A Few Recent Pictures

Since I have been missing in action for a month and a half, figured I would post a few pictures. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, so sorry (again, for the umpteenth time) for the lack of posts.


Just ignore my messy kitchen. The cutie-patootie toddler is there to distract you from her surroundings! Raia was helping me make cookies. Chocolate chip walnut, to be exact :)




Our cat, Shula, decided that she'd take up residence temporarily in the car seat that had been placed on our kitchen floor. Raia thought it would be nice to read her the story of Cinderella. It's one of her favorites!




We took Raia to see her very first movie in the movie theater. We saw Toy Story 3...nevermind that she hasn't seen the first two! She was more excited than she looks in the picture, not sure why she has the grinch-face.




Ok...DON'T swallow your tongue!! She loved it, I promise!!



Decided we'd go to the Children's Museum one Sunday afternoon. God blessed us that day - parking was free, AND our admission into the museum was free!! We had no idea, just went there on a whim for family time!!




I will try not to let it be so long before I post again. I always say that, or something similar, and then fail miserably.


xoxox~

Not much going on

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I didn't really have much to write about. We are all doing well. Nathan is in Ohio for a week this week, and next month he heads to Canada for a week. While he is gone, I find a new respect for single parents. I don't know how in the world they do it! Parenting is hard, but to do it alone?! Wow...I will be glad when Nathan gets home, all I really want is to take a nap!

Raia and I have been going to the pool several times a week since summer started. She is quite the little fish! She even started this scary going underwater thing, and I got really freaked out and called my friend Kim. Kim is a hard core athlete. She got a full scholarship to Auburn University for swimming, and won all kinds of awards. She now teaches swim lessons, and is a swim team coach. She and her sister both compete in triathlons. Kim is actually pregnant right now, and so she has slowed down just a little LOL! She is due any day now, I can't wait!! Anyway, back to the story. I called Kim and she graciously offered to give Raia a free swim lesson and helped me learn how to teach her myself. After that first lesson, Raia was doing so much better about listening to me, and following the rules. If you know my child, you know that she has NO FEAR. Before the lesson she was jumping off the side of the pool and not wanting to be caught when she would jump into the water, she'd even run alongside of the pool to get further away from me. She was going underwater without taking a breath first, and holding onto the wall not wanting to come up! Scared me to death! I kept thinking back to that little boy who died two years ago from dry drowning. Call me paranoid, I don't care, I just want her to be safe. Kim told me that what Raia was doing was perfectly normal, and I feel a little better. She even ordered a swim belt for Raia to wear in the pool. It isn't a life vest or floaties or anything like that, this will actually teach her to swim on her own because she will have to learn to dog paddle and keep her head up while wearing it. Kim has been such a good friend to me, and her 2 girls just love Raia :)

A few weekends ago we went to Galveston. We went to Stewart Beach, and you have to pay $8 to get in. You would think that since you have to pay to get in that it would be a nice beach, right? WRONG. It was so disgusting. And SO crowded. There was trash all over the beach, even a dirty diaper right near the water (GAG!). We promptly turned around and left. I asked Nathan to stop and get our money back since we had only been there five minutes. Luckily, they gave it back. We drove a short way down the beach and parked and just went down to the free beach. It was nice, and we had a great time. It wasn't crowded at all, and it was clean. Tell me why people would pay money to go to Stewart Beach?? I still don't understand it!!

I cannot even believe I am posting this pic of myself, but please, pay no attention to me!! Look at the cute little girl in her Little Mermaid suit!! Pretty cute, huh? We didn't take many pics, sorry.

I really need a new swim suit, this one I think is about 8 years old, and had I known how terrible it looked on me, I'd have never worn it out there!! Not sure if you can tell in the pic or not, but I got my hair cut. I actually have bangs now! I haven't had bangs in YEARS!!! I am really liking it :) I can finally cover up my forehead LOL!!


A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted on Facebook about an 8 week old puppy that was in a local kill-only shelter. He looked so much like our Gibson! I saw the picture, and thought "if only....". I showed the picture to Nathan, and he he said "Aww, he does kinda look like Gibson."

