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.