Alora's Song

Ok, so I know that this has nothing to do with cakes but I had to put this on my blog. I want to remember this sweet song for the rest of my life. Alora, my four year old, sang this to Ann-Marie, her one year old sister, yesterday to calm her down.



Please don't cry Ann-Marie
Do not fear in the darkness
God is always with you
God never stops loving you
Don't you fear Ann-Marie Joy Squirt
God never takes his eyes off you
He made the green Earth
He made the bright stars in His holy will
You cannot see Him but He is with you
I do not cry anymore
God never lets go of the world
He died on the cross for our sins
God can make all the food in our houses
He can do all His holy will
God can never stop loving you

Ann-Marie's One!

While my family was in town we celebrated Ann-Marie's 1st birthday. I can't believe she is one already. She loved the cake so much that she started digging in before we could even sing Happy Birthday to her. Once she got a piece she just picked up the whole piece and shoved it into her little mouth, it was so cute. Happy Birthday, Ann-Marie, we love you.

Mom's 50th Birthday

We celebrated Eric's mom 50th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Earle (Eric's dad) put together a surprise party for her in Greenville. It was a lot of fun. Ann-Marie, our youngest daughter, spilt two whole drinks during the course of the meal and the waiters at the restaurant ended up ripping off part of the rug and brown icing on mom's cake. But, over all it was a lot of fun with many laughs.

The cake above is a fondant figure of her reading a book and her dog Mini curled in her lap. This is one of her favorite activites. The cake is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and raspberry filling.

Love you mom.

Surprise Party!

While I was in VA my sister and I decided to throw a surprise birthday party for my Mom, Theresa. We were so excited because she had no idea. The funniest thing is that I made this cake in her kitchen with her watching me and tasting everything I made. I kept telling her that I just wanted to make a cake for our last night in VA as a yummy dessert. Well, it was just that but at her favorite Mexican restaurant, not in her kitchen. She was so surprised. When we got to the restaurant we walked around the corner and she just stopped and started crying then started walking away. I had to grab her and tell her that it was her surprise party. It was GREAT! Love you mom.

I made a yummy home-made chocolate cake with chocolate butter-cream icing. Since, I was with my mom occupying her while everyone was arriving at the restaurant Eric had to deliver the cake for me. He got it there in one piece but he carried it in a sweltering hot car. The cake is chocolate and chocolate melts in the heat, thus, the chocolate icing began running down the sides of the cake. But none-the-less it was still deliscious and no one else even paid attention to the dripping chocolate. Lesson learned: Always air-condition a vehicle before transporting a cake.

Mom's Birthday Party

While I was in VA I made this cake for my mom, Vivian. She turned 46 but she certainly doesn't look that old. This cake was a lot of fun. She loved it and so did all of my family. It was my special Triple Lemon Surprise cake. Happy birthday Mom, I love you!

My Baby is Turning One!

Ann-Marie Joy will be a year old on July 26th!

How It All Began

Some good friends of mine, Daniel and Jennifer just celebrated their 1 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago. Jennifer asked me to make a anniversary cake and I was delighted to (it's the second cake pictured above). Their favorite, I call it Triple Lemon Surprise (three layers of lemon goodness). But that got me thinking about how I came to love cake decorating. It all started with a simple wedding gift idea and a quick conversation. One day as Jenn and I were driving somewhere I told her that I would love to make her wedding cake as a gift but wasn't a professional, actually I had never made a cake bigger than a simple birthday cake. I have to be honest, I never actually thought she would take me up on it. But a month or two later she said that her and Daniel wanted me to make a cake and wanted to know if I could cover it in fondant. WHAT! At first, I thought what have I gotten myself into but then when I thought about the challenge I was super excited. I read all kinds of books and watch videos off of http://www.youtube.com/. This was the result. It was difficult, but it started a deep love for cake decorating within me. Thanks Jenn!

Alora's Birthday

So, Alora's birthday was in February but somehow we lost every picture we had of the party. Thankfully, while we were in VA my mom had pics of the party. So I decided to add a few pictures of her and her cake. She wanted a ballerina birthday cake, but everywhere I looked I could only find princess figurines so I decided to make one. This was my very first fondant figurine.

Poppi's Birthday

Well, the party was a success. Lunch was great (ribs, macaroni pie, corn-on-the-cob, broccoli, and of course, the birthday cake!) As you can tell, Poppi is one proud grandaddy and his grandgirls sure love him. The cake turned out great. I made a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and then piped green buttercream icing for a grass effect. Made the ball out of fondant. It was so much fun and a breeze to make. Overall, just about 2 and1/2 hours from start to finish (thats baking, cooling, icing and piping!) Can't wait for the next oppurtunity to make a cake.

Dad's Birthday

Well, in two days my father-in-law will turn 50. And I am so very excited. For one reason I have an excuse to make a cake, but most importantly, we will all be together to celebrate his birthday. That is, Eric, myself, Alora, Adalynne, Ann-Marie, Bonnie and Earle. We are going to have a cook-out, play in the mini-pool and eat cake. I can't wait. Praise the Lord! For 50 years of life and at least half of those years giving praise and glory to God. I praise the Lord for such a godly father-in-law. I love you Earle.

