bella's grace

2009-08-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

After a long blogging hiatus -
I'm BAACCCKKK with another
concoction!

This one if for my youngest Goddaughter's 4th birthday!

Happy Birthday Raina -

By the way - did I mention that Bella REALLY wants the Barbie?

Let's see if it makes it to the party tomorrow!

Another Sweet Friday

2009-07-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Thought I would give you some SWEET THINGS for the week!

My sweet boy's First Chocolate

My sweet girl's First Chocolate

Explosion - Volcano Style!

Winter Wonderland Snowman Cake - Bella's Second Birthday

Valentine's Day Mini Rose Cupcakes

4th of July Cookies

Hi-ya! Birthday Asian Style

2009-06-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

My little boy, Ethan, turned 6 this weekend -

how can that be - wasn't he just crawling?
He is getting to be quite the martial artist so we decided a
Taekwondo birthday would be it for this year!

Ethan and his Taekwondo instructor Mr. Do.

Ethan breaking a board.

Who gave that boy weapons for his birthday, oh, I did!

Have you ever seen a cake get cut with a sword??????

And, If you know me, you know I tend to go over the top
with my kids birthdays - but I live for them all year long,
so I thought I'd share some of the fun things I came up with:

Sushi

The layout with food and favors in Chinese Takeout boxes

The dragon cake

And of course, black belt cupcakes!

More than a Mouthful

2009-06-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am honestly stunned....

EVERYONE in my family finished their plates!

With what you may ask?
Well, it is by FAR the easiest thing I have every "hardly" cooked.

Chicken and Bean Burritos

3 frozen chicken breasts
1 cup mild Pace picante sauce
1 can of refried beans
tortillas
shredded cheese

Just plop the FROZEN - yes frozen - no need to even defrost -

chicken breasts and salsa in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or until the chicken

can shred when pulled apart with forks.

Just before serving add the can of beans and mix up well.

WARNING....it is NOT pretty!

It is actually not even pretty enough for a picture!

Wrap it in a tortilla with cheese, and serve with a side of fruit.

Please let me know if you like it!

Recipe courtesy of the Cost Co samplers...

(We know where to get a free lunch!)

This is also great on chips as nachos!

Sweet Friday

2009-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

See what's been COOKIN" at my house....
You know I LOVE my FONDANT!

red sox t-ball cake

dolphin mascot cupcakes for the school carnival

mother's day cookies for the church women

gone fishin' cake for my brother's birthday

Patriotic Remembrances

2009-05-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's Memorial Day Weekend.
Time to fire up the BBQ's, gather with friends,
relax and enjoy our time off.

But today, one person really is on my heart.
My grandfather, Hal, was a "Lifer" in the Navy.
He was my Hero.
Enlisted at 17 and ended up diving for bodies in Hawaii.
He saw several wars, and I think those wars
stayed in his dreams until he passed on
almost two years ago. Grandpa was one on of the greatest
men I will ever know.
His legacy lives on in the hearts of
my brother, my mom and me.

So this Memorial Day, when I see those
flags flying high,
I will say a quiet prayer,
thanking God for my grandpa
and all the soldiers who have
fought to keep us free.

Flip your Flops - The Tutorial

2009-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Frugal times call for crafty girls!

Love the embellished Havaianna's but just can't bring myself to pay $24 (or more) for them!
So I have been seeing all these super cute ribbon flip flops around town,

and thought I would take a stab.

I found these amazing Havaianna knock-off's at Target - just $2.99! They are thick and comfy and come in all kinds of cute colors!

So here are the supplies you need:

Flip Flops

E6000 (can be bought at a craft store or hardware store)

Wide Ribbon

Super Cute Buttons

Needle and Thread

The Supplies

First, cut a length of ribbon and fold it over so that it will be as wide as you would like your bow to be. Mine was about 9 inch length, folded over and looped it is about 4 inches.

Next, sew your button through in the center of the top of the folded layers,

sewing through all three layers.

Now wrap the remaining thread around the ribbon, alternating wither side of the button to cinch down the ribbon and give it the bow shape. See the front and back.
Then, put a pretty heavy layer of E6000 on the center of the flip flop,
and hold your bow on for a few minutes.
You may even want to clamp it with a clothes pin.

And the finished products!
The lucky ladies I call mom of some sort will all be sporting a pair this summer!
Happy flip flopping!

Fondant Anonymous

2009-05-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

So I think I may have a border line obsession with fondant. Is there an FA (fondant anonymous)? Holy smokes! That is my initials! Better that other things though!

I have the best friends. They have been gracious enough to let me make some cakes and cookies for events this month, so I have been a bit busy to blog.

