December Days- Day 4

A day of focusing on relationships today. Especially that of my two daughters. Their relationship, at best, is more one of tolerating each other, tham hanging out being best friends. Now that being said, every once in a while, they surprise me and actually spend time together, without anyone holding a gun to their heads. Today, while I was a work, the girls actually hung out together for a few hours, each getting a Starbucks favorite  and then heading out to do a bit of shopping. And yes, the photo of the two of them was just to appease their mother, and yes, I did text them and insist they take one, but it was all in the interest of my December Daily Album, so I'm forgiven right? Just a few simple photos from their day today, one from Jordyn's IG, the drinks, and the other from Amy's IG of her sister....and instead of just posting the three individual photos, I decided it would be fun to use this festive Christmas frame from my Instaframe app on my Iphone.

My first outdoor Halloween decorating

I have never been lucky enough to have a front yard to decorate

during the holidays, so when we moved in our new place back in

June, I knew I was going to enjoy Halloween because it would 

mean I could deck out the front yard and stoop with all fun,

spooky things for the trick or treater's to enjoy. 

Today was one of those days where, although it wasn't a

sunny day, at least it wasn't raining like it has been, so

I set out for a few hours of fun and decorating. I figured that

most of the decorations I have collected over the years 

would withstand our climate and after a few hours, I had

what I believe, to be an awesomely decorated yard.

I was so proud of my spooky creation, that I had

Tim snap a picture of me afterwards, just call me

the nice witch on the block, hehehe!!!

The tree just outside our yard allowed me to hang not only

spider webbing, but also some shrunken heads I've had

for a while that I found at the dollar store.

I lined our fence with a string of leaf garland, and then 

topped it with some rubber pumpkins that I had totally

forgotten I had got last year on clearance after Halloween.

Add a few plastic rats and mice, and you already feel

a bit eerie walking up to the front door.

And well, why not be greeted by a scary, gruesome head

just resting on the hedges at the front of the house.

Up at the front of the yard, there is a pirate graveyard, 

protected by the heads of said pirates, protecting their

kin from grave robbers and the like. 

Unfortunately, they didn't do a great job of protecting the

graves and most of the bones have just been scattered

around the site, making a great feeding site for the

cockroaches seen walking along the bones. 

The front stoop is a mixture of things,

with my hanging pirate, my headless

horseman and a bit of witch things, like

straw brooms, a hat and a cauldron

full of eyeballs, and fingers.

Beware the angry, scary black cat that

feels a bit threatened by strangers.

A close up of those pumpkins on the

fence line, they also look a bit questionable

as far as their personalities, as they look a

bit suspicious to me.

I so can't wait until Halloween night, I want

to see those little tricker treaters enjoying the

spooky house and feeling maybe a bit

scared at the same time. Oh the fun of this

special time of year. 

Jordyn's birthday cake

Using the Iphone app called Instaframe, I made a collage

of the stages of making Jordyn's birthday cake for her

19th birthday. I love decorating cakes.

And here's my little secret, I love the decorating process,

I love making something so simple look so elegant, but

I don't like baking cakes from scratch, nor do I have any

success when trying to make icing either. That is why 

Betty Crocker invented easy cake mixes, and then

icing in a jar....see for me, it's the final cake, the

wow factor that makes me happy, and makes the

person receiving it happy as well. It's the making

it as individual as the person its made for, to add

details that will bring a smile to their face that is

well worth the effort of the decorating process.

And well it started the night before with me making

the cake mix (rainbow sprinkle is her favorite) and

dividing it into two round cake tins to bake.

The next day, I spread Smucker's wildberry jam on the

top of the bottom round, then topped with the french

vanilla icing and then smeared it all together, before topping

it with the other round. I then did a layer of icing, but it was

so warm in the house that it was falling off as quickly as I 

was putting it on, and I was getting super frustrated, so into

the fridge it went for 30 minutes for cool down.

In that time, I took all the roses (purchased two 

silk bouquets from the dollar store) and then once

I had seperated the flowers and leaves from the

stems, I took a wet cloth and washed each and

every piece that would be going on the cake, yes

it is an important thing to remember when using non

edible things on a cake, make sure they are clean.

Once the icing had cooled down, I finished spreading it, then

a simple technique I used to dimple it is to just use a butter 

knife and tap up and down, pulling some icing up as you go.

For someone like me with limited cake decorating skills, I find

it less stressful then trying to get that perfect smooth icing finish.

I then just added leaves, and alternating rose colors until I liked

how the cake looked, and since I know roses are one of her

favorite flowers, I knew she would love her cake, and she did.

Happy 19th birthday to my baby girl.

Love you lots xoxo

My birthday weekend

Loving my family on our trip to Whistler for my birthday this year. And all these pictures are out in the wonderful, beautiful outdoors!

Sunny Sunday

Finally a sunny Sunday to get out and enjoy some fresh air.

For Tim's early birthday gift, we got him a RC buggy and he

wanted to go out for some boony bashing. We headed out the

the Industrial Area on the Langley/Surrey border and had fun

playing and getting a bit dirty.

I'm a scrabble dork

I love scrabble, and lately Jordyn and I have been having nightly games and I am having so much fun...and yes, I even have the official Scrabble dictionary...Tim said I was a super dork when I bought it....lol...here's some pictures from tonight's game.