November Updates

Howdy Blog Readers....

I have been insanely busy over the last several weeks. Work keeps my extra, extra occupied... and when I am not at work, I am spending some quality time with my two favorite guys. So here are some really quick updates:

 

• Quincy is finally loving swimming lessons! It took about 5 lessons, each one with progressively less clinging and crying... now he is like a fish, and impressing me with every lesson!

• Oh yes, did I mention I am taking online college classes? I am taking an "introduction to business" course, but truth be told... I can't handle it. Not because it is hard... I have aced the papers turned in thus far, and done pretty well... I just don't have the time for it! I know getting my degree (finally) would be great, but I might have to come back and try again when Quincy is a little bit older.
• Birthday festivities are beginning... got my first gift from my mom, the plaid jacket featured on my other blog. I love it. I am going to wear it today when Dan and I go out for a birthday dinner and a little antique-ing. Maybe Dan can take a picture of my all done up :) I will add it later... check back soon!
• Keeping up with the cake decorating classes, and I utterly love it. It is so much fun, and not to boast, but I think I am pretty good at it!
• Dan is hoping to hear soon about a supervisor position he applied for... everyone think good thoughts for him! I know he is the best man for the job, it's just a matter of convincing the right people of it!
• Planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas is in full swing! I have too many things I would like to do, so now it is a matter of narrowing down what exactly I will be doing this year, and what will have to wait... stay tuned!

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween with friends, even though it was not as elaborate as I had hoped to make it... I will just have to save up all those spooky party ideas for next year I suppose. We had just a few friends come over for dinner and then we packed the kids up and drove to the only well lit and sidewalked neighborhood in town... along with everyone else in North Bend!

For weeks we asked Quincy what he wanted to be for Halloween, and the most consistent response recieved was "An Amazing Monster". When I tried to get more details, like what an amazing monster looked like? how many eyes did it have? what color is an amazing monster? etc. the only answer I got was that it was "really, really big". Hmmm. So, instead of risking it and creating a monster costume not to his liking, we instead defaulted to a regular ol' store-bought costume. Batman. Boring, but I guess there will be many more Halloween's to come for me to get super creative.

Don't bug me, dad.

I instead got super creative with my own costumer. I saw a children's costume at  Pottery Barn Kids, and loved it.... a cupcake.  Why couldn't a grown up be a cupcake? I could find no good reason. So I made my own little costume (whipped it up Halloween morning!) and I loved it! People even knew what it was without explaination!

We had a great dinner. My friends helped me create a sppoky meal. Darby took on the "graveyard" meatloaves (she even found little plastic bones to stick in them!), Lisa made the "Bleeding Heart Brie" and I made the Mashed Potatoe Ghosts and Ghouls Gravy. It was a pretty scrumptious meal.

And I wanted to keep practicing my newly learned cake decorating skills, so I decorated a cake for the occasion.

We tortured the children by making them take pictures before trick-or-treating!

And the dad's eyed the loot after trick-or-treating

Snow Queen Lisa, and Hippie-Zombie, Nate (a big change from just an annoying hippie in 2008)

Farmer Darby, and her favorite chicken, Jeremy

I am sorry to say, somehow we did not end up with pictures of our friend "Al"queda.... and Dan, well he was a "party pooper". No, really. No costumer this year. I will work on him for next year.

Two Year Old Available for Rental

I won't say he is for sale... yet, but definitely for rent. And even saying "rent" is a misnomer, because there will be no charges. In fact... we may pay YOU.

At our wits end here at the Williams house. We have not slept an entire night without a third person in our bed in weeks now. Peace typically doesn't arrive until after 10pm. Dan and I have only had "lunch" dates at Subway and Red Robin since August. And to describe Quincy as "high-energy" is putting it mildly.

But don't worry... he will be nothing but adorable for you, we swear it.

P.S. A special "Thank You" to my mom who has taken pity on us, and will actually fly here in December just to give us a quick weekend break. Bless you, sweet mother of mine. Seriously.

Wilton Cake #3

Our final cake for Course #1, and learning to make roses! This was the cake I was most excited for, and I loved making the roses! I think I will make a rose cake at least weekly. Don't worry... I won't actually EAT these cakes, that's what friends and co-workers are for.

Being so close to Halloween I was going for a very dark and Gothic look. I iced it in black (or as close to black as I was able to manage!) and very deep scarlet red roses, with deep, dark green leaves. I also sprinkled some edible black glitter over the top. My original plan was to include some "cake jewelry" some beads dangling from wire up and out of the cluster of roses, but then I decided to go with the "less is more" approach. The cake itself is a three layer Red Velvet cake with pre-made store bought cheesecake filling. 

And fear not, we signed up for Course #2, during which we will learn how to make Royal Icing and other types of flowers, with a grand finale cake: a basket full of flowers!

"Special" Sandbox

There is no mistaking it, fall is upon us and in the Pacific Northwest that means rain, and lots of it. 

Last weekend Quincy wanted to go play in the dirt (um, yes, he is 110% boy). He has all kinds of little tractors and construction vehicles that he likes to dig in the dirt with, and if that is a change from his usual request to watch "Scooby Doo" or "Sponge Bob Square Pants" I am all for it.

With the rainy weather however, even when it is not actually raining, the dirt is quite saturated and not at all conducive to digging.

So last weekend I got creative, and followed a queue from Quincy's daycare.... a rice "sandbox". I found the biggest tupperware I could find, and the remnants of the rice I had and he loved it. He played for quite awhile in his sandbox, and played in it almost everyday this week.

A couple days ago I stepped it up just a little bit... bought a bigger aluminum roasting pan and a very cheap, big bag of rice.

Our floor is nearly always covered with rice, but that is OK, as long as he is happy and using his imagination instead of being glued to the TV! Anyhow... my floors are nearly always a mess anyhow, who am I kidding.