December 11, 2011

Holiday Cheer

This weekend we were invited to the Wang’s for a little holiday get together for the boys swim team.  Since we are the “Frogs” I decided to make Santa Frog cake balls and some Oreo snowmen cookies.  I think they turned out adorable…and they didn’t last long at all! DSC_1222

 

DSC_1223

DSC_1218

November 28, 2011

Featured Blog Post!

Today, Moncy3 has posted a feature blog post on ME!  You can check out the post here Moncy3.  Thank you Claudia for featuring me and my little ole’ shop on your blog!

DSC_1061

November 18, 2011

The things that matter most

The most important things in life…are not a things at all. Red heart  

DSC_0707a

October 11, 2011

Busy Baker

I’ve been a little busy with the baking lately.  Caitlin had their Blue and Orange meet this past weekend so I made some cupcakes to take for the tailgate.  They were soooo cute.  I frosted 1/2 of them blue and the other 1/2 orange.  Then I made the Illinois “I” out of candy melts and sprinkled them blue and orange.  Cute, cute, cute.  Sadly…….they had to sit in the car during the meet, and while it was a beautiful cool fall day, it was too warm in the car and the “I”s melted.  I was so disappointed.  So I was sure to post the before photo on FB so the girls could see that they really were cute and I didn’t purposely make ugly cupcakes!DSC_0699

This Friday Conner is hosting a bake sale to benefit a local PTO group for his DSC_0014senior project.  So I thought I would make a few things for him to take.  I dipped Oreos in pink candy melts and made pigs and then dipped some in green to make frogs.  I’ve done the frogs before for a swim function…but the pigs were new and I love how cute they look. 

 

DSC_0017He is making cake pops and cookies as his donation……I’m sure I’ll be doing some of the decorating since he doesn’t quite have the patience for such things. DSC_0007

I’ll post some photos of those goodies later this week.

 

DSC_1152

September 9, 2011

Summer catch up because I’m a bad blogger

I suck at blogging… I won’t lie.  So here’s the short version:

June: Went to Colorado to help my mom out when the old man had his knee replaced.  He didn’t know I was coming and I had this grand idea of how the surprise would go….I would walk in the hospital room and he would JUMP out of bed and walk on his new knee like it was a miracle!  This is what happened….I walked in the room and he said “oh, hi Cin”. (Cindy is my oldest sister).  WHAT!?!?!  Okay, we do look alike, and I should be happy because I out weigh her by about 40 lbs.  BUT really?…you didn’t recognize me, your FAVORITE daughter?  I really think it was the drugs…it had to be the drugs….

270842_10150225831637055_501692054_7419893_2212089_n

This is my beautiful mother, my sister Cindy, me, and my brother Rob.

271047_10150226716112055_501692054_7429130_5646384_n

July: Brian started a new job in July down in Spartanburg South Carolina.  He left 2 days after I got home from Colorado…so there was really no time to think about any of this…Conner swam at the senior state meet and had an AWOME meet…resulting in a few more colleges being interested in him…always a good thing.  And Brian got one year older.

DSC_0391

August: August was quite a busy month….

DSC_0513Caitlin turned 21!

Conner had senior pictures.conner1

Conner had his wisdom teeth out.

185393_10150258034742055_501692054_7744655_1289973_n11

We went to South Carolina to visit Brian.263201_10150263899132055_501692054_7805593_2798237_n

Caitlin had her wisdom teeth out. (and we now know that she must be a happy drunk!) 299003_10150267636302055_501692054_7846120_7424689_n

And Caitlin is now a senior in college and Conner is a senior in high school….and I find myself crying at the most inopportune times.

June 22, 2011

Extreme Couponing Denise & Diana style…..

For the new year, one of my “resolution’s” was to use coupons…..which brings me to this post!

I’ve been using coupons and price matching.  It’s going pretty good, I’d say that I save between $20-$40 a week…..BUT I WANT MORE!  Diana and I are both on the coupon band wagon and she talked to a local lady that’s an extreme couponer (as extreme as you can be here) and she gave us some tips on places to find coupons.  So last weekend we looked for coupons together and came home with a bucket full each.  Soooooo, now what to do with them? I’ve been using a little wallet that I made to stick them in, but keeps them in no order.  I wanted to have a book like I’ve seen on the Extreme Coupon show, but just not that big. (I really don’t want to LOOK like an extreme couponer)  So I came up with my own smaller version.

DSC_0417

I found this zip up calendar on clearance at Wally World for $8.00

DSC_0418I took the guts out and made my own coupon pages with heavy weight scrapbook paper and some left over clear plastic sheets from the boys high school scrapbooks I made.  Then I stamped each sleeve with a category.

DSC_0431

The plastic sheets make it easy to see what’s inside each pocket.

DSC_0429

The planner came with a note pad in the back of the book that is perfect for making the grocery list.

DSC_0432

And the front pocket is a great place to stick all the weekly ad’s that I take with me in the event I get a new checker a Wally World that wants to see the ad’s to price match.

DSC_0433

 

So I’m ready for my debut on Extreme Couponing! 

June 19, 2011

Fathers Day 2011

Happy Fathers Day to all the great dads out there!

