MOA Day

Today we spent the day at the MOA as a family. It was lots of fun and we had a blast taking pictures with the new camera. Sophia even picked two new rides to go on. It was fun to take her on some rides that she hadn't been on before. Here are a couple of pictures from our fun day:

Hal with Sophia on the big Dora ferris wheel

After ride number #1

On Diego's Bus

Tonight we are doing our usual special treat of pizza and family movie night. I am thrilled that I don't have to work tomorrow. It should be a great relaxing week!

It's Official

I have started my own cake pop making. I have two orders that I will be working on in the next couple of weeks.

I started a new blog too. I can barely wait to see that first pops get eaten up.

Follow me at:
http://www.katiecakecreations.blogspot.com

Spring Break at the Children's Museum

This week Sophia was on her very own Spring Break as our daycare provider Corey took the week off to visit some warmer weather and go on her very first cruise.

Sophia spent several days back and forth with mommy and daddy. She was so eager to hang out with us, that the countdown leading up to the week involved her asking every day, "Is today the special day I get to stay home?"

One of the many days she was at home we decided to head to the Children's Museum. Thanks to her papa and nana we used our museum pass which will allow us to visit as many times as we want over the course of the next year. I know that this will come in handy this summer!

When we got there we visited the first exhibit that dealt with Art. Sophia thought that the large chicken you could ride on was pretty cool.


After finishing in the Art room, we headed over to her most favorite spot as she calls it, "The Water Room". She played in all of the different water items and created some humongous bubbles.

Once she had worn out all of the possibilities of playing in the water, we ventured over to her next favorite spot which is the kitchen and the grocery store.

We spent quite a bit of our day here, pretending to grocery shop and make things in the restaurant. She looks like such a natural in the kitchen.


Then we headed up to the fourth floor to check out the new Lego Castle exhibit. It was incredible. Several Lego things to play with. Sophia enjoyed sitting on the castle throne inside of the gigantic castle.


To end the day we made a stop at the face painting station. Sophia has never wanted to get her face painted, but had begged to paint mine so I let her. I was hoping it would show her that it was fun and it didn't hurt. Sure enough my trick worked.


It was such a fun day spent together. I am counting down the days until my break so we can go back again!

Cupcake Cake Pops

This weekend I made cupcake cake pops for two different birthdays. One is my running partner in crime Molly and the other is my teammate at school Amy. Amy requested them so I thought that I would try something different and make them into cupcake shapes. Here was the process from start to finish:

First I made and decorated the cupcake pop holders which are like little vases. They had two different themes. One was birthday and the other was more like pretty in pink.

After I had the base ready to go I molded the cupcakes. Excuse the one that looks like it is going to tip over. It was a bit unstable.

Then I dipped the base in chocolate and the top in pink. I decorated the tops with sprinkles and put a cherry on top which was a red jelly bean. I didn't have any m&ms otherwise I probably would've preferred that.

Then I let them all dry. I used some styrofoam from our new speakers as a stand. Hal is currently making me one out of wood.

After they dried I put them into their little cupcake vases.

Then I put them in the bag and tied them all up with a ribbon.

I was extremely impressed with how my first ever batch turned out. Now I have quite the hang of it and probably will explore some more with these. One however didn't have quite enough to keep it's cupcake form.

So I made into a regular cake pop and Sophia ate it for a treat tonight after dinner.


So it's official I am totally addicted to making these cake pops. If you know of anyone who would love a fun treat for a baby shower, birthday, wedding shower, or just a girly party send them my way. Wouldn't it be fun to turn my hobby into a business.

Another experiment

Today I showed my neighbor Mara how to make the infamous truffles. Then Hal gave me a great idea to use our Thin Mint cookies in the middle of the truffles. Well, needless to say these are a tiny piece of heaven! I was a bit sad when I knew that all of my Girl Scout cookies were now gone.

Then I remembered that my neighbor's daughter was selling them. I emailed her this morning and sure enough two hours later she showed up on my doorstep with two boxes of Thin Mints.

Happy Sunday!

Moving on Up!

Over the weekend Sophia attended her regular gymnastics class on Friday night and a make-up class on today. We have been practicing cartwheels at home quite a bit and Friday and Saturday it paid off. She landed four cartwheels in a row on Friday night and many more today.

With this new skill, she was able to move up to the next level. She can barely wait to be a "Super Tumbler" now! She came out and high-fived me after she landed the first one today. The coach was impressed and thought she was pretty cute.

What this means for us.....we have a real gymnast on our hands. It also means my little girl isn't so little anymore. I couldn't take my eyes off of her today as she demonstrated to the rest of the class how she could do a cartwheel, land it, and she even had the fancy "ta-dah" stance with her legs and arms. She just amazes me a bit more each day. I am so thrilled with her advancement, but also a bit sad. Some day I hope to be able to go back and show her the video of her first cartwheel and say, "Look this is before you grew into this beautiful young woman."

God's greatest gift to me: being a wife and a mother. What could be better!

Weekends

It has been so nice to be home and relaxing these last couple of weekends. I am trying ever so hard to not over plan and have some more time to just be at home. So far so good. The month of February has been quite busy during the week so the weekends are a fantastic treat to look forward to.

Sophia has been doing such a great job at gymnastics. She almost has her cartwheel. This summer she will hopefully be able to move up to Super Tumblers. This is more for advanced gymnasts. She gets to try this class out on Saturday next weekend while doing a make-up class. I adore watching her on Friday evenings. It is really a great way to end our week. Plus she only has one other person in her class. We hope that this will continue for the rest of the school year. Then during the summer we will probably switch to a day class. She is getting excited for her dance recital and is showing me her "brush, brush, step" all the time. Whenever music is on, my little ballerina gets her legs moving and grooving. This morning she had a great time in her dress-up clothes.

Hal has been busy with work and hanging out at home this past week with Sophia while I had conferences. We are both looking forward to spring when the weather gets a bit nicer and we can be outside more. We have both been getting some great runs in the past couple of weeks and I now have him doing yoga. He seems to be enjoying it just as much as I am.

With these relaxing weekends I have also been able to cook a bit more. Last night I made a new creation: homemade chocolate chip cookies with a Girl Scout Cookie Tagalong in the inside. It was just delicious. Next weekend, I am headed to William and Sonoma to meet my newest baking idol Bakerella. I can barely wait! Hopefully I will get some more tips on making good cake pops. Last week was my treat week at school, and everyone thought that I should open up a bakery. Who knows maybe in my future.

Today we are off to a birthday party for one of Sophia's friends. Here's hoping the snow holds off. Until then.....dreaming of another weekend.