The next day I logged into Facebook and another one of my friends had him posted. His day to be put to sleep was two days away (that day, and the next day were his two days). I immediately called Nathan at work and said "Please can we get him??" He was surprised I hadn't already asked. He said to make the call, and so I did. The lady told me that she hoped a rescue group would step up in time to go get him out of the shelter. *(The way it works at this particular pound/shelter, there are NO ADOPTIONS. It is a kill-only shelter :( If you want one of the animals there, you must contact a rescue group, or in my case I had the number for a volunteer who worked with all different rescue groups and she forwards potential adopters information to the groups, then they decide if the people are "good enough" and are people who can care for an animal, then they will go rescue it from the pound, and you adopt straight from them. Make sense?) I waited about 4 hours, and I was getting anxious so I called her back. Long story short, we played phone tag all day, and by that night around bed time I heard that a rescue group was going to the shelter the next morning, the morning he was to be put to sleep, to get him. The lady I had been talking with all day said she had put a "rescue hold" on him, so he was safe. The next day I met the rescue people at a local vet's office, and after he was checked over and was given a wormer and a couple of shots, we were able to bring him home.

In Gibson's case, we had to wait I think 10 days before we could bring him home, but since this was a special case we were able to bring him home right away. He is still too young to be neutered, but he is getting fixed on August 17th, along with a microchip. I can't tell you how important it is to SPAY & NEUTER YOUR PETS!!! Microchips are also invaluable, and very cheap!!
Luckily, this little guy is healthy as a horse! (Why do they say that? How healthy are horses anyway?) If you remember, almost a year ago when we got Gibson, he was so very sick. Thank God he pulled through. He and I formed a very special bond while I was caring for him. Nathan was out of town for a week, and Gibson was knocking on Death's door. So I am so thankful this little puppy is healthy! We have had him for almost 3 weeks now, and not a hint of a cough or anything else he may have brought home from that yucky shelter! He did have worms, though, and has already been treated twice, and we are not seeing any more wormy poops (YAY!). He and Gibson both have an appointment on Friday with the vet for shots and check ups. Gibson just LOVES the puppy. At first we weren't so sure...I think now he just loves the attention and the play time. They are both getting great exercise just from playing. Gibson is so much bigger, too, I worry sometimes, but he is like a big brother. He has never once hurt the puppy. We keep a close eye on them when they play, and they have separate kennels to sleep in at night and when we are gone. Hopefully this crate training (potty training) will work as quickly with pup-pup as it did with Gibson!
I haven't told you his name yet. We couldn't figure out a name for him, but had tossed around Fender (to go with Gibson) or Dexter (like the Showtime series). When I was making the vet appointment, the girl asked what the puppy's name was, and I felt awful that we hadn't named him yet. So I said "Dexter". Nathan had not really
expressed much interest in 'Fender', but had mentioned that 'Dexter' was OK. So Dexter it is.





This past week, I discovered the Kingwood Library! It is brand new, and fabulous!! Since having Raia, I haven't had time to read like I used to. I really miss reading a novel a week or more. I really do. Not that I would trade being a mom to my little "Raia sunshine" for that, I just miss it is all. And now that she is getting a little older, I want to try to read more. My Bible study book keeps mentioning The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, and I am intrigued! I went on a search for this book, and found myself at the new library. We have been 4 times in the past week, and I am not the only one who loves it, Raia does too!! We can check out up to 75 items at a time (LOL) - not that we ever would, but now I know my limit. They have DVD's too, so that saves us some money when we want to watch a movie. It has been great! They have story time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we are going to try and make that a regular thing too. Here is Raia at the library, she just plops down in the aisle when she finds a book she likes.




I have several cake orders coming up next weekend, and my sister-in-law's baby shower is next month, so be on the lookout over on The Sweet Life for them! I will leave you with a few silly pictures of Raia.


Fun with paint





This child fears nothing - she is jumping from her bed to mine, and back!






Beautiful girl, she is really growing up fast :(





And now it is bedtime for Miss Raia. I am off to go read some in my book before I hit the hay, too. If you don't mind, could you please be in prayer that my headaches get better - they are starting, once again, to rear their ugly heads and are getting more frequent. I hate asking for anything for myself, there are so many other things that really need prayer at this time - the Gulf Oil Spill, our servicemen overseas, deadly childhood diseases that so desperately need a cure, etc. Speaking of the oil spill, a local Christian radio station here (89.3 KSBJ) posted on their Facebook page: " Not sure how to talk to your kids about the oil spill? Here's how one mom not only helped her kids understand, but also empowered them to help out." Click here --->Craft Hope for the World I thought it was really neat :)



And one last thing before I go, speaking of being crafty, I made a bow holder for Raia out of something that she and Grandma made. Grandma got her this name plate thing, you put letter stickers on it to spell a name, and it's just cute. Well, Grandma let Raia put the stickers on, and on the back, Raia left a very sweet little message! I had to make it functional, something we would use and see every day, and she needed a bow holder, so....






