A Baby Shower

Matt and Elizabeth

Yesterday I hosted my brother and his wife's baby shower. Elizabeth, his wife, is due in January. Matt loves the Lion King and she loves monkeys. So I did a cake to satisfy both taste. They had a great turn out and got lots of little things to help them on the way. The baby's name is Hunter Coltelee Dobbs. Matt's middle name is Colte and Elizabeth wanted Lee in the name after a family member of hers. I think it is a clever way to add both! Not to mention it was my suggestion! :)

Congratulations guys! Hunter will be loved and cherished! 

A Halloween Birthday

Iva turned 5 on November 8th. This past Saturday was her birthday party. Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, her mom decided to do a costume/Halloween themed party. She asked me to make the cupcakes. After looking at a few examples she decided on witch's hats. Betsy also rented a jump house. The weather was good and it was a huge success! The party was really cute and everyone had a great time. Including Iva!

The birthday girl!

Blowing out the candles. Since the cupcakes all had hats on them, we chose to put candles in a left over cupcake so she would have something to blow out.

Hannah jumping in the jump house.

Trey enjoying his witch hat cupcake. He didn't really want to smile or even look at the camera. This was the best I got!



I made Iva's a little more sparkly. Since she is the birthday girl, hers needed a little more pzazz!

Here's how I made them...

 Take sugar cones and trim off the bottom to achieve desired height for hat.

 Most of them trimmed easily. Some broke in the wrong spot. Good thing I bought extras!

 All trimmed and ready to cover.

 I made a pattern of the cone for easy cutting. Black fondant was my choice to cover the cones in. The directions I used called for them to be covered in black royal icing. But I can never get the icing black enough. So I chose pre-tinted fondant.

 I rolled it out thin and cut it using a pizza cutter.

 Then I rolled it on.

 Tucked under the bottom.

 And smoothed it out on soft foam.

 Thanks Duff for the pre-tinted fondant! It worked great!

 I put them in a large container and let them dry so it would be easier to decorated.

 I also made the rem of the hat with fondant. I used two cookie cutters and made these little donuts. I also let them dry.

 Glued on the top with buttercream icing I tinted as black as I could. Thankfully you couldn't see it! I then decorated the hats with a orange, green and purple. The finished product is what you saw above.

 Time for cupcakes. I love this recipe. I got it out of the Cupcakes by the Cake Doctor book. Yum!

They got a cute liner too! Then after the cupcakes were cooled I iced them in orange and lime green icing and topped them with the decorated hats. Iva's hat I added pearl dust to make it sparkle! 

I'm a Proud Sister!

Here is a video of my baby brother, Matt, getting sworn into the Army. He is going into the infantry. He gets shipped out to basic training on May 7th. His baby will only be 4 months old when he leaves! I am so proud of him for making this decision. He is brave and has a loving heart. I pray he will grow stronger and that the work he has to do will not affect him. He is following my older brother's, Brandon, foot steps. I am one proud sister!

God can speak thru an insurance company!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

DJ and I have been leaning more towards having a child of our own (instead of adoption). We have actually been getting excited and at one point were discussing baby names. I know, we jumped the gun a bit! Well yesterday I wanted to check our maturity insurance again. See, with DJ's new job we had to purchase our own health insurance. With this new coverage we had the option of adding maturity. We did...for that "just in case" moment. Turns out the insurance company will not start paying benefits for maturity until 12 months after the start of coverage! Which means now is not the time to get pregnant. Not unless we want to pay an unmentionable amount!

I really was kind of sad yesterday after reading this info. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was God's way of saying "slow down". We have a meeting we are going to attend for adoption. Maybe God really wants us to adopt. Or maybe he just wants us to be patient and wait for His timing and will and not ours.

Visiting the Vet

We had to take Lexi to the vet on Monday because her ear had another hematoma. This is where fluid, usually blood, collects under the skin and causes swelling and pain. Think of a very large fluid filled blister. She has had one before in her other ear. Because of her history, I check her ears often for the signs. I caught this one earlier than the last, and thankfully it was much smaller. The vet has to drain the hematoma by puncturing it with a needle. 

 Dr. Bridges and his staff have always been wonderful to us. We love them very much. I had to take Lexi back on Thursday to have it drained again since they tend to re-swell. I also found out that Dr. Bridges is starting to work less and he has brought on more veterinarian to work on days he is off. Dr. Taylor we saw on Monday and Dr. Travis we saw on Thursday. They were both really nice and informative. I am looking forward to getting to know them better. Here are some pictures of the kids and Lexi from Thursday's visit.

Sitting in the "corner" seat waiting on Dr. Travis to come in.

Hannah just being silly. Lexi thinking "why did you bring me here?"

Lexi waiting patiently for Dr. Travis

Kid Friendly Dinner

Thursday night I watched Iva for a little bit for her mom. Since Hannah didn't have school on Friday, I let them stay up a little later than normal. I also wanted to do something fun for dinner. I thought of personal pizzas. I love the idea of letting the kids help in the kitchen. I really believe it helps them eat better when they get to make it themselves. However I am a perfectionist and don't like big messes when it comes to cooking. So most times I don't let the kids help. This is something I am working on. So Thursday night I bit my tongue and allowed them to help and make it their way, messes and all! They had a lot of fun and so did I!



These are the ones I made after the kids made theirs. I didn't remember the camera until they had already made theirs. This just shows the steps I used to make them.

Ingredients: Jumbo biscuits, pizza sauce, mozzarella-shredded, and topping so choice. I found these mini Pepperonis and thought the kids would get a kick out of "their" size toppings!

We're going to "The Jackson Five"...But how to get there?

Two weeks ago our pastor preached about using what God gave us for His glory and not ours. Some are blessed with many things while others are blessed with little. Where do you stand? How do you use what God gave you (little or much)? Don't feel guilty for having more than someone else and don't feel shortchanged if you have less than someone else. God gave you exactly what he wanted you to have. Now go use it to bring glory to God!

These are some of the key points Pastor Jeff touched on. These were questions we are to ask of ourselves and evaluate where we stand with God and the material possessions He has entrusted to us for the time we are on earth to do His work! One thing DJ thought of was expanding our family. At first, the idea was about adoption. God has opened his heart to adopting a precious child who has no home! This was the first time for him to feel this way, but not the first time for me. I have considered the idea before. I knew God didn't want me to close my heart to the idea. So I prayed that God would lead our family (and DJ) in the right path when it came to this option.

Now most of you know for 2 years now I have NOT wanted to have another baby via pregnancy! This didn't include adoption. I was/and am open to adoption being the way of expanding our family. However, since DJ and I have started talking about adoption, God has been softening my heart about pregnancy too. I feel this is an option, much like adoption, that I shouldn't close my heart to. So, how does God want us to expand our family? Well that is the big question right now!

Going back to the lesson two weeks ago, we have felt we have room enough in our lives and home to expand our family. We have a meeting to attend about adoption in the next few weeks. We have lots of information to gather about the whole process. And we have the option of pregnancy too. We are now praying for God's plan. I know he will reveal it to us, I just have to be patient. So, eventually we will expand The Jackson Four to The Jackson Five!