Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Here are my little trick-or-treaters -- Bumblebee Transformer and Cookie Monster. We went to a local outdoor mall's "Safe Street" Halloween event. The stores were passing out candy. It was fun to see the other kids, but the candy was terrible (Lollipops and jawbreakers).  EVERYONE loved Cookie Monster! Karina was so sweaty, but she is one tough "Cookie!"

After "Safe Street," we headed over to Grandma and Papa Woody's house for our normal trick-or-treating activities. The kids did better at about 8 houses on her street than they did at all 3 trunk-or-treat events combined. It was fun!

The last picture is of us headed back to Grandma and Papa Woody's house. What a cute little family we have!

Happy Birthday to Jonathan today -- 33 big ones! Have a wonderful day.

Trunk-or-Treat!

The kids have already been "Trunk-or-Treating" twice this week. Camden is Bumblebee Transformer and Karina was both Cookie Monster and Sleeping Beauty. She didn't last 5 minutes in the Cookie Monster outfit the first night and she was a sweaty mess! It was only 80 degrees on Tuesday night when they went to the church Halloween party. Good grief! It is usually a little chilly by Halloween here in Las Vegas. That is why we decided to do a costume change-up last night and let her wear her dress-up princess outfit. She loved it. We'll see if it's cool enough to wear the Cookie Monster outfit by tomorrow night. I'm hoping she will because it's so cute!

We went to Camden's school fundraiser last night (they also had trunk-or-treating) and Grandma came along with us.  We had such a fun time!  Camden and Karina love spending time with Grandma.  Karina can almost say, "grandma."  She's working on it.  Camden wanted to go into the Haunted Den, so Grandma got in line with him.  Camden has been very scared of Halloween stuff this year.  They made it into the inflatable Haunted House and walked right back out.  Camden thought he was ready, but the man just inside the door was too scary.  Maybe next time!  I told him I was proud of him for trying.

I also volunteered to donate baked goods for the Cake Walk at the festival last night. I decided to take in a few packs of cupcakes and one 8-inch round cake. Here are what some lucky festival-goers won last night! LUCKY! :)

Camden told me when we attempted the Cake Walk that the winning number would be 14.  We had 4 different tries at winning and on the third round, one of the winners was 14.  What is he?  Some sort of partial-psychic?  Well, he wasn't on the winning number, so we didn't win.  (He wanted to win some of Mommy's cupcakes.)  He's so cute!  I had business cards attached to each box!  We'll see what happens.

It was a great night at the festival and when we left, Camden said he was "all partied out."  I felt beat, too.  Maybe trick-or-treating should only happen one night a year.  Oh well, we get an extra hour to sleep on Saturday night.  We'll make it up then!

And Last, but not least -- Happy Birthday, Little Sister/Aunt Joyce!  We hope you had a wonderful day!  I know your Publix cake won't taste as good as your big sister's, but I'll make whatever kind you want next month at Dad's birthday!  We love you.

We hope you all have a very Happy Halloween tomorrow.  Be safe out there!

New Life Brings Another Cupcake Order!

The orders are just rolling in!  There was a baby shower this past Saturday and they needed cupcakes to celebrate.  Enter Cherry Blossom cupcake  goodness!  It was a shower for a baby girl, so the cupcakes were pink and white -- really cute.  It's so fulfilling to be involved in wonderful events like birthdays and baby showers.  Camden and Karina never complain when there are cupcakes around.  They definitely love the "Vanilla Skye" ones the best.  (Me, too!) 

Camden had another soccer game on Saturday -- and scored the first goal of the game!  After that, he did well, but was getting the ball to the goal for another teammate to take the glory at the end.  I'm just thrilled he's getting in there and understanding the game.  He is such a wonderful athlete.

I'm a Soccer Mom!

Camden had another soccer game yesterday (Saturday) and promised us he was going to score a goal. Well, he scored a goal within the first 5 minutes! He was SO excited that he kept going after the ball. He was making saves and scoring the whole 50 minutes! He scored 3 goals! He says he scored 4 goals, but Eric and I only saw 3. We can't even show pictures of it -- the camera battery is dead and Eric misplaced the charger. Yikes! I'll just show some cute pictures of him from last Monday's soccer practice. They were taking team and individual pictures and we snapped a few of our own. Camden's team won something like 10-0. It was so exciting for our team. The coach was so wonderful at praising all the kids at the game. They were all beaming!  Camden's goal was to get 23 goals once he got going.  That is his favorite number these days -- it's the number that Nickelodeon is on our cable.  He likes the volume at 23 when he's watching his shows.  Wasn't Michael Jordan's number 23??  Hmmmm . . . must be a sign of good luck to come for our little athlete.

