A Few Pics.

Santa is kinda scary.

My butt is cute!

The biggest toy in the box.

Kate's favorite spot!  She loves to sit and hang out with Mom in the kitchen.

Looking over some cookie recipes with Roo.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I've been a fan of Shutterfly products for several years. Last year I was able to order some great Christmas cards with pictures of Kate.  They offered such a big variety and I couldn't decide which I liked best so I ordered a few different ones.  What made these cards even more special was that they had a Special Olympics design and part of the proceeds benefited them.  Most of you know how meaningful the Special Olympics is to Ryan and I, so this little added touch to the card made it that more unique for us. The quality of the cards are always top-notch.  They are printed on high quality card stock and image quality is superior.

Cards are not the only thing that I've ordered and been happy with.  Last year I made some great photobooks and calenders as Christmas gifts.  I love all the options and layouts that the photobooks have.  They make great keepsakes and I highly recommend making one to preserve some of your favorite pictures.  I used to be a scrapbooker, but since discovering Shutterfly I've been making all my photobooks digitally.

This year I'm looking forward to creating some great Christmas cards again and maybe some photo mugs.  I noticed the photomugs have multiple photo layout options and different graphic designs now.  These will make great gifts too.

So if you need some gift ideas for yourself or someone special check out shutterfly today!

Hello September!

If you're wondering where I've been, check out http://www.occasionalcookies.blogspot.com/.  I've been doing all my blogging there lately.  Baking has been keeping me busy!

This summer has been great and I'm somewhat sad to see it go.  Kate has changed so much from the beginning of summer.  When school got out she was still crawling!  Now, shes walking/running all over the place.  She's very active and outgoing.  Sassy, smart and independent.  Once in awhile I can get some cuddles.  Today was one of those rare days.  She snuggled up with me on the couch to watch some Winnie the Pooh. 

School starts on Tuesday, and I'll be teaching at the same school as last year.  I'm happy there and I love that it is so close by.  Richmond called me back to teach Kindegarten, it was very tempting to go back to where I planting my teaching roots, and for a couple weeks I tried to come up with reasons to leave where I'm at now, but I couldn't.  Boy, I'm glad I didn't decide to go back for Kindegarten now that I think about it.  :)  Kate will be staying with her Grandma Woods during the day again this year.  We are blessed to not have to deal with day care. 

And most everyone knows by now, but we are expecting another baby in February!  I'm feeling great and getting more excited as the days pass.  This time around I think we will wait to find out boy or girl until birth!  That will be fun and a great thing to look forward too if I have a long labor like last time. 

Here's a few pictures from the last couple of months.

Just a cute little butt running around!

Playing nice with Jacob.

Wearing the first dress that I made her.  Two weeks ago she found a permanent marker while wearing this dress........

Such an easy pattern, I had to make two! 

The third dress I made.  This one is a little more complicated, but I love all the fall fabrics.

Annabella turns one! 

A trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky.

Enjoying a slushie!

Kate has a thing for Ernie. 

Summer Fun

Schools been out for only a few weeks and Kate and I have been having so much fun. She is officially a walker now. No more scuffed knees and outfits dragged through the dirt. She is a little talker adding new words to her vocabulary all the time and if they aren't really words she thinks they are anyways. I enjoy listening to her baby babble in the morning while shes in her crib waking up and I'm drinking my coffee (waking up). She's a fun kid, lots of energy and a great spirit. So far this summer we have gotten to make two trips up to Traverse City and we just finished up swimming class at the outdoor pool. She enjoys the water.

Loves her doll that Great Grandma made.

Ready to go to swim class.

A cooler morning so we bundled up after the pool.

Giving Jack a kiss.

Playing in the backyard.

Happy 4th of July.

A trip to Boones for steak dinner.  Kate just liked the kiddie cup.

Splashing in the puddles.

 

Sprinkler fun!

Playing with Jack in Traverse City.

Happy Fathers Day!

Creating my first masterpiece.

