Outside pictures of Michael

ok, so I put the pics in backwards and this first picture isn't outside...

Eating saltines & watching Christopher ride his bike.

Saltines again.

Happy baby.

thoughtful baby.

Because my baby asked to take a second nap today, I can post

A month ago Christopher did something (I can't remember what it was) that warranted a nice deed for mom. I told him he could start the dishwasher after I loaded it. Because I was taking too long (and I think he saw the miracle in only the breakfast dishes being in the sink), he took matters into his own hands. It made my heart melt.

See how happy I was!

See how I need to check a cake decorating book out of the library! I'm getting worse! This cake was sliding off. I had to make a cake when my family was in town (i forgot to take pictures...) because my mom gave me this cake platform/displayer/whatever it is called.

See how my toe nail broke off (finally! I somehow hurt it in my sleep in October...) and I have arthritis? swollen knuckle anyways.

My Birthday

We ate lunch at Red Robins. I polished my birthday burger off for the first time ever. 6 & 1/2 years ago (or so) we went on our first date here. (Rob (like the tie I gave him for Christmas?!) ate too, we just took this picture as an afterthought. We enjoyed a nailbiter finsh of the Ohio State/Michigan while we were eating. And I got the sauteed 'room burger. Always. Except last year (it was just me & Christopher...well...and Michael in my tummy) I got the bacon gaucamole burger. Carl's Jr.'s bacon gaucamole burger is alot better.) Oh, and thanks Lyndee for babysitting so we could really enjoy our time together.

Rob gave me this clock for my birthday. I woke up to the boys singing happy birthday & they each handed me candy (pictured below). And we had chocolate milk with breakfast. Yum. we never have chocolate milk.

My mother-in-law gave me a shirt, 3 round cake pans, some fun cake decorating stuff & Andes mints. (so that left black licorice, jr. mints & thin mints from the boys&rob.)
(My parents are bringing their presents for me when they come to visit.)

I thought this was a cute picture of Michael. I made awards for everyone because dinner was a competition of pizzas. 3 pizzas, 7 people. I feel like I won because I got to eat yummy pizza.

I wanted Rob to take a picture with everyone in it. Instead, he took an action shot of me blowing out the candles. Michael's eyes got soo big (cousin jake...england, not mitchell...twin nor oregon...big) when he saw the candles. I had rob take a picture of that, but he didn't zoom in, so they didn't really turn out. All in all, this may have been my best birthday ever. My 20th, the year we were engaged was awesome too.

Bros

Michael thought he was so clever being in Christopher's bed. Christopher wasn't ready to wake up.

Building while I was doing dishes.

Christopher likes dominoes & Michael likes the ads. (Keep those dominoes away from Michael!)

Look how tall my boys are.

Don't worry, Christopher doesn't have to duck his head, they aren't that tall.

Blue and Gold Banquet cakes

This is my first ever attempt at cake decorating. 100 years of Boy Scouts of America. It was fun to make! Obviously the chocolate frosting wasn't thick enough...it ran down the sides.

Christopher wanted me to make a race car cake. So when I saw race car cakes at the banquet (aka bday party) I had to take pictures.

More race cars.

My friend Melissa (in a different ward/stake/BSA unit) made this with one of her friends. I knew Kathy V. had to see it, so I decided to post it on my blog. Isn't it amazing!!! More cakes from their banquet: http://thomasandmelissagriffiths.blogspot.com/2010/02/blue-and-gold-banquet-and-cake-contest.html. (I hope you don't mind Melissa)

This cake was not from a banquet. It was from my Grandparent's homecoming from their mission. One of my uncles had a hook-up, and it turned out great! It's the Portland temple, w/o the spires. Wow...what you can do with fondant! This picture I stole from my aunt Brittany's blog. (I hope you don't mind Brittany.)

Inspiration

My mother-in-law made these cakes for her mom's 80th birthday party.

She inspired me to ask her (when prompted by her) for some round cake pans and simple cake decorating tools for my birthday.

Grandma & Grandpa Stephenson with Christopher and Michael,

January 2010.