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Morning smiles

Posted on June 25, 2009

I get to wake up to this smile every morning.

And this one…

Oh my…

And this one too…

And this adorable double chin…

And this elbow dimple…

*swoon*

And this too…

I’m truly blessed. <3

Todd's job.

Posted on June 17, 2009

Inquiring minds want to know. About a week and a half ago, I posted on Facebook asking everyone to give us some thoughts and prayers. Todd’s job was hanging in the balance and we needed some prayer. But then I didn’t say much after that. Well, we found out the day before Ava’s birthday that Todd lost his job. We didn’t want to ruin Ava’s birthday, and then our anniversary with the news.

So what happened?

Todd started working for Superior Ambulance company in January of 1999, just before he met me. He’s been working there for ten and a half years. He’s been great employee and a great paramedic. He worked his butt off for that company. He even worked as the station manager for a time, which is a thankless job, and the stress seeped into our family until he had to step down. He’s been on the pediatric ambulance for two years now, and in my opinion, he has been a great asset to the company.

On May 15th, Todd was driving the ambulance Code 2 (lights and sirens). He came up to an intersection, slowed down, checked to see if it was clear, and continued through the intersection. He didn’t see the red 2009 mustang until it was almost in front of them. He cut the wheel and they ended up colliding with the front corners of each vehicle. Everyone in the ambulance was ok, the mom in the passenger seat had some whiplash. Todd got out to see if the guy in the mustang was ok. The car was totaled. The first thing the guy said to Todd was “I had the yellow!!” He told the cop the same thing. Intelligent man. Todd told the cop the truth, that he did not make a full and complete stop at the intersection, but he had slowed down to a slow roll. He could have lied, but there were cameras at the intersection. He figured it would have been worse. It is not illegal for an emergency vehicle to go through the intersection running lights and sirens without stopping.

So that was the end of it. So we thought. The accident report showed it was the other guy’s fault. Todd was faultless. He just had to go to a CEVO (van drivers safety course) training class. So he drove up to Elmhurst, Superior headquarters, and sat through the course. Several of the other people in the course got to leave early because their incidents were minor. But Todd had to stay until 4. As he was getting ready to leave, the CEVO instructor told him to stay and wait because the general manager wanted to talk to him. He waited for him to get out of a meeting. The regional manager ended up coming out instead. He told Todd basically that his job is at jepardy. It’s not illegal to go through the intersection running lights and sirens without stopping, but it’s company policy to make a full and complete stop. He said that no one in the company who had ever violated that policy had kept their job. They were going to have a meeting the next day (Saturday the 6th- D-Day conveniently) to discuss whether or not to let Todd keep his job.

So we waited. He called the Hope pediatric nurses (they hold a lot of weight with the company and they did not want to lose Todd) to put in a good word for him. A couple of them called and chewed out the regional manager for about two hours. Seriously ladies, thank you for that.

We got the call on Saturday evening. They had to let him go. They let him resign instead of firing him. But his job of ten years, what we thought was his very stable job, was gone. For, frankly, a completely bull shit reason.

But, we’re going to be just fine. The way things happened, the timing of everything, is so exact, it cannot be coincidence. Todd’s dad passed away almost a year ago. Todd was his only heir, and we received his 401K, his house, his car, his motorcycle, his possessions and a settlement from a disability case. The 401K was placed into probate for a number of months. The release date was a week before Todd was let go. The disability case settled a few days before he was let go. The money is enough for us to pay off our debt, our cars, put a down payment on a new home, and put some away for ourselves and our kids’ educations. We are still going to live within our means, I still keep my job as a photographer, and Todd has already been putting in applications for other jobs. But we are one of the lucky few to be secure. We are very blessed. God gave us exactly what we needed. If this had happened a year ago, we were staring at foreclosure, at bankruptcy. We would have been in serious trouble. I really don’t know if we would have made it.

With Todd losing his job, I’ve actually felt the stress in the house lift. Things are getting done around here. He is happy. He actually looks healthier. He hasn’t taken TUMS in a week and a half. He can actually grow a gotee. He looks good with a gotee. That job was killing him, slowly. Not so much the job, but the company. But he felt stuck. There was no way up, and no way out.

God set a path. He had a plan. There is no doubt of that for us. He started setting things in place a year ago, maybe more. His dad passing was a tragedy, but it was a blessing in disguise as well. Todd losing his job was horrible, or it could have been. But it’s given us a lot of possibilities. He’s going to go back to school for nursing. We can do that now. We’re going to be ok.

