Surprise B'day Party!

Yes, it was a total surprise! My Uncle Charlie's 80th b'day was this past Thursday (2/21) and in honor of that, my Aunt Margie (Elaine to most people) and I planned a special surprise party for him. He and my Aunt Frances are living near Tyler so we made arrangements for them to be picked up (by their nephew and his wife, Eddie & Sue) on the pretense that they were going to the The Shed in Edom, Tx (http://theshedcafe.com/) for lunch which they were...they just didn't know what awaited them when they arrived. And when they did arrive, we were there along with a few other friends, Loraine, Mickey & Frank. I don't think he or Aunt Frances could have been any more surprised. I made a sugar-free cake w/sugar-free icing (both Sweet-n-Low mixes) which was good and lunch at The Shed was terrific. They are quite well known for their chicken-fried steak and people drive or ride (motorcycles) from all around to eat there. Our waitress was a real sweetheart and took care of everything for us. We wandered around Edom (http://www.edomtexas.com/) for a bit and enjoyed a little more 'family' time together before parting. While wandering around we discovered this great little shop full of the most whimsical birdhouses (http://www.arborcastlebirdhouses.com/). Apparently, Edom is well known for more than 'The Shed'....it is full of craft & antique stores as well. Who knew??? And what a terrific day full of truly terrific surprises!!!! Lots of love to the family and to Edom, Texas!

Two more cakes ordered and completed

Ashley and I made these cakes last weekend. The Snake cake was ordered by one of her co-workers for her 5yr old son. He wanted a Mario cake at first and then changed to snakes. Go figure! Anyway, they/we decided on a 'snakes in the grass' theme and he loved it. Ashley had a little too much fun with the green icing, because don't know if you can tell it or not, but she's actually wearing almost as much of the icing as she has on the cake at that point.

The Flower Power cake was ordered by our aunt for a cousin's 17th b'day. This one was covered in a pink tie-dyed fondant (over flavored buttercream icing) and then decorated w/neon flowers made of a specialty fondant. It, too, was loved by it's recipient.

Two More Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to 2 of my grandsons this month - Dylan just turned 9 and Dom will be 5. Ashley and I made them each their own birthday cakes (Spiderman and Skateboard cakes) and I'm thinking that you can tell what they are each into by the theme of their particular cake. The other 2 children pictured here are their brother, Damion Jr and sister, Alexis (yep, more of my grandchildren). The boys were pleased with their cakes and their presents and Ashley and I had a good time making their cakes and visiting with them today.

A Day on the Square - the Waxahachie Square

A gorgeous day - a nice occasion and something fun to do. RH and I spent the afternoon wondering around the town square in historic downtown Waxahachie (http://www.waxahachie.com/c3web/index.htm) in celebration of and because it is his b'day 'weekend'. It was a wonderful afternoon with temps in the mid '70s... in February? - unusual at best. No jackets, no thermals, no gloves...just regular everyday weekend clothing, oh yeah! We walked the square, toured the old Rogers Hotel (http://www.rogershotel.com/), the Museum, more antique stores than he wanted to go into I'm sure, a furniture store and then made our way (our final destination and the initial reason for our trip to Waxahachie) to the Catfish Plantation (http://www.catfishplantation.com/). We tried to tour the the o so beautiful Waxahachie courthouse, but unfortunately it was closed today so did our best to do it 'justice' by getting some good outside pics.

Leonard's Dept Store Museum

We enjoyed the food at the M&O Diner and the Leonard's Dept Store Museum so much last week that we returned today and brought Russell's mom with us. We'd told her about the great hamburgers we'd had here but the museum was a total surprise for her. Having lived in Ft. Worth for such a long period of time, the museum brought back a flood of special memories for her. She remembered coming here and doing her shopping, riding the subway and said she'd even bought Russell's babycrib here! How sweet was that?? Once again the food was great and she actually seemed to (and said) she enjoyed the outing.