Cake Decorating--Clown Cake

Well, I completed the clown cake. And I got a little selfish with it, too, because I decorated it all by myself. Oops! :) I guess I'm enjoying this cake thing more than I thought I would. Anyways...so here's the completed cake. It came out alright; though, I wish it was a little higher. But again this is my first attempt.


So, what do you think? Not too bad. After a while the clowns decided they were tired and needed to lay down to rest. Oh, well. It's gonna get eaten anyway!
Next venture...buttercream roses!

Cake Decorating--Gum Paste Flowers

Nicole and I have worked for three days making gum paste flowers. Here's the definition of what gum paste is from Wikipedia: Gumpaste: Edible clay-like dough made by combining glycerin, gum Arabic and icing sugar and used to mold edible flowers and figures. Gum paste can also be rolled extremely thin and used to make intricate ribbons and lacework as well as delicate flower petals.

We made daisies, roses, and apple blossoms.



Here are some different YouTube videos on gum paste in case anyone is interested in trying it out themselves. We bought a Wilton kit for making flowers. It came with a book, petal cut-outs (like cookie cutters), and other equipment. It's been really fun. Next venture...baking and decorating a clown cake.

Cake Decorating--Cupcakes

Lately, Nicole and I have been watching the "cake challenges" on Food Network. So, of course, we decided we wanted to learn some cake decorating. After buying a few things from Hobby Lobby, we set to work. We bought a book that showed us some basic techniques and practiced on cupcakes. Talk about fun! We're addicted now. The boys also decorated a few cupcakes. Since this is Home Ec., we'll count this as school, too. :) Here's our work in pictures:

You can see we make a huge mess, but we have fun doing it. Our next venture...gum paste flowers. Keep checking back with us to see our progress.

Almost End of July Update

We just got back from Corpus Christi/Kingsville area. We had a meeting down there, but we went a day early and stayed a couple of days later to see Keith's mom . It was an interesting visit because the day we got there Josiah comes down with fever, and had it the whole time. We ended up taking him to a doctor there, and he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. Treated it with antibiotics, and he's doing much better.

Then, the day after we get home (which is today) Hurricane Dolly hits south of Kingsville. Thankfully, it was far enough south that his mom is getting lots of rain but not much else. They really needed rain in the area, too. Lots of activity for just a few days.

We have a pretty busy August coming up. We'll be in Louisiana and in San Antonio a lot. We want to take the kids to a cool BBQ restaurant in San Antonio that we saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network. Should be fun.

Well, that's the "almost end of July" update.

Butterflies at the Museum

Today we took the kids to the butterfly center at our museum. It was so cool! There were butterflies all over the place. Nicole tried to "catch" as many as she could, hoping they would sit in her hand. She succeeded a few times. We ate a picnic lunch in our van; it was just too hot to eat outside. Then we went and toured the regular exhibit halls. We became members of the museum last year, so we've toured the exhibit halls a lot. So, we just went to those areas that we really liked. It was a fun day, and we got to see something new!

4th of July 2008

I'm a little late in posting about our holiday, but it's probably the last exciting thing we've done. :) So, here it is...We went to my (Jaime) parents' house, and spent the few days with family. The night before the 4th we went to a Japanese steakhouse where they cook in front of you. Always fun.

On the actual 4th we spent the day swimming, eating BBQ, and popping fireworks. Just a typical 4th of July. Had a great time. Here it is in pictures.

See, wasn't that exciting? :)