I had my third cupcake order Saturday before the game (and the game was at noon). I got up at a very quiet 4:30 a.m. to bake and frost a carrot cake and vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. It was a SpongeBob theme and I think they turned out so cute. I still feel delirious tonight and I slept a full 8 hours last night. I have been dragging all day today. Making the extra cash was nice, though. I took the family out to lunch at Burger King after Camden's incredible game. That felt great!

Eric and I took the kids to the park at Town Square the other day and Karina had her first ride on a merry-go-round. She was so cute spinning around with Camden. She just loved it!  I think she does way more stuff than Camden did at this age.  It's nice to feel a little more relaxed with the second child, so that she can run around with her big brother.  They sure have a lot of fun together.  I hope they always do.

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

So, I had my second cupcake order today. It was for my mother-in-law's mother-in-law (or Woody's mom, Charlotte, for those who know her). Charlotte is turning 91 this weekend and is having a big party tonight with her friends and family. To make the cupcakes look extra special, I baked them in gold foil wrappers. They were a combination of vanilla and chocolate with the vanilla buttercream frosted on like pink flowers. I thought they turned out really nice and had to share some pics! Just try not to drool on your keyboard. I won't be responsible for that!

On cupcake baking days, the kids go nuts! I get so into the baking "zone" that I can't be distracted. All Karina wanted to do this morning was hug my legs and hide in my apron. She wanted me to hold her so badly and I just couldn't stop what I was doing. Luckily, nap time coincided with frost-the-cupcakes time. Camden is ready for his cupcake as soon as the apron goes on! He asks me every 5 minutes if his cupcake is done yet. Here he is happy after sampling a few mini vanilla cupcakes. He'll try any flavor in a mini size.

This is a sneak peak into one of the boxes of cupcakes that were delivered this afternoon for Charlotte's party. Don't they look delicious? I'll be adding an extra day of exercise tomorrow, just so I can have one more tonight -- as a nightcap! I think about turning 91, which would be 60 years from now for me. That is so much life. If only we all could be blessed with so many years to enjoy being around our family and friends. That is plenty of time to get rid of excess cupcake weight! When it comes to dessert, life is definitely too short!

Camden's First Soccer Game of the Season

So today was the season opener for the Las Vegas "Lightning." It was a cool 80 degrees, but very windy (you'll notice Camden's hair looking a little wild).  Eric is assistant coach this year -- and loving it!  The coach has a foot injury, so Eric took the lead today.  You might notice him squinting in this first picture.  I think he forgot that his sunglasses were hanging from his neck!



Camden mostly ran around behind all the other kids looking for his buddies. It felt like we were watching 4 year old Camden playing for the first few minutes.  After Coach (Daddy) told him to stop following the other kids around, he started to go after the ball.  He finally got control of the ball and then . . .

BOOM!  Some nameless kid knocks him down.  He doesn't seem too upset.  (You'll notice a kid named "Gage" leaving the scene of the crime.  Hmmm!)  He had a great save playing goalie -- he was so pumped up after taking the ball away from the other team.  

Karina didn't care much for the game. She clapped a few times, but mostly needed to catch up on some reading.


She did have a great time with Grandma. She loved looking through Grandma's purse and especially loved the cute pink chair that she brought for Karina to sit in. She practically jumped out of the stroller to get in this chair!


Her little smile just melts my heart.  She is so cute -- when she wants to be!  They don't score in this 4 - 5 year old division, but if they did -- Las Vegas Lightning would be ahead 1-0.  Congrats on a great game, Camden!

October Cupcakes!

So here we are in October already!  I can't believe it.  I figure I might as well show off my October cupcakes.  Aren't they cute?  I have a very good friend that is battling breast cancer, so I had to make one "for the cure."  Her diagnosis really kicked my bootie and made me a little more aware of my own mortality.  We should all remember to be grateful for every day we have -- and for our good health.

Next, of course, is my Haunted Halloween cupcake.  I love how the sprinkles make it look so festive.  I am so ready for trick-or-treating this year.  Camden is going to be Bumblebee Transformer and Karina is going to be Cookie Monster.  They are going to have so much fun!  I sure wish I was talented/skilled enough to make my kids costumes -- like my mom did for us all those years ago.  Whatever we wanted to be, she made it.  One year I wanted to be Mac Tonight (you know, the old McDonalds Moon Guy) and she made it.  I'll have to find a picture of that for another post this month.  It was made out of white satin.  Mom - you are amazing!  Camden's first track break starts this Friday and I'm looking forward to a month of no alarm clocks.  Talk about a shock to the system.  The kids have been my alarm clock for 5 years now.  Karina has started singing a lot lately, which makes me optimistic that I could have myself a little singer.  Yeah!  She's been singing "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" and the ABC song.  Sometimes she makes her own stuff up -- another songwriter in the family.  Well, enjoy the cyber snacks (pics of delicious cupcakes) and I'm off to watch Lipstick Jungle!  Love that show!