How to make a Lego Star Wars Cake

*First, bake three 9" round triple chocolate cakes and 1 triple chocolate sheet cake and let cool overnight
*Shave off the tops of all the cakes until they are level
*Throw away the half of the cakes that you just shaved off
*Layer round cakes with chocolate icing
*Reposition so that your level cakes which apparently aren't level look level and place on cardboard circle
*Cut sheet cake into lego blocks and set aside
*Get ready to frost circle cake with butter cream icing to prepare for the fondant
*Realize that you didn't buy butter cream icing, you bought cream cheese icing
*Decide to make your own butter cream icing
*Realize that you don't have any shortening
*Run to mother in laws house and borrow shortening
*Return to house and begin to make icing
*Cry when motor on hand blender blows out
*Whip icing by hand
*Realize that you are 1/2 cup short on powdered sugar to finish the icing that you are whipping by hand
*Call sister in law and beg her to bring you some powdered sugar
*Finish icing and frost cakes, set cakes aside
*Prepare fondant
*Realize that you don't have enough blue fondant and blend with the white fondant for 15 minutes
*Roll out fondant and place on prepared round cake
*Poke giant hole in fondant with fingernail
*Pull fondant off of cake, throw away pieces with icing on them, roll out again and replace on cake
*Put in laundry room so that children don't destroy it
*Start on lego cakes
*Roll out fondant, cover cake, realize it doesn't look anything like a lego block
*Start over
*Create 3 lego cakes
*Realize that they only look okay but you can't do any better
*Wish that your cousins were here to bail you out
*Start on marshmallow pegs for lego
*Throw away marshmallow pegs and start again
*Cry
*Start on marshmallow pegs one more time
*Throw away marshmallow pegs and make pegs out of fondant
*Wonder what idiot came up with marshmallows for pegs
*Put cake together
*Realize that you've let your children play the Wii for 4 hours
*Get over it and take a bath

My blessing

Exactly 7 years ago today I was blessed with an amazing and healthy little boy named Nathanael. We prayed so hard for him, and are so thankful for our oldest boy. Here are some fun facts about him.

1) He LOVES lego and is currently trying to come up with something new so Lego can box it and sell it in the store.
2) He is a fantastic artist
3) His favorite books are Magic Tree House books
4) His favorite color is pink
5) He loves fishing, hunting and cuddling
6) He can sing really well if he tries, and really horribly if he doesn't
7) He's mine!!

Here it is!!!

Ventriloquism

One of my favorite child hood memories of when I was a little girl is of this favorite video that my sisters and I used to watch all the time. It was of a totally hilarious ventriloquist with a cowboy puppet (and a sock puppet, and a hand puppet). And the Debbie GIibson song "I think we're alone now" was connected somehow, too. This guy was AWESOME! I wish I could get a hold of some of his stuff to show my kids, Heidi help me here - what's his name?

Anyhooo.

Today, for our summer reading program they brought in a ventriloquist.

He was funny.

And silly.

And apparently inspiring.

My children now want to be just like him.

Funny thing, when kids all try to talk like a ventriloquist at the same time it's not nearly as annoying as talking regular at the same time.

I'm just saying is all.

Happy Birthdays!

Today we have Lili's birthday party, but her actual birthday is on Wednesday. Nathanael's birthday is Thursday, but he wanted to have a party with grandma and grandpa before they left. Here is a pic of my 15 min star wars cupcakes - let's hope the ones for his actual party are better!



Almost 7 years old!


Here are some fun pictures of Jodi's spur of the moment green birthday. And yes, that is a grown woman hitting a pinata!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Fathers Day to the man that I married almost 13 years ago! I love you so much, and you are such an amazing daddy! I couldn't ask for a better father for our children. In honor of your day, here are 8 fun facts about you (one for every year that you've been a dad):

1) You knew who all of our children were before we met them. Even though we never had a sonogram to find out boy or girl, you knew every time - and called them by their names while I was pregnant!
2) You wrestle with the kids almost every day - even when you're tired. And it means so much to them, especially Nathanael.
3) There is no doubt in Carlye's mind that she is your princess
4) The boys admire you so much that they want to be just like you when they grow up
5) You have always put our family above everything else that you do. Work and play.
6) You plan vacations and special things to do with our kids that they will remember forever
7) Every night you read the Bible, pray and sing to our kids. Not very many men do that!
8) You have managed to make all our children feel as though they are your favorite, loved them and disciplined them when the time indicates, and you have never let them or me down!

For Father's Day the kids picked their own gifts for their dearest dad:
Carlye gave him a Mythbusters book (The Explosive truth behind 30 of the most perplexing urban legends of all time)
Nathanael gave him a Darth Vader card with $1 in it (that he raised himself!)
Noah gave him a bag of gummy bears
And I gave him a night at the Hyatt. Selfish, I know.

And Happy Fathers Day to my Dad (who is here with us), my Father in law, and my Popi. I love you all very much!