Wedding Success

I'm still recovering from the anxiety and fun from last weekends wedding, and dessert buffet!  It was a lot of fun to create and bake, but I was a bit stressed hoping it would all look as good as I planned.  The high temperatures were the main cause of my stress.  In the high 80's on Memorial Day weekend!!  The last time I remember temperatures that high was when I lived in TC and spent the weekend with friends on Torch Lake.  :)  I'm really not complaining about the warm beautiful weather, it's just that chocolate and heat don't mix.  The wedding was on Windmill Island Park in Holland.  Beautiful setting and everything was outdoors.  The three hour car ride was the first battle that we won.  Max AC all the way!  Everything held up really well on the car ride.  Once we arrived it took about 2 hours to set everything up.  The table was set up on the west side of the tent, lots of rearranging was done so as not to put chocolate things in the direct sunlight. Skittles are much more heat resistant.  Ryan was a big help.  He's a very "serious" worker and I had to tell him a few times to "lighten" up so as not to stress me out.  We finished set up just as the ceremony was beginning.  That was our only time to escape to the hotel and wash up.  The buffet was a hit and lots of goodies were taken.  There was still a lot left over.  It was a good learning experience.  I will not bake nearly that much next time for 200 guests.  There were at least 100 cupcakes left over, no doubt because the guests had filled up on cookies and candy first.  Everything was delicious in my opinion though! 

Summer is coming

I'm neck deep in cookies this week. I have two wedding orders this weekend. The weather is beautiful this week, so Kate and I took some time to set up her pool. She loves water!

And you can see our new patio in the background.  I'm so happy to have an outdoor space that I can use and enjoy this summer. 

Occasional Cookies Blog

I have finally gotten my cookies up on their own blog.  http://www.occasionalcookies.blogspot.com/ is the home for all my baking.  It's still a work in progress, but it's a start so check it out!! If you need cookies for any celebration or know someone who does I'm taking orders and having fun baking away!!!!

Pinwheels and Pennants

Kate's 1st Birthday was great! I had so much fun planning it and doing it. It was a bit of work, but fun work. Her theme was pinwheels and pennants, and the colors were pink, yellow, and peach. My first project was making the 20 or so pinwheels and 2 big pennants and one small pennant. Once I found the right paper it was easy! The pinwheels were simple, except I couldn't get them to spin! Ah, well. They were pretty. 3 different pennants decorated the space. One said Kate is one, another said Happy Birthday, and the smaller sized didn't have any message on it, just blank flags. I also made 4 table decorations that had various black and white photos of Kate on all 4 sides. I placed the pinwheels in the middle. I did not get many good pictures of the decorations. :(

The dessert table was beautiful! I was so pleased with how it turned out. I made the cupcakes with cute cupcake toppers. Some of the toppers had her picture in them, but most of them just had some cute message like Kate is One. I made labels for all the desserts.

Kate had a great time and I'm so glad that many of her friends and family were able to spend the day with us. The house that we had it at is a friends. It is the most amazing house ever!!! So cozy and spacious. We had two fires going in the huge stone fireplaces. All the kids had space to move around which was nice to.

Here's a few pictures! I have so many great pictures its hard to choose just a few for this blog.

River Birch Lodge in Hartland! Amazing house!

One of the few grand fire places.

Kate having some cake!

Kate's bib and party hat (pictured below ontop the cupcake pyramid) was purchased from Etsy. They were beautiful. I had my eye on this purchase for months (seriously like 8 months). Goldenshop.

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting. I tinted the cupcake mix pink, yellow, and peach so each bite had a tie-dye effect. You can also see the whoopie pie cookies I made. I made a raspberry buttercream filling for these that was amazing!

Birthday pennant. I spent a lot of time on making these, and was pretty proud of how they turned out.

Annie made her famouse chocolate chip cookies. Sugar cookie lollipops are in mason jars just behind the chocolate chip goodness.

Some of the paper goodies I made. Table centerpieces are four sided. Silverware wraps with pictures of Kate, and cupcake toppers.

The dessert buffet!

Yumm!

Ice cream cone meringues, peeps, peach-os, and some M&Ms.

Sugar cookie 1's and circles with polka dots.

Kate's Cake! I used my giant cupcake pan. The pink bottom shell is white almond bark tinted pink, melted into the pan to harden and then removed. I love the look of the shell on the bottom. The cake is banana cinnamon.

Kate's 1st Birthday Party

Shamrock

Some green cupcakes. I made a batch of green cupcakes for some co-workers that helped me out last week with the Shamrock Shuffle that I put together for students. I had about 120 students run the race! Good stuff. I set up a 1/2 mile course outside around the school. It was a great time for the students and I have some great co workers that helped make it run smoothly.

Just a Betty Crocker white cake mix, which I wasn't really happy with the taste. It was "ok" but I think I like Pilsbury White Cake mix better. I still haven't found a from scratch recipe that I am thrilled with. I made the buttercream frosting from scratch. So yummy.

Multi green colored on the inside!

I melted some chocolate and piped it onto some parchment paper to make these little thank you toppers.

Funky green swirls hot from the oven.

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!