Monday, August 24

I loved Brenna's surprise birthday room (she did know she was having a party, but I don't think she expected all the balloons and princess stuff - she was so cute passing out the balloons to everyone!!).

Brenna and I above - before the party (for the Carpenter side - I was still getting ready - boy did I need the makeup on - I look tired!). After Brenna blew out the candle below. You can't see much of our outfits here - but my mom made Brenna's dress and jumper (it had Ballons on it) that was in the picture with the cakes. In the picture above - my sister made the dress for Brenna and it was a birthday gift. Bummer that we didn't get the girls in there matching dresses together. Maybe we can try at Christmas with some leggings under and something for their arms?? The shirt I was wearing I mostly made (my mom helped too - thanks!!) - it was so great doing projects with you!

My best picture of Brenna with the cake for the Heath side - Alexis had such a great smile on - sorry I didn't have the focus set up better to catch her too!

The kids all loved the frosting - they were all sitting around waiting to dig in once I stacked the cakes and piped on the last of the pink frosting! All the girls wanted the bottom pink layer though!!

Brenna's name was a little smashed, but you can almost still read it! Mom and I made so much frosting, but I could have used just a little more pink and white to make it perfect, oh well!! The cakes all tasted good, that is the most important thing! Mom - thanks for all your help on these!! Maybe next year I will do something easier! I loved all the colors that the cakes turned out - I thought they looked pretty good for my inexperienced attempt. I'm going to have to beg one of my more expert cake makers to make the cakes next year!!

I think this cake turned out cuter than my wonderland one - good choice on cakes M.E.!! I loved that the cake was all pink - we did a stawberry cake here - my favorite!

Hello All!!!

Well, we are adjusting to life back in Germany today. Brenna and I slept in - I woke up around 9 and then woke her up at 9:45 (I know I shouldn't have let her sleep so late, but she was so sleep deprived yesterday - it was hard to wake her up). We have been working on apartment cleaning this morning. I vaccumed and cleaned the potty (can you tell I have a child that is using the "potty" with that statement!) - it is amazing how quickly Justice's hair adds up (btw - Dustin, did you vaccum at all while we were gone??? I couldn't believe how much hair there was on the rugs - yuck!). I cleaned off all the pictures on the camera - so hopefully you will enjoy Brenna's birthday cake pictures today. I'm going to include a link to the picture of the wonderland inspiration cake http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=52124 - it was supposed to look like it did (although I could have used a little bit more pink icing on my second layer bottom - oh well! - the kids all loved how it looked).

We did walk up to the store today - got some milk and ice cream (what can I say - it is warm and I knew that Brenna would love some!). We really need to go to the store tonight - our kitchen is bare of most food (I think that is a good thing though - makes it seem like it won't be too bad to clear out the kitchen when we move back to the states for good next year!). It is warm here today, but supposed to be rainy and somewhat cooler tomorrow. At least Brenna will get to wear some of her summer clothes for a little while longer (it was much cooler last year when we came here - although that was the 1st week in September).

Well, I will get more pictures up tomorrow! I already took one here today that I want to post, but I'm going to work on getting all the trip and project pictures up first! Take Care!