Cake Crazy

I signed up for another cake decorating class today, Wilton course number 2. This one will be all about flowers! I plan to learn how to make a doozy of a PANSY!
I was at the AC Moore craft store today and asked the cashier if they were having any classes in December. Just my luck, they have one beginning on Tuesday, and it is the course I have been wanting to take :) Once you take the first course, you can take the other three in any order. Courses 3 and 4 are about tier cakes and fondant. I am not into fondant yet, but I probably will be very soon. SO, I hope to be able to make some flowers for my little ditties that I am making. I should get better with the roses in this class, too!
I will let you know how it goes! Tuesday will be here soon. This course is on Tuesday and Thursday for two weeks, rather than once a week for four weeks. I think I will like that much better, because I will be done before Christmas!
I have a special plan for Christmas, anyway. I splurged on a Nordic Ware Train set pan at the Kitchen Outfitters store, and I am going to make it for Christmas. I bought tons of candy today to use on it. The track will be made out of red licorice. I am all excited about this one. I have been waiting for a couple of months to use my new pans!
Cake crazy, that is me!

A good day

Today was Thanksgiving, and we all had a really good day. I went over to Daddy's and had breakfast with him. We decided on the things we were going to cook and take to Dewey's for dinner. Daddy was busy making green beans and putting two bags of vanilla wafers in a jar for Julia! She and Daddy love their Vanilla Wafers! Then, I came home and started cooking. I made macaroni and cheese, sweet potato souffle', black eyed peas, and deviled eggs. Oh, and I also made a chocolate cake shaped like a sunflower. The icing was yummy buttercream with chocoloate chips in the center of the sunflower. I made a delicious pumpkin bread, also. We had a great time.

Saramina, Amy G., Mina, and Leigh came over, and we had a great visit. We always enjoy being with them. Amy and Leigh were here for Thanksgiving. They live in the Florida Keys.

Little Dewey, 3D, is walking!! I was so surprised. He was not walking the other day - well a few steps at a time - but now he can walk across the floor to wherever he needs to go. He also gets down and crawls, but he is trying to walk all the time.

Julia is so pretty. She wore her backpack and was Dora all day, taking people on Bentures! Let's go on a Benture, she kept saying. Amy went with her on one adventure, but she can't tell us where they went. It is a secret. Julia was Dora for Halloween, and she had her little purple Dora backpack full of stuff, including a "map". The map was really a piece of cardboard from a toy that Rebecca gave her to use. Rebecca was an Astnawt, and she goes up in space!! She was wearing a laundry basket over her head, and I couldn't figure out why. Then when Dora explained the Astnawt thing, I understood. HA! So, Dora and her astronaut friend took people on adventures all over the house today.

We were missing a few people today, though.
Adam and Vicky went to Florida and Kate and Kane went to Alabama, but everyone else was there. Rachel and Don had three Thanksgiving visits - one to his mom's house, one to his dad's house, and one to be with all of us at Dewey and Ellen's house. WHEW! Lauren and Thomas made the rounds with her folks and ours, too.

We all had a great time, and I hope all of you did, too.

Pumpkin Bread

Here are some pictures of my pumpkin bread. The mold is really nice.


I hope you can see the different parts of the mold in the bread. It tastes pretty good, too.


I used the recipe on the wrapper of the mold, and there was too much to put in the pan! I started pouring it in, and the mix went over the top. So, I scooped some out and put it in another pan, along with the rest of the mix that was left in the bowl. Gee whiz! That recipe must make 2 or more pans of bread. Oh well, I hope you like it.

Mina's Birthday

Mina had her big 60th birthday party today, given by her children. She had her small 60th birthday party in October, when her birthday actually occured, but Stephen and family could not get to Savannah until this weekend. We had a great celebration at Carey Hilliard's restaurant, with lots of good food. The little kids all played hide and seek, and they had a terrific time.

