Outdoor Update

Darren has been very busy working outdoors as spring has sprung! I wish that I had more photos to share because our yard and neighborhood are so beautiful this time of year with all the sunshine, green grass and budding trees! It is nearly impossible not to smile when you look outside!

The front yard is still torn up from the mainline replacement we did over winter, but we just had guys come out who smoothed out the dirt and removed some of the bigger rocks in preparation for seeding. They also poured our new sidewalk (Happy Birthday, Darren & Kristin!), which turned out wonderfully! We finally got our new front door painted a few weeks ago, so the front of the house looks so much better (though we still need to repaint all the stucco, among other things that are not part of this phase of our remodel).

In the backyard, we had contractors chip our huge pile of sticks into mulch, which we spread around the play set. We had a huge pile of dirt delivered to fill the raised garden beds, too. The garden beds are nearly done, though we need more pieces to complete the tiered beds in the front and surround some additional plantings around the main beds. I need to take more detailed photos of the raised bed garden, but the photo below gives the view from the house. Darren has been busy at the nurseries. We lost two cherry trees over the winter, so he replaced those. In the off-season, he bought some blueberry bushes, and he purchased blackberry, raspberry and currant bushes also. Those will be planted around the raised beds. He also bought some strawberries, perennials for the kids' garden and some onion & asparagus starter sets. We do not plan to plant the entire garden this year, but we will definitely make a good start of it. I am going to try to get better photos of the garden.

There is still so much to do, especially before the heat of the summer sets in. It seems like every time we step outside, we think of one more thing that we need/want to do. I have a natural play area for the kids in mind that I need to think about some more to see if we will proceed or not. Not only do we have lots of work outside, but we are proceeding with the kitchen remodel. Darren is taking a few days of work so that we can pick out backsplash tile and lighting, among a long list of other things. In about 2 weeks, we will need to have the kitchen & dining room cleaned out so that demolition can begin on that big job. Whew!

Troop Tea Party

Kyrie's Daisy Troop met at the Glass Slipper for an afternoon lesson about the importance of manners as a reflection of self-respect and respect for others. They listened to stories, had tea and put on skits demonstrating what they learned. It was a fun afternoon for the girls, who came dressed in their prettiest dresses! All the girls earned another Daisy petal badge for their vests by participating in this activity!

Happy 6th Birthday, Kyrie!

We did most of our celebrating on Sunday, but I cannot let a birthday go by without making the day special. Of course, the morning started out with a birthday doughnut. We went to gymnastics and to lunch (her choice, of course) and that afternoon, the kids worked on making flowers using a clay crafting kit that she had gotten at her party the day before. In the early evening, we got dressed and headed downtown to meet Darren at one of Kyrie's favorite restaurants, Buca di Beppo. Kyrie ordered spaghetti and requested 6 meatballs (though she only got one giant meatball). After dinner, she had a big chocolate sundae with lots of whip cream & sprinkles that she shared with everyone! It was a lovely dinner! At home, she opened up all her birthday gifts from family! Happy 6th Birthday, Kyrie Belle Alyce! We love you!

Kyrie blowing out the giant, Buca birthday candle!

Kyrie's Fairy Dance Party

This year we had Kyrie's birthday party at the kids' dance school. We invited her best girlfriends for a Sunday afternoon party (on my birthday) of dancing & fun! We had a Tinkerbell Fairy theme for the party, so there were lots of fairy-themed goodies for the girl! While we waited for everyone to arrive, we had the girls work on coloring puzzle pieces for a giant puzzle.

I love Kyrie's face in this photo!

The girls spent about 45 minutes dancing. They played lots of dancing games and ended their session with a special birthday dance for the parents who stayed to watch!

After dancing, the girls enjoyed chips, fruit and lemonade while working on their puzzle pieces. When they were done with their snack, the girls worked to put the puzzle together! Then we spilled the pinata and the girls scrambled to fill their bags with chocolate, jewelry, stickers & toys.

Degen is so cute in this photo! He loved the party and felt perfectly natural as the only boy among all the girls!

After the pinata, it was time for cake! I made a little oopsy in positioning the candles on the cake and got one candle a little too close to Tinkerbell. Sure enough, her wing caught on fire and I tried to rush the kids through "Happy Birthday" before we had a full meltdown! Thankfully, Tinkerbell and the cake survived... though Tink had to have a bit of her wing amputated when we got home! Everyone enjoyed the cake, and then the girls gathered around to watch Kyrie open her presents as the party came to an end. I think that fun was had by all, and we are grateful to all our friends who came out to celebrate Kyrie's birthday with us!

