Six Years

I don't want to go in to the details of how it happened today (though I don't mind if you ask next time you see me) I just want to share a little piece of her with all of you instead.

This is my Mom, Donna.
As you can see this was taken at her wedding to my Dad. They met when my Mom was dancing and my Dad was running the auditorium the recital was being performed at. My mother was a great dancer and she even started teaching when she was only 9 years old!

(Chantel is the baby being held by my Mom, then there is my older brother Jimmy, Helena is the one who looks like she is the tallest and I am the one holding the cookie)

This is a scanned picture of a scanned picture, so isn't the best quality. I think this was taken during Christmas (all the cookies was what gave it away). My Mom loved Christmas and always made sure we had a great one, she would decorate up a storm and back dozens of cookies. Her love of Christmas has rubbed off on me and I have followed in her Christmas loving foot steps.

(My family in front of a windmill
From left to right, starting in the back. Amber, my Mom, my Dad, David, Chantel and then Helena in her dutch dance costume)

For most of my childhood we lived near Holland Michigan and in the spring there was a flower festival called 'tulip time'. As teenagers my sisters Helena and Chantel were Dutch Dancers and they would perform in their wooden dance shoes the different authentic Dutch Dances, all throughout the festival. My Mom loved it and would go to every performance, rain or shine! My Mom was good like that, she never missed anything any of her kids did, if it was the 10th showing of a play she had already seen or the ever-repetitive yearly choir performance, she was there.

I hope you got to catch a glimpse of how my Mom was and what she was like. Though today is a sad day I also want it to be a day of memories.

A Good Deal

My sister-in-law Annie has become a pro at coupon shopping and her enthusiasm has begun to rub off on me! Now I'm no pro but I do love finding a good deal and I just did, so I thought I would share! Now just like most deals, if you weren't planning on buying it in the first place, don't get it now just because it is on sale! It doesn't make it a good deal for you if you don't even want it! You don't want to get into the mindset that if it is cheap you must get it... because you will end up spending more and it defeats the whole point of deal hunting! Now that I have gotten my little 'disclaimer' out of the way (I don't want a bunch of angry spouses banging down my door because they now have a basement full of toilet paper and breath freshener and they blame me!) Lets get to my most resent deal-

Disney's
'The Princess and the Frog'

Target has it on sale (for at least this week) for $13 and if you go to this link, you can get a manufactures coupon for $5 off! I got this movie yesterday for under $10 AFTER tax!
Now because this coupon is a manufactures coupon, that means you can use it at any store, so if you find it cheaper somewhere else just use the coupon there!
The coupon expires 4-30-10

Cake

I was looking through some old pictures and came across a bunch of different birthday cakes I had made in the past and I thought I would share them with all of you! I really enjoy being creative and making cakes is a lot of fun.

Lets start off with something a little more traditional. This cake was for David's (my younger brother) birthday! It was a chocolate cake with Andes bits on top.

This was a carrot cake (if you couldn't tell by the little carrots on top) for my older sister Helena's birthday. I ran out of orange food coloring and didn't know until it was too late, so instead I mixed in little orange sprinkles until the color dyed the frosting.

This one was, I think a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. It was for my Dad's birthday.

This one looked much nicer in person :) It was a chocolate cake with white frosting and raspberries , it was for my younger sister Chantel's birthday.

For my sister in-law Annie I made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting. Annie loves cupcakes so it turned out perfect.

This one was for Dave (my husband) I believe this one was a banana cake with white frosting and chocolate. Banana is one of Dave's favorite flavors, so he was super excited.

I made this cheesecake for my Dad's annual Superbowl party. The little footballs are Andes with the corners chopped off and strips of frosting to make the laces.

Last but defiantly not least is the Zombie cake Dave and I made for my sister in-law Amy's birthday. She likes Zombie movies so don't think we are really creepy and just made this for her because we thought 'how could someone NOT want a cake with the brains all hanging out...' Amy's husband Fox asked us if we would make it for her because he was throwing her a surprise Zombie themed party and Dave and I had a blast making it!

So there you have it, those are some of the cakes I have made. I am far from being a professional but I do enjoy making them!

And The Pennies Go To....

I went to the Coin Star and the numbers are in! And the pennies go to....


Laurie Ann!
(aka Here Dwells Happiness)

That is right Laurie Ann, you are now the proud owner of a $5 gift card to Amazon or Itunes!

Your guess was 1,837 ($18.37) and the final number of pennies came in at 2,162 ($21.62)
So leave a comment and let me know, Itunes or Amazon!

If I could, I would give everyone who entered a consolation prize but unfortunately a penny will only stretch so far :) I could mail you all a penny but I have a thing about spending more on the postage then on the thing I am sending.

Thank you everyone who participated, you made getting 21 bucks worth it :)
Now don't feel too bad for me, I still have jars full of nickles, dimes and quarters that need to be cashed in when they get full. And I hear the silver coins are where the big bucks are :)