It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Superman!

Apparently Superman is a popular super hero. This is the second birthday I have made a Superman dessert...the first was a few years ago for Zach. I made a sheet cake with blue icing and the Superman logo on top. Today I made Superman cupcakes.

To start I made a batch of royal icing and tinted some red and some yellow. I printed out a Superman logo in the desired size and placed under a sheet of wax paper. I then traced the logo with the red and yellow icing. There was a little trial and error...To begin, it works MUCH better if you do the yellow first and then pipe the red around it...once the yellow has hardened of course. Because it has been fairly damp here in College Station lately, it took until Sunday (I piped the logos Friday night) for the logos to fully harden.

Today I made a chocolate cake recipe from the Hershey's cocoa powder recipe (yummy!!) and cream cheese icing from one of my trusty cookbooks. After the cupcakes cooled and the icing was tinted blue, I piped it on top of the cupcakes and added a candy logo. They turned out awesome!

Here are a few pics of the cupcakes...

I have to say...I impressed myself...I was a little nervous that it might not work out or that my scratch cake or icing would taste bad and I would have to make a run to the store for a box mix and canned icing.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Painting...

So as I mentioned in my earlier remodeling post, I have been working on eliminating the wallpaper in my house. Since that post, Kyle has applied the texture to the walls in both the hall bathroom and the entry. The Kilz went on in both rooms and the paint is on the walls in the entry.

We debated for days on the color of the entry. I wanted yellow and Kyle told me "no"...on several occasions...

So our first step was to decide what color we were going to paint the living room and other areas of the house. We wanted a fairly neutral color for most of the rooms and we plan to add color through art, pillows, bedding, etc. So we decided on a beautiful grey-ish color. And before you think, "that is so drab", it is more of a bright grey than a drab grey...

We took our grey paint chip to the local home improvement box store and searched through the colors for something we could agree on and that would look good with our grey color choice. Kyle suggested a beautiful orange...it is called "bitter orange" and I love it. I have always like orange, but I feel guilty in a way for putting orange in my house since I am an Aggie. However, please know that it is a tangerine type orange and is in no way a burnt orange or anything close.

Here are a few pictures of our painting endeavors...

The entry before: the wall paper was maroon and it looked like a sponge paint pattern.

The entry with the Kilz.

The finished entry...just needs the lighting to be updated now...

The hall bathroom before: Wallpaper...awful.

Bathroom with Kilz.

The bathroom will be painted a light chocolate milk colored brown...the same as the master bath. I found a new shower curtain with pink, orange, green, chocolate, aqua and white stripes. Once Taryne gets a little bigger and has preferences for certain things...the many colors in this shower curtain will allow me to "customize" the bathroom for her tastes.

Once we get the bathroom walls finished, we can start on the next project...not sure what it will be...so many to choose from...lay tile in the hall bathroom or texture and paint the dining room or paint the kitchen cabinets or start replacing the floors in the house or update the lighting and the list goes on and on and on...

Until next time...Gig'em!

Travels...

Over the past week, we drove well over 1,000 miles. We left Wednesday afternoon for Alabama to remember Kyle's Uncle Joe at a memorial on their ranch. A private memorial was held Thursday afternoon. It was very informal, but beautiful just the same. We were sad our first trip to Alabama was for a funeral, but we are very glad we were able to go...we will miss Joe very much. He impacted so many lives and was such an asset to the beef cattle industry.

Taryne traveled well the first day and not so well the second. She had a short night and add a cough in with it and it made for a long rest of the trip to Alabama. And to make things worse for the day...she did not nap more than an hour or so the entire day...from 5:30 AM to around 8:00 PM...So of course, she was a bit fussy on Thursday. We needed to leave Friday because my cousin Nicole was getting married the next day in Austin. Unfortunately we were unable to attend the public memorial on Friday...Taryne was better on the way home, but she had her moments. I guess I would too if I was strapped in a car seat that long...

Here are some pics of Cow Creek Ranch in Alabama...it is absolutely beautiful in Aliceville, AL.