Papa's 85th Birthday

I made this cake for Eric's grandfather's (Papa) 85th birthday. His favorite cake is a coconut cake, so I made a coconut cream cake with coconut buttercream icing. He loved it. Since he is an avid gardener we thought it only right to give him a garden that he doesn't have to tend to. The buttercream I made a bit thick so that it would look like real dirt. I then sculpted a few vegetables. I topped it off with a personalized sign that said "Bratton's Garden." He loved the cake and it was a complete surprise for him. We love him very much and are thankful we were able to spend this time with him.

Sweet baby!

This cake was ordered for a baby shower. Friends of the mother wanted the figure to look like her and wanted her sitting in a grass field. I decided to make the cake 12" diameter and have her sitting in a garden. The friends and soon-to-be mom were thrilled with the cake, and I was very pleased myself.

A stinky ordeal!

So the other morning I was in the midst of getting Adalynne and Alora into the bath when the phone rang. I had already stripped the girls down to bare bottom. I was expecting an important phone call, so I left Alora in her room to play and Adalynne in her bed just for a moment. Well, it turned out that it was my friend Kelly and so I began to talk. Well, a few minutes later Alora comes into the kitchen and says "pew-wee mommy, it is stinky." I rushed into the bedroom, where the most awful smell was permeating through the room. Yes, that is right, Adalynne had done the doo all in her bed. That's not the worse of it, she is also eating it. HOW DO YOU EAT YOUR OWN POO? Of course, by this time I am off the phone trying to pick Adalynne up without any poo getting on me and I throw her in the tub.(not literally) It took me at least half an hour just to scrub all the poo off and another 30 minutes to get her smelling good. The funny thing is, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Lesson learned: Never ever leave a child near a messy diaper or without a diaper on, unless you want to be cleaning up poo.

Best Friends!

Adalynne is now 14 months old and into everything. She loves to dance and pretend to eat make-believe food. She loves to read books and build blocks but her very favorite thing to do is chase her big sister around the house. Alora will run around and yell come and get me sissy. It is so precious to see my two little girls play together. Well, sometime last week as they were chasing each other around the house. Adalynne fell down on the ground and Alora fell on top of her and started kissing her. Adalynne was trying with all of her might to get up, she finally managed to get from under the kissy monster, when Alora grabbed the back of her shirt and called out, "Come back here my best-friend." Children truly are such a blessing.

Caterpillars

So yesterday, Alora fell asleep in the car on the way home from the store. When we got home she staggered into the living room and fell back asleep on the couch. Shortly after that, Adalynne noticed Alora sleeping on the couch when she began to beat on Alora's bootie. Adalynne was yelling some word at Alora that I couldn't quite understand but none the less it caused Alora to slowly wake up. When I noticed that Alora had her eyes open and they remained open for more than 30 seconds. I ased her what she wanted to eat. She immediately jumped up on the couch and yelled, "Caterpillars!" What an imagination!

I just can't!

So I decided that my life is so busy that I don't have time to sit down every night and write out in a book about my day. There is so much that happens every day with my two precious girls. Things that I want to rememer but over time I simply forget. So I am going to try and blog just cute things that Alora and Adalynne do or say throughout the day.

Like today, Alora and Adalynne were chasing each other around the living room, screaming at the top of their lungs. I started talking in my "Guinea talk"(all of you folks from Gloucester will know what I'm talking about) and told them to calm down or I was going to have to hang them upside down by their toes. Alora turned and said to me "Mom, I want to calm down, I just can't!" I just had to laugh. How that reminds me of what Paul says in Romans when he says he often finds himself doing the very things he doesn't want to do.

I am amazed at just how smart Alora is. Just the other day, Alora came into the kitchen opened the cabinet under the sink and started pointing at the paper towels and saying, "Su, Su Mama, Su, su Mama." That means, I want that mama. So I gave her a napkin and she went running to her bedroom. Eric and her had been playing in there and so I thought that one of them had spilt something and Eric had sent her into the kitchen to get a paper towel. So I asked Eric why she needed the paper towel, and he said, "Oh she didn't, I think she just wanted to play with it." I said okay. A little while later Eric calls me from the kitchen and asks me to come to Alora's bedroom. When I walk in he holds up a paper towel and asks me to smell it, of course I said no because smells make me so nautious, especially this far along in pregnancy. Well he kept on insisting and so I broke down and smelled. He asked what it smelled like and I said "throw-up." We asked Alora if she had thrown-up, but she just looked at us like "what are you talking about," so we asked her if something had come out of her mouth, she shook her head yes, pointed down her throat and then to the floor. It was so cute to see her make those hand movements. Eric preceeded to tell me that he had noticed the paper towel in the floor and when he picked it up the vomit was under it. Alora had come and got the paper towel from me to clean her own vomit up. Everytime I think about this little story I get a certain little feeling as though she is growing up too fast. I wish I could just stop time and keep her this small forever. But I know I can't and that there are many more exciting memories that we will share ahead. Thank you Lord for blessing me with children. Amen!

