Last cake for the class

Oh, the class is over now, it was so much fun.

Amy......

To Amy.....well I know a bunch of you....and I'm not sure who left the last comment. So this is to all the Amy's I know.

Regarding the comment about frosting a cake without getting crumbs in it. Here is the secret. You need to put a crumb coat on it first. Make a thin buttercream frosting (don't make your whole batch thin just a little bit) and spread it all over your cake. Don't worry about the crumbs. When you are done let your cake sit for 10-20 minutes. It will get a "crust" on it, and then you can go over it with more frosting and it should look much better. All your crumbs will be locked in, and shouldn't appear on the surface leaving you free to decorate how ever you want.

So does this answer your question? Amy please comment back so that I know which one of you left the comment!

Enjoy!
Ann

Ps. Here are two links that may help out too!
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/986-cake-decorating-how-to-crumb-coat

http://www.ivillage.com/10-steps-perfectly-frosted-cake/3-a-57694

http://www.countryliving.com/cooking/about-food/cake-decorating-0508

Saturday Cartoons

My kids, are just like I was when I was little, they LOVE Saturday cartoons. Its a favorite for them and they look forward to it all week!

Recent Cakes

This is the chocolate cake that I made for class this week. I have a friend who's birthday is the day before Valentines Day so it was fitting that it should be given to her as her birthday cake! It was fun to surprise her, and yes giving her the cake was a way of reminding her that she still has to come workout with me everyday this week at 6:30 am!



This second white cake is the one that I made for my family for Valentines Day. The technique is really simple, I know. I hope to be able to advance to more detailed cakes...without my kids putting their fingers in them!





Problems:
1. The white cake's frosting had a hard time sticking to the cake why? How do I do a crumb layer when this is the problem? Does this mean my frosting is too thick? I made it a med consistency.... I guess these questions will be addressed in class this week.
2. I need to have more pie filling, I ran out ( I was using left overs) and so then I added the white in the center, I don't like it but once its on, I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking it off and having to fix it. Lazy me.

Valentines Day Cake

I finished this up after my second cake decorating class last night. Its a chocolate cake with a chocolate butter cream icing. Yummy, I can't wait for us to eat it, even if it means that it will destroy it. Next week we'll be working on roses, more boarders and flowers, I'm excited!

Valentines Day Party

I totally forgot my camera, so I stole these from a friend. Bens Joy School class had a Valentines Day party yesterday. It was a lot of fun, Ehre loved seeing all the friends, and she has aopted Mikiah as her own "little girl".  I made the cookies and Kim made the heart shaped cupcakes, lots of sugar= lots of fun.

"Give me....."

Ehre and Ben chose a historical cartoon from the library, I was showering when they were watching, so I don't know what story ti was. But it wasn't hard to figure out when I heard Ehre repeating over and over later,

 

"Give me death, or give me liberty!"

 

:)

Now she has Ben repeating it ! My kids may not know about Patrick Henry, but they know what he said!

Ben's Birthday Cake

I'm starting a cake decorating class, and since I had the kit, I decided to use it to figure out something for Ben's birthday tomorrow. Happy #3 Booga!

CLUE

We had friends over the other night for a night of games. I haven't played CLUE in years (since Jr. High it seems!) The guys had fun placing the character with their weapon choice. It was a great evening!

Ben's Joy School

Ben's enjoyed (what we've had so far) being involved in a Joy School. HE likes having his friends come over and play, and learning about new letters, topics and shapes. Here are the two crafts we did last week when we learned about "Hats" , "Triangles" and the letter "L".

Ehre's Dance Classes

She's loving her Ballet Class, it will last till her Spring Performance in May!