We got home around 11:30 PM Friday night...so we decided that Kyle and Taryne would stay home the next day and I, along with Charlotte & Zach, would attend Nicole's wedding in Austin. So...early the next morning, we headed out to Austin...the wedding was at 10 AM. It was a beautiful wedding! There were so many unique touches to the wedding and the reception. In the center of the tables at the reception were cake plates with donuts from Nicole & Bryan's favorite donut place in Austin. The cakes were beautiful...well...the bride's cake was beautiful...the groom's cake was a longhorn...hisssssssssss......Both cakes were very, very yummy...even though one was a longhorn. By the way...in case you were wondering...Nicole & Bryan both attended t.u. therefore...there were longhorn cookies at the reception and the groom's cake was a longhorn.

Here are few pics from the wedding and reception...

Nicole before the wedding...such a beautiful bride!

The candy table...

The tablescapes...along with the yummy donuts!

The Bride & Groom's cakes

Grandma Milady, Nicole, Grandpa Clarence, Bryan -- my mom surprised everyone by bringing my grandparents to Austin...it is getting harder for them to travel and drive that far by themselves...Nicole was so happy to see them at the reception!

Bryan & Nicole -- Last Dance

Nicole & Bryan -- Leaving the reception

The last several days have been a whirlwind, but we were fortunate to see so many members of our family.

Those of you that are involved in agriculture and/or the beef cattle industry and would like to help youth that are interested in the beef cattle industry, please consider contributing to the Joe Reznicek Memorial Scholarship fund. More information is available at http://www.cowcreekbulls.com/.

Until next...Gig'em!

Fun in the tub...

Taryne received so many beautiful outfits and clothes at our baby showers. She has been able to wear most of it at some point, but there are still a few things she is "growing into". Now that Taryne is 4 months old she is fitting into some of her clothes that are 6 months and starting to outgrow some of her 3 month clothes...amazing how just a few short weeks ago, some of these said 3 month old clothes were too big! One of those items was an adorable giraffe bath robe from my friend Mindy's mom. I have been waiting and waiting for her to be "big enough" to use it...

She really enjoys bath time and she was so excited about this robe. Normally we just wrap her in a towel to transport her to and from her room for bath time...not any more! She has also started "playing" in the bath. By playing, I mean she is kicking her legs around in the water instead of just sitting there in her little tub. During her last bath we gave her a rubber ducky to "play" with and she kicked it around the entire time. Once she graduates out of the baby tub (hopefully pretty soon after she can sit on her own) we can get out all the great bath toys she received at Christmas.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Where's Taryne?

Do you remember the "Where's Waldo?" books? I do...my cousin Chance had all of them (or pretty close) and I loved to look for Waldo...however, it became pretty easy to spot Waldo because someone circled Waldo on every page...

On a side note, but related to "Where's Waldo?", Waldo and the Wizard were at the 2007 A&M vs. tu game in College Station...so awesome!

Well...I wanted to have some fun with Taryne today so I "hid" her amongst several of her stuffed animals on the glider...

"We do not gnaw on our froggy!"

So cute with her bear from Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Zach

I couldn't help myself, she was just too cute in all these pictures!

And her sweet little baby toes!!

As I mentioned earlier this week, Taryne had a bad night. Since that one night, she has slept perfectly every night. So happy about that! It really did make me sick to my stomach that she was crying so much and so hard and nothing that I did made a difference. I am also happy to report her sniffles are almost gone.

On a sad note, Kyle's Uncle Joe passed away Friday night. He has had a type of leukemia since the fall of 2008 and has had his ups and downs. We didn't get to see him and Aunt Joy that often because they live in Alabama, but we always enjoyed every moment we spend with them. He was a kind and caring person and I felt comfortable around him the moment I met him. He always had a story to tell and it was always a good one! We will miss him dearly and I ask for prayers for Joy and the rest of Joe's family. We know he is no longer in pain and thankful for that, but still sad he is gone.

Until next time...Gig'em!

The calm before the storm...

