Fall so far....

Well, things are well underway with school, jazz, musical theatre, football and church activities. We are finding the fall 'groove' so to speak. So far so good.

We may have to move Zachary's football to another district though. Unfortunately this year things are completely chaotic and two weeks of only finding out Friday night the schedule for Saturday, have left us feeling pretty frustrated. We will see how this pans out but he may be wearing a new jersey sooner than you think.

Both kids love their teachers although Brooklyn's is pregnant and she will get her replacement in January. But Zachary is especially thrilled as he has his first male teacher, and it's the same guy who taught him Art last year and who with he struck up a special 'artistic bond'. So that's a blessing.

I finished another wedding cake - for Derek & Crystal Fonk. It turned out well I think; exactly the same as the picture she gave me, but with flowers in colours that matched her wedding. The decor at the reception was beautiful, all in deep reds and at Olympic View facing the golf course. Beautiful Location.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all, enjoy your long weekends before we all head back to the grind on Tuesday!

The finished forest/mushroom wedding cake

Here is what the end result looked like:

Summer So far.........

Well today the sun is out but we're in between rain showers according to the forecast.

Summer so far has been great! We've had 3 weekend trips to Kelowna to visit with the sibs & kids and our usual week at teen camp in Nanoose Bay. The kids have been great but I have noticed them getting a little bit bored the last week or two. Obviously time to go back to school is upon us!

I've made another couple of cakes since the last post - one for Sherisse's Mum's vacation bible school - a Mexican fiesta party - and one for my boss' daughter's wedding. That cake just got picked up this morning. They will be adding figurines of a bride fishing her husband out of the pond I put on the wedding cake! Very whimsical, the wedding is on Salspring Island and they wanted a forest floor, a tree stump, a pond and meringue mushrooms. My boss told me I'm promised a copy of the professional photographer's cake picture once the final assembly is complete.

So now I'm just relaxing with a cup of tea and contemplating what's ahead. School supplies are already purchased - early this year to avoid the rush - HOORAY!, and church programs and sports etc. will soon be underway. As my friend Vicki, a lover of Fall will tell you, I'm not too good at accepting summer might be drawing to a close. Which is why I won't mention it and instead will tell you I'm still planning several rip-roaring barbeques. After next week's forecast rain of course ;)

So I'll leave you with a few photos of our last few weeks - one of my favourite pictures, a photo of all of the cousins on my side, together on my sister's couch in Kelowna.

July Update......

So the sun has finally shown up in Victoria and we've managed to cram lots in since it's first arrival. Darrell had a baseball tournament scheduled one weekend so I took the kids to Kelowna so I could be at Anna's baby shower for little Caleb. It was so great to meet the little guy. At just a month old he pretty much slept the entire time we were there. He looks like Jack's baby picture quite a bit. And Jack - what a little charmer! He has cute little dimples and smiles and hugs bundles (Auntie Rachel like!)





Then this weekend was a whirlwind of activity - the kids were at kids camp for the first time (& loved it!) so that gave me some free time to bake. I made 30 cupcakes for a surprise ENGAGEMENT PARTY! for Oliver (complete with chocolate O's and H's (fiancee's name is Hannah, a sweet girl from Wales). He took Hannah out on a jetski up at his parents cabin on the lake and when they returned they had got engaged, and returned to see 25 of us sitting on the dock. They didn't know we would be there and all of us (except me I think....) didn't know we were coming up for an engagement party! That Florenda, she's so sneaky........

Last but not least, I had to make a wedding cake for Megan & Rommy's wedding up at Bear Mountain. Which, by the way, I had never been to before. BEAUTIFUL! If you're not yet married, you may want to scope it out for a location. Seriously gorgeous. Anyway, the wedding was amazing and the cake, well....let's just say the intense heat of my house after I returned from the cabin was so bad that everything took a little longer than it should have. But Vicki was a lovely cake assistant (!) and helped me drive it up there as I sat on the back floor of my van with the cake box between my legs so it wouldn't slide!


And now I'm tired......but happy.....

Colds Suck

I'm not a good sick person. Don't get me wrong, I'm nothing like my husband, my Dad or my brother. (How could any girl be?) But I am such an A-type personality that colds shut me right down and leave me completely frustrated. So, here I am at 12:28pm, having moved from my bed to the couch yet again in an attempt not to disrupt anyone else's sleep (read: Darrell) upon realizing I can't stop coughing.

I've always been such a fan of Ny-Quil because my theory is that colds don't get better because we can't sleep when we have them. If we could just 'sleep it off' they wouldn't last half as long. This is where the Ny-Quil comes in. It knocks you out so you are at least catching zzzz's through the night, thus leaving you feeling more 'healed' by morning. Now, granted, it does also leave you with that 'hungover' feeling. Which is why, at the time of this writing and upon realizing I was out of Ny-Quil, I am now updating my blog sipping on a hot brandy.

Heck, if the meds won't do it surely the alcohol will.

Nighty nite.

It's Another Boy!

We are pleased to announce that my sister and husband, Anna & Mike have welcomed a precious baby brother for Jack into their family. Caleb Joel Mason was born at 7lb., 6oz. and apparently had the longest umbilical chord the doctor had ever seen! And in the style of myself and my siblings, the middle name is yet again named after a family member - my brother Joel. Joel's son Roman is only a few months younger than Caleb so I'm sure the cousins will become great friends.

Well done Mason Family! Can't wait to meet him.

Wedding Weekend

Last week was very busy but ended with the lovely wedding of Jacquelyn and Craig, friends from Calgary who chose to get married in Victoria. Unfortunately the sun did not make much of an appearance but the drizzle did not take away from the beauty of the day. The ceremony was outside under a tent at the Ocean Pointe Hotel and overlooked the water. Little Aria made a perfect little flower girl and Alison once again went above and beyond by doing all of the flowers for the weeding and much more planning to boot. Leon of course sang at the ceremony and the reception as well as serenaded Jacquelyn along with Joey of Destino.
I was very pleased with the final result of the wedding cake although there were the usual baking for a deadline stresses along the way. But two days of baking, icing and decorating paid off and the bride seemed very pleased. Dinner was delicious and 68 of us dined as we overlooked the water and the evening lights of the city.





And without a DOUBT the Green table was the most enjoyable! All of the tables were colour coded by placecards, centrepieces (done by Alison) and accents. The whole theme of the wedding was monochromatic black and white with the flowers providing the colour.