God truly works in mysterious ways. Whether you believe it or not. Thank you for the prayers and thoughts and blue light.

Happy Anniversary!!

Posted on June 16, 2009

This past weekend was mine and Todd’s 6th wedding anniversary. When our wedding anniversary comes around, we usually call it our anniversary weekend. We met on June 12th 1999, our first date was June 15th, 1999 and we were married on June 14th, 2003.  So it’s been 10 years since I met him. And I can say without a doubt that I am more in love with him than the day I married him, and I pray I fall more in love with him every day. He’s the only one who really gets me. The real me. There is no one else in this world who could laugh at my sarcastic humor the way he does. There is no one else who can be completely on the same page as I am like he is. He can still finish my sentences (although I truly hate it when he does) and we often find ourselves thinking the same thing. Actually, more than often. Sometimes it’s strangely sureal how often we are walking around in each other’s heads. We’re not like some of those couples (God bless them) who can say they’ve never had an argument. No, I think we’re both too hot headed for that. We probably have argued every day actually. But it makes us stronger and closer together. And we’ve made it through everything. We’ve had some really great times. And we’ve had some really hard, horrible times. But there is no one I would rather have at my side than him. I thank God for giving me the perfect man for me. My handsome, funny, incredibly intelligent, goofy, sexy, talented, fun, helpful, and caring man. Love you honey. Thanks for being the perfect husband for me and the best father to our beautiful daughters. I hope to spend a lifetime of years with you.

The Great Cupcake! Slightly easier than cupcake pops.

Posted on June 16, 2009

While I was searching Williams-Sonoma for 1.25″ cookie cutters for my cupcake pops, and trying to figure out how to make a large cupcake for Ava’s cake, I came across this bit of awesomeness.

The Great Cupcake Pan. Oooh yea. Totally cute and much easier to make than the cupcake pops. Of course, the fact that I made BOTH the cupcake pops and the cupcake cake makes things a little hectic, but whatever. I think Jen from Cakewrecks just might like this cupcake cake. Cuz it’s so much cuter than cupcakes in the shape of Chewbacca.

See? Cake in the shape of a cupcake!! Ingenious.

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Then make some cake batter. You can of course go all out and make the recipe on the label from scratch, but I’m impatient. But if you do go box cake, you will need two boxes. You use about a box and a half of  mix.  I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Double Chocolate Cake. So, mix up your cake batter.

Make sure you grease your pan too. I always forget this step. Easiest way I found to do this with the cake mold is to brush the butter right on there.

Then flour & coat.

Then pour your batter into the mold. I think you can make each cake separately if you are afraid of overcooking, but I’m impatient. So I did both. Fill the cups up to about a half inch from the top.

Then bake. I baked it for about 70 minutes at 350°. I started at 50 minutes and then kept checking it, and it ended up being 70 minutes. Or an hour and ten minutes if you’re picky.

You’ll probably get little puffs at the top, just run your knife along the pan to cut them off so they’re level.

While they’re cooling, make your frosting. Again, I didn’t go from scratch, but I did take white frosting and tint it pink. I usually run tubbed frosting through the mixer anyway just to fluff it up a bit. It makes it easier to work with.

After they’re cool, just turn the pan over onto some wax paper. The cakes should come out super easy. I suppose you could frost the bottom, but I chose to leave it bare- that’s what a cupcake looks like anyway. And…I’m impatient. So, I just frosted the top. Oh, by the way, I used two tubs of frosting. You’ll have left over, but…who complains about leftover frosting?

Add a layer of frosting on the bottom half as well. It will act as a tasty adhesive for the two layers. You could of course make a filling if you wanted. I didn’t. Impatient, remember?

Now assemble your cupcake cake.

Add some sprinkles, and Voila! The Great Cupcake. Yum. You can probably add a cherry on top or something, but I had the #4 for Ava’s birthday. Cute, huh?

Don’t want to buy the mold? Come on over and bake it here at my house! Seriously, I don’t need a reason to have cake.

Rainy Day Pictures!!

Posted on June 11, 2009

Hooray!! We finally got Ava’s 4 year old pics done! And they turned out so cute! I’m going to overload you a bit though. You know you love it. If you want to see the whole shoot, visit here. Enjoy!

I heart cupcake pops.

