Friday, July 31, 2009

Two weeks until the due date!

Just a quick update on the baby: Today at the doctor I found out I'm 1-2 cm dialated!!! Of course, the baby may still not come for weeks, but at least we're headed in the right direction! It is currently positioned head down (no breech baby at this time--woohoo!). The midwife predicted that it is right around 6 pounds and she highly doubts it will be a big baby. I'll keep you updated as things progress/change!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Last of cakes before baby

This past weekend was the last weekend I accepted any cake orders before the baby comes. I'll probably resume business in September. I'm going to miss the work, but I'm fairly certain I'll be kept busy enough once the baby arrives. I couldn't resist posting some of my favorites.
This cake was for a family reunion/birthday party. Unfortunately the names didn't show up very well in the picture--but to let you know, there were TWELVE brothers and sisters names on the tree! Talk about a big family! Transformers birthday cake.  Hubby let me know this was the mask of the good guys in the movie. I made two cakes for a 40th birthday bash. One was a sheet cake with a raised "40" layer on top. The birthday girl loved designer purses, so that was the inspiration for this cake.
Birthday cake for a biker babe. The husband ordered the cake and took it to her work to surprise her! So sweet!
The request I recieved was for a "half naked man" cake. I didn't even dare to google images for that one, but after some thinking this is what I came up with. Thankfully they loved it!
This summer I've had the joy and honor of making two wedding cakes. The bride LOVED pink--all the details at the reception were pink. This was a white cake with strawberry filling and buttercream icing. I was very pleased with the outcome!
This cake was for one of my college roommates and teammates. It turned out so elegant and fit perfectly with her reception decor. The cake fit her personality perfectly because it looked elegant on the outside, yet the cake itself was playful--green and blue funfetti! This is probably my favorite wedding cake yet.

Hubby's summer project

Hubby's BIG project for the summer has been building a deck on the back of our house. I forgot to take a true "before" picture. There was a small "stoop" directly out the back door that actually covered up the brick steps seen in this picture. In February we replaced the old, broken screen door with the one seen here. Those are the only two changes that have occured at this point. Removing the top step to make way for the new deck. Hubby and his father agreed that removing them was the most difficult part of the process thus far. Apparently whomever built the steps did it very well!
Footers have been poured and the posts are up! The ledger board (attaches the deck to the house) is in place also.

All the framing is finished and the lower/smaller portion of the deck already has decking boards. All the decking boards have been laid! It's still far from finished--there will be wrap around stairs on the lower portion and a railing on the upper part. However, it's finished enough for us to start using! The house shades the deck in the afternoon/evening. It's a perfect dinner spot!
Close-up of the upper portion. Justin did a great job of laying the boards on a 45 degree angle.
Close up of the lower portion.
What can I say?! He does GREAT work!!!

We love the Outer Banks!

We went to Corolla, NC with hubby's family for a week in early/mid July. The weather was PERFECT--not to hot (even for me)! And we managed to make it through our first beach vacation with no sunburn! This is a surprising accomplishment for us. Here is the latest (and not so greatest) family photo of us with Brady. Next family photo will probably be after the baby is born! (FYI...in this picture I'm 4 weeks from the due date!)Brady enjoyed his daily swims! I think most days he ended up going on two or three swims. He has gotten very good at navigating the waves while playing fetch in the water. Poor guy was so sad to come home. This was his typical routine after swimtime. We always hosed him down when we got back from the beach and did our best to dry him...but our bed still ended up quite sandy. I was not a big fan of this part! Still, he did look pretty cute. Here's the house we all shared! There were as many as 18 of us there at one point (I think). I thought that was a big group until we learned that the family next to us on the beach had six houses rented because there were about 60 people in their group!