Because you asked

I actually got the instructions for making the cupcakes out of a book my aunt got me for Christmas.

 This book.

Because I didn't come up with the idea myself, I think it would probably be bad form to tell you exactly how I did it. So maybe a basic idea?

The butterflies are made using these:

 

 Make n' Mold chocolate wafers. 

In the book, they include the outline of a butterfly. The wings are separate. I outlined the wings with one color, filled it in with the other color and then used a toothpick to swoop (very technical term, I know) one color into the other. The link at the top is to the amazon page for Hello, Cupcake, which includes videos showing how to make a few of the cupcakes from the book.

P.S. If you are ever at my house, I'd be happy to show you my copy.

Happy Birthday Brianna!

Is it possible that an entire year has gone by already? We have enjoyed having you in our family so much that the time has slipped by. You have such power over us! You make us laugh with your babbling and run to your aid when you cry. And oh, those little blue eyes. Always with a twinkle! We love you so much little Brianna! Have a happy birthday!

So excited to get her cupcake!

 The chocolate wings go first!

 Dig in!

 Every time Eli sees this picture he laughs and says, "Brianna has a beard! Just like you dad!"

 I think I'll have to make these again. I'm rather proud of how they turned out! Maybe I'll even add a few butterflies to my birthday cake this year!

Spelling

The other day I was writing an email to a friend and THAT WORD came up. Ugh the bane of my existence! The thorn in my flesh! Why after having misspelled it 10,000 times can't I figure out the proper spelling of it? The word? Definitly, defenitly, definetly, definitely. Ah, there it is! I get all the consonants in the right place. It's those tricky e's and i's. Most of the time I try and figure out the right way before cheating and using the spell checker. Although, I do use the squiggly red line to know if I've gotten it right. I must have developed some kind of mental block, because, really, I'm not a bad speller. It's just THAT WORD!

I only decided to post this after I found out that Cameron has a similar word. Only he doesn't try and get it right anymore. He has given up on it entirely and simply misspells it on purpose and then right clicks on it to see what the proper spelling is. His word? Wednesday. Truthfully I used to have problems with that word too (a long time ago in elementary school). But a teacher told me to pronounce it, in my head, while writing it "Wed-nes-day," and I haven't had a problem with it since. I also used to have problems with "beautiful," until I figured out a similar technique. And I think it was in high school that my mom pointed out that I was misspelling February (I spelled it Febuary). You'd think a teacher would have pointed it out to me before then...

So, do you have any of THOSE WORDS?

In Tribute to a Great Lady

Malinda Black Poole

August 6, 1923 - January 19, 2011

As a little girl, I always remember going to my grandmother's house and playing with all of my cousins. It was a magical place. A place where a piece of fudge, or rolls, or stickies, or bread was always handy. A place where just a step outside would bring you to the muscadine vines. A place where there were endless possibilities of things to play. We could play house in the playhouse. Play in the tent that was specially made to go over the card table. Play black widow on the trampoline. And Play "spy on the boys." Simply going to her house brings back so many memories. But really, it was grandma that made it special.

As I was able to go to South Carolina this weekend to have a memorial service, of sorts, for my grandmother, it became apparent how much she meant to so many people. We enjoyed remembering different things about her life. Grandma had her little quirks, but remembering them made us all laugh and love her even more. We remembered how she used to rock us in the rocking chair and sing, "My Grandfather's Clock." We remembered how Salmon Salve was the cure-all. And we remembered how we were never allowed to leave her house without a hug and a kiss.

People always used to joke about her being late to everything. It was said more than once that she would be late to her own funeral, and it was true. On Saturday the eighth grandma had a stroke. Her doctor said that she would only last 24-48 hours. So, all of her grandchildren purchased airplane tickets for the following weekend, thinking that would be the time of the funeral. But grandma must have decided that she wanted to see us all and waited until after we left before departing this life. She always did have her own way of doing things.

