The Advent Season

I have always enjoyed doing special things for the advent season and this year we have discovered a wonderful book. We were given this book as a present from a dear friend last year, and we tried to start reading it but we already had other advent things we were doing so I saved it for this year. This book is incredible and I highly recommend it. You read a portion of the story each day and there is always some verse or question to ponder at the end. Jotham is a fictional boy who lives at the time Christ was born. He meets incredible people along his journey as well as discovering the Messiah! My boys beg me to read more each night (and we do if we have missed some days). We have two days left to read right now (we should have three, but those boys beg for more each night and we are now ahead).

Advent is a blessed time to remember why Christ came but also to anticipate his coming again....are you ready?

A Memorable Summer

I was so excited when I saw that World Magazine had a special issue to commemorate my 40th birthday! Okay - maybe it was not specifically to commemorate MY birthday but I love the cover and it is a perfect thing to put in my scrapbook for a 40th birthday page besides a picture of me with a princess crown with the number "40" on it. What can I say - I would rather be a princess at 40 than "Over the Hill".

The best thing about turning 40 was my birthday present - a house! Well maybe it was not my present but our escrow did close on my birthday, so I am claiming it as mine. It has been 5 years since we owned a house and we are so glad to be home owners again, even with all the fix it projects. My friend (Lisa) called our house a diamond in the rough and I have to agree.

Attention Football Fans...

Nathan is 7 and check out those front teeth (or the lack of them). A perfect 7 year old picture! So this is Nathan's birthday cake. He wanted a football party so I thought this cake would be appropriate. We had a great party - we pulled Greg's truck into the garage (due to outside wind) and put down the tail gate and had a Tail Gate Party! Okay, the kids really did not catch on to the idea but what can I say - we are from Southern California and tail gating is not a popular past time. We did have a great party with fun games, good food, and a 7 year old boy! Happy Birthday Na!

The Twenty-One Balloons

The boys and I just finished reading this book and I have to say that this has been my favorite book all year. I love it! Full of adventure and imagination. The author thought up a whole society on the island of Krakatoa and what fun would it be to be apart of that society and to participate in the "restaurant government". Putting myself in the book, what letter would be my name? I am partial to "B" but I am not sure that I would always want to cook British food. Maybe "I". Italian food is always yummy! Now if I was Mrs. I would that be confusing? If someone one else said "I like to go to the beach", would they be talking about themself or me? Hmmm, maybe Mrs. I would not be such a great idea. What about Mrs. G, then I could cook German food (Greg would love that).

And then there is the whole idea of living beneath a balloon. The quiet, serene life living in a wicker house underneath a ballon. Ahhhh!

Anyways, I highly recommend this book! And for those guys out there with scientific minds, this book is full of inventions, like the Airy-Go-Round! Be sure to check out this book!

Butterflies Everywhere

We finally made it to see the Monarch butterflies at Pismo. There is also a great grove in Goleta which we went to several times when we lived there, but we wanted to see the grove in Pismo as well. Plus, it is always a beautiful thing to see hundreds and sometimes thousands of butterflies flittering around. The Monarch I think is one of the most awesome butterflies. The boys and I decided we need some around our house so we bought some milkweed seeds so we can hopefully have the butterflies come and lay eggs on our plants. Can you believe we acutally bought seeds to plant weeds??!

Star Wars Birthday Cake

Jaron wanted a Star Wars party for his 9th birthday. So my juices had to start flowing for a cake that would well represent Star Wars. I found an R2-D2 cake that I would have loved to make but it would have served at least 30 people or more, so that was a bit too much cake. I ended up with this light saber cake. I think it turned out great in terms of looks! It was my first time using fondant icing. And although it makes it looks smooth, the taste is not that pleasing for a frosting. I guess it will be back to good old buttercream in the future.

The Cowboy Boots Cake

This was Na's birthday cake this last year. His birthday was supposed to be celebrated in June, but got postponed till September (see a couple posts down). Anyways, I could not miss putting up his cake for the world to see.