Gingerbread House 2009

It's finally done! So I ended up doing the same house as last year but with a few nice additions. Santa peeping down the chimney, the sleigh and reindeer. I was pleased with how it turned out.
I have entered a few competitions online..and there is one that you can help vote for me. Here is the link:

http://yourviews.contracostatimes.com/mycapture/photos/Album.aspx?EventID=890061&CategoryID=26655

Update on the gingerbread contests...I won a $25 gift card to Amazon.com from the RecipeZaar contest. Woo hoo!!!! 1st gingerbread house contest winning. Maybe I will get lucky and win one of the other contests I entered.

Babysitting

I got the pleasure of babysitting Jordyn on Friday night and she was so precious. And as you can see from the picture. She was into everything including Uncle Chris's Cocoa Pebbles which she dumped all over the floor. Good thing I think she is too cute so I wasn't upset. She also really liked the Christmas tree and kept wanting to put a vice grip on the glass ornaments. She is such a sweetie and so much fun to play with. It will be fun to watch her open her gifts on Christmas morning. She seemed to be quite interested in the presents under our tree and did attempt to tear open the paper on 2 of them.

Thanksgiving in Disneyland

We went to Disneyland with Don, Barb and Chelsey for Thanksgiving and had a blast. It is so pretty all decorated for the holidays. I highly recommend going this time of year especially since it is not too hot. It was 80 deg 2 of the days we were there but got cold at night. We enjoyed it so much last year and this year that we plan on making a tradition of it.

Halloween

Fierce Beaver Pumpkin

Me with our pumpkin

It was a good day for both the Beavers and the Ducks yesterday so fitting I made my team's pumpkin for halloween. I thought it turned out well and was actually not too difficult to do. I got the pattern from http://jasonprotheroblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/beavers-pumpkin-stencil-for-halloween.html. My neighbors did a UCLA pumpkin and now I wish I would have gotten a picture of our pumpkins together since OSU and UCLA played against each other yesterday.

Since we don't get any kids except for one neighbor girl, we went to Don and Barb's this year to watch the UOvs.USC game. That was such an awesome game. I love seeing USC lose huge. I guess USC had never lost by more than 11 points in the past 8 years that Pete Carroll has been the coach. So the ducks did awesome.

Cake Pops

Again, terrible photography on my part...need to take a class. Any how, I made these cake pops pumpkin shaped that turned out alright. First time making them from www.bakerella.com. Oh course hers are way cuter. My candy melts would not get a as smooth as a consistency as I wanted, so next time, I am only using the product sold at the Decorette Shop. Also, I got the Wilton edible fine point pens and those didn't work so great so I would maybe use a different brand of pens for doing the face in the future. Tasty though. I still think the Oreo Truffles were better and will definitely make them again.

Football Oreo Truffles!

My photography skills aren't great so the picture above doesn't really do them service. I made these cute little truffles for Jackson's football team end of season party. I will definitely make these again since they taste so delicious. I made one batch of mint oreo (my favorite) and one of regular oreo.

The recipe was taken from http://www.bakerella.com/super-bowl-funday/

I absolutely love www.bakerella.com and there is really great step by step instructions. I am dying to try making the cake pops that she is so famous for.

I hope Jackson and his team mates enjoy these fun little treats as much as I do.

Pumpkin Patch

Jackson

Jackson and Jordyn

Me and Chris

Uncle Chris and Jordyn

Katie and Jordyn

Mom

Jordyn

Jackson

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday with Mom and Jackson and Katie and Jordyn. The pictures were so cute I just had to share. Jackson of course picked out a giant one he could hardly pick up..hehe. It was fun watching Jordyn play with the pumpkins. Hopefully we get lucky this month and will have our own little pumpkin on the way. Once Jordyn realized she could just throw the little pumpkins that was kind of funny hence Jackson is holding the pumpkin far away from her.

Well I will have to come up with a neat design to carve this year. I was thinking maybe something related to OSU. Chris will be out of town the week of Halloween so that will give me something fun to do.