Diva Soccer Cake

Today I made a drama queen diva/soccer theme cake for a 13th birthday party. My idea was soccer star meets Mardi Gras and I think I pulled it off.

Instead of buying a special pan to make the soccer ball I just baked the cake in one of my Pyrex bowls and to help it cook evenly I put my flower nail upside down in the bottom of the bowl to help conduct heat to the center of the cake. It worked perfectly!!


For the mask, I bought a cheap plastic mask and then pressed gum paste into it to make a sugar replica. After it dried I painted it with icing color watered down with clear vanilla. Over the top of the turquoise part I painted some silver luster dust to make it look shiny. The feathers and the wire holding the stars are the only non-edible parts of this cake.

Happy 13th Birthday Kailiegh and thanks Kelly for letting me be a part of her special day!

Gushing With Pride

This is a post all about the amazing things Trevor is learning and doing. I am literally gushing with pride over his accomplishments!As I mentioned before he is learning new words at an astonishing rate. He can now recognize and say colors like, green, blue, black, pink, red, and sometimes yellow. Lately, his new favorite word is Santa!

The other day he was downstairs eating a banana and I ran upstairs to check my email. After a few minutes I heard him coming up the stairs and it sounded like he was bringing me something. He ran into the office with the can of hot cocoa mix and said, "cocoa, please!" I was astonished. Neither Darren or I have ever given him cocoa, or taught him the word for it. He just got it out of the pantry, carried it upstairs and asked for it. As a reward I made him some and now he asks for "hot cocoa" all the time.

The following day I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard Trevor say something, so I turned around to see what he wanted and he had the rice cooker out and he said to me, "rice, please!" Again, I had no idea he could say rice or that he knew where the rice cooker was and what it was for. Again, I was astonished!

In the tub later that night he spilled water on the floor and I told him, "Uh-oh, you need to say, sorry momma". So he did, he said, "sorry momma" and I had to leave the room to hide my laugh because he has never said the word sorry before, he has always just signed it.

Everyday I am amazed at the words Trevor is learning and how much he is able to communicate with us. He is such a delight and a joy to have in our family!!

We <3 Boys!

We are so excited to announce that we are adding another boy to our family!! I really thought this baby was a girl, but I was delighted to be wrong!!

So here is our little boy. He is so cute (especially his little nose) and I love him so much already.

Just for fun, here are some of the reasons we thought this baby was a girl:

• With Trevor I wanted red meat every day, with this baby meat is yucky. I even hate the meat aisle at the grocery store. All I want to eat is fruit and veggies.
• Darren thought this baby was a girl because he felt like I had an increase in estrogren and that the baby and I were on the same page... Personally, I think I have done way better controlling my emotions with this baby than I did with Trevor. I am almost 19 weeks and I have yet to throw anything at Darren. That's amazing!
• This baby seems to be higher than Trevor was. Don't hate, but I am still able to button my pre-pregnancy jeans....although I won't be able to for much longer!
  

Reasons I am so glad we are having a boy:

• I do not have to paint over the blue nursery, with a more girlie color.
• No need to purchase new bedding, accessories, or clothes.
• Trevor will love having a brother to play with, however right now when you ask him if he is having a baby brother he says, "no, no, no".
  
• I think having daughter-in-law's will be WAY easier than raising a daughter.
  
• Boys mean more full-time missionaries to love and support.
• Growing up there was no priesthood authority in my home, and eventually I will have 3 priesthood holders!!!

So as you can see adding another boy is a huge blessing to our family and we can't wait for Spring!!

What's New with the Hales

• New Truck

Almost a month ago now we purchased a truck! Darren has been thinking about getting a truck for 2 years, researching what kind of truck for a year, and looking at trucks to purchase for about 6 months. We finally found THE ONE. Darren and Trevor are both in love with it!

• New Experiences

Yesterday I took Trevor to the movie theater for the first time ever. We went to a theatre in Bellevue that has Mother's day Thursday movies at 10am. They turn down the sound and leave some lights on, which makes it perfect to bring your kiddos to. We saw A Christmas Carol in 3D (well, I did. Trevor refused to wear the 3D glasses). We ate popcorn and apple slices and for the first half he sat next to me watching the movie. Toward the end he started to get restless and wanted to walk around or climb on the seats and that worked out just fine because all the other kids were doing it too!

• New Words

Everyday this last week Trevor has started saying a new word. Here are my favorites:
Cheyo: translation, Cheerios
cho: pronounced like an Asian last name, it means, chair. Trevor loves to pull a chair up to the sink, put on his apron and help me wash dishes.
tao: translation, towel
buk-ho: translation, backhoe, as in a specific type of truck (Darren taught him that one)
da-da-uck: this one is actually a full sentence that means, "Oh man, Daddy took the truck to work!"
*uck or more commonly suck: means, "I'm Stuck!" At the movie theater the seats would fold up on him unless he had all his weight on it, so during the movie I kept hearing "*uck, *uck" and I would move over and help him get unSTuck.

That's all folks. Stay tuned on Monday to find out whether Baby Hales is a boy baby or a girl baby. Any guesses?? (In case you are wondering, we think it's a girl)

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party Cake

I just made this cake for my good friend Kate's daughter's tea party to celebrate her 3rd birthday. The party was Alice in Wonderland themed and I had a couple great pictures to glean ideas from. This was my first attempt at a topsy-turvy cake and besides a few mistakes I am very pleased with how it turned out!
My favorite parts of the cake are the teacup on top (which was a last minute great idea), the Cheshire cat tier, and the cute little flowers that seemed to just pull the whole thing together.

For those who are wondering, "how long did it take you to make that??"...it was 8 hours start to finish and I had Kate's help with a lot of the leg work like coloring the fondant. I love making cakes, but this one was even more fun than usual because I had a good friend helping. Thanks Kate for trusting me to make an amazing cake for Katie's special day!

Happy Halloween!

Every little gnome deserves a great garden to look up to...
A couple people have asked how came to the decision to have Trevor be a gnome this year. I think all good costumes start with finding the right costume for the personality. Trevor can be pretty shy, he doesn't say much, and when you're not looking he takes off running. He made a perfect gnome!

...In case you were wondering I purchased Trevor's costume, but I made the hats that Darren and I are wearing. Mine is a $3 steamer basket from Uwajimaya covered in red fleece with white felt dots. Darren's hat is fern fronds from Joann's, hot glued onto a black beanie. (BTW...it was really fun to hot glue things to my husband's head! Very therapeutic.)

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Here are some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend. Trevor especially loved the tractors...

...and the mud puddles.