Thanks to "The Cook Duke" for this fabulous fondant recipe! His recipe for fondant is amazing, but I have a great trick! Knead it in your mixer with a kneading hook.

Super clean and no sticky hands!

Here is the link to the recipe http://thecookduke.com/fondant-recipe/?cp=all

Enjoy some picks of my newest treats!

Avery's First Communion Cake

Play Ball Cookies

Batman Cake for Jack

April Showers Bring May Flowers

2009-05-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Need a quick and easy way to dress up your table?

Take some craft foam, a hot glue gun, and a silk flower and voila!
Simple, sweet and easy napkin rings!

Oh the possibilities are endless!

Thought for the Tuesday

2009-05-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

Just a little dose of Faith to get you through the day.

Thank you God that you are always there in ways we can never dream of.

May the Force Be with You!

2009-05-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

Every time my kids get into a new phase of life, I seem to learn everything you would ever want to know about it. First there was Thomas, then Cars, and now for a long time running there is STAR WARS.....

So for Mother's Day, I decided I wanted to go to the Happiest Place on Earth - you got it Disneyland. And as much as my sweet husband told my kids, "this is mommy's day, she gets to pick the rides", my kids fought back with "I want to do this and that".

So the self less mom that I am (insert your side jokes here), I chose the first thing I wanted to do was go to Jedi training. Nothing would give me more satifaction that listening to the same script I have heard about 1000 times.....

Ethan has the knack for Jedi training! He has gotten picked almost every time. THANKFULLY, he got picked yesterday or it would have been a looooonnngggg day. Check out my little Padawan...

His only complaint - he did not get to fight Darth Mal. Oh...what has this world come to?

Our family is definitely amusement park junkies. We have our annual passes to Disneyland (thank you Dad and Judi!), and we do Legoland a couple of times a year. And guess where we stopped to take pictures?

May the force be with you.

April's Fool

2009-04-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's April 1st - have you been fooled yet?

I am the crazy mom who actually likes to

have tons of kids at my house

(that is probably why I own my own steam cleaner!)

Anyhow, I pulled a fast one that is worthy of blogging today....

While at the doctor the other day I read Family Fun magazine.

They had the best ideas! I love this one the best.

Make Jell-O and put it in cups with straws.

When the kids ask for a drink, they will try to sip, but it is Jell-O.

I fooled 8 today! They are all in Kindergarten and thought it was the funniest!

Hope you are the joker and not the jokee today!

Sibling Rivalry

2009-03-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Oh how my kids love to fight over everything. Sound familiar?

Today my darling Bella, who is trying so hard to drop her nap, played instigator all day long.

Today's Instigator - Bella doing her best pirate

She pushed, pinched, screamed....the works. I thought maybe playtime outside would help her, but she closed the door on us and screamed "key...key" - Bella speak for lock the door.

How do we as parents deal with our children's inabilities to play together and just fight?
I found solace here today:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Baby Cakes

2009-03-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love my boy! He is as close to a perfect child as one can get. I cannot remember anything REALLY naughty that he has done until now....

I love to throw a baby shower! I recently threw a shower for a friend who was expecting her third baby girl. All she needed was diapers so we made it a diaper shower. So I went diaper crazy - felt diapers folded with a safety pins for the napkins, favor holders and even in felt on the invites!

And of course the diaper cakes (256 diapers worth of cake)!

The center piece was to be a fondant covered cake in the shape of a baby wearing a diaper and lying under a blanket. Now my best friend Katie - and the Ace of Cakes make fondant look oh so easy. Well - as a first timer I can officially say it is much harder than it looks. I spent 5 hours working with the stuff, and I finally came up with a product I would settle for.

The morning of the shower I came down stairs to find this:

My perfect boy had decided to "try a little" of my baby. Oh sodomy! My poor baby! Anywhere that there was butter cream on one side, it was wiped clean. Four toes were missing and there was this gaping hole in the babies bottom. I literally had to call my husband who had already left for church (he's a pastor) to come home and take my precious child out of my presence, before I said or did something that would require him to have therapy over cake and diapers in 20 years! And my dear husband - obliged - immediately!

Here is the first phase in the correction. Toes are back on, and

butter cream is beginning to come back.

Well, my super great friend Vanessa came over and saved the day, she helped me with the food prep as I fixed my poor little babies' bottom and it made a super great opening story for the shower and a memory that will never be forgotten!

The finished product on the drink table. Notice the addition of the buttercream dots to cover the "problems" (and yes, the ladies drank out of baby bottles!)

It's a Bzzzzzzzy Day!

