My new cakes

My friend's daughter Abby turned 1 last week and I made her cakes for her party. The little cake was French Vanilla with buttercream frosting and purple edible glitter. The big cake is supposed to look like her favorite toy which is the Leapfrog Violet dog. Half of the cake if chocolate and the other half is French Vanilla. I used tootsie rolls for the eyes, nose and mouth. The rest is covered in fondant. It came out really cute and very yummy!

Smash cake

Cake next to the real thing
(The indent is from the candle)

Biggest Loser/Jillian Michaels Live Taping

The Biggest Loser with Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper came to Camp Pendleton today for a live taping. The episode will air on November 2nd. Watch for me suffering! I went with some girlfriends and we all worked out with the contestants. Jillian and Bob are very tough. They really pushed some marines pretty hard! It was fun cheering them on. I love Jillian and use her tape The 30 Day Shred for my current weight loss struggle. It works as long as you keep it up!

Bob sitting on top of a Marine

Jillian and Bob pushing a Marine

Jillian pushing a Marine wife (yay not me!)

Here they come!

Nancy, Erin, Kathy, and me. We survived!

Our Vacation Posts

Whew! I finally finished posting all the vacation pictures. The twins and I took off for NC on June 9th with my friend's daughter Britnie as my helper. Britnie had also become good friends with Amber so she spent the 3 weeks we were in NC with them. I went to Jacksonville first to check on our house. Love our renters. They are in their 2nd year and may be there 2 more. I hope they stay. Stayed with our friends the Pfeiffers and got to see Tanya and Susan. After Jacksonville I spent a couple days at Lance and Gail's house. We had a BBQ while there so the entire family could come together. Then I went to my dad's house. Grandma Mildred came over every day. We had a Father's Day BBQ with Lance and fam. Did some shopping. Then after Dad's house I went to Mom's. My stepsister Cheryl was there almost the whole time I was with her 3 kids so it was busy. We went to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh. The twins and I went to church with Mom on Sunday. I didn't take 10 minutes for us to vacate the sanctuary and retreat to the nursery! My last 2 days was spent running around and seeing some other people. I went to Raleigh and saw my long lost friend Kristy and her gorgeous new baby boy Layne. I also stopped to see my friend Marie (who I met in CA and she now lives in RAleigh!). Then I got to spend a few hours with my Uncle Craig at his house. He showed off his trains to Eli (Luci was sleeping) and then let them play with the Thomas trains he has for his grandids. Dan flew in on a Wednesday and we spent the afternoon with my dad and Peggy and then we had dinner with my mom and Lance and fam. Thursday morning we took off in a car with the twins and Britnie for a 15 hour drive to Maine. While in Maine we spent almost every day by the pool, visited Cabelas, went to see lighthouses, and just spent time together. I'm still exhausted!! It was hard to make sure that everyone got equal time but it was worth it for the twins. All the hard work was for them to be able to spend quality time with family. So that made it all worth it. Enjoy the next 8 posts! Each visit has their own entry and there a bunch of pictures! I took over 500!

East Coast Vacation-Lighthouses

We all went to see some lighthouses while in Maine. Wanted to make sure Britnie really got to see some Maine history. The majority of the Maine coastline is all rock. So we went to see 2 lighthouses and walked on the rocks for a little while. The twins wanted down of course while we were on the rocks but it was safe for them. That of course, really ticked off Luci! After that though the rest of the afternoon was great!

Mom and Dad

Eli checking out the rocks

Me and Luci

Scoping out a pool

A Happy Family!

East Coast Vacation-4th of July

We spent the 4th of July at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. After stuffing ourselves on pier fries and pizza (pier fries are crinkle cut fries soaked in vinegar-Yum!) we headed down to the beach to wait for the fireworks. It was so crowded we couldn't get a spot in the sand but we still had a good spot. This was the twins first view of fireworks. Eli was full of "oohs" and kept pointing at the sky. Luci was scared at first but Nancy got her calmed down and she got into to it too! Happy 4th everyone!

Happy 4th!

Oooohhh!

Aaaaahhh!

Enjoying yummies!

Mmmm-donut holes!

