Sweet Treats

I made these cookies for a "B is for Baby" shower:

 This was my second batch of onesies.  The silver dragee "snaps" really sell it:

 The only problem with these was that B cookies had a tendency to tip over as the frosting softened.  Next time I either need lighter cookies or thicker frosting.  The "baby" and "boy" were made with royal icing and were very fragile--I was glad I made many more than I needed:

 Mmmm... Chocolate cupcakes with a layer of milk chocolate ganache, topped with pink peppermint cream cheese frosting, for the ward Christmas party:

 A dear friend threw a gala, leopard-print bridal shower for her daughter-in-law-to-be, and I made these cookies as favors.  (It was a HUGE shower.)  I did a little web-based research and this is how my leopard print icing turned out:

 I made these for our Relief Society Christmas dinner.  I was asked to make one of my favorite holidays treats, gingerbread cookies, but plain old cookies were not fancy enough for me.  I have a reputation to uphold, after all!  So I made gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon butter cream frosting, topped with gingerbread man sprinkles and mini cookies.  Now THAT'S more like it:

Gobblin' Up the Miles

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year our whole family ran the annual Turkey Trot at Greg's work, and when I say "ran", I mean that Greg ran the 4-mile course, Ella ran the 2-mile course, and I cajoled, pushed, and dragged a reluctant Natalie (that's a nice way of putting it) for 2 miles.  Despite the fact that she out-ran her sister in a lap around our block a few days before, on the morning of the big race she was complaining of sore feet before we'd even left the rec center parking lot.  My conversation with her at that point went something like this:

Natalie: My feet hurt!

Me: No they don't.  Keep running!

It was a proud moment.  Here we are before the race:

Greg was the fastest registered runner and as such won us a turkey!  Ironically, Natalie also won us a bird through the raffling off of the very last one.  She was SOOOO proud!

Halloween: I Know What We're Gonna Do Today!

Ah, Halloween!  The silliest of holidays.  That morning my seminary class was invited to dress up, and some actually did!  (Please note Joseph's "Facebook" costume.) 

 We played Scripture Mastery Trick or Treat and had a Halloween buffet o' treats:

Around here we are BIG fans of "Phineas and Ferb", so we decided to rock the 104 days of summer vacation as Agent P, Doctor D, Lindana, and Candace Flynn-Fletcher:

 "A platypus?  PERRY the Platypus???"

Red Hot Cousins

In November 1994 my cousin Madison was born.  Oh, we were so excited!  Her parents had been waiting and waiting and WAITING for her, and her arrival was cause for major celebration.  Here I am holding her for the first time:

Despite our 18 year age difference, we have always been pals.  So imagine how thrilled I was when she came to visit us in San Antonio!  She is a big fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and had tickets to see them here in Texas, and called to see if I might be interested in going to the concert with her.  Are you kidding???  Me??? Concert???  For the record, I am nearly always up for a concert.  So she booked the flight and came on down, staying just under 24 hours.  We only had time to show her the essentials, like the Alamo:

 And the Riverwalk:

 Back home at Casa Willden, we made time for a game of Apples to Apples, a Cousin Madison Classic:

And, of course, we went to the concert.  What a kick.  I hadn't been to a huge arena show like that in years.  I had, of course, seen the Chilis once before, at Lollapalooza '92.  You know, two years before Maddie was BORN.  Good grief.  She put on her new t-shirt and I donned my oooooold one (that has been acting as PJs for many years now) for a photo op:

Thanks for the fab 24 hours, Maddie!  Please come back again when you can stay a little longer!

Back to School 2012

It's now March, and I, of course, am only 6 months behind here on the ol' blog.  Let's try to fix that today, shall we?

It was mid-July when we returned from our cross country trip so we had weeks and weeks of summer stretching out in front of us...  Well, some of us did.  I sprained my foot instead, taking me out of commission for the three weeks before my scheduled surgery on the same foot.  So much for the rest of the summer.  Fortunately for everyone my mom came to take care of everyone while I convalesced post-surgery.

I was still hobbling around in the wretched boot when school started for the girls, and Seminary started for me.  Here's Ella, sun-kissed and ready for the 4th grade:

 Natalie started preschool at Ella's alma mater, University United Methodist Day School:

And Seminary started up again in our front room, every week day from 5:50am to 6:40am:

Here's to a great start!