2009-03-17T15:37:00.001-07:00

Today is Ethan's teachers birthday. If you know me, you know I don't need an excuse to make a party! So I gladly got the project under way. We had all the children put their finger prints onto a ceramic pot, and then turned the prints into Bumblebees (her favorite).

But my favorite part was the Bumble Bee cupcakes. I LOVE baking - in fact I love it so much, I went through 8 bags of flour last month! Yikes! Thankfully - they were not all consumed in my house, but anyhow....I have a new love...fondant! And not the boxed kind you find in the store - it is super easy to make - and tastes way better! I love this fondant recipe!

So I had loads of fun coloring the fondant and creating little bees on top of my cupcakes!

And what bee hive doesn't have a queen?

The kids loved it! So did his teacher, and even better, I have a new way to play with my food!

Luck O' the Irish

2009-03-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I can say I am officially 1/8 Irish - which makes my kids 1/16.
That does count for one thing!
A claim on St. Patrick's Day!

The leprechauns visited our house this morning and left a shamrock trail
to some funny glasses and Irish gold coins.

Then for breakfast - green pancakes and green OJ of course!

And the lunch boxes also had to be green! Green bagel with cream cheese, a green apple and green juice box!

And lastly the expected corned beef and cabbage for dinner. No green beer this year, my husband gave it up.

I do have to thank my dear friend, Shawnie's mom for instilling these traditions in our family. She passed away not long ago, but I will always remember her holiday flair and the green mashed potatoes! So here's to you Erlinda! Hope you are enjoying a pint in heaven!

Enjoy the pictures!

The Wee Leprechauns

Irish Eyes are Smiling

The Chocolate Sacrifice

2009-03-02T23:04:00.001-08:00

Being brought up Episcopalian, and then went to Catholic school - I still feel the urge to give up something for Lent. Although, most people from my church now do not do this, I still know for me it is feeling the sacrifice that helps me understand THE sacrifice.

So I gave up Diet Coke -gasps from my friends who know this is my drink of choice! And hold on to your hat - chocolate!

It's been a week, and surprisingly the perfect drink is easily forgotten, however, I have accidentally eaten chocolate 4 times! And I just got my Girl Scout cookies. They are taunting me right now from the freezer....

So I'll let you know how it goes, but resisting the 40 days of temptation will make for an even more blessed Easter!

life

2009-02-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

i don't know how he does it, but my husband is a rock.

today he visited a great friend, and gave his mother in law last rites.

he visited a mother of two who is my age with cancer.

he prayed for another friend who has a baby not quite a year diagnosed with brain cancer.

and if that was not enough, did his normal meetings, even the baseball managers meeting.

all in all, enough for me to say ENOUGH! but what did he do? he came home, hugged our children so tight and read and laid them down to sleep.

God sure knew what He was doing when He called Mike to ministry. Lord, thank you for bringing Mike into my life.

pump it up

2009-02-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

bootcamp was cancelled today. generally my second alternative is to go to the gym, but with ethan's school schedule today that was not going to work. so turned on the dvd,
and popped in "the firm".

of course, the second my kids saw me doing the crazy moves - they were all over it.

we squatted.
we lunged.
we curled.
we pumped.
and man did we laugh.

bella's contribution was to regularly ask for the "lelow" ones (my yellow hand weights).

keeping on the kid fitness track. i decided to actually walk the .75 mile to the grocery store for that one ingredient i needed. bella was in tow in her stroller. on the way home - she exclaimed. "i walk". my first reaction - great this is going to take hours.

but instead - through her, i saw ever color of flower, every fire truck,
every button, and every car.

kids have a way of slowing you down and showing you things you miss.
i think i might have to walk to the store more often.

the fall

2009-02-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

i've told him a thousand times. we have talked it about it way too many times. and of course, ethan, my adventurous 5 year old could not resist.

we have a huge pane window in the front of our house - the kind that makes you feel like you are in a fish bowl - and just outside of it there is an all too tempting ledge.

so there we are, saying goodbye to our friends from a play date, and the ethans (yes his friend is also ethan) decided to climb the ledge....and thud.

of course the frantic mom side of me took over - there was blood. we rushed upstairs, pulled out the magic cream (my aunt's name for neosporin) and was about to clean and lecture away, when ethan stared at me and quietly said, "mommy my nose is bloody and my lip is bloody. how am i going to kiss you goodnight?" in turn i quietly hugged him, and told him i would still kiss him no matter what. thankfully my lecture was quieted before it even began.

then i got to thinking. is this what we do when we realize our sins to Jesus? do we look at him with our stained lips and wonder how are we going to still be loved? thank you, Lord that your grace is enough for me.