Halloween

Even though we just had Thanksgiving I can share pics from Halloween, right?
This year Lucas had said all the time he wanted to be Spongebob. I thought it would be really cute, and I was gonna make Dad Patrick and me Sandy, and I had hoped there would have been a little brother or sister who could have been Gary.(You really have to know Spongebob and the characters.) But then we went to Target early on when the customes were out and Lucas saw a Transformers costume, and that nixed the first idea.
I was not too happy about his choice, because me always wanting to make the costume myself, a transformers costume would be a real challenge. One I was not up for.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, Lucas borrowed a book from the school library about Batman and the Joker. That's when he changed his idea again and wanted to be Batman. But I thought the Joker would be different and it would be more fun to make that costume. So I told Lucas he would be much cooler if he was the Joker because all the boys would be Batman instead of the Joker. And that's how we ended up with the Joker.
I found the Joker wig at the local costume store. I bought a pattern for a boys suit, but I made the jacket a little longer (see the costume was based on Heath Ledger's Joker costume). I made the pants, tie and I bought the dress shirt for $2 at Goodwill. Bought a little makeup, and he was good to go.
I always think that I can never outdo the costume from the previous year, but I really think I did this year. If I can say so myself. I was just so happy with how good it turned out, and Lucas really got into character as well.

We did a little shoot so we could try out the makeup.



Daddy wanted to do the makeup on Halloween. He put it on much thicker than me, and it looked better too.



Comparison of Lucas and Heath Ledger - looks pretty good!



We forgot the TOT back so Dwayne was pretty creative :-)

Time

I wonder if I should just give up on blogging. I just never seem to have time/energy or in the mood to write/share pics.
Maybe one of these days I'll share what I've been up to. It will probably have to wait till after halloween, because we're in a mad rush trying to finish sewing the costume.

Kindergarten!

It just seems like yesterday that I was holding my newborn little Lucas in my arms, and now he's old enough for Kindergarten!!! How did that happen??
Lucas went to summer school in June, so he got a chance to get to know the school, and I think that's why the first day of school was so smooth for us. He had a hard time adjusting to summer school, and a lot of tears were shed. But what a different attitude he had Thursday on his first day.
He was so excited about riding the bus. Really I didn't want him to ride the school bus. I was just so nervous about him getting on and off the bus and walking to the classroom etc. He really has to be such a grown up boy - no more Preschool where he is watched so closely.
But unfortunately it just didn't work out that way that I could pick him up after school. He is still going to his preschool, because they have school aged kids there as well. And that's another thing - he's a school ager at preschool...one of the big kids now.

The last few weeks before school started I really had terrible stomach aches thinking about him riding the bus. And boy have we drilled him about a lot of stuff. His full name, teachers name, preschools name etc. etc. We had the talk about strangers and never leaving school property unless the bus is there to pick him up.
It is sad that you have to have that talk with him but it is a scary world, and I hate that we have to prepare him for that.

I took him to preschool or childcare (we have to get used to not calling it preschool any more), and I watched him get on the bus. He was FINE! But me not as much. I thought I would be ok, but watching him leaving me at the bus stop and climbing in that big yellow school bus...well, it was just surreal, and I had to fight the tears, because I didn't want Lucas to see me like that.
I'm sure he could sense it though, kids are smart like that.
But it all turned out good. Lucas had a great first day. I think he got a little tired of me asking so many questions about his first day, because at one point I got the answer: "bla, bla, bla". LOL...such a guy!

He's good at what he does.

My hubby started his own construction business exactly a year ago. He's an excellent business man and builder. I'm really proud of him.
He's been working so hard on this house. Working weekends also. That has meant that Lucas and I have brought over lunch on several occasions. We've been able to see the progress and that has been really neat. I wish this was our house he was building, because I absolutely love this view. Isn't it just breathtaking?

Don't ever say I don't make you anything!

My husband loves cakes, snacks etc. And lucky for me because I love to bake. I would be so bummed if I had a husband who wouldn't eat cakes and goodies. Trust me I've met a few men that don't eat that. Weird, I know.
Once in a while at work we have birthday celebrations where we all bring in a dish, dessert etc. I really love making and decorating cakes, so when it's a milestone celebration I usually voluntere to bring in a cake all decorated up.
I usually make the cake a couple of days in advance, so the night before the luncheon all I have to do is decorate.
I can never make any food for work, and my hubby will ask me :"did you make me a little cake, I love cake!" And of course it was no exception this time.
I told him no, but the day of cake decorating I had to cut off excess cake to get it shaped right, so I made a big pile out of them and I used the leftover icing and slapped that on there. Pretty, huh. There's your cake, honey.

Take me out to the ballgame!

