Thank you for all the men, women, and families who have sacrificed so much for our freedom! I am thankful for their service to our country. May God grant you a blessed Memorial Day as we remember those that have died while in the military service!

The following graphic and quote was found at Happy Saints.

Last Friday night we celebrated my daughter's 12th birthday with some friends at the roller skating rink.   I blogged about some special memories of our Cupcake #1 HERE for her actual birth date on May 19th. 

My daughter's birthday celebration began when my mom took her to a private dance lesson at a local studio by our house.  Here they are before the class.  They had a lot of fun!















But, I also wanted to decorate a cake too!  To go with the skating theme, I made this cake which was the same cake recipe I made for her soccer cake last year.






My good friend, J.H., recently told me how to make the cake look smooth like fondant, but with a lot less work!  The secret is a Viva paper towel, since it is plain without a pattern.  You just ice the cake as usual and my homemade icing was a little soft so I then put it in the fridge to harden the icing a little.  Then I took a sheet of Viva and laid it on top of the cake like this:
Then just rub your hand over the paper towel until smooth.

I even did this for the side of the iced cake so before the "Viva technique" the side of the cake looked like this:

Then I just place a paper towel on the side and rubbed my hand over the towel...


And it became smooth like this:

So the finished cake before I decorated was fondant-like with a lot less work...



Happy Birthday Cupcake #1! We love you!

It seems like yesterday, but it really has been 12 years that you have blessed our family and bring joy to our lives!  You light up our lives...



It WILL seem like yesterday when you graduate high school/college, but I'm grateful this cap is not yours for now and you borrowed it from your cousin at his UNC-Chapel Hill graduation recently!


Happy Birthday to a beautiful young lady inside and out!  We love you and wish you a blessed 12th birthday!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Last month in April, our family traveled to OH to visit dear friends and we made a trip to the Columbus Zoo.  It was a perfect day for the zoo...no crowds and overcast so not too hot.  I snapped alot of pictures and these are some pictures I got of the polar bear.  He was fascinating to watch glide through the water and come up to the glass!

This morning, like many Mother's Days in the past, our family got up bright and early to be with my parents at 8:00 AM Mass at their church.  This is one way I tell my mom "I love you" since my family usually attends a different Catholic Church across town each Sunday.  It's always a blessing to spend time with my Mom and my children always love seeing their grandparents.  Today's Mass was even more special because it was said for my Dad's mom, Lena, as we remembered her in prayers and with many memories.  My Grandmother passed away many years ago and I was glad to be at church with my Dad to remember his mother in this way. 

After Mass my husband took some photos of my Mom and me.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!  I love you!

This past Saturday, May 5, our daughter celebrated her First Holy Communion.  It was a blessed and beautiful day as our daughter received the sacrament of Holy Eucharist for the first time with three other children in our homeschool group.

Here our some photos (OK, alot of photos!) to remember such an exciting and special day in our daughter's faith journey....