I only have pictures of it without the bows, but one of these days I will remember to post a pic of it with all the bows on it LOL!


Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~

P.S.
I realized after typing all of that, that the title for this particular post is "Not much going on", and then I end up writing a novel about all that's been going on. Hahaha. Figures.

So blessed

I am so blessed. Sometimes I think I am the luckiest girl in the world. I thank God every single day for my family, and for my friends, both of which are so very important to me. Like I have said before, the friends I have in my life now are the kind of people I wish I'd have been friends with long ago. Just all around wholesome people, loving, caring, would do anything for me. One friend in particular, I've mentioned her here before, Tammy, played a huge part in me giving my life back to Christ. I've been incredibly blessed by her, in so many ways. She is the one who called me on March 1, and prayed with me, and talked with me about God. It was that day that I rededicated my life to Christ. Read her blog post, she tells it so much better than I do. I love you Tammy, you are a true blessing!!

Click here to read Tammy's post.

I just wanted to share that. Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~
Sara

What I've been up to and my new blog :)

Not much has been going on here. I have been very busy the past few weeks with cake orders, birthday parties and baby showers! This past weekend I only got 7 hours of sleep between Friday morning and Sunday night. All of the orders at one time were also a blessing, because I've had lots of financial things hit me/us all at the same time. After this past weekend, I decided I needed to have a place for potential customers to view an album of my work without me having to add them to my personal Facebook friends list. I have been planning this for quite a while, but never could come up with a name I liked. To remedy this, I had a contest on Facebook to help me come up with an appropriate blog name for just my cakes and other treats. The winner would receive a large order of cake balls, and the runners up would get a smaller order. The names that I really liked were:

1.) The Sweet Life
2.) Simply Sweet
3.) Heavenly Treats
4.) Simply Sweet Heavenly Treats

What would YOU have chosen? If you want to see which name won, CLICK HERE, it will take you to my new blog :) I hope it will be a great success! It will at least save me from adding weirdos to my personal friends list on Facebook LOL! Keep in mind that I have just started this new blog, so there isn't much there just yet, only a few posts. You all know how terrible I am at updating this blog, hopefully I won't be so terrible at updating that one since I will only have to write out a little snippet about the cake that the post is about.

Now back to this previous weekend. Here is everything I did (all of these will eventually be posted on the new blog, but I want to post them here now to show you what I've been up to).

For two little girls, turning 7 and 3. This cake matched the party napkin.



Cake Ball Truffle Pops


Elmo cupcakes - there were 36 in all. These little buggers were hard to do, and I was kind of unhappy with how some of the mouths turned out. Live and learn!


These were for a girl at our church's baby shower. She is having a boy, and the colors matched perfectly with all the flowers and balloons they had there (from what I hear - I wasn't there!)


Two plates of chocolate dipped pretzels and a plate of Cake Ball Truffles. These were for my good friend Kim's baby shower. I decorated them with blue sugar sprinkles because she is having a BOY!!! I cannot WAIT!!!


Cake Ball Truffles


The weekend before that, I had a pretty big order, too. My very first "customer" was having a first birthday party for her little boy. She wanted a smash cake for him a few days earlier because he was having his pictures taken, and then on Saturday she wanted another smash cake and 36 cupcakes - some of which were on a board to form the number "1" and the rest were decorated separately. Stripes and all! I think they turned out super cute :)






So now that you know how busy I've been, maybe you'll forgive me for not updating as often as I should have? And maybe these pics of Raia will help, too...

Wish I could've gotten video of this, they were practically in sync with each other. Raia would hang her head down, Gibson would too, then Raia would tilt her head to the side, Gibson did too! She just loves her doggie!!


Me and my tiny gal after we played with makeup :) She looks like a princess!



Nathan brought Raia a rose from our rosebush after he cut the grass. She loved it!



This is what happens when you leave a tiny artist alone for two minutes!



