Merry Christmas

Why my brain has been MIA

CAKES

This house is never without a bowl of frosting somewhere.
Sometimes cakes take over our lives (and our kitchen)

And before the end of January I will have made another 400 cookies. Looks like my oven will be working double overtime. You have no idea how jealous I am of everyone out there with double ovens.

But at least I have a few good pictures to show for all the craziness, right?

First up, a winter/mickey wedding.



They really went all out with the Mickey theme. I saw these hats sitting on one of the tables for them to wear later and I heard that the dancefloor spotlight was in the shape of Mickey Mouse too.

And here is the wedding cake from yesterday. I wish I had taken a few pictures of the reception because it was decorated so cool. The colors were brown and coral (obviously) and the groom and groomsmen were all wearing brown tuxes. It was pretty sweet.

Up close view. I made each flower out of gumpaste, then painted them with pink luster dust followed by a coat of super pearl.


And on another note...
We took a little trip to Rocklin to walk around the neighborhood full of lights and look what we stumbled upon.
I mean, seriously?? On your roof? With a disco ball?
Seriously.



Hahahahahahaha

All is right in the world

All is right in the world (well, my little world at least)....

-I discovered Italian Meringue Buttercream. Seriously, where has this been all my life?! Order a cake from me with this stuff on it and you will think you have died and gone to heaven. (Should I mention that there are 6 sticks of butter in it?? Probably not. But wow, total creamy delicousness...wow...soooo good)

- I just finished a really cool wedding cake and it was completely drama free. (pictures to come soon)

- Nolan's out of control diaper rash has finally decided to go away. Poor kid. Life just got a lot happier for him.

- Last night we visited our friends' brand new baby. They adopted him and he is the most perfect, handsome, adorable newborn I have seen in a long time (since Nolan was born of course) . The adoption story was beautiful and I left with smile on my face and in my heart.

- On Tuesday we are headed to Vegas for Christmas. Woo hoo!!! Our plans include taking all of our savings and trying to double it in one hand of blackjack. Kidding.

And now a few pictures of what we have been up to lately for the grandmas and such...

Tyler has been home for the past week and the kids have been loving it. Everyday Jackson asks me if he can play with Uncle Tyler.

The annual outing to Dovewood Court.

We kidnapped Preston for a movie night the other day including the tent, popcorn and hot chocolate.

And of course we had to see Santa at the church Christmas party. The kids were totally cool with him...unless they had to make actual physical contact.

Letter to Santa

A TRICKS Party!

Jackson's birthday isn't until the 22nd, but I decided that we would celebrate it early this year. Everything just gets so crazy the closer it gets to Christmas and everyone goes out of town. We had a birthday party at TRICKS (the same place where he goes to preschool). The kids had fun and it was super easy for me...no clean up and no stress!

So Jackson how old are you now? I'm four

Tell me about all your birthday pictures...

This was at my birthday party. The kids were walking on the polka dots and dancing and singing la la la.

We're just all playing in the tumblebugs. I want to throw the tumblebugs at teacher.

This swing is fun and it doesn't scare me. Three people can go in it. I'm going up to the sky...WEEEEEE!!!!

That is Nolan playing under the chairs. He is a crazy little bug.

This is my spiderman cake with muffins, sprinkles and frosting. The cake tasted like Frosty the Snowman. I like making crazy faces.
(I know, I know...I took the easy way out and just made cupcakes, but he still loved them)

Nolan's muffin exploded all over him! He needs to clean up in the sink.(Wow, did I make the frosting red enough?!)

My friends. But Trevor didn't come to my birthday. (Trevor's brother was having his birthday party at the same time so he couldn't come and Jackson was so sad. Trevor is his friend from preschool and those two are best buds!) That is the opening presents chair.

So what was your favorite part of your party? Making a mess with the muffins.

So there you have it. Our little boy is growing up, but still as silly and cute as ever. I can't wait to see all the changes the next year will bring. We love you Jackson!

Love these boys!

I'm in one of those sing-song happy moods. It's the weekend! Tomorrow we are celebrating Jackson's birthday and tonight we are having huevos rancheros and playing Rummikub with the Jackmans until we are all dead tired...what could be better? But I am mostly happy right now because I got to spend a really fun morning with my crazy boys and nephew. I quickly realized after Preston came over this morning that today was not going to be an inside day. After 15 minutes the house was a disaster and they had already been in 100 fights. So we headed to the park. And even though I am still shaking sand out of the Jackson and Nolan's hair it was definitely a good decision. (How great is it that we can still go to the park a few times a week in DECEMBER? Very great. Thank you mild California winters.)

They started off sitting in the stroller together...

....but that only lasted to the end of the driveway.

Then they RAN the entire half mile to the park.

I wonder how sand tastes?

Have a happy weekend!

Thanksgiving Photos

(And small photos at that...every time I tried to enlarge them Blogger made them blurry. I think that you can still click on them and it will make them bigger though. maybe)

Singing songs during the Thanksgiving program at preschool. Afterwards all the families enjoyed a big Thanksgiving feast together.

I think he is supposed to be a pilgrim?

Right before running the 5K Folsom Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Running three miles definitely justifies eating large slices of pumpkin pie and apple cake for dessert, right?


Making chocolate turkeys with the cousins after Thanksgiving dinner.

The impromptu after Thanksgiving party was held at TRICKS. We had the gym to ourselves to play for a few hours.



I had no idea he could walk the beam by himself


Tyler doing some sort of acrobatics. All the Strazzos have some sort of crazy gymnast gene. The Crofts on the other hand...not so much.

Playing with Uncle Tyler

Preston in the Tumble Bugs

And the new veggie post will be coming soon. It's just that I had my heart set on making okra last week and then both times I went to go buy it Safeway was out. Who knew okra was so popular?? I finally have it now so the post will be coming soon. I know you are all on the edge of your seat waiting for it. haha