The kids gave grandpa his birthday/Father's day presents all at one time. He received a:

Talking picture frame that says we love you grandpa
A Texas tie (like no other!)
An owl Webkinz
and.....
A frog Webkinz

My kids think Webkinz are pretty awesome, in case you can't tell.
So what better gift to give the people you love?

Happy Father's Day to Michael, Greg, Ben, Brandon, Andy, and Chris! Love you all, and I'm so blessed to have such amazing brother in laws who are fantastic dad's too!

33 things about Jodi

Happy Birthday, Jodi! In honor of your special day I decided to make a list of 33 things about you! Enjoy!

1) She has a fabulous singing voice
2) She takes ok pictures
3) Her hair is beautiful
4) She's always late (from Carl)
5) She loves the color green (ha-ha)
6) She has three awesome kids (Carl says that's just because of David)
7) She puts up with David (from Cari)
8) She's a true friend - one you can fight with and still love each other later
9) Her salads are the best (from mom and Carl)
10) She has a servants heart
11) She is very compassionate
12) She's a good sport when she loses Sing-Star to the stinky boys (from Carl - I added the last part)
13) She will sit with you when you are sad, and not care if you say anything at all
14) She watches musicals with me
15) She's fun to shop with
16) She has a flair for the dramatic
17) She can't have any sea food (from Carl)
18) She is NOT a morning person - at all, even a little bit, ever
19) Alone time is the most valuable thing you can give her
20) She gives her daughter pedicures, and even soaks her feet!
21) She loves to watch I love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke show
22) She comes up with totally crazy things to do - AND THEN DOES THEM!
23) She is faithful. Even when it's hard.
24) She gets my humor, and can almost always make me laugh
25) She knows EVERYBODY! And even likes most of them.
26) She doesn't like small spaces and loud noises - especially together
27) If a musical broke out around her in real life it would be a dream come true
28) When a snake crawls on her it will take all of her self control not to hurt the people around her
29) She will come over and help you clean your house when you are overwhelmed and act as though she enjoys it
30) She takes time to enjoy her children
31) She has beautiful brown eyes
32) My kids believe that she is really their aunt, and they all know that they are her favorite!
33) She is who she is. And for that I am truly thankful. (Which also means that she is older than me - hahahahahaha!)

Dear Friends

Today the world lost an amazing person. A dear friend of mine and a woman I love and admire passed away unexpectedly after a motorcycle accident. We are sad, but are thankful to have known her. Please pray for her husband, and two children - one a sophomore in College and one who will be a senior in High School this year. There are no words to explain this, or describe what an amazing legacy she leaves behind. She will be missed dearly.

Please Pray

I will not be blogging for a few days. We are so blessed and excited to have my mom and dad coming to visit and spend 10 days with us! However, that is not why I will not be blogging. A friend of mine was in a motorcycle accident yesterday with her husband. Their injuries are very serious, and they need all the prayer they can get. Please forgive my brief absence.

You know you're a red neck......

Tuesday night my hubby and I went on a double date. As all good dates do, we ended at Wal-Mart to pick up some shampoo, since no one had washed their hair in our house for at least 3 days. My husband had detoured to look at something or other, and left me alone on the shampoo aisle, which up until now I thought was a safe thing to do. As I was looking the shampoos over, a wild cart came careening around the corner with two rather short (I was taller, I think) young men attached to it. Right before they hit me the driver corrected and stated, "Sorry bout that, my crazy ex-wife tried to kill me last night" with a Texas drawl. As witty as this comment was, I couldn't seem to form an appropriate come back, other than complete shock. As they went on down the aisle his friend stated, "That ain't a good pick up line."

Believing the incident to be over, I went about my shopping.

The two then stared at me while I looked at t-shirts as they rode by on their cart (yes, rode.)

And then, sadly enough, I ended up in the check out line behind them.

My friend and I were having a very serious conversation about a high stress topic, so we didn't notice in time to do something about it. All of a sudden Mr. Red neck Casanova turned around and said, "Are ya having fun yet?"

"Yes," I said, "we're having a great time." ???????

"Well, I dunno what yer talking about, but I turned round and ye jest looked so serious."

Again, what do you say to this?

"That's because we're having a very serious conversation." I informed him, hoping to discourage him for good.

We continued talking. He then proceeded to check out, and inform the lady that he knew all 'bout Wal-Mart 'cause he used to work their nights, while throwing a proud look our direction. When that didn't impress me he expounded a little bit more on the amazing things that he did as a Wal-Mart employee, and looked very crushed and surprised when he left without a word of encouragement from me.

I wonder what he thought when he saw me go to the bench at the front of the store and start holding hands with a 6 ft 6 guy before walking out?

I guess we'll never know.

