Roses, roses smell so sweet.........

Last night, in our cake class, we learned to start making roses. At first, I couldn't catch on to it. Then the teacher came by, and did it holding my hands and moving them the right way. THEN, I got it. AHA! Now it is practice, practice, practice. Because next week is our last class, and we have to make a whole bunch of roses to put on top of our cakes. I am excited to learn how to finish making the roses, and hope I can do a good job. All of this builds up to making Emily's wedding cake.
I start the next cake class on Feb.7th - working with fondant and gum paste. I'll learn how to drape a cake in that class. It puts such a nice finish on the cake.
Hopefully, they'll offer a Course 2 for the regular cake class. The fondant class is an extra class. Four classes, on Thursday evenings. I'll start practicing my roses tomorrow. I need a stiff, yet pliable icing - just right. And one pastry bag for the base, and one pastry bag for the petals.
It sure smells good in our kitchen nowadays. Sweet, and yummy.

"Our Little Babies"

This is Archimedes.
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This is Darcy.
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This is Oliver.
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This is Sweetpea!
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This is Brownie.
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And here's Madison!
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My Soul Mate, Michael

Here is a photo of my dear soul mate, Michael, holding Oliver, one of our poms. Michael and I have been married now for 30 years. Hard to believe - time has flown by.
Michael is a retired judge and it is really nice to have him home with me all day.
He is the love of my life!

EMILY AND CHRIS

This is my daughter, Emily, and her fiance, Chris, who will be getting married June 21, 2008.

My Dad's Birthday - Jan 29th

My dad turned 86 on Jan 29th this year. He looks and acts like a 60-year old! It is amazing. I hope I inherit THOSE genes! I'll turn 55 in February.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes Everywhere!

Last night was our 3rd class in the cake decorating class. One more to go. We learned more on how to make roses. After numerous attempts, I finally got it right. All of us were eating our mistakes. LOL Then we learned some drop flowers and how to make a 3D clown to sit on top of a cake. He was cute! But definitely the rose was the hardest thing to master. I got one really right. Next Tuesday is our last class, and I need to practice, practice, practice those roses, because we are going to do our last class, and put a bouquet of roses on the cake we bring in. YIKES!!!!!!!!!! So you know what I'll be doing. A big bowl of icing on my lap and my pastry bags full, and then practice practice practice.
We've figured out that we could have bought two professionally decorated cakes for the price we have paid for all the stuff I've had to buy for the classes. Bah!
On Feb. 7th, I start the fondant and gum paste course. That should be interesting. That will truly be something new.

THE WEDDING! - January 24, 2008

Our daughter, 28, is getting married this June. We've been working on it for the past year, to get everything in place. It seems like the year has passed so fast. She'll be marrying Christopher Smith, who she has been seeing for several years. He is a good guy and we like himvery much. We have her fitting for her gown in March, and I need to get a date from her, so I can schedule that.There are so many details that go into planning a wedding, that I would have hired a wedding planner if I had known how much work was involved. Now that I have done it all, I would never put myself through this again. Luckily we have no other children, so I won't have to go through this again. It has been fun, but it is tiring also. I want to give my daughter the wedding of her dreams, but reality sets in, and we don't have $100,000 to put into the wedding. So we do the best we can, and bless her heart, she goes along with it. I'll add a photo of her in her
wedding gown when we get that picture taken. And a photo of the two of them together.
Annie