Dwayne was lucky that he received two tickets for a ballgame. Really awesome tickets..only 12 seats back from the field. Dwayne wanted to take me but with no sitter for Lucas the easiets would be for a father and son trip to the stadium. And mommy got some me-time.
They had a blast. I think both of them enjoyed spending some quality time together.

Happiness is...

Same place

I've been wanting to show these pictures for a while. It took me a while to locate all the pictures. For the life of me I couldn't find the picture from 09, but I finally have all of them.

This is from Arkansas where we go camping, which we have done every May since 07. So Lucas has been sitting on these steps every year, and it's kinda funny to see how he's grown. Look how itty bitty he was in 07, and now he's such a big boy. Sigh.

2007

2008

2009

2010

Editing software

I love my cs4. It's awesome to use for editing my pictures. There's so much to learn, so I've purchased a couple of books and asked a lot of questions. But I think I'm getting somewhere with my knowledge so far.
I took this picture from my house when a storm was approaching. I didn't like all the powerlines in the picture, so I cropped the picture and erased the rest of the powerlines. I'm thinking about making a print for my neighbor (which the tree belongs too).

Baseball fan!

The annual camping trip

Dwayne loves to race in Syllamo, Arkansas every year, and Lucas and I have made it a tradition that we tag along. It's beautiful there and a great state park to camp in. So since we have been there quite a few times, I have plenty of pictures taken from there. This year I figured I would try to take pictures from a different point of view. I still took the typical "tourist" pictures, but I'm pleased with my pictures I took there this year.

Here's Lucas's tree. He would climb this tree all the time. It was on our campsite right by the road, so it was a perfect spot for him to sit (sometimes unnoticed) and people watch.







I always have to pass this barn. I just love the look of the wooden barn and the old car parked in the carport.

Taken while in the car and it was raining, so the picture looks blurry. But I just wanted to show the beauty of the area.

I took a picture of this last year but while in the car. This year I made Dwayne pull over so I could take a more decent one.

While there we bought Lucas this dragon which in the movie "how to train your dragon" is called toothless. We got him the toy and said we would go see the movie at the theater, which we just did today. It is a really good movie, I loved it. And toothless was so cute!

While there a tornado touched down about 30 miles from us. That same night the sheriff came racing through the park with sirens on and yelling to get in the restrooms a tornado is coming. Yep, lots of fun and to this day Lucas still has to check with us that no tornado is coming. We camped right next to the bridge but we were told the water couldn't get to our site, but the only thing was that we had to cross that bridge to leave the park, so we were told to keep an eye on it.

The guys doing prep work for the race. Look at the cute bike on the far left.

I even did some reading while there. And yes, I know I'm way behind the rest of the population.




I love this picture of the dirty knees, snack and the bike getting a rest.

Dirty bike and dirty but still smiling racer.


And can I just say that I love my new lens. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!

I could show a lot more pictures, but figured that for now this was enough. And it's a pain in the you know what to upload this many.

Spring is here!

Finally! This past week we've dusted off the bikes, well mostly mine. Dwayne keeps riding no matter what weather and temp..he's tough. It's nice to get out and do that again, but I'm out of shape.

We live close to the Mississippi river, and Lucas loves riding there to check it out. We went there and the water is extremely high. In this picture you can see the trees in the water.

Tomorrow is easter so Happy easter to everyone.

When I grow up...

I just wanted to share Lucas's future plans.
The first time Lucas ever mentioned what he wanted to be when he grew up it was a policeman. Then it changed to a firefighter. Today driving home we saw an ambulance with the sirens on. That's when Lucas decided he wanted to be a paramedic, and he wants to be the one driving the ambulance.
It was cute, because he told me that he keep changing his mind. I told him that he's got plenty of time to decide what he wants to do. But I guess he's in a hurry, because he asked me when he will be big. I didn't want to ruin his moment by mentioning how MANY years he has to be in school for.

THE cake!

Every year for Lucas's birthday, I've always made the cake myself. This year I actually contemplated not to make a cake for him, because well he don't like sweets. When I mentioned it to hubby he said right away that we HAD to make a cake. If Lucas ever would look back at pictures and see that for his five year birthday, he didn't have a cake, then what kind of parents would that make us look like. Alrighty then...so I started my research.

I found this adorable cake on youtube. I really wanted to make this cake. But I had never tried to use fondant before, which is the icing used to decorate the cake. You can buy fondant at the store already made, but I decided to make it myself. In case of disaster would happen, I would just make a quick run to the store and buy it.

Last Sunday I made the fondant. I ended up making another batch Wednesday and also one yesterday, since I was running out. It was really messy to make - Marchmallows and powdered sugar.

It was pretty easy to make...I guess it's paid off that I have made so much homemade bread, so I'm used to the kneading. But look at the mess it made.