Nathanael "Bear Grylls" Pfiester

My son believes that he is Bear Grylls from "Man vs Wild." While fishing with his Uncle David the other day he voluntarily chose to eat a fishes eye ball. He said that it is crunchy and tastes a little bit like strawberries. He also used his newly acquired pocket knife to assist in the building of a raccoon and frog trap, respectively. He has been taught how to correctly use and handle his knife, and therefore does his best to use it accordingly. However, he made a bad choice yesterday that was hilariously funny. Daddy and Uncle D were outside admiring Daddy's new barbacue pit. As Daddy expounded on the wonderful virtues of his new toy or oldest son snuck out the back door, with adventure on his mind and an overwhelming desire to use his new pocket knife. And then Nathanael saw it. The perfect inanimate object to stab to death. He quietly snuck up to it, and then jumped and stabbed it with all of his might. Sadly, it was the box containing the new canvas cover for his daddy's new barbacue pit. Carl screamed, and Uncle D ran, laughing hysterically, around the side of the house. Once Daddy realized what had happened he had to stifle his own giggles (all while listening to David laughing on the other side of the house), and discipline our little adventurer. Sadly, he has lost his pocket knife privilege for a few days, and will hopefully be all the wiser for the experience.

What the heck day is this?

Today I am happy because my children (especially Noah) have been crying and pouting and feeling sorry for themselves because they miss their Dutch-a-rific and Aunt Pammy.

Why does this make me happy?

Because not everyone has someone that they love enough to miss.

We are very blessed indeed.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

Today strawberry pancakes with home made strawberry syrup make me happy. Especially since I made it myself!

Driving my nephew and my sister to the airport doesn't.

On a side note, my little sister wanted me to let you all know that Noah is "Bringing sexy back."

Berry Picking

We went berry picking today, and it was so much fun! We went to Marburger Orchards here in Fredericksburg, and picked blackberries and strawberries. We had such a neat time. The kids loved picking the blackberries, and found some really giant ones hanging on the bottom of the bushes (where us old people are too old to bend over and pick!). The prickles were annoying, but the berries were sooo worth it. Each of the kids had their little pails or buckets, and picked to their hearts content. Abigail was hilarious because she kept picking the berries and eating them as fast as she possibly could. Dutch thought that is was just okay - and was very sad when he kicked the briars. Amazingly enough, though, the kids loved it - scratches and all. Carlye even said that she would rather pick blackberries then strawberries.

After we had picked our fill of the blackberries we went and picked strawberries. That is so much easier then blackberry picking, and we ended with with way too many! We shared with some of our friends because there was so much more then we could eat. It was such a neat thing to go and do, and I definitely want to go and do it again before their season is over.

"I loved the berry picking, the strawberries, 'cause it was cool." - Noah

More pictures below:

"I loved the blackberries when we go to pick 'em. 'cause they're yummier and you're not in the sun like you are with the strawberries. The big bushes give you shade." - Carlye

"My favorite thing was that I almost got the most and they were yummy." - Nathanael

Berry Picking

Today, berry picking makes me happy (but not Dutch so much).......

Day #?

Today pedicures make me happy.

Especially taking my daughter to get one and having her paint her nails lime green. They're hilarious.

And the fact that Noah calls Dutch "the little one."

And how much Nathanael loves his new pocket knife.

7,000 words (I think)

2,000 words

Today my piano is what makes me happy.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words:

Underwear make an awesome swimsuit

Today many things make me happy - including the beautiful pink roses my husband gave me, cuddling with Dutchie last night while he slept, and being a mom.

In other news, we went swimming today and upon arrival my youngest son announced that he can't find his swimsuit.

When he made this announcement he was naked.

And he was standing by the pool.

And their were GIRLS there (he says they aren't girls, they're just his cousins, but still)

And.......

He didn't care.

At first I thought that this was quite possibly an attempt at swimming in the buff, but upon further investigation it was revealed that his swimsuit was, in fact, missing. The reason this is strange is because yesterday after we went swimming at Nani's he took off his swimsuit and rash guard and hung them up on the hooks in the shower house.

Today, all we could find was the rash guard, so there is either a really handsome raccoon running around somewhere or my son has forgotten where he actually put his swimsuit.

I vote for #2.

For lack of anything else to swim in I encouraged him to put on his sisters extra swim bottoms, which he politely declined with a "No way am I wearing those, I'll just swim naked." Since this was, indeed, not an appropriate alternative, we went for our second option.

Swimming in our underwear.

They actually went really well with his rash guard. And Noah was pleased as punch to be different. He even wore them backwards and didn't care at all. It was definitely a sight to behold.

I must say, this is why we don't swim in a public pool.

Looking back, there are many things that I would do differently, but I really only have one regret. And that is........that I didn't have a camera.

Don't you wish you had a Noah, too?

Today I am happy because

Today I am happy because my kids are home for the summer, my husband loves me, and my Dutchie and Pammy are here!!

Another journal entry from Carlye:

Dear Mrs. Harrison,
I hope you had a good weekend. Oh and guess what! My nani's pool is almost done. And mom said nanis rich you can ask her for anything. But she was just kidding. She even has a hot tub and an outside shower. And a nother yard it's awesome. you would like it to. Oh and don't tell anyone this cause my mom said. Next Monday I get to go to haeritage for one day to try it out! I'm so excited!
Your student,
Carlye

Mrs. Harrison answered with "Good luck at Heritage. I will not say a word about what your mom said! I know she was teasing!

Remind me to watch what I say to my kids!!