Yee Haw! More Cowboy Fun

Walker B. had his first birthday last week, and I made this cowboy cake for him.

sssssshhhhhhhhhhh.... Don't tell anyone, but this cake was easy-peasy.

Another secret I've learned that helps take some of the stress out of cake bakin' is to do the actual "bakin'" about a week in advance.  Then I just pop the cakes into the freezer until it's time to do the decorating.  This sort of spreads the workload over several days.  Freezing also makes the cakes easier to ice and stack.

I don't know, but something tells me he liked his cake!

Here's the birthday boy trying on his new duds.

Miss Lucy liked this present so much that she decided she would just carry it with her.  It's funny to watch such a little bitty girl walking, much less toting a big heavy toy.  She's not even a year old yet!

Fox's Opening

We've been soooooo busy with the opening of the restaurant that there seems to be very little time left for blogging. Hopefully as we learn a little bit more about what we are doing up there, things will calm down a bit, and I can get back to posting more.  I thought you all might like to see a few pictures from our family night at Fox's. 

Bro. Don was our first guinea pig customer of the night.

I think the pressure was starting to get to the Tool Man.  He may be an old pro in all things construction, but pizza is a new domain for him.

Our very first Big Daddy pizza!  That thing is a beast.

Mr. Charlie was there being his usually self.

He told me that everything was good except for the food. Very funny, Mr. Charlie.

Here comes Miss Lucy.  I'll have to post later about the Fox's shirts I made for her and Ty.  I found the neatest freezer paper stencil instructions online.  I can't believe how great the shirts turned out.

Ty and Faith had the best time playing together.  All the kids got out in the front courtyard and had a blast running around and playing ball.

Things were crazy busy opening day.  We were swamped I tell you.  SWAMPED!  I don't think that any of us expected that.  It's going to take us a day or two to get all of the kinks ironed out and to learn the tricks of the trade, but we'll get it.  People really seemed to love the place and the food.  I hate that customers were having to wait so long, but they were very understanding and encouraging.  We learned a few things during the opening lunch, and supper ran a lot more smoothly.  I was surprised at the number of people who came for both lunch and supper.  That just shows me how much people really enjoyed Fox's.

If you haven't had a chance to drop in yet, I hope we'll see you soon!

Plan B

I searched the thrift stores a couple of weeks ago for a cowboy shirt that I could wear to Bible School.  I found one for $2.50.  It was a little too large for me, but I thought I could alter it some.  Silly me.  It's not that I couldn't alter it.  It's that I thought I had the time to do it.

Needless to say, VBS is over and done with, and I never got around to the shirt.

But what to do with that shirt?

A pillow!  Ty's new room is going to be "cowboy-esque," so I thought I could use this shirt to cover a pillow for his bedding.

Ta Da!    I cut the shirt so that it buttons down the front of the pillow.  There are also two shirt pockets on the pillow.  Not bad for $2.50, huh?

A New Low

I did something last week that goes against every fiber of my being!

I made this!  Gag!!!!

Oh, the humanity!

A great piece of work, but poor subject matter.  It was all I could do not to write "Go Sox!" on this cake.  I even threatened to charge extra for it.

My only consolation was knowing that it was going to be totally destroyed by a bunch of teenage boys.

I'm Still Here....

I know it's been a while since my last post, but things have been pretty busy around here lately.  We've had Bible School and swimming lessons this week, our restaurant is opening in less than two weeks, I've had birthday cakes to make, and the little monkey has an ear infection.  So blogging has been pushed to the back burner for a few days.

Here are a couple of pictures from Saddle Ridge Ranch.  (That was the VBS theme this year.)  Our attendance was down some this year, but the kids still had a great time learning about Jesus.  As for me, I am beat.  I sort of got "stuck" running the show this year, and I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.  (Maybe that's the reason attendance was down...)  Anyway, I have had this year's ABC song stuck in my head for days now...Tu-u-u-umbleweed.

This picture is actually from last week when the Tool Man was learning the motions to the Tumbleweed song.  This was without a doubt the children's favorite song of the week.  When you sing it with all of the motions, it's quite a workout.

Ty looks like he's done this before.

Lulu's first Bible School.  She mostly hung around with me all day, but she did learn to make friends with Mrs. Roxanne this week.  Maybe that means she'll be ready to stay in the nursery during church now.

Bible stories around the campfire.......

Mr. Wayne brought Big Red and Star for the children to pet this week.  The kids really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the horses.

Pop Quizzes and Cartoons

Pop Quiz:

Define the word tessellate.

Time's up!

Stumped?  I was too!  In fact, I'd never even heard the word before.

That is until Ty told me about it.  Yeah, my 6-year-old, homeschooled monkey.  Defined it for me and everything!

You see, we were practicing his fractions.  We'd made playdough food and were cutting it up into equal parts.  He took some of these pieces and started arranging the shapes into patterns.  He told me he was tesssellating.  

Well, I was impressed to say the least, and made him take me to where he learned it...PBSKids online.  Tessellate means arranging the same geometric shape into a pattern without any gaps or overlaps.  You know, like a mosaic.

Now for the cartoon:

I saw this comic the day after Ty's birthday party.  I think it sums up my feelings perfectly.

Visiting Cousins

Our family took a short trip down south this week.  First we went to Leesville to see Angel B. to get some experience working in her pizza den.  Well, Tim was the one tossing pizza.  I had the job of babysitting the two monkeys, which just so happens to be the very best job!!!!!

Later, we rode on down to Lake Charles to visit my most "favorite-est" cousins.  Ty and Lucy had so much fun with Mary, Janie, Mark, and Ellen.  They had a blast splashing around in the pool.  This was Lucy's first official swim, and she loved it.  She'd stretch out in the water and kick and splash.  Even with the 10 lb. water-logged diaper she had a great time.

Lucy usually doesn't like for anyone but Mama or Daddy to hold her, but she didn't mind being passed around by all of her cousins.  She knows special people when she sees them :)  I think she even cuddled up in Uncle Mark's lap for a little while.

Here's Ty and Daddy helping Lucy kick.

This is Mark showing me his "tattoo."  I think he said that it means luck.

Ty was really into shooting these water guns.  Can you believe he never once shot his Mama.  What little boy wouldn't love to hose down his mom?  He'll be going to swimming lessons next week.  Maybe after that he can ditch the life ring.  He pretty much knows how to swim already, he just doesn't like to do it.  I hope he will be more confident after a week of lessons.

Aunt Vesta got Lucy her very own raft.  She had such a good time floating around in it.