Out of the mouths of babes...

She said it! She finally said it! No, not some awful swear word although I am working on that little problem of mine... she said MAMA!!!! YES! I am vindicated! Sybilla's added the syllable "ma" to her vocabulary and toddles around babbling mamamamama or nanananana everywhere she goes. And this afternoon, while Mommy was trying to work from home (more on that in a minute) she reached her little arms up to me and screeched "mama!" and waited for me to pick her up. [happy sigh]

Fairy Billa after Madeleine's birthday party

As for working from home today, Billa threw up during the night and couldn't go to daycare as a result. So Mommy stayed home and tried to work from home. I say try because Billa will occupy herself for about 20 or 30 minutes and then decide that what Mommy is doing is way more interesting and screech until I hold her in my lap. That's all fine and dandy, but then she tries to BE mommy and that's no good, especially when I need to test a link or do some very important financial paperwork. Grrr. So about midmorning, we took a break and got some lunch while picking up a few items from Target. I managed to actually get quite a bit done today, and while I feel terribly guilty about allowing my almost one year old to watch so much Noggin, I am grateful for the brains behind it. Thank you Nick Jr for making preschooler TV that is commerical free and very educational!

Bowling for Billa's! At Madeleine's bowling party (the same party where the birthday insisted on a bowling cake because "a Tinkerbell cake won't match my bowling party!" Four year olds...[sigh])

Things have been a little hectic the past couple of weeks as we are in prime birthday party season. Two weekends ago we had TWO birthday parties to attend and Madeleine's was last weekend. I've attached pictures of the cakes I made for Madeleine and for Ben Courville, one of the birthday boys from two weeks ago. I also made his brother Conner's cake back in October. I am especially proud of both of these as I utilized 3D techniques I hadn't used before. I also made marshmallow fondant (MMF) which is WAAAAAY tastier than regular fondant and totally easy to make. Very messy, but worth it. Madeleine's cake was the guinea pig and it turned out beautifully. I have realized as a result of both Ben and Madeleine's cakes however, that I must practice some more with my writing and detail work. Even though I know how, I'll probably enroll for the Wilton Level 1 class to relearn the techniques.

Ben's 6th birthday Cake

Madeleine's 4th birthday cake (the pins are sugar cookies, the ball is a rice krispie treat covered in MMF, and yes, the inside was hot pink as requested)

Billa at her friend Jack's birthday party at Goin' Bananas...she LOVED the bouncy toddler area!

And speaking of Madeleine...our friends Caroline and Matt George finally had their baby! Madeline Annslee George was born this past Sunday at 4:19 am and she is a sight to behold. Her mom went to 42 weeks, can you believe it? We are very happy for the George's and can't wait to meet our new friend Madeline. Although the spelling is going to be an issue only because we now have two Madel(e)ines in our circle! Yikes! Madeline's middle name, in case you are wondering, is very special as it is a combination of her maternal grandparents' names. Madeline won't have the pleasure of knowing her granddaddy Train in this life, although we are sure that they got to know and love each other quite well before she came!

Well that's pretty much it for now. Billa's birthday is in 15 days and we are gearing up for it! We have another birthday party to attend this weekend and then Valentine's weekend gives us a bit of a break before we have Billa's party! Invitations are going out this weekend and I finished her cake design (to be unveiled later!). We've decided to get her this way cute pony rider thing made by Fisher Price to go with her cowgirl themed birthday party. It has four wheels and a little backet and is shaped like a horse. We can't call it a trike because it has four wheels, but you will get the idea when you see below. They make one in yellow and blue which is what we will be getting for her.

Anyhoo, that's all for now! We're off to get some Mexican at the Winchester and will see you all soon!

Love,
K & Co.