Molly's birthday cake

Molly had a beach theme for her birthday and the cake went along.

Me making the water and the sand

Almost done, sea life secured....
Finished, but I later added the palm trees and a crab.....note the sand bar. Very authentic!!

Party at school, fun with Elizabeth, cake with family

After the crazy fun on Molly's birthday at home, Molly continued the fun the rest of her day. I went to her classroom that afternoon and brought (was else) Pinkalicious cupcakes. Her friends all sang happy birthday and scarfed down a ton of frosting!! That afternoon, we headed over to her monkey friend Elizabeth's house for a little more present opening. Elizabeth couldn't make it to the party, but wanted to celebrate anyway, so sweet!! Finally, we capped the day off with a SMALL cake from Wegman's, just to make sure we completed our sugar allotment for the day. What a fun 24 hours that was!!!!

Molly with her table friends, listening to the singing....

Molly and Miss Dischinger, both eating cupcakes!!
At Elizabeth's house, looking at the card that comes with stickers!!

Opening a new doll, perfect for the Barbie bus!!!

Singing again, more cupcakes from Wegman's, what a lucky girl
Molly and Elizabeth :)
Mini Wegman's cake - these are fabulous!!
Molly and Mommy - blowin' out the candle!

Molly turns 6!!

Wednesday, Molly turned 6 years old, something hard for me to believe!! The morning was a flurry of unwrapping presents and having breakfast, all before school. Here is some of what happened....

Molly gets new Fancy Nancy books

One of her FAVORITE presents - a veterinarian dress up outfit, complete with dog sporting a bandage!

Dave wonders if purple makes him look fat.....

Second most favorite present.....night vision goggles

See what I mean??
Not knowing what this is......oh, it's coming!!!!
The Barbie bus and all of it's furniture and accessories....this was mine when I was a kid, so you know it's old!!!
My favorite birthday photo :) I love my girl!!!

How to build a gingerbread house

1) Have three enthusiastic children

2) Buy kit from craft store

3) Use lots of frosting glue

4) Have hoards of candy to stick on

5) Tell children not to eat candy that has no doubt been in box since the Cold War

6) Display and enjoy!!!!

Potter's last piano recital - at the mall

The video is almost a minute long, so I am not posting it, but Potter performed at his last piano recital this past weekend at the mall (center court, no less, right next to the Santa display) and did a fantastic job! The decorations were beautiful, so I got a couple pictures of the kids.

Reading Pinkalicious!!

At the library last week, we checked out Pinkalicious, Purplicious, and Goldilicious - the trifecta!! Had to read with the kids by the fire!!

Cookie Exchange 2010

The sixth annual Wendy and Lin cookie exchange was held this past Sunday afternoon. As Wendy and I had planned, it snowed a lovely white layer of fluff during the early morning to set the holiday mood!! Dave and I also put up the tree, with decorating courtesy of Caleb, Molly and Potter. The outside lights were up, the reindeer firmly planted in the front yard - truly festive!! This year we had 10 wonderful women mix, chop, melt a variety of ingredients to bake dozens of different cookies, all amazingly tastiful beyond belief! Spending a few hours eating snacks, sampling cookies, having a glass of wine and hosting a holiday trivia throwdown makes for a nice segue into the Christmas holiday. Enjoy the pics, try not to drool on the keyboard!

Mary Ann Beukema (Cathy's mom), Cathy, Lin

Mary Ann, Cathy, Wendy

This, dear friends, is what 90 (NINETY) dozen cookies looks like. Remember, stop slobbering.

For those of you who would like to know, these are the cookies that are represented this year:

French Waffles, Cherry Almond Chews, Double Dark Chocolate Thumbprints, Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pecan Butter Balls, Cranberry Orange Cookies, Pizzelles, Pecan Shortbread, Chocolate Cashew Teacakes, Double Chocolate and Caramel Bars. OMG!!!

Molly and Steph

Our table of snacks and cookies for sampling. It seems some interlopers were caught in the picture....

Another shot of us eating, but Molly finding the right angle for the camera

Lin, trying to stump everyone with holiday trivia, especially Steph, who apparently had been studying up for the challenge!! It worked, she did win a prize again this year.....