Jeff's Birthday

I didn't take as many photos as I wanted to, but Jeff did catch a shot of me trying to put candles in his frozen ice-cream cake. Yes, it required a chopstick and hammer, to "preset" some holes. :)

Thanks to our friends who joined us for the 2nd year in a row. Without them this cake would last months in our freezer.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Train Table

I was really excited to see that a friend was selling her train table! Ben's birthday gifts for next week really center around that theme, and this would be perfect. She was selling it for an amazing price so we bought it. When we picked it up thought there was one small detail that she had left out... the table top looked like this.



Jeff and I hummed over a few options, she said that a Mr. Clean eraser would take the permanent ink off,....well yeah that and the paint too so we thought on it for a while.

In the end we decided just to paint a new top. This was a really fun project, though I wish it lasted longer!

What do you think?

Beautiful Poem

This is a poem I ran across regarding our Heavenly Fathers understanding regarding our personal trials.
So beautiful!
Ann


With every tear that falls, there is a lost heart that calls.
it calls to say I'm here, don't dispair, I will come to you
when the time is right, when you least expect me and through
the quiet night open your heart to me, accept me, I will be there
in the end.
Your wait may be long, you may get frustrated by the whole
ordeal. In the end I will be real. While others around you are
succeeding your heart goes on bleeding.
I would thank you for being patient, I would thank you for
being the kind of person who shows persistance. If it were not
for this, I may never get the chance to have an existence.
In the chaos of your day, the calm of your night, let your heart
soar and take flight.
For so many tears, for so many years. You have been trying,
thinking of giving up but never doing it. In the end you just keep
on going in the hopes that I will come to you, the one who deserves
me, the one who can love me as no other can. You will be that
mother that you always wanted to be. Just you keep waiting for me.

Its sooo cold!

Hey Family!

 

We received about 5" of snow on Thursday and then it was extremely cold (-2) last night, so for the past few days we really haven't ventured anywhere. Jeff and the kids did build a LG snowman and covered a box to make an igloo, but they were working as fast as they could to return to the warm house. We've probably gone through almost a whole container of Hot Chocolate too!

 

The adjustment to being a full time mom is slowly coming, I've learned that acquiring patience is twice as hard as loosing it. (at least!) I hate to share this story, seeing that I don't want to reinforce Ehre's behavior, but its kind of funny. Its amazing how much influence a sister can have over a little sibling. Ehre's learned that once we've put the kids in bed, she can quietly whisper "Ben, come up on my bed" or "Ben turn on the light", and after he hears these whispers, he will perform the suggested action. Then as soon as he is on her bed or the light is on, this is what we hear. " MOOOOOOOM, Ben's on my Bed!" or "DAAAADDDY Ben turned on the light, and now I can't sleep!" Lately she's been very observant that we don't go to bed when they do, and she asks,

 

Ehre:"Mom, are you going to bed right now?"

Mom: "Nope, mom and dad are having their time together now"

Ehre: "But I want time with you two, tooo!"

Mom: "Sorry."

 

or

 

Ehre: How come you get to watch a movie tonight and we have to go to bed?

Mom: Because its not our bed time.

Ehre: When I'm 10 I'm going to stay up with you guys too!

 

With these bedtime conversations, she keeps us laughing!

 

This week school starts at Purdue again, so Jeff is getting ready for his class. This is his last class that he needs to graduate, after this semester all he needs to worry about his his research for his preliminary defense and then in a year and 1/2 his actual defense! So guess what hopefully by 2012 we'll be out of here!  Hopefully by the time Jeremiah is returning to the states we'll have an idea of when Jeff will be graduating and where we will be going.

 

Major accomplishment of this week, I think Ben for the most part is potty trained! Oh, it will be so nice to not buy diapers anymore. :)  He's doing a great job with independently managing this (which is sooo nice).  Ehre has memorized the first Article of Faith and today we'll work on #2, we've set a goal for her to learn all the songs this year, and she is on the right track! Other than that we did have a co-ed Volleyball night, and it was a lot of fun to finally play volleyball with Jeff. We've never played before so it was a lot of fun to show him how hard I can serve a ball....right at him!

 

Sorry this is a short email, I am writing as we are all preparing for church in 2 hours.

