant well laid plan. My neighbor was actually setting us up for a perfect fit.

He is already trained and out of his puppy / poopy stages. Last night when the lights went out, he decided to stroll the home, and eventually lay at the side of the Girl’s bed, and fell asleep on the floor next to them. By morning however, he was found lying in the boy’s room next to the boys. We assume it is b/c he went to Drayden who was up with a bad dream in the middle of the night. He is so well trained and a lot of fun. We are so excited!!

Maddox measures in at 2.5+ ft tall from floor to back, and 3+ft to the top of his head. He measures roughly the same in body length when standing.

What a great Christmas present for the family.

In honor of Mom's B-day, and the recent Halloween season I have decided to share a cool picture. Remembering past years and the fun we had in Utah!

Homemade Haircuts (do they ever work)

So this is what Drayden looks like after his older sister decides to cut his hair so he can have a spiked hair cut. Brookelynn refers to it as a "silly" haircut. Apparently she has decided that her brother not only needs his hair cut, but she wants it to spiked and out of control ... the new name ... "silly haircuts".

So fond memories come rushing back of the summer days when we used to be sent to Mannor Woods swimming pool like a bunch of well tanned pool rats. In fact that name, despite the negative connotation, has never been anything but a term of endearment to me. Why do I bring this up, because, there are three things I think of when I see kids with homemade hair cuts. All of which are things April wishes that not only would she forget, but that her siblings would forget as well. But alas, these three things are burned in my mind, and while all three of these experiences revolve around April's hair, only one is pertinent to today’s topic.

April, can any of us ever forget the summer Chris in her conniving way convinced you to let her cut your hair. Could anything have gone any worse than to have your hair totally shaved down and be mistaken for a boy the entire summer after Chris totally butchered your bangs? How you let her live after she had ultimately ruined your self esteem is completely beyond me. And the scars still exist even until today. So go ahead, wear those scars with pride April, they are a badge of honor and courage. And if all you can manage to do after reading this is get teary eyed remembering it, then go ahead, cry, let it out April, after all, it wasn't your fault. But the mailman following you home was!

Shoot and Score

Jonas and Reagan had record breaking games this morning. Reagan scored her first all-time ever goal. She helped their team win the game.

Jonas scored his first 3 goals of the season in today's game. They too went on to win the game.

For their herculean efforts, they were rewarded with Red Robin and a trip to the famous "Mikies", oh just kidding April, we went to Rita's Ice. Even better, and to come to think of it, I don't think they hire boys either.