For Goodness Cakes!

Well, I have decided to take the plunge and give this whole cake-baking-and-decorating thing a decent try. First step, come up with a catchy but not too wordy name. I had a long list of possibilities, including Piece of Cake, Batter Up, Port Cakes, Clipper Cakes, Take the Cake, Bake Me A Cake, and Just Add Cake, but For Goodness Cakes was my favorite. Here are some photos of my most recent cakes, just to build up the portfolio a bit!

Bowling Cake I made for my dad's surprise 60th birthday party.

Sesame Street cake made for Sadie's 2nd birthday party.

Baptism/Dedication Cake for my nephew Patrick.

Practicing a pregnant belly cake for a baby shower.

Cousin Love

These are a few of my favorite shots of the girls with their cousins.

Cali helping Sadie with her high heels:

Ruby & Kelte laughing at each other:

Sittin' Pretty

This baby girl has a new favorite spot to sit!

Big sister undresses herself while Mama is playing with Ruby...

Sadie asked for a snowman cake, and Mama complied :)

New 'do

This morning I decided it was time for Sadie to get a haircut. Not just a trim, like she had gotten before, but a REAL haircut. So we bundled up and, despite the snow, drove the 1/4 mile over to Super Cuts. Sadie was a good girl during the haircut (even though she wanted to sit on my lap the whole time), and seemed to like her new 'do!

And here's one of the happy little butterball:

Comparison

Can't help but comparing my two baby girls, both at 3 months old, both in their Auntie onesie!

Sadie, 3 months

Ruby, 3 months

Girl time

Sadie's friend Elsie invited some girls over for a showing of her favorite movie, the Barbie Nutcracker, and a tea party to follow.

Sadie got all dressed up for the event:

She loved dancing with her buddies:

Taking a (very deep) bow

Sipping on some tea

Goodbye, Auntie Winnah

Our beloved Auntie Winnah has left the East Coast and headed off to Utah. Here she is spending a few last moments with Ruby.

No joke, this is exactly how Auntie Winnah/Emily looked when she was a baby.

We tried to cope with our sadness of Em leaving by getting fired up for the PATS game. Unfortunately the results of this game only left us feeling a bit more depressed.....

Baby at Heart

Lately Sadie has enjoyed testing out all of Ruby's baby toys and gear. Since she only outweighs her sister by about 9 pounds, she "technically" can still fit (or so she thinks)....

Playing with Ruby's baby toys

Taking the exersaucer for a test run before Ruby tries it out

And snuggling up in the bjorn with her Mama.

Ruby just sat back and relaxed while her sister tested out all her new gear!

Prima Ballerina

Sadie had her first dance class this past week at the Dance Place in Newburyport. She wore her leotard and tutu and had an absolute blast frolicking around with all of her little buddies. Here she is posing with her friend Elsie before class:

Here are some photos from the Doyles' last visit- the girls had so much fun together once again! I love some of the shots I get of these two together. Such different looks and expressions!

They wrapped up their visit with a pig-pile on Sean (sorry about all the laundry on the bed... I promise it was clean!)

And Molly had a blast jumping on Sean's chest. Sean couldn't get up off the bed after he acted as a human trampoline, but that's another story....

Loco for Cocoa

Yesterday, in my attempts to keep the girls out of the house (since Sean was sick with the flu), we trekked downtown in the snow to Cafe di Sienna to give Sadie her first taste of hot cocoa. It was a hit! And even better than the hot cocoa? The whipped cream on top :)

Buckeyes

So proud of our Buckeyes for winning the Rose Bowl last night! Go Bucks!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We spent New Year's Eve '09-'10 at our friend Mary-Jo & her family at their beach house on Seabrook beach with the Bean family and some other friends of the Anderson's.

This morning we took the girls out on a snow walk and took Sadie sledding. Here, with Sadie as our model, is the anatomy of a sled ride.

First, you must taste the snow

Then, get ready for take-off

Yell, "Ready, Set, Go!" at the top of the hill

Gleefully enjoy the sled right down the hill

Ask to go again

Smile with contentment as your father obliges

Check the snow and see how it tastes again

Sit back and relax, maybe even close your eyes, and enjoy the ride home.