Lots of love!

Ann & the family!

Graduation Photos

Here are a few favorites from my friend Kim. She really did a great job!

My wonderful kids...

A friend in her New Year Resolutions, made the goal to be "a teacher not a babysitter" with her kids. I took her goal and added it to my own New Year Resolutions. This phrase has been on my mind a lot since then. Motherhood, has its rewards and they are different from the rewards I recieved when working.  When I worked in the hospitals I constantly received thank yous, and had wonderful co workers that always recognized positively our efforts. As a mom, for a long time I felt like motherhood was under appreciated. And then I realized that my kids do thank me in so many different ways, and I love it.

 

Tonight Ehre said, "Mom makes the most wonderfulest meals!", and when Ben asked me to lay down with him for his nap, he told me thank you. So then I started rethinking my previous views. Motherhood isn't under appreciated, we as moms are appreciated and loved, but we have to be willing to accept the rewards and appreciation in the small and simple forms.  Motherhood really is the best job, and its the most rewarding when done right.

 

Working in the hospital wasn't easy, and it sure wasn't always pleasant, but I didn't complain. Motherhood for me should come with the same effort and lack of complaining. Sure there are the not so fun days, but there are also the days  like today that make me feel so special and wonderful as a mom. So I guess I owe my kids a great big hug and kiss in the morning, I really do love these two, and if they can just be patient with me I promise I'll keep on trying to be a better mom.

 

Fire Trucks at 11 pm

We practiced our fire safety last nigh, at 11pm. Jeff and I were laying in bed reading when our Carbon monoxide detector went off...what a surprise! We went downstairs and reset it, and then it went off again, so we called the fire department.

They kindly asked us to wake up the children and open up windows and stay where there was fresh air. Kids didn't really want to wake up, or sit in on the steps next to the cold front door, but all in all did really well.

The firetruck came, with lights flashing, and three men checked out our house. In the end, well it was a faulty detector. They aren't sure why it went off but sometimes they do, so we'll need to replace it.

When they left I felt a little better but not enough to let the kids sleep in the other room, so we had them sleep on our floor and we kept the window slightly open so that there was a "fresh and freezing cold breeze" coming into the room. :)

So to all our neighbors that were disturbed by the flashing lights, sorry! The best part of this whole experience was that we had a chance to run through our emergency drills with the kids, and we passed 100%.

2010 New YEar Resolutions

HOME
1. Well balanced meals
2. Help Kids join in on family chores.
3. Organize my home

FAMILY
1. Teach kids the 12 article of Faith songs
2. Stick to a family budget
3. More quality family time (see things to do)

SPIRITUAL
1. Daily Family Scripture Study
2. Weekly Family Home Evening
3. (Ann) No talking before Sacrament meeting to friends, focus on contributing to a quiet sacrament meeting room.
4. 1st Saturday Temple Trips
5. Magnify our church callings.

PERSONAL (ANN)
1. Focus specific time each day on each child.
2. Daily personal scripture study/Journal writing
3. Patience, figure out a way to better express myself to my children.
4. “Be a teacher, not a babysitter”
5. Work out 6/7 days a week
6. Focus on the positive.

THINGS TO DO
1. Nauvoo trip
2. Camping at Mammoth Caves
3. 1 camping trip/month in the summer
4. Kirtland trip

Ehre's Birthday!

Ehre had a wonderful play date with her friends for her birthday. She loved having them all over for pink princess cupcakes. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to decorate them cute, and I don't they turned out all that bad. :)

I can't believe she is 5! Honestly it seems not that long ago that we were pregnant with her. She is a joy to have in our family (even if she did get into my black paint last night and paint the wall and desk...) She is so creative and very smart. She loves to read and she loves to dance.

She also is musical, she remembers things quickly if there is a tune to go with it. She has memorized the first 2 Articles of Faith, and is almost finished with the 3rd, and its only January!

Happy Birthday Ehre!