So as you all know, yesterday was Taryne's 4 month appointment/check up. She did great. She slept quite a bit yesterday afternoon and I am guessing because she didn't feel 100% after all her shots. Well, while at the doctor, he informed us that somewhere around 4 months, babies that tend to sleep all night start waking up and will scream and scream. He said they are sort of like night terrors. Well, Taryne has her nights where she wakes up and if I offer her the pacifier, she usually goes right back to sleep. I try not to pick her up so as not to start a bad habit.

Well....last night was something else entirely! Around 1:30 or so, I wake up to her SCREAMING and I mean SCREAMING! I first check to make sure everything is ok and then offer her the pacifier. That didn't work. The screaming continued. So...I decided to go ahead and pick her up and see if changing her would help...didn't work. I have never seen this girl scream like this before...I was so upset and I knew nothing was physically wrong with her. So I attributed it to the night terrors the doctor had told me about yesterday morning. Well, she woke up again at 4:30...same thing...and then again at 6-ish. I was beside myself because I could not calm her down...

And then of course this morning when she wakes up around 7:45, she is all smiles without a care in the world, just as if nothing happened.

Here are a few pics of her last night BEFORE she went to bed and the mayhem began...

Well...I am hoping for a more peaceful night tonight....keeping my fingers crossed...until next time...Gig'em!

4 months and counting...

Today marks Taryne's 4 month birthday! She really is growing like crazy!

This morning she had her 4 month check up with the doctor and she is doing great! She weighed in at 12 pounds 9 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches long. She is up to date on all of her immunizations which wasn't as bad as it could be, but she still cried. As long as she doesn't get sick (which will be harder now that she is a regular attendant at day care) we do not have to go back until she is 6 months. Woohoo!!

We are so proud of our little girl...she is rolling over, eating cereal, sleeping all night, sitting up with little assistance, trying to sit up on her own(well I am pretty sure that is what she is doing...looks like she is doing some serious sit-ups), interacting with everyone, playing a ton and she loves "standing". She is getting so strong! We have also discovered that she loves football....either that or she just loves all the movement going on during a game...we like to think she loves the sport!

Taryne is watching football with Mom.

My precious baby girl!

Well she is finally asleep...she has had the sniffles the past few days and has been a bit fussy from it and the immunizations didn't help...with her fussiness. Until next time...Gig'em!

Starting solids...well cereal...

So since Taryne was about 2 1/2 - 3 months we have periodically attempted rice cereal. Our doctor told us that we could try to give her cereal if she drank her bottle and was still hungry...also so she would start sleeping all night. Well, she would eat a little of the cereal, but not really, so we would put it in a bottle to give her a little to "fill her up" so she would sleep longer. Well she started sleeping on her own with out the extra food.

Every now and then we would try the cereal again. Well this week I experimented and made the cereal thicker and used water instead of formula. (It indicates on the box to make it really runny at the beginning) She ate about half the cereal and then had her bottle. Yahoo!! Last night she did even better! And she slept until about 8 this morning...she goes to bed around 10-10:30 so it was a good night (she takes a small nap in the evening in case you are cringing that she goes to bed so late).

Next week she will be 4 months and I think she is ready to start trying some veggies and maybe some fruit. At Christmas I got a Beaba Baby Cook. I can't wait to use it. It is a neat little appliance that steams/cooks veggies/fruits/meat and then you can puree to your desired consistency based on your child's needs. My goal is to make as much of her food as I can...partly to save money and I am pretty sure fresh foods taste better than jar foods. I have to say, I am not sure about making pureed meat, but we will see how that goes.

Here is a pic of Taryne eating her rice cereal.

I am looking forward to a feeding schedule that includes actual breakfast, lunch and dinner...even though it may be pureed! Until next time...Gig'em!

First day back...

So today I went back to work in the office. And because I went back to work in the office, Taryne started day care today. I was totally fine until this morning. I was a nervous wreck! And it only got worse on the drive there. We got inside and turned all her paper work in and I took her to her room and I lost it. I know they probably see this all the time, but I still felt silly. Here I am crying because I am leaving my baby girl with people I hardly know for 5 1/2 hours.

