Baking Together

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with Madison helping her with her new cake decorating business. I make myself available to do whatever she needs help with. It isn't that she needs my help to do her cakes, but I just like being in there to watch her and to learn so that I can help her more. Recently, we decided to bake two little cakes and each decorate one...I wanted to learn to cover a cake with fondant. We had so much fun. It amazes me how much she has taught herself just from watching cake shows and finding things on the internet!

Our Cakes Madison's is brown and mine is green. We used her new Cricut to make the circles...I used the circles to make my flowers.

It was so much fun to do my own little cake instead of just helping Madison with hers. Cake decorating is nothing that I would ever choose to do for myself, but I enjoy it so much with Madison. I realize that it isn't about the cake decorating at all...it's all of those hours that we spend in the kitchen with our music on and just the two of us laughing and enjoying each other!! That's what it's about for me...all the rest of it is just icing on the cake :).

Regional Meal

While studying the different regions of the United States, we decided to cook a regional meat. We chose Boston baked beans for the Northeast fried chicken for the South and corn on the cob for the Midwest. We all enjoyed the meal, but Jeff said that he prefers baked beans the way I usually make them. It was a good way to show the kids that not only do different regions have food that is specific to them, but they also have dishes that are the same but prepared differently.

Madison is 15!!

Since Madison loves making cakes so much, she decided to make her own birthday cake. It was a small cake, but she had so much fun doing it. Madison wanted to go to the movies on her birthday. We did that then came home for me to make one of her favorite meals...meatroll. Jeff's mom and dad came down for her to open her gifts. Instead of a party, Madison decided that she wanted to go to the boardwalk at a nearby city to shop and spend the night with a few friends. My sister, Vicki, went with us as well as her daughter. Madison's friend, Kaitlyn, also went. We had so much fun shopping, eating, and hanging out on the boardwalk. We also went to a movie at the boardwalk theater that night. The hotel was right on the boardwalk...the same one that I stayed at with my sisters on our sister weekend. It was a really cold weekend, but the girls still managed some time in the hottub...good thing our room was just a quick run from the hot tub. We were lucky to get a courtyard room that opened up to the pool, hot tub, and firepit. It was perfect! Build a BearBass Pro ShopIn the hot tub one night..........and driving home in this the next morning!!!

New Year's Eve 2010

We spent New Year's Eve with my family at Vicki's house. It was like a family reunion or Christmas Eve all over again, only with fireworks and lots of food!! Madison made a New Year's Eve cake with some of her new baking supplies that she got for Christmas. We all got to pass around one of our new babies, Emery. Kevin and Ashley weren't able to make it with Gus. It's amazing how a family can have so many babies and still feel like each one is the first. Emery is just such a sweet baby...so much fun!Most of the night we all just hung out playing games and visiting.

Everyone stayed to ring in the new year and pop fireworks. I don't think I have popped fireworks with my dad since I was a teenager, so that was fun. We all laughed so hard and had so much fun!