Tinkerbell Cake

Here is Kyrie's birthday cake, and I am very excited with how well it turned out. We decided to have a Tinkerbell party about a year ago and at one point I found this set of fairy figurines. From there, I began to plan for this cake. I knew that I wanted to make a fairy house, and as with most of my cakes the plan started with the actual cake. I have a giant cupcake pan and figured that would be the best thing to use for the actual house. I used 2 cake mixes to make both the cupcake and the base (and had enough to make one more 9 inch round). Aside from the structure, I had no real idea of what I was going to do with the frosting/decorating part of the cake. I did a search for images on-line and looked at Pinterest for ideas. I also took a peek at the fairy house in the Tinkerbell movie for inspiration. There were two options as far as style: whimsical or "realistic" (well, as realistic as fairy house lore may be). Kyrie drew up her own idea from the movie, and I decided that I would go with realistic.

I made 2 batches of buttercream icing and divided it into 3 colors: green (1/2), brown (5/8) and purple (3/8). The yellow & black I had on-hand from my last cake. I put the cake together with a cool-whip & lemon pudding filling (per Kyrie's request). I turned the base of the 'cupcake' upside-down and placed the top on, well, on top. I secured the house structure to the base with a trimmed chopstick (because I am all sorts of professional- ha!). It probably would have been better for me to place the house not quite as far back on the base as it seemed a bit like it might fall off, though that did not happen.

After the cake was set, I started with the frosting. I used the "grass" tip on the base (and, boy, did it give my grip a workout). I also used the grass-tip on the bottom and used a drop-flower tip and purple icing to complete the base (with a few yellow icing dots). I wanted the house to appear like it was made from a tree, so I used a flat tip to create something that looked like bark. I flipped the flat tip over to use the ridged-tip for the door and window frames. Black icing completed those details. At first, I was just going to use a leaf tip to make leaves all over from the roof, but then decided that I would add branch details first and then make the leaves over the top. The roof is probably my favorite part of the cake. I added a few purple & yellow flowers to the roof for some color and then placed the figurines (with the kids' help) on the cake. A bit of "fairy dust" (ie. edible glitter) finished the cake.

I LOVE this cake! I truly think that it is one of my best. As always it was a challenge and took a lot of time (I baked the cakes the day before and spent about 2 hours decorating), but the hard work makes it all the sweeter in the end. Well, what really makes it sweet is that Kyrie loved the cake! Making these birthday cakes is my special gift just to my kiddos! 

Troop #2578 at Build-A-Bear

Our little Daisy troop had a great first year of cookie sales! To celebrate their effort & achievement, the troop went to Build-A-Bear workshop to make the Girl Scout 100th Anniversary bear. This was a surprise for the girls, and when they heard the news (right in front of the store) they squealed with delight!

This was right when the girls found out why we were at the mall. I LOVE Kyrie's & Isabelle's reaction!

Inside the store, the Build-A-Bear instructor took over and lead the troop through each step to make their own bears. I had Degen with me, and he made his own bunny rabbit with the girls. There was lots of fun to be had, and the girls did a great job listening, taking turns and following directions (many of which were silly). They even made a special bear just for one of the girls who could not be there. They were model Daisies!

Each girl made a bear and got a special 100th Anniversary patch. They also got a t-shirt with a Daisy petal decal, a miniature Daisy vest for their bears (each made by our leader's mother) and Build-A-Bear patches for their vests & their bears'. The girls absolutely loved everything! I let Degen pick out an outfit for his bunny (a firefighter outfit) and picked up a pair of glasses and a few extra pieces for Kyrie's bear. After all our bear-building fun, the whole troop headed to a nearby restaraunt for ice cream sundaes! This was a wonderful wrap-up to our first cookie sale with much fun had by all! Thank you to our wonderful leaders and cookie mom for all their effort & support!



The girls preparing to sew up their bears.

Degen combing his bunny in the air-bath.

Hockey Night

Darren emailed me late one afternoon to tell me that someone at work had given him 4 great tickets for that evening's Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game. A night out like this would have cost us over $400, so we were very excited for this rare family night out!

This was the kids' first hockey game, and I had not been to a game since Kyrie was just a baby. The kids were excited by the energy in the Arena, especially Degen. Darren got us settled in and then got dinner for us as the game started. Degen loved the music and the lights! He watched the players on the ice intently while Darren & I tried to explain the game to Kyrie.

Unfortunately, the Blue Jackets are not having a very good year, and the Blackhawks dominated. Thankfully, the Jackets were able to score one goal before the game ended. Even without a win, we had a fantastic time!