I have hung some of her works of art on our door to the garage. I just love seeing it every day walking in or out, or when we are in the kitchen making food. She is so creative!!



One last thing before I go...On Saturday before Mother's Day, Nathan noticed that one of our outside cats, Mr. Lynx, was limp, and not doing well at all. He rushed Mr. Lynx to the emergency vet, where after a few tests they determined he had kidney failure. This was so sudden, the day before he seemed fine. Nathan brought him home with antibiotics, and tried his best to get food and fluids in him. Sunday, Mother's Day night, he was so much worse. Nathan and I agreed that if he did not improve drastically overnight that we needed to do the right thing and take him to the vet and let them put him to sleep. The next morning, Nathan woke me early and told me to come say goodbye. At first, when I saw him, I thought he was already gone, he was not moving and felt cold to me :( He did meow and start purring (he always purrs), so I said my goodbyes. Nathan loaded him up and took him on that last car ride. Before the vet could even see him, Mr. Lynx passed away. He purred all the way to the end. He was such a good cat, and he will be so very missed. I still look for him when I go out into the garage, or under his favorite bushes by the driveway... Nathan found him right after I came to Texas. He couldn't have been more than about 4 or 5 weeks old, and had a BALD head. We have no idea what happened to him! He was so scared, and when Nathan was bringing him up to our apartment, a mean old lady that lived below us was leaving her apartment. I guess her opening the door scared Mr. Lynx, and he jumped out of Nathan's arms and bolted straight into her apartment! He hid underneath a big piece of furniture, and Nathan had to tell the lady he was pet sitting so she would let him get the kitten. I am so glad he finally retrieved Mr. Lynx, unscathed! We have had many grand adventures with Mr. Lynx, and now he is off to even grander adventures in the sky. We will miss you, Purr Master!!






Thanks for checking in :)

xoxox~

Being Baptized

As most of my readers know, in early March I rededicated my life to Christ. This was something that I had felt in my heart that I wanted to do for quite some time, and I decided that it was time. Then, on March 28th, 2010 I was baptized. This was an outward expression of my faith to those around me looking on, to those who know me and know that I did this, and to God that I am His forever and ever. Pastor Nathan Lino preached just a few weeks prior to my baptism about what it takes to be saved, and that touched my heart so deeply, and I knew that in order to prove to myself, to others, and to God that I am a God fearing Christian woman, a lover of Jesus Christ, I needed, wanted to do this. My husband and Raia were there, along with Nathan's parents, and my two dear friends Cathy and Tammy who have been such a big part of getting me back into church - they are such wonderful influences on me, and I love them both so much.
Here is a video of my baptism (thank you Tammy and Richard for this video!). This is a day I will never forget!!


Cathy holding Raia while videoing the baptism.




Nathan's dad was very emotional, and very sweet. He was so happy that he was crying. I love him!!




I can't say that rededicating my life and being baptized has made my life any easier. If anything, it has gotten harder. I know that Satan does anything in his power to bring me down, and he throws obstacles in my life to make it hard for me, get me frustrated, anything he can to make me turn away from God. But luckily, I know that God is always with me, and that through every trial there is a lesson. I have not endured every trial since my baptism with grace (as I would love to), but I am a work in progress. I saw a saying not too long ago and loved it: "I ain't what I should be, but I ain't what I used to be, either!" Love it!!

xoxox~

Wow, it's been a while!!

Sorry I've been gone so long. Every time I start to write a post, Raia wakes up, so, sorry folks! I haven't forgotten about ya!!

I have lots to tell, but for now, pictures will have to tell my story for me. As soon as we are back in the lower 48, and Raia is sleeping soundly, I will lay it all out there for you to read!

Waikiki Beach:












Hanauma Bay:




Me, SNORKELING!!!! That was awesome :)




After Hanauma Bay, we drove up the coast toward the North Shore:
(No idea who that guy is)




North Shore - I was too sunburned to get out and even look around, but I enjoyed looking at the waves from the car:


We saw fields upon fields upon fields of what we thought was Aloe...
(This isn't the greatest pic, sorry)
/>

We found out a few miles down the road what it was, PINEAPPLES!!



Ok, that's all I've got for now. We leave Hawaii tomorrow, and although I am terribly sad to be leaving this beautiful state, I will be glad to get home. Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~