I got her settled in and left for work. I composed myself before I got to the office and thought "ok, this is going to be fine. I will see her in a few hours." Well, when I get inside, I start getting questions about how it went at day care. And guess what?!? I lost it again. Twice. Only a second time because I was asked again...then about an hour later, I get an email from Kyle asking how it went. This time, I held my composure and replied to his email.

Anyway, the day went great...for both of us. I was glad to pick her up. And when I get there, she is asleep. She hardly takes naps during the day, but she had been sleeping for 3 hours!! I guess this was good for me because we had lots of play time when we got home.

Right now she is in day care 3 days a week in the part day program. It was the only thing I could get her in here in College Station. Most places have a year long wait...so are you supposed to put your name on the wait list before you get pregnant? She is currently #1 on the list for 5 days a week in the part day program and has moved up on the full time list. I guess this is good too...we get a gradual transition to day care...looks like I need it more than she does!

Hopefully Wednesday will be tearless!

Until next time...Gig'em!

New Year's bargain bin find...

Ok, if you know me, then you know that I love to find bargains. I am horrible about talking myself out of buying something...

Well, we were shopping for a new coffee table/ottoman for our living room since the trunk we were using is not really kid friendly...it is not people friendly...I cut myself on the edges countless times.

One of our stops was to World Market. On one of their bed displays they had this beautiful duvet set and I happened to notice that they had this particular duvet set in the last chance section. So...I checked the price and it was only $22.25!! How could I beat that! And, we have had the same duvet set on our bed (from Ikea, so it was, of course, inexpensive) for several years. It was time for a change.

Here are a few pics of our new duvet...it just brightens the room and I am so glad I got it!

Here is an up close shot of the design...

Well...I have a ton of things to get done...tomorrow is Taryne's first day of day care and my first day back in the office. No more working from home...at least all day every day....

Until next time...Gig'em!

Productive so far in the new year...

Ok, so a few months after we moved into this house we started on some home renovations...

Over Christmas break last year ('08-'09) we updated our bathroom by removing the wall paper, painting and texturing the walls, replacing the lights and toilet and removing the carpet (yes, there was carpet in the bathroom) and installing ceramic tile.

This past spring, we painted and textured the kitchen because the wall paper in that room was nauseating...and the renovations pretty much stopped there because I was pregnant and all focus shifted to getting Taryne's room ready.

So, I finally decided I am sick of looking at the wall paper in the entry and hall bathroom, so today I painted the Kilz on the walls in preparation for texture and paint. The dining room still needs Kilz, but I just didn't have the energy (or courage to stand on a really tall ladder) to mess with that today.

It is amazing to see how different the spaces look with just the Kilz even though you can see the pattern still a little in the bathroom. I will post a few "in progress" pics later...haven't had time to take those yet.

I decided that the hall bathroom needs to look a little more little girl-ish since this is now Taryne's bathroom. I haven't decided on a new scheme yet, but I want to do something that will grow with her, but won't be to crazy since it is still the guest bathroom. So...no pink princess or Sponge Bob Squarepants or anything like that...probably brighter colors on the shower curtain and accessories...

I have also been busy working on crafting and sewing projects...there is nothing like new beginnings to make you want to get a new routine and stick to it...

Speaking of new routines...we are very serious about changing our eating and exercise habits in the new year. I guess having another person to be responsible for makes you want to be as healthy as you can...luckily I started walking/running once I was cleared by the doctor after I had Taryne....changing the eating habits will be a bit trickier since I love soda and sweets...I have to admit, I do feel better after my walk/run...I just need to get it all run and no walk!

This next week is also a sad time...it marks the end of college football season...I love bowl season because I get to watch ALOT of football games, but I hate it because I believe we should have a play off system in FBS like EVERY OTHER division of football....but I have no control over that...boo! I am looking forward to the the TCU-Boise State game...should be interesting, but I think it is a bunch of crud that the BCS placed these 2 undefeated teams against one anther...I guess they were scared of another major upset like a few years ago when Boise State kicked the crud out of Oklahoma...

And of course, I am ready to watch Alabama BTHO tu in the National Championship game next week...Roll tide roll!!! Until next time...Gig'em!