My dad had knee replacement surgery last week and is currently in rehab.  He will be getting out next week and I’m going to fly to Colorado to surprise him! …And to help my mom keep him in line.  The old man forgets that he’s old and does as he pleases.  I decided I better go out and be a reinforcement to my mom when he think’s he can go get on the roof to clean out the gutters or some other crazy shenanigans!  He doesn’t know that I’m coming, it will be a little surprise for him.  I just wish I could lose about 30 pounds before I go….but oh well. 

Happy Fathers Day Dad!  Thanks for always loving me.

It was a quite day for the Father in our house.  Brian enjoyed watching golf all day while I ran some errands.  Then I made a nice pot-roast dinner and a little something special for dessert.  I love how these hamburger cupcakes came out!  They were just adorable and my family was quite surprised with my cleverness.  (here is the secret, I got the idea and printable’s from Bakerellas website!)

DSC_0407
Happy Fathers Day Brian! Thanks for being a great dad to our beautiful kids!

DSC_0412
Oh, why can they never take a nice picture?  Dorks!

May 28, 2011

Graduation weekend

This weekend is graduation in Columbus.  It will be a busy weekend running from party to party.  I had a few “orders” for cake balls.  One for CNHS (blue and white) and on for CEHS (brown and orange)  It’s very hard to make ANYTHING cute in brown and orange…but I think I did a pretty good job. 

2011-05-26_19-27-57_302

 

2011-05-26_19-27-07_513

DSC_0322

DSC_0323

Conner’s friend Jacqueline came by for a few games of guitar hero…..she’s so cute…..

DSC_0328

May 11, 2011

~~PROM 2011~~

Prom was this past weekend.  I  can’t begin to say what a wonderful day I had on Saturday!  When Brian picked up the tux, I thought…I don’t think I like it.  It was a pin striped tux with satin type trim on the edge.  WELL…..let me just tell you, the man makes the tux! 

DSC_0155

After Conner got ready it was soooooo apparent that the tux was perfect!  He looked so damn handsome….and grown up.  He clean up nicely!

 

We met at one of the girls houses to take photos before they left for dinner.  It was spitting rain when we left, but by the time we got there (5 minutes away) it stopped and the sun came out….just for these kids.  DSC_0221

They all looked so beautiful and handsome.  BUT, I would be lying if I didn’t say that Conner and Jacqueline were the  best looking ones at the WHOLE prom.  Just sayin’

DSC_0237

After the kids left for dinner, Brian and I headed to the CB (Columbus Bar) and met up with some other prom going parents.  The CB is just across the street from where they hold the prom so it worked out well.  We had a nice dinner and a few drinks before we headed out to our seats…that we put out at 8:00 in the morning….which were in the WRONG spot!  So we ended up standing in the crowd watching the kids come it.  It was still fun to see them all waltz in like they were royalty.  The best part of the night was that I was able to forget everything else and just had FUN!

DSC_0310 (2)

Conner and Jacqueline had a blast and they won tickets to see the  Maroon5/Train concert in August.  BONUS!DSC_0301

April 26, 2011

Easter Pops

Just a quick post on my Easter cake pops.  I made some cute bunny and carrot cookies, but didn’t think to take a photo…duh.  I love the little chicks, not happy with the bunny ears (Jordan Almonds) and the lambs, while cute, were a pain the rear end to make.  DSC_0185

 

DSC_0186

DSC_0187

DSC_0181

April 15, 2011

Mom’s Weekend 2011

This past weekend was Caitlin swim banquet along with mom’s weekend on campus.  Brian and I went up Friday  night for the banquet and, as always, Caitlin looked just beautiful!  
DSC_0004DSC_0003
DSC_0043
After the banquet Brian went back to the hotel and the girls and their mom’s hit the town!  Caitlin was MORE than excited to take me to the bars.  She actually said to the other mom’s “This is my moms first time out”!  Apparently I’m a loser that never went out when she was younger.  If she only knew how her Aunt Wendy and I knew every happy hour in Colorado Springs!   
216842_10150205123247495_663497494_8088399_6010430_n
So while we were out at Kamms….we went there because we got “free” glasses…..Caitlin and I were going to have a photo together when this young man decided he would be in our photo too!  Hind sight is 20/20, I should have snatched him up for Caitlin!  He was so cute and funny.  Oh well…it’s a fun memory.
DSC_0131DSC_0135
We had a fantastic weekend just being together.  I will remember it always….it was just nice to be us.   Love you Cait.

DSC_0139

April 7, 2011

Getting ready for PROM

This past weekend Conner “officially” asked his date, Jacqueline, to the prom.  He had “unofficially” asked her first to be sure she would say yes before he went to the trouble of thinking up a cute way to ask her.  Luckily she “unofficially” said yes.  I wonder if that is how you get asked to marry someone now too. 

DSC_0305

Anyway, his idea was to write out a message on pieces of paper and stick each piece into a balloon….

Jacqueline ~ will ~ you ~ go ~ 2 ~ open box now ~

(these cookies were in the box)

DSC_0303

~with me~

and then he held a bouquet of balloons with a cookie shaped like a ?. 

DSC_0308

The original plan was to spread the balloons around her  yard (they were numbered the order she had to open them) but the wind was so bad, when we took the balloons out of the car they got all tangled.  Okay, plan B….put the tangled mess on her porch and ring the bell.

(I had to promise to sit in the car and not get out if I wanted to take photos)

DSC_0309

 

Thankfully after all that work she “officially” said yes!