CHILDREN OF THE CORN!!!!

AHHHHH!!!!!!!! Remember that movie? I think I had nightmares for years after seeing it! Lucky for me - these children of the corn are far less scary and have not developed a desire to kill all people over 18 years old.


To celebrate Halloween Eve, we headed over to the local pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins! With the family pumpkin philosophy firmly in place - If you can carry it, you can have it! - we set off on our pumpkin finding mission!








Mission accomplished!

Giant Potatoes and Family Hoops

Today we were on the receiving end of our Dinner Exchange program! On the menu was Twice Baked Potatoes stuffed with ham, cheese, mushrooms and a bunch of deliciousness! After gorging ourselves on the most giant potatoes I have ever seen, we saddled up our 2 wheeled horses and headed to the neighborhood basketball hoop.

Family Hoops was everything you'd expect an NBA basketball game to be - except for the one player who clearly shot like a girl! There were mad skills being displayed all over the court and moves that some people had most likely never seen before. It is a crying shame that I decided against pursuing a career in the WNBA because all 5'4" of me could be kicking some serious behind!

Check out that WICKED defense!

He's still got it!

Air Tanner!

Textbook Form!

Mark Shark!

The One Who Shoots Like A Girl!

GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

Madison's soccer season sadly came to a close yesterday. In a performance that can only be described as phenomenal - Madison ROCKED the house! With dribbling skills that rivaled her Uncle Chris, speed that far surpassed the opposing defensive line, and power shots that scored her a goal, she concluded her season with, what I would call - perfection!


Yesterday, Tanner and his Kicker teammates had their most challenging game of the season. In a nail-biting performance, they were able to pull off the win! Tanner had 5 goals under his belt - the last one being scored while dribbling from mid-field with an opposing player pulling on his jersey. The play of the game came when Tanner was set to kick off the ball. He looked at the other team and how they were lined up and said, "You need to back up - No, I'm serious!" With that warning, he booted the ball so hard it flew about 25 yards past the goal. It was very sweet of him to want to protect them from the possibility of getting the ball smashed into their face at close range! Stuff like that just makes a mama proud!


Soccer combined with pizza parties and birthday parties made our Saturday complete! Completely exhausted, completely tired, completely ready for bed!

Baking Bliss (Again!)

Today marks the 10th birthday of Madison's dear friend Riley! As part of my gift to her - I was given the honor of making her birthday cake. With cake and frosting and fondant covering my counters along with an assortment of baking necessities, my sous chef and I set off to make the perfect birthday cake - one that would truly reflect her personality. With the fact that Riley has more fashion sense than most people I know - combined - and that she loves all things fashionable - the executive decision to make her a cake in the form of an upright purse was, for lack of better words - a no brainer!

The result, as seen above, is a pretty flippin' cool cake - even if I do say so myself!

So, Happy Birthday Riley!!! I hope you have as much fun on your birthday as I had making your cake!

Good Bye Old Friend

With hearts full of sadness, today we said goodbye to our good friend, Toby. Please keep Mark's grandfather in your prayers as he deals with the loss of his closest companion.

Ganache-ulous!

To help in the celebration of a friend's 50ish birthday, I volunteered to make the cake - I know, huge shocker there! After making and gathering all of the necessary items - thinly baked layers of cake, ganache that had been chilling overnight as well as a few extras to make the cake unique - I set off on my cake assembling. The completed cake (pictured below) is a 4-layer yellow cake. It is filled and frosted with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache and is topped with a white chocolate drizzle and shaved Nestle Crunch bars.





Because I am not a chocolate fan - unless it is mixed with peanut butter - I had to count on the chocoholics at the birthday celebration for their honest reviews of the cake. Much to my great joy (and ego boosting) - the cake was a hit! I can officially add ganache to my baking repertoire!

Dinner Exchange Kick-Off!

Today marks the official kick-off to our Dinner Exchange! To sum up the program - I cook dinner for a friend and her family on Monday (today) and next Monday she will cook for us. Nice huh? I think so too!

On the menu: Chicken Paprika served over a bed of jasmine rice.

So, armed with a bunch of chicken breasts, cream of mushroom soup, bell peppers, onions, seasonings etc., I set off in my dinner preparations! Now, it is no secret that I enjoy working in the kitchen (and by working, I mean cooking - not cleaning!) but I can honestly say that cooking for someone else's family really makes me happy! I love knowing that people are actually eating the food that I prepared - unlike my children. But I digress...

Back to me and my love for cooking - I love hearing praises over what a fantastic chef I am and how I really should have my own cooking show. I love when people beg me for recipes which I willingly hand over knowing that their version will never be as good as mine.... Uh - did I really just write that??? Hahahaha!!!! I am only teasing! I really do love cooking for other people. Call me a freak. Call me a dork. I am the first to admit it! For me, cooking for other people makes the whole cooking process so much more fun - which makes the Dinner Exchange even better! I get to cook for other people and in return, I don't have to cook every other Monday! Works for me!