Stained Glass Cross Cake

I liked the way the colors turned out. There are a few things I'd do different next time. But I think it looks pretty. I'm going to take this cake to class tomorrow night. Our church friends will like it.

Easter Cupcakes

Easter Cupcakes for tomorrow. They are Vanilla Bean from Fresh & Easy. I saw it and thought that would be yummy. It was fun and pretty easy with the new tip. Hope they taste good too.

Hamburger Cake

Chris and I were having a BBQ for some friends and I thought it would be funny to make a Hamburger cake. I think it turned out pretty good.. I just copied one off the internet. The cheese and pickles are fondant, so everything was edible. And there are real sesame seeds on top.

At tomorrows class we are suppose to make a football, but I'm going to see if I can do and Easter Egg.. Same shape.. We'll see. :)

Clown Cake 3-23-10

So here is todays cake.. I was a little worried when I heard we were doing clowns, but they turned out really cute. All climbing all over the cake.. it's fun. I plan on taking it to FPU class tomorrow night. Hope they like it. The inside is Confetti cake.

St. Patty's Day Cake-Totally Un-edible!

So it's a long story, but one I saved for the blog and not facebook.

I forgot my icing that I made last night at 11pm (argh!) and had to buy some at class. My teacher gave me what I needed, I had a terrible time with it (cursing, the whole bit) and finally finished the cake. I HAD planned on taking the cake to Lighspeed to be consumed but at the checkout counter the other lady discovered why I was having such a hard time. I wasn't using regular icing, I was using icing concentrate. So needless to say, Lightspeed won't be getting this cake, nor will anyone but the trash can.. Too bad, it is very cute.

So tech learned today was tracing with an edible marker onto rice paper and then transferring it on to the cake and coloring it in with colored piping gel. Never done any of that before, so that was really fun.. and we learned some other stuff to smooth out spatula lines, etc.

A couple of Cakes

I haven't posted here in awhile, so here are a couple of cakes I've made. Susie graduated from Surgical Tech school and Lauren had a birthday. I'm learning as I go and my writing isn't so great, but practice makes perfect.

My New Hobby

I signed up for a Cake decorating class today. I'm so excited about it. Finally something for me to do that's creative and cute at the time of year when my kids get older. I've always wanted to take a class, but never really wanted to do the Michael's class.. I want to take it where it feels serious, not like I have to hurry up and get out because there's going to be a scrapbooking class or sewing class in 30 minutes. Anyway, so it's a Cake Crafters, but doesn't start until March. Also, to achieve this, Mrs. Vikki (Alex's daycare) has an opening 2 days a week for Lauren to start attending. I think it's time for her. She's been going to a friend, but it's on the opposite side of town and makes my round trip of dropping off and entire hour in the car. .. Not fuel efficient at all. So, although I will miss Tina and she will miss Lauren "Bejourin" (or "Sister Sludge" or "Sister Sue") it will be better for my gas tank.

It's a new Chapter for all of us.

In other news: I booked 3 weddings in a week. I have a good feeling about 2010.. I hope it keeps up.. I have another meeting tomorrow night and I got a call today who just booked me right over the phone. She was referred by a bride's mom and knew she wanted us, so that was that. It was great! I also booked a wedding on my next anniversary. A little different for us, but it's 11 years and we are going to be at the beach the weekend before shooting another wedding, so we'll spend some time at the beach alone and call it good. The couple is super nice and I'm honored to share my anniversary with them. Their boy is super cute too. Clayton. What a cute name!!

I'll post pics of my cakes as time goes by. And we started Financial Peace University again tonight. It's going to be refreshing to do it again.

Facebook

...has ruin my blogging.. Sorry family. It's very hard to blog here when facebook is so easy.. Post pictures is also easier. I'll try to be better. Besides, my blog is how I remember what I do all year so I can write my Xmas letter. Ugh.

Story relating to Rachel's FB

Yesterday we (me & the kids) were driving in a parking lot going to the party store. Alex say, "that's a big truck mama". I say, "that's a money truck" (brinks) then I say. "Alex the men that drive that truck carry guns." (knowing that he loves guns) He say, "wow".

