for all of you who think my boy never cries, never fusses, never pouts…i have this to show you. 

My birthday is this Sunday…and the other day at work, my friend Stacey pulled out a little early birthday present.
I was shocked enough at this, because I wasn’t expecting a gift from anyone…but was also seriously excited…especially when I saw the little striped material peeking out from the top of the bag.

I pull it out and it is the coolest apron I’ve ever seen…and to top it off…she made it.

Now, I will probably never be this cool – but I’m sure glad I have friends that are…

check it out…it makes me want to bake everyday!   

 
and I must say, I look pretty good in it too! 

A new apron needs a test drive, right? 

I signed up to make a cake for my boss’ graduation party…so i put that apron to good use.   

For therapeutic reasons, I’ll tell you just how that cake turned out.  
I finished baking it on Wednesday night, and after struggling to get it out of the pan (this is a constant struggle for me – if anyone has any suggestions on this so I can stop pulling my hair out, i’d appreciate them), put it under saran until the next morning.
The next morning, i got the base layer of frosting on it before i went to work. Mom suggested that i put it in the oven to store it because i lack counter space in my kitchen (not that I blame mom for what was about to happen to the cake from this suggestion. In all fairness, i did ask where i should put it)
That night, we were running around like crazy people and Ellie and i started making the two strawberry/rhubarb cream pies i needed for the weekend. We got them all put together as I started to heat up the oven. It wasn’t until the oven was fully preheated and i opened it did i realize the cake was still in there, albeit in worse shape than when i put it in. 

The cake did turn out fabulously…did you know that Hy-Vee makes sheet cakes and sells them un-decorated.

I didn’t either, but i do now. 

cake melted…cutting board ruined…lesson learned.   

I thought i’d get on posting some of my favorite pictures taken by the new camera so far.

I’ve realized I have a lot to learn…but am working on learning it – thanks to the hubs who is reading the manual and then telling me how to do it. (I’m loving this system!)

Here are the ones I’ve gotten lucky on so far!

I love this one…not only because it looks like he is saying “get me out of here”, but that the detail of the sludge on my door is amazing!

these next ones I took in the library garden…just for fun. I don’t edit photos very often – so these are all straight out of the camera shots. I was pretty impressed with the camera (you thought i was going to say pretty impressed with myself didn’t you? No, I know it was all the camera.)

We got our new camera the other day… 

immediately I opened the box (the kids were sleeping), and started to pull out all of the pieces that came with it – battery, batttery charger, camera body, 18-55 lens…it was seriously exciting.

So, i attempted to put the lens on…couldn’t figure it out…

Feeling rather dumb at this point, I did the only thing I could figure out how to do…
  

and then put the rest back in the box and waited for my oh so handsome and techy-gifted husband to come home and help me.  

Let the fun begin! 

With a mommy as a librarian, i had to guess it would come sometime.

One night while my mom was here, Ellie sat us all down and had storytime. We all had to sit on the floor in very specific spots, she made sure we could all see, and then all had to sit quietly with our hands in our lap for the book (except for my mom who seems to be taking a picture during the book…hmmm)

I’m so proud.