After it's finished you supposedly can store it in the refrigeator for weeks. It just has to be sealed tight. First I put a coating of shortening around it, and then I wrapped it in plastic wrap and then in a ziploc bag.

Then it came time to figure out what cake to make. I really wanted for Lucas to eat his birthday cake. He has never eaten it before. I decided to make a carrot cake. At first Lucas was telling me he wasn't going to eat it, but when he smelled it after it came out of the oven, he could not get enough of it. I was so excited that he ate the cake (I don't think you hear many parents say that). Lucas said that the cake smelled like pancakes :-)
I made a two layered cake with cool whip in between.

Yesterday was his party. I started in the morning with making a batch of buttercream icing. I read that is a good idea to add before the fondant to get an even, smooth look.

Then it was time for rolling out the fondant that would cover the entire cake. It took a few tries and a tape measure and I got it figured out. I was surprised by how easy it was. I've read so many stories about how a pain it is to use fondant, so I've always been afraid to try it.

What took the longest was decorating the cake to make it look like spongebob. Mixing the different colors, cutting it out and etc. I had hubby help me the last hour. He molded the legs, feet and arms. Look at how white Dwayne's pants were. WARNING: It's an extremely messy job to use the fondant. You have to use so much powdered sugar and corn starch so the fondant don't stick to everything.


It took a total of 3,5 hours to decorate it. I would say it probably took a total of 5 hours to make the whole thing. But it was worth it. Lucas loved it, and in case you were wondering....no, he didn't eat any cake at the party.

Oh....P-leaaaaseeee

I was reading something I had just googled, and this advertisement was distracting me. This just look totally photoshopped. It looks like the lady in the first picture had a makeover and stuck her head on a different body. Her head looks waay too big for that body. Who's with me?

New Bedroom

I want to make our bedroom a room that I would enjoy. Right now it's so unorganized and just not a relaxing environment at all. I've put our bed on craigslist, and I've got so many replies on it - awesome. I've seen Dwayne's skills numeral times, and I have plans for him to build us a new bed. I want built in nightstands, and also drawers underneath like Lucas's bed for linens and stuff.
I also want to paint in there, and several other ideas. I can't wait.
I will defiantly take a before and after picture.

Pumpkin Patch

What, Pumpkin patch in February?? That's probably what you are thinking. But I've never shared any of the pics, and why not look at them today when the whole country pretty much is surrounded with cold, cold weather and snowstorms.

I love this picture of Lucas. He was standing and looking at something, and I just love the sweet look on his face.

This picture would have been really cute if it wasn't for the stranger's butt in the picture.

SNOW!

Or a little anyways. We woke up Saturday to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Lucas wanted to go outside in it and have a snowball fight. It melted a lot that day, and the following day there wasn't much left, but enough to do a little snowboarding with daddy. He had a blast doing that. And he was really good at it. He had a great balance. I can't balance that good on one board.

Here are a few pics from our first day in the snow. I took some of the snowboarding, but they are still on my camera.

New Blog

I look at People & Usmagazine everyday and I love to watch E!news - unfortunately that's not an everyday event. So I thought: "why not have a blog about celebs and royals?". The blog is still in process, but it has a few posts on there. This will take you there...thanks for checking it out!

I love stories like these in the news...

A Kentucky couple has won the biggest Power ball ever in the state's history.
I love that it's a working couple who as a living makes seats for Toyotas...let's just hope they stay grounded.

It's January and 2010..

This sucks...I hate January. It's so boring after all the excitement with Christmas, shopping, cooking, family etc. I hate taking down all the Christmas decorations, it's so "hyggelig" - which is a Danish word meaning cozy. We always have a live tree (actually I laughed the first time someone asked me if we have artificial trees in Denmark). That was my first Christmas here, and I thought it was a joke. I had NEVER heard of an artificial tree. It would probably be more smarter to have an artificial tree (money wise), but I just HAVE to have a real tree - just ain't Christmas without it. It went out the door though on Saturday, it was soooo dry. It looked really pitifull.

Lucas loved the tree though. I think that was the thing he was most excited about regarding Christmas traditions.

December just went by waaayy too fast. But we had a wonderfull time. Lucas loved it! Hubby slaved really hard at making him a new bed - we upgraded to a twin bed from his car toddler bed. The plus is that it's so much more comfier for mommy to lay on his bed and read to him at night before bedtime. We came up with the design ourselves. We made it out of pine. We wanted some drawers underneath for storage and a headboard for some of his books - he loves his books. Lucas loves Spongebob, so we painted the drawers blue and yellow to match his new Spongebob bedding. The knobs on his drawers are Starfish - in case you don't know, Spongebob's best friend is Patrick, and he is a starfish. Lucas loved getting a new big boy bed!

Mission accomplished. Just a few pics.

Hope you enjoyed Christmas and Happy 2010!