Two minutes later, we park in front of Party City and are going to get out, but Alex won't get out because the Brinks truck also pulled up to Party City and he was now afraid that we would all be shot. :) too funny. So I said, stay here, I'll get a basket, get Lauren and then come back for you... No, this was not flying. He wanted me to stand right there in his doorway til the big money truck drove away. It was very cute. We all went in the store and never got shot. Got ripped off, but not shot..

So, other Party City news. Lauren fell out of the basket and hit the floor. Considering that I've been fighting her strong will for about a month about not standing in the basket, I'm sort of glad it finally happened. ...and that she didn't get hurt.. I hope she will learn from that and stay sitting down. Luckily she fell in such a way that she barely cried. When Alex fell out at Wal-Mart, he hit in a very different way that was pretty scary. But he did learn.

But other news about Alex.... Ever since he came home from being gone for 3 days, we're having such trouble with him. He's trying to run the show, talking back to us (and with a nasty tone) and we're just about done with it. I know that there's an adjustment period any time kids go away for a bit and then come home to the rules they all hate, but Lord help me!!! So, I guess our readjustment period will just take a bit longer than we had hoped. I have to remind myself to stay calm. Not so easy when you're tired.

Our room is coming along (slower than I would like). I'm putting what furniture I can back by myself, but will need Chris for the larger pieces (hopefully tonight). I like the color and the carpet didn't get as clean as we would have liked, but it feels cleaner. Maybe next year we'll just take out the carpet. who knows?

Have a good day friends and family.

Xmas Presents

Thank you to everyone who gave us presents. I wasn't sure who gave Alex the Thomas the Train blanket, but that was really cute and he loves watching TV with it. And.. so fitting cause I'm going to do his bday party in Thomas.

I don't know about you all, but I'm glad that Xmas is over. We had a wonderful time, but the preparation is just so much and our house always gets destroyed in the process.. And... we don't eat properly through the whole thing, which gets expensive. So, now begins the cleaning of the house, organizing all the stuff, putting the xmas stuff back in the garage, etc.

We have some other projects planned for this week that Chris is off. Today is a fun day. No work yet.. I'm having breakfast with a friend I haven't seen in a long time and when I get home, Chris is going golfing (in the fog) and then to hang with co-workers for happy hour courtesy of one of the bosses. I think while he does that, I'll take the kids to have the car aligned. the alignment is so off that if I let go of the wheel for 1 second, the car will change lanes (not exaggerating). It made for a very tiring trip to Fresno and Hanford. My left arm is sore. So, even though we are broke, it has to be fixed.

We are also going to move everything out of our bedroom and paint the walls and clean the carpets. Next weekend. We're going to take the kids to my moms and hopefully get the project done fast. We'll see how it goes. We don't even know what color we want. All we know is that we want to go lighter.

well, I'm rambling, so I'm going to go get ready for my breakfast. Have a wonderful day, family. I put pictures on Fb, but I can put some here later.

Alex is Funny

Two stories:

Today we were cleaning the backyard of dead leaves, etc. I found a worm and we were looking at it. (I had gloves of course and alex wouldn't touch it)

Me: Alex, where does the worm live?

Alex: In the dirt.

Me: What does the worm eat?

Alex (With a very cute smile and adorable eyes...says)

"Not Roni Mac Cheese."

Chris and I died laughing.

Story two:

I was putting some left over food away and Alex said, "mama, put tape on it"

It took me a minute but he wanted me to put plastic wrap on it. :) That's funny!

More Funny Quotes

Scene set up:

Alex is in bed "talking" to Chris before bedtime. He wants to "talk" now because "praying" means he has to go to sleep. I'm in the living room on the couch.

Chris: Lacey, Alex has a question for you.

Lacey: What's up Alex?

Alex: Mama, you have a weenie?

Lacey: No, I don't have a weenie. :)

Alex: Mama, you have a butt?

Lacey: Yes, Alex mama have a butt.

Alex: Mama, I have weenie. I have a butt too.. ... Mama!, dada have a BIG weenie!

Lacey (Giggling): Yes, Alex, dada have a big weenie. Now, good night. I love you.

Chris: Just grinning.

toooooo funny!

Funny Quote From Alex

so Alex and Lauren are in the tub last night and Alex says with lots of pointing, "mama have little nose, baby runnin have little nose, alex have little nose, dada have big nose!"

LOL gotta love it!