East Coast Vacation-Mom/Dad Raymond

We spent our last week of vacation in Maine. Dan met me in NC and then we drove up to Maine. We were shocked that the kids were perfect on a 15 hour drive! I think I was more impatient then they were! Britnie went with us too. I think she was glad to get out of the car! We spent every day in the pool. Eli started out as the fish in NC but turns out Luci is the fish! She loved the pool and even started jumping off the steps. We really had to watch her. Lots of family stopped by to say HI. Luci was definitely Pepere's girl. She always went to him (when we could get her out of the pool!). Both of them took to Steve and Aunt Weezie which really made us happy. We went to Old Orchard Beach for fireworks and took Britnie to see lighthouses. It was unusually hot for Maine but the pool offered some relief. We had a great time!

Fish Face!

Cousin Mellanie

Our floaties

Aunt Weezie

Uncle Steve

East Coast Vacation-Marbles Kids Museum

Mom wanted to take all the kids to the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, NC. It was so much fun! Even the twins had a blast. There were so many things for kids to do there. There were giant games, a story area, dress up area, Splash Zone, outside garden, huge pirate ship they could climb on, a Lego area where the legos were the size of shoe boxes, an area where you could build your own car and race it, arts and crafts, an area where older kids could use real tools, and so much more. The bigger kids had a hockey rink where you could wear special socks and "skate" around the hockey rink. There was also a soccer area. The twins found a wall where you could push buttons and start music and they started dancing. They had some moves I've never seen! Next to that area was a play kitchen with fake foods. We fixed Eli and Luci "plates" and they sat at a table with their trays. Eli would take a "bite" of his "bagel" and say "mmmm" and then dip it in his fake milk. Even us big kids got out there and played. Great-grandma even climbed up to the top of the pirate ship! All the kids had a good time.

Top of pirate ship

Splashing

Everyone together

Giant chess game

Giant Connect Four game

East Coast Vacation-Mom's house

We spent our last week in NC at my mom's house. It was a very busy week! My stepsister Cheryl came down with her 3 kids, the youngest 4 months old! They stayed for 5 days. The twins had fun playing with their cousins. They spent a lot of time outside playing in their pool and the sandbox that grandma got for them. Eli helped Grampy Werter in the dirt moving rocks. Luci took a tumble on the sidewalk (I now call her cute crocs "death crocs" since they are always tripping her up) and scraped lip and her forehead and ended up with a bruise and a bump. It matched the skinned knee she already had from the same sidewalk! Eli had his own scare when he fell face first into the sandbox and came up choking on sand. Cheryl and I had to rush him to the bathroom and flush him out. We all went to the Marbles Kids Museum (pictures in the post above) - excellent idea Grandma! Even Great-grandma went with us. The twins attended church with their grandparents on Sunday but we retreated quickly to the nursery when they didn't want to sit still. Great-grandma and I took the twins over to see Uncle Craig and his trains. Luci was asleep and missed out on the big trains. But they both got to play with the Thomas set that was just their size. Very busy and very fun week.

Our sandbox is cool Grandma!

Helping Grampy

Hanging out on the front porch

Our matching outfits (and Luci's bump!)

East Coast Vacation-Father's Day

We got to spend Father's Day with my dad. Unfortunately the twins didn't get to spend it with their dad but they got to spend it with Grandpa! Lance and Gail and kids came and we BBQ'ed burgers and dogs. The twins played in their pool for awhile and then wandered around the backyard. It's been a long time since I've spent Father's Day with my dad and I loved it. I miss you!

All the grandkids

Still the grillmaster

Pool time!

Father/son knuckleheads!

Wandering around

East Coast Vacation-Dad's house

The twins and I spent a week with Dad and Peggy. Dad and Eli were inseparable as always. Eli helped Dad mow the yard. Luci had fun helping Peggy throw laundry in the washer. She even learned to throw her own diaper in the trash! We had fun playing in the baby pool and playing with all the toys they bought for the twins to play with. Peggy and I went to thrift stores and flea markets hunting for deals. And we found some! I had to ship 2 boxes home! Grandma Mildred came over every day to see the babies. She enjoyed holding them all day last year. This visit was much different because they are so much bigger. I think she still had a good time watching them play though.