Cake Decorating

This was my nephew Tyler's birthday cake... he likes computers...

My final cake for the Course I Decorating Class... Not perfect, but not too shabby either...

For Christmas this year, Chad gave me one of the best presents I have ever recieved... a cake decorating class. To make it even more fun, Chad invited several of our friends to also get their wives the class for Christmas. The class has spaned four weeks, and tonight was our last class. (I even recieved a certificate of completion...). We had to bring a frosted cake to each class, and we have learned some basic piping skills and how to create several frosting flowers including creating a frosting rose. I wouldn't say that I have mastered any of the skills taught, but I am definitely a more saavy cake decorator than before. I made a commitment when I originally learned about the class that I would make a cake for each of the grandkids for their birthdays. That will be a total of 14 cakes this year, and by the end of it, I should be better... My sister-in-laws, Kathy and Kara benefited because they got each of the finished cakes every week. I neglected to take pictures of my first two cakes, but I got one from my nephew Tyler's birthday and from my last class. I liked the class so much that I think I'm going to take the Course II one that starts next week.

Kara asked me to make her wedding cake for her reception that will be at the end of March... I'm going to be practicing a lot between now and then...

5 Minutes in Jaxon's Life

He started out playing on his car. That is a screeching face of joy... he really loves his car.
Next Jax grabbed his next favorite thing, his photo album. It's funny because we have a bunch of albums located in the same place, but he always grabs this one and goes through it.

Next Jax found a car and decided to sit down and spin a wheel for awhile.

When that got boring, he moved over to my shelf where he was able to knock down a few bags of flour.

Then he found some Kix that he had dropped on the floor during dinner. (This is also a new favorite thing. He will pick up a single cereal, look at me, say "Ahh Oh" and drop it on the floor)

This is when Jax discovered my camera as a new toy... we stopped taking pictures at that point.

Jaxon has been walking (and really I should say running because he rarely walks anymore) for about a month now. In addition to being more mobile, he has developed the talent to get into EVERYTHING! I thought he was a busy boy before, but I was wrong... so very very wrong. In an attempt to capture the intrigue and speed that has become Jax, I took my camera and followed him around the house for 5 minutes. I did it National Geographic style- I kept my distance and tried not to interfere with his natural curiosity and movements (except when he tried to pick something out of the garbage and eat it... no picture was taken at that point as I almost dropped the camera to try to stop him.) Within that 5 minute span, he changed activities 6 times and was in 4 different areas of the house... amazing!

Merry Christmas!

Anderson Family Reindeer Games Challenge

Damen, Tyler and Bryant with the Reindeer Game Scoreboard
Preparing for Christmas Cookie Fear Factor

Preparing for Christmas Cookie Fear Factor... they were all smiling at this point

Grandma and Frank with all the grand kids

Our Anderson Family Reindeer Games Challenge Winners: Alec and Brett

This year Chad and I (but mostly Chad) put together a series of games for the Anderson family to play the week before Christmas. We called the event "The Anderson Family Reindeer Game Challenge." We separated the family into 8 teams (with one adult and one child per team) and assigned each team to be a different reindeer. Each team was tasked with creating a team flag and we made a scoreboard that was on display throughout the week. Each night we played a different "reindeer game." The games varied from Christmas Carol Jeopardy to Wrapping Presents with no hands to North Pole Trivia (everyone was given 24 hours to find out as much as they could about the North Pole and everyone literally spent HOURS researching) :) to a special Christmas Fear Factor where each contestant had to eat a Christmas cookie with a "mystery ingredient" on it. (The mystery ingredients included ketchup, vinaigrette dressing, and garlic spread to name just a few.) The final game was a treasure hunt where each team was tasked with finding the "jingle bell rock." Complete mayhem broke out in this game as all the teams scrambled to find a painted rock buried in the snow. In the end Chad's brother Brett and his nephew Alec won the entire challenge when they were the first to find the "jingle bell rock." All and all, it was a very fun event, and I think we will try to make it a family tradition.