Mother Bear

I wasn't sure if I should put this on Outrage or my own blog, but here it is.

I had my first official "Mother Bear" moment Sat. night in the parking lot going to a free (lightspeed) Condor Game. In short, an elderly man and woman (yes, elderly) decided that they would park their car right next to us while we were tying to unload sleeping children. Mind you there were about 100 other parking spaces on that level. But it wasn't really their decision to park there that made me mad; it was that she got out of the car, yelled at me to hurry up all the while he continued to back into the space where my stroller was laying in the spot and thus almost running over my stroller because he wanted me to hurry.. Let's just say they picked the wrong day and the wrong mommy to mess with.

Let me say first in my defense I didn't know they wanted to park there cause they were backing in and I wasn't sure WHAT they were doing. At the moment that she yelled at me to hurry up with my kids something inside me SNAPPED and I was not Lacey, mostly sweet :), always leveled headed, always considerate of others, will do anything for anyone, Lacey.... I turned into, if I had a gun I would shoot you, if I was in my car I'd run you over, get out of my way, don't speak to me that way (even if you have white hair), don't rush me and my kids, lunatic!

I think the first thing I yelled (and I mean yelled, the whole 2nd floor of parking, turned to watch the scene), "there are 100 other f**king other parking spots!". she then called me a b***h and I responded, still yelling, "wouldn't you be a b***h if someone was trying to run your children over?" She at some point also said I was being out of control and I responded (in a low, loud, devilish roar), "you don't know what out of control is!". Followed be, "lady you need to walk away from me right now!" and they finally did.

Now you may be wondering where the kids and Chris are at this point. Chris had Alex and wasn't saying a word and Lauren was in my arms where I was trying to put her sweater on, but shaking so hard from anger that I almost dropped her. Chris finally said, "honey, you are in the right, but you need to stop." Which was probably the smartest thing he could have said to me. Because had he not chosen his words very carefully, I could have very quickly turned on him. The LAST thing in the world he could have done was taken their side.

So I then had him to move our car away from them and we tried to gather ourselves and proceeded to the game where we tried to have a good time and then we left just before it was over because the kids were at their tired limit.

I felt compelled to leave an apology note and did so saying, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was not my intention to hurt you. Please forgive me, Lacey"

Then talking to Chris finally about the situation, his take was that "yes they were terribly rude to the point of being dangerous. They were crowding you so they could get to the game." Now with his take, I wanted to take my note back. They didn't deserve it, AT ALL. but he wouldn't go back, so that's were it ends with them.

The next morning at Church, of course the topic has to be all about God's Mercy and how Mercy is not Mercy at all until it is granted towards someone completely UNDESERVING. My reaction is, "UGH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME GOD????" Which of course, He is not. So, I listen to the message, I completely understand that God is speaking directly to me and I have to take a bid sigh and forgive those two completely undeserving people who were so rude to me and almost hurt my children. I will not apologize for defending my kids safety but I will try to handle it differently next time. I do feel terrible about f-bombing her twice (chris was counting :) and I never talk to people that way, but when it comes to your kids, there's just something inside of you that comes out that causes you do anything to protect them.

I also am not happy that they (Alex in particular) witnessed me tearing into this woman. I don't want him to think that behavior is okay, so for that, I will also have to really think next time about the words I use and the way I handle things.

What a crazy weekend we had..

And in other news. I have a job interview with Costco today at 2:30 pm.. If I thought our life was crazy now..... just wait.. He'll work days and I'll work nights. It's going to be tough. but it's what we have to do to get out of debt and then get ahead. Pray for me that we get it. :)

Here we Go!

I know that today isn't our anniversary, but we're leaving and I wanted to post some pictures before we left. So, here we are 10 years ago (almost) on our wedding day. We're leaving for New Orleans in about 30 minutes (Chris still asleep) and we're hoping for a most wonderful trip.

We are very fortunate to even have this change to go. Somehow God brought us just enough money (we're budgeted down to the estimated penny), we have great sets of parents willing to help keep the kids for a week and we have somehow made it 10 ye

ars without killing each other. It's a good day.