Posted on June 10, 2009

And I heart Bakerella. I believe she is the one who came up with these wonderful little confections, and for that I love her even more. After falling in love with her site, I decided to make cupcake pops for Ava’s birthday party this year. I made a batch a couple weeks ago just to try them out, and they went over pretty well. I sent a bunch of them off to Todd’s station and they were gone the next day. The rest of them Lily ate. She did. She likes them.

So, I decided to be insane and make another batch for Ava’s 4th birthday party. For those of you who have kids, you are giggling right now. Hey, I thought I had time. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s just cake dipped in chocolate. How hard could it be? Well, Ava was about 15-20 minutes late to her own party. BUT, the cupcake pops were done! And they were cute! And delicious. (Oh, and I made a cupcake cake too. But not the kind you’re thinking of. A cool one. One that I’m pretty sure even Jen from Cakewrecks would like.)

Anyway, long story short (it never is with me), I decided to do my own version of blogging Bakerella style and give you the visual step by step process of making these awesome do-hickeys. Now, I’m a n00b. If you would rather get the directions straight from the source herself, I totally understand. This is just my attempt at being awesome like she is.

Warning: If you so not have time on your hands, don’t expect these to be done in one day. It took me 2 days. Well, like 24 hours. Trust me.

You will need:

1 13X9 baked cake (from a box cake mix or from scratch … any flavor)
1 can cream cheese frosting (or about 2 cups equivalent from scratch)
1 flower shaped cookie cutter (1.25″ wide X .75″ tall)
1 package chocolate bark
1 package pink candy melts or white chocolate bark
bowls for dipping
wax paper
aluminum foil
lollipop sticks
sprinkles, m&ms or something similar for top of cupcake
small plastic treat bags and ribbon to package the Cupcake Pops
candy cups and truffle boxes to individually package the Cupcake Bites
styrofoam block

Ok, first step, bake a cake. Doesn’t matter what flavor. I chose to make Betty Crocker Super Moist Double Chocolate Cake. Yum. I don’t even think it matters what size, but I chose to make a regular 13×9 cake.

Then, take your beautiful cake and crumble it up. I used a food processor to make a finer texture.

Add one tub of cream cheese frosting. Mix it in thoroughly.

Doesn’t that look like really thick frosting? So good…

This is where it gets messy. Roll the mixture into balls, about 1.5 inches and place them onto wax paper. You’re going to need to rinse and dry your hands a bunch of times, just fyi.

Now, you can either put them in the fridge for a few hours to chill, or if you are short on time, stick them in the freezer for about 15-20 min. I put them in the freezer a few times; basically they get a little mushy to work with, so you want to keep them firm so it’s a little easier. You should get about 48-50 little balls. (It should be noted, you can stop here and NOT make these guys into cupcake shapes. If you’re short on time, or sane, you can go right to the chocolate dipping part. I am not sane.)

When you’re ready to dive in again, take them out of the freezer and roll them into an oblong shape.

Doesn’t that look tasty? Oh c’mon, you know it looks like a turd. Hold on, they look cuter soon.

You want to get a 1.25 inch round/flower/fluted cookie cutter. There are a few different kinds out there. Wilton makes these, and I used the flower one for the last batch, but they were a little big. They also make these, but I couldn’t find them in stores. I went to Williams-Sonoma and found this little guy. Perfect.

Take your yummy oblong shape and put it into the cookie cutter. Shape the mixture into the cookie cutter mold leaving a little cupcake puff on top.

Place it right side up on the wax paper and continue until they are all cupcakes. This took a while because I had to keep freezing them because they were getting a little melt-in-your-hand.

Melt your chocolate bark until smooth. Take each cupcake and dip the bottom half into the bark. Turn it upside down and let the bark drip down. You want to make sure you cover the whole bottom half, but don’t have so much bark that it drips onto the top too much.

Place the cupcake upside down onto the wax paper. Take a lolipop stick, dip the end into a little bit of chocolate bark and stick it into the bottom of the cupcake. Make sure you do not do what I did- I dipped all of the cupcakes into the bark and then went back to put in the lolipop sticks. Yea, no. Do it right away, otherwise the bark hardens and then you have to get out shish kabob skewers and drill holes into the bottoms of all of your cupcakes and pray they don’t break. Ok? Ok.

Now melt your chocolate candy melts. I used pink, you can use any color you want, or even white if you wish. Dip the top of your cupcake into the chocolate. I turned them to the side and twirled, letting the access drip off. I kind of made a little peak at the top.