December

It's December 31st, 2009, and Sean and I are sitting here on the couch, watching the 30 Rock marathon on TV, discussing our New Years Resolutions. While his resolutions are a bit more broad, mine are a bit more specific. I would like to work on de-cluttering each and every room of my house, and throwing lots and lots of junk away. I would like to cook one new meal each week. And I would like to start blogging more... consistently. So I figured I'd end 2009 with a wrap-up post from the month of December, then try my hardest to keep up with posting in 2010!

Our month of December has been filled with so many new activities, playdates, birthdays, and holidays. Some highlights include:

Playing with Jack & Molly after Sadie's birthday party. We haven't seen the Doyles since August, but Molly & Sadie jumped right back into best buddy-hood once they saw each other again!

Meeting up with the Doyles in Portland for a little Children's Museum/lunch date,

Decorating cookies at Grammy's house,

Smiling a lot!

Surprising Grampy at school for lunch during his last week of teaching before he retired,

Crying hysterically when within 10 feet of Jolly Old St. Nick,

Dancing with her buddy Will at the Mother's Club Christmas party,

Learning how to use an umbrella,

Going to see Sesame Street Live,

Throwing a surprise bowling party for my dad's 60th birthday (and decorating my first cake!)

Going for sled rides!

Sadie's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Sadie and her friends the week before her real birthday. Since she loves her music class at Itsy Bitsy so, so much (www.itsybitsyzone.com), we did her party there. It was a blast. She had about 20 friends/cousins there, and we had a mini-music class, then went into the back room for pizza and cake.

Auntie Winnah held Ruby for the most part of Sadie's party, and seemed to enjoy all the music and instruments!

Dancing with the scarves with Mama.

One of Sadie's special birthday party guests- her friend Molly who was home from Canada for the holidays!

All of the cousins enjoying the party- Maggie, Kelte, Sadie, Ruby, Cali, & Patrick.

Sadie's birthday cake. Homemade by her Mama. My second "detailed" cake that I decorated. It was so fun to make it, and even more fun to see her reaction to it once it was done!

And just like that, all the hours and hard work that it took to make the cake, the kids (and adults) devoured it!

Christmas Eve

We had our second annual Christmas Eve brunch at Grammy & Grampy's house again this year. Grammy had bought all of the kiddos new pajamas that they all wore. Here's a picure of 5 of the 6 of them (minus Maggie)- Cali, Ruby, Sadie, Patrick, & Kelte.

After brunch, we headed home for naps. After naps, we decided to take our chances and bring both girls to church, which ended up going much more smoothly than we could have hoped for! From church we headed to Eric (Sean's cousin) & Christen's house for Christmas Eve dinner which we do every year. Here's a pic of most of the cousins there.

Matthew, Sadie, Molly, Ruby, Mason, Grady, Patrick, Sophie, Cali. Missing Maggie, Kelte, Bruce, Katelyn, & Riley.

Christmas Day

We continued our tradition of taking a picture of the kiddos as they woke up on Christmas morning. Sadie in her crib tent/cage, and Ruby in her swaddle.

Sadie raced down the hall, and was completely stunned when she found all the toys Santa had left for her!

Here's one of her favorites, her new Sesame Street playhouses.

Another favorite: her princess dress-up clothes, jewelry, and shoes:

The girls and their stockings:

All day every day Sadie just says, "Hold Ruby!!!" and she just wants to hold her for about 15 seconds, before she pushes her away and says, "Mama have her." It's very sweet.

After spending Christmas morning at our house, the girls took naps and we headed over to Mimi & Papa's house to continue the festivities.

Sadie had a blast playing with Ogan (Em's boyfriend) and Auntie Winnah! We will all be so sad when Em moves to Utah in the beginning of January.

Sadie's REAL birthday

We had the family over to our house for pizza and cake number 2 on Sadie's real birthday. We had taken down all of the Christmas decorations and tree ornaments the day before, and re-decorated the tree as a "birthday tree" with balloons.

Naturally I made Sadie yet another homemade cake, this time not quite as snazzy as her one from the week before though!

Here is our cutie patootie little 2 year old, wearing her "I Am 2" shirt that was actually mine back when I was a toddler....

Ruby and Auntie Winnah got some good quality time together during the party!

All in all, it was a wonderful 2009 for us. Hard to believe that this time last year we were not yet thinking about a second child, and now what a presence Ruby is in our lives. And so hard to believe that our once tiny little 5lb 14oz baby girl is now a big 2 year old! It's been a great year, and we hope for 2010 to bring us more joy and happiness. Happy New Year!