I've always thought it was God was crazy to take two completely different people and stick them together and then say, here, be married, be on the same page, get along, make kids, pay bills, live together under the same roof, oh, and be happy. It's a crazy concept that it could work. Does He have a crazy sense of humor or does He really h

ave that much faith in us? I guess that where He comes in and where we rely on Him. Well, my point is that Chris and I are very opposite and have been down a long road (that went very fast by the way) and have somehow made it to ten years. And as a result we know, trust, rely on and love each other more than anyone else. We balance each other out in so many way. Like I think more than most couples.

I really love that God chose to wait so long to give us kids. We had 7 crazy years to figure out our relationship, to get jobs secured, to make fun memories and to grow close. Now we're into a new chapter with our children and loving every minute of it. (except the tantrums) :)

I guess long blog short, I feel very blessed to have married Chris and know that a million years ago God thought we would be a good idea.

Thank you family for helping us have time together. Please kiss our kids a 1000 times each day for us and make sure they know even though we're "working" we

love love love them.

We're off. Pray for safe fights and a safe & fun trip.

Wow

Ever since I started keeping up with Facebook, I've totally neglected my blog.. Sorry blog, sorry family.

There's not much to say other than I'm completely going crazy with stuff to do before our trip.. The problem is that the second we return we have a bridal show to do. I'm "re-inventing" myself and my business and that it taking sooooo much work, money I don't have and time which I also don't have with two kids that don't understand the logic of work. Not to mention Chris had to go to Chicago, we cut up all of our credit cards (bad timing) and the s**t is hitting the fan as far as money goes. The details are exhausting, so I'll spare the details, but I believe that God is saying, "you don't need credit cards, you need an imagination, get creative and have faith". I know He provides, He always does. Like for instance. Larry (my gardener-soon to be ex-gardener) pulled up and said I owed him for last month. I TOTALLY forgot. Probably cause I didn't have his $50. Just then the mailman walked up and handed me my mail. I saw a card for my bday. I said, "well, Larry, you might just get paid today after-all". It was a check for $50 from Grannie. Thanks Grannie for paying for my yard for a month. Larry is going to now get laid off.. :( It's not good. I know he's struggling too. We all are.

Unrelated note: Sally's stomach is making so many noises I can't concentrate on what I'm trying to complain about. Kind of worries me that she's going to have bowel issues all over my house or something. UGH.

Anyway, enough madness. I have to get back to work and it's almost 1 am.. more ugh!

Chris' Cheerleaders

Chris has a new softball team this year called "Grindhouse" which I think is a type of Movie Genre like that movie Sin City, maybe the Kill Bill movies.. We're not really sure, but also we don't really care. Misty designed some very cute shirts. I got the art work from her and made shirts for the kids.. VERY CUTE!!! So here is Chris' cheerleading squad. :) Please note that there are stitch lines on the skull to look like a baseball and the bones are actually baseball bats.. Very witty Misty (Chris' co-worker).

Memorial Guest Book

My good friends dad died two days ago. She had asked me to help her make a book to give to him that had photos that she had taken of his land new Lone Pine. It was to be a gift, but with his sudden passing, she decided to turn the book into a Memorial Guest Book. I thought it was a great idea. To showcase the land that he loved so much and to show those attending the Memorial a large part of what he thought was special and beautiful. She did a great job on the photography end of it and I designed the book. Here it is. http://www.laceysphotography.com/albumshowcase/zuccogb/

I have Twins

Lauren has a friend that she talks to every once in a while. (usually when I'm folding clothes) :)

Chuck E Cheese

Well, just in case you didn't see these on Facebook, I put them here also. There aren't as many here though. Facebook has more cuz it's easier and faster to upload them there. but anyhow. We had a fun play date with McKenna and my bride/friend, Davina. This is her niece who is also 2 years old.

I ran into my old manager which was funny. Yes, I worked at Chuck E Cheese about 15 years ago for 2 months.. The longest two months of my life.. I painfully recall: ding ding ding, the smell of stinky feet, kids puking pizza almost every shift, and driving home at 1 am to Teh. barely remembering the drive I was so tired. And now Alex knows about Chuck E Cheese and will now be asking to go there every time we drive by. What was I thinking??? :) Anyway, we did have fun. Alex LOVES air hockey. But who doesn't? It's my favorite. But really I like to play Chris and get down and dirty. Then comes the shoulder pain for 3 days. Good times!