Stephen and Benjamin made Mina get up and give a little speech, through which she shed several tears:)
















I made a cake for her that I had promised to do a long time ago. There was a professional cake there, too, that the kids bought for her. Theirs was a terrific, yummy carrot cake. I made two to go together for the 60, a white cake and a french vanilla cake. Anyway, we all had a great time honoring one of our most favorite people in the world, cousin Mina!!!!



Here are a few pictures of the crowd. We all had a great time!

Mamma

Hello everyone,
Today marks the first anniversary of my mother's trip to heaven. She was such a wonderful mamma!! I love her dearly, and I miss her more each day. Mamma was a fun loving, caring, tender hearted, wonderful person. She loved to laugh, and she smiled all the time. Mamma suffered a great deal over the last three years of her life, but she never let anyone know how badly she was hurting or feeling.

She had a smile on her face all the time. She was a woman of grace who dealt with her suffering with a smile on her face. We all miss her so much!!!! Daddy really misses her.


Today, he wanted all of us to go to the cemetery together to see her and say a few words. I thought it would be a great idea to plant some pansies on her grave, so Susan and I went to Home Depot and got a bunch of them! We have been wanting to do this all year, but never got over there to do it! So today, rain and all, we did it!


We were all there with our umbrellas, big ones and little ones, but the rain didn't bother us a bit. We got our hands all dirty by digging in the dirt, but we didn't care. Luckily, there was a faucet right by our plot, so we washed our hands off before we left. Daddy cooked two roasts, a ham, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans for us. We had a FEAST!! It was great! We also had some terrific gravy and biscuits. Daddy loves to cook, and it made him feel good to do that today. Daddy, Dewilla, Susan, Dewey, Jr., William, Sr., Rachel, Don, Thomas, Amy, Ellen, William, Jr., Rebecca, Lauren, Julia, Dewey,III,Saramina, and Mina were all in attendance. Adam, Kate, Vicky, and big Lauren had to work, so they couldn't come. Adam and Vicky went by earlier and left flowers. Adam sent a text to us "Do not move my flowers", so we left his vase where it was. haha Kate came by Daddy's house earlier today, also, to be with him for a while before she went to work.


We planted the pansies in the corner of the plot, and I believe they look very nice. The rain did not let up all day long, so the pansies will get plenty of watering today and overnight. We will go check on them very soon, to make sure they are still there. I am sure that Mamma is excited to have her pansies with her. Granna, my mamma's mamma, was named Pansy, and pansies are very important to us all. My mamma loved pansies and always asked us to plant some in her front yard every year.

I love my mamma so very, very much, and I miss her more than words can say. Mamma, please keep being silly up there in heaven with Uncle Marvin, George, Raymond, Carter B, Granna, Bubba, WeeWee, and E!! I know your cousins are up there with you having a gigantic cousin's reunion, too! Please remember us all and keep the silliness alive in heaven! We are trying to keep the smiles going and the silliness going at home. I love you, I love you, I love you!!!!

The Butterfly Garden

This first picture is a good picture of the whole Confederate Rose tree at my mom and dad's house. I think this one turned out better than the ones from my regular camera! This is from my phone. The rest of the pictures are of the butterfly garden.






Hello,
I finally made it to the butterfly garden here in Savannah. I must say that it is not exactly what I expected. I have previously been to a butterfly exhibit in Florida, and I thought that this one would be like that one. The one in Florida is at a university. It is enclosed and has lots of butterflies. The one that I went to last week is outside in a regular flower garden. We have a place called the Bamboo Farm. Many schools take field trips there. This place has all sorts of outside types of things to see. There is also a section that has flowers to attract butterflies.


I only saw orange ones, and one yellow one, but the garden was pretty. I took some pictures on my phone, and I finally figured out how to get them off of my phone! So, I am putting them up on this little blog. One of the pictures is of the sign that tells you what types of flowers attract butterflies. I love butterflies. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Oh, I just HAD to include my green butterfly that I made for Vicky's birthday. Her favorite color is green, so here is her butterfly!