Goodbye grandma. Until we meet again!

Merry Christmas!

Ok, so I know it's late, but with the last post being so depressing, I thought I'd do a fun post too. During the days leading up to Christmas I found a site called Elf Yourself. I had WAY too much fun with it. Here is one of the many videos I made. Enjoy!

I'm Sick of Christmas!

But not in the "Bah! Humbug!" Kind of way. This year Cameron and I decided to have our very first Christmas with just our little family. We were both a little excited and wanted it to be absolutely perfect! In preparation, we did all of the normal things. Decorated the tree, put up stockings, I even decided it would be fun to get everyone pajamas to be opened on Christmas Eve (which I'll probably do again next year for the kids, but we'll see if I do it again for Cameron and I).

Much to our dismay, on Christmas Eve, both Eli and Brianna woke up sick. They had fevers and were congested. I kept asking Eli if anything hurt and his reply was always no. But they were pretty grumpy all day. That evening I put the vaporizer in Brianna's room. We only had one of them, so when Eli was having trouble breathing we took him into a steamed up bathroom to help him breath a little easier. I called the doctor, because I was a little worried, and the doctor told me that if he wasn't breathing well I needed to take him to the emergency room because nothing else was open. We let Eli sleep in our room so that we could keep a close eye on him. We could hear him breathing, and while it was labored, it seemed that he was still doing OK. At some point, I think about midnight, we got the vaporizer from Brianna's room and brought it in with us. It was also at this point that I took Brianna's temperature. Yikes 104! She took a dose of tylenol and slept well for the rest of the night (I stayed up with her for a while first to make sure that her temperature went down).

The next morning I got up early and started to make a Christmas breakfast, hoping that Eli and Brianna would be feeling well enough to enjoy it. Hashbrown casserole, bacon, and omelets. Not too long after I got the casserole in the oven, Cameron came in holding Eli. I heard their conversation which went something like this:

Cameron: "It's Christmas!"

Eli: "Yeah."

Cameron: "I'm sorry you don't feel good."

Eli: "Yeah."

Cameron: "Do you want to open presents tomorrow when you feel better?"

Eli: "Ok."

I came over and sat on the couch with them. I took the blanket off of Eli for a second and realized that his lungs were pulling in every time he inhaled. I had looked up some of his symptoms the night before on the internet and I was pretty sure he had Croup. This was one of the warning signs listed for "You have to go to the doctor NOW or call 911 NOW." So I told Cameron that we needed to take Eli to the emergency room. As we hurriedly went into our room to get Cameron dressed and Eli's coat on, we decided that the best course of action would be for Cameron to take him while I stayed home with Brianna, who was still asleep. I held Eli for a minute while Cameron finished getting dressed, and Eli's face started turning blue. At this point I said in a very panicked voice, "Cameron you have to get him to the emergency room NOW!"

So that was how we spent Christmas morning. I was at home trying not to go insane with worry, while Cameron was at the hospital with Eli. They came home after about 3 hours, at which time, the breakfast that I had gotten up early to make was reheated and eaten. Eli was feeling better and decided that he wanted to open his presents after all. This was a little subdued since Eli couldn't talk in more than a whisper. Every time he tried to excitedly yell about a new toy, it came out as an excited whisper. The second half of the day ended up being quite fun. Eli and Brianna are feeling much better now and have no more signs of illness.

A Day of Firsts

A few days ago, Brianna got her first haircut!

Before

After

I was trying to even it out a little since she had places that were SUPER long and others that were kind of short. The only problem is I cut it a little too short and I can't put her hair in little pig-tails anymore. Sniff, sniff! Oh well, she's cute anyway!

On the same day she took her first step! Yaay Brianna! She was holding herself up on a window sill and I was behind her. She turned around and took a couple of steps towards me. She hasn't done a repeat performance yet! I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to be walking!

P.S. I took the pictures again. That's why they aren't as good as Cameron's usual artwork.