The Scary Part of "The Ugly Duckling"

So every week I take Alora to the Library where we exchange books and movies for new ones. Sometimes it's hard finding books for her age level, especially, when there are so many to choose from. Before deciding on any book I try to glance through them seeing if there is anything that would teach Alora something that's not honoring to God. She is learning her colors now, so most books have to do with colors. But just last week Alora spotted a book she just had to have, The Ugly Duckling.(We are working on animal sounds and her favorites are ducks, cows and chickens.) I knew the story and didn't really think anything of it, until I got home and began to read it to her. The story begins by a little duckling being hatched that doesn't look anything like his family and is made fun of so he decides to leave and find some friends who will like him no matter what he looks like. This is where the story goes a little crazy. In this rendition of the story the little duckling asks some other ducks to KILL HIM because he is so ugly. WHAT? What are we trying to teach our children? If you don't like yourself or if someone else doesn't like you go and kill yourself. I told Eric about the book and he read it and was appauled also. As he started reading the front cover he saw that it was an adaptaation from the original story. How scary? So I encourage all you mothers out there to carefully examine the stories you are reading to you children and know that they are sucking in everything that we teach them, especially when they want us to read it to them over and over again.

The Fear of Motherhood

Before I was a mom I had the typical first-time mom fears: will I be able to stand the smell of dookie, will I know how to feed Alora, or bathe her, will she like me? But once that little bundle of joy came it was like all those things were second nature-- well, except for the feeding part; breastfeeding is hard! But really I loved being a mom and what made it easier was having such a smooth pregnancy. Every test that I took came back good, I felt good, and even at 8 1/2 months along I could run a sprint, (which I actually did once after a dog had been hit by a car.) But now that I am 7 months along with this pregnancy I realize how easy I really had it. Right from the beginning it seemed as though this pregnancy would be one trying task that was going to constantly bring me to my knees in prayer. Although this pregnancy has been one the most difficult things that I have been through, I am slowly beginning to see that childbearing is my cross to bear for this season. It has been one trial after the next, including: low hemoglobin, a scare with gestational diabetes, hypertension, excrutiating lower back pain and not to mention a leg covered by vericose veins. There are days when I feel as though I can't get out of the bed or nights when it takes me five minutes to get to the bathroom which is only ten feet away from my bedside. I have found myself asking, "Why Lord, why all this pain? What are you trying to teach me? Is it something I'm doing? When will you take this pain away?" But just today I have come to realize that this trial of motherhood is just as much a trial for the gospel as anything else. When we think of suffering for the sake of the gospel seldom do we think of the act of carrying a child as just that. But when I stop and think I realize that the ultimate reason for having children is to expand the kingdom by raising godly offspring who love Jesus. If I lose sight of this purpose I will ultimately reap sadness and bitterness instead of joy.

And She Sleeps!

I have had a constant struggle over the last four months and that is, not having my husband around on weekend nights since he works third shift. Eric started working third shift when Alora was just a year old, which wasn't so bad. Though now she is almost a year and a half old and is very attached to her daddy. Eric being gone those nights, over the last couple of weeks has been the most difficult. I haven't been able to sleep well, it takes Alora hours to fall asleep, and well the list could go on and on. But this past week, each night except for one Eric and I both put Alora to sleep. Our little routine went something like this; take a bath, put on pj's, brush teeth, read a book, sing a song, say our prayers, then get in the bed. Alora seemed to really love us both being there. Well I didn't know it would affect her so much until last night. Eric's first night of working this week and time for bed. I did the normal routine with Alora, but something was wrong, Alora DID NOT want to go to bed. Instead she insisted on crying until she made herself get sick. After about every ten minutes of her crying I would go into her room, comfort her, then try to put her to sleep. Ten o'clock was rolling around and still no sleeping baby. Eric then called at ten and he could hear Alora crying and by this time I was crying just to hear his voice. HE asked to talk to her and at first I was a little reluctant because I just wanted to talk to him, but I preceeded to give her the phone. Daddy said in his serious voice, "Alora, I love you. I miss you and I wish I was there but it is time for bed. Now you listen to your mother and you lay down and go to sleep." I was thinking to myself, "Aww, that was sweet but she ain't listening." Well, to my surprise, I helped lay her down and she went fast to sleep. Praise God! Well, Eric and I planned that today Alora would have more daddy time, just her and daddy, so they played soccer (and yes, Alora is a great soccer player, kicks the ball while she runs behind it), hide and seek (which is her favorite game) and then we had dinner. We also made a plan that I would have Alora ready to go to bed by 8:00 pm and daddy would call and give her the same speech. Well 8:00 rolled around and she was beginning to fuss because she didn't want to go to sleep. Eric called and to my surprise again she layed down and went to sleep. I was stunned. She misses her daddy so much when he's not here. I am amazed at how much this simple incident has made me fall more in love with my husband. He is such a godly man and love him even more knowing that my daughter thinks he is the best daddy in the world. Thank you Lord for giving Eric and I wisdom as we try to raise this little precious girl to be a godly woman.