Take your sprinkles and decorate your cupcake. (Again immediately, not after they are all hard.) The less messy way to do this is to hold the cupcake sideways over the bowl, twirl it, and sprinkle the tops.

Stick an m&m or a larger sprinkle in the center of the top, stick the pops into a syrofoam block, and voila! Adorable.

I covered them with candy wrappers and tied them closed with pink ribbon. Well…the party guests tied them closed. I didn’t have time. (Thank you!! And thank you Melaina for helping me dip them and sprinkle them! If it weren’t for you, we would have been an hour late. Or not had any cupcake pops at all. And that would have been a shame.)

See? Everyone hearts cupcake pops.

P.S. I got most of the stuff at Joann Fabrics and Jewel, and then the cookie cutter at Williams-Sonoma. Bakerella has a whole list of links for where to find the stuff in her cupcake pop post. She also has a whole slew of ways you can make cake pops. Take your pick! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Ava!

Posted on June 7, 2009

What a great day!! Ava and I were a little late to her party. That’s what happens when you try to make cupcake pops when you have two kids and a deadline. But, other than that, the whole day turned out great!! Drastic difference from last years fiasco. But we’re not going to mention that. Or the screaming. Or the kicking. Or the singing over the screaming and the kicking. We’ve forgotten all about that. Well, Aunt Cheryl says she still needs time to get over it. Understandable.

No, this year was lots of smiles from everyone including the birthday girl. She even said “Thank you!” after everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. She opened all of her presents and she loved them all. All of the kids had a blast at the splash park- that was such a great idea! Harrison, my friend Joanie’s son, said “This was the best party EVER!” Just so you know, that’s kid-speak for I’m the most awesomest mom ever. And the cupcake pops were perfect! Everyone loved them. I’ll have that recipe for you next post.

Meanwhile, here are a billion pictures from Ava’s party. Enjoy!!

Opening presents. Her hair was cute. She has a new thing with pulling out her clips and hairties.

Hudson is going to be a linebacker. He told me.

Haven, helping Ava out.

And the big one. Love this face.

A new Barbie bike!!

Tylor, diving in head-first.

Collin, stopping to model for me.

Sophia, trying out her sea-legs.

Ava and Haven were practically attached at the hip!

Aunt Fran and Abby

Ian scouting his next victim.

Cupcake pops!

Happy Birthday Dear Ava!

Yum-O.

Lily was the life of the party.

Sophia and those baby blues!

Chloe between screeches!

The beautiful Natalie and Becky. So awesome to see you Becky!!

Little Miss Abigail.

Lily finally up to see what all the fuss is about.

And the beautiful birthday girl who believes the party never ends. Love you, my big girl.

A last look at my 3 year old…

Posted on June 7, 2009

*sigh*  They really do grow up too fast, don’t they?

P.S. Dontcha love the shirt? I bought that for Todd when we were dating. Time flies.

Lily turns 3 months!

Posted on June 4, 2009

(From newborn pictures were actually done by Bella Baby Photography right at the hospital. She did so well and we had so much fun! She is such a sweet little baby. She just talked to me and stared at the big lens in front of her- like she usually does. She gave me a few smiles too. I just love this little girl!

Zoo weather!

Posted on June 4, 2009

I love going to the zoo! (I love my new lens even more…)

Ava loves to go to the zoo too. (She loves it more than she loves my new lens.)

Lily spent most of her first trip to the zoo like this. Completely uneventful for her.

I was a little sad because my favorite two elephants were not on exhibit.  Affie tragically passed away last week and Christy was mourning. I hope they find another elephant for her soon- they are very social animals.

But, we decided to make a day of it and we had a blast! We even went to the new dinosaur exhibit. Ava loved that! They really did a great job with it.

We saw lions…

And tigers…

And bears! (Insert Wizard of Oz line here.)

Oh and leopards too…

(Did I mention I love my new lens? I did? Ok. I’ll just keep quiet now.)

We also saw dolphins and seals and sea lions, but I just can’t figure out how to take pictures of them under water through the glass. One day…

Oh look! Lily decided to join us!

Playing at the Children’s Zoo.

This one cracks me up…

One day I will go to the zoo and not take my camera. I can’t tell you how many pictures I have from zoo trips. But none this good. Thank you lens. I love you.

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