New Purchase for Cake Business !!!

V-E-R-Y excited about a purchase I just made last week.

AN AIRBRUSH !!!  YAYYYY..... It's a PAASCHE airbrush (same one used by Duff on Ace of Cakes) and I can't wait to try it out on my next project.  Which, incidentally, is an electric guitar cake.  Keep posted on my cakes website for an update with a photograph.

This opens up a whole new realm of what I'm about to do with cake decorating.  Very cool early Christmas present.

You Go Girl!

Last night we had the privilege of watching Brooklyn play in her first ever basketball game!  She joined the night league through school with her friend so they play for the PCS Pacers Grade 4/5 team.  Except she and her friend are the only grade 4's on there and neither one has ever played before !

We were so proud - and surprised - Brooklyn is TOUGH!  She kept looking left to right to make sure she was on her check, she ran down the court dribbling while holding out her arm to guard off her opponent, and whenever another girl tried to grab the ball from her you should have seen her grit her teeth!  She almost looked mad she was so intense!  It was hilarious to watch and good to see her getting a more cardiovascular workout than the dance classes can provide.  At this point the tall girls are the only ones who stand a chance at shooting at the net but it was fun to see them give their best out there.

And Zachary's football team is in full swing.  They are so fun to watch because the skill level at this age is really quite good.  We were very proud of him; after about 4 tryouts he made the Gold team for his age category.  So a higher calibre but still no travelling further than Metchosin so suits us just fine.  It's just so neat to see them make plays that are thought out.  And this is where Zachary is quite good; he has a head for the game and where ball placement should take place to produce the most scoring opportunities.  Little athletes........ahhhh........

Tea Anyone?

On Wednesday of this week my Grandma turned 90.  NINETY ! Amazing.  She and my Grandad (93) still live on their own in a Sidney apartment and go downstairs to the communal dining room for lunch and dinner.

For her birthday my aunt flew in from Alberta and was joined by myself and Brooklyn and 2 of my Grandma's friends as we took the birthday girl to the Empress hotel for Afternoon Tea.  Shockingly, despite being English (which almost makes this tradition seem like a birthright....) I had never been to the Empress for tea.  But at $55 a person, I'm sure you can understand why.

It was absolutely delightful.  The food was delicious, the tea hot and steeped just like it should be and the table settings were impeccable.  And Brooklyn had the 'Princess Tea' on her own 2 tiered china platter!!  It was sooooo cute and she was so excited to go.  (Half-way through our time she whispered to me "I thought old people would be really boring but their stories are quite hilarious aren't they Mum?"..... haha)

Have you ever had tea 'adorned' with Pringles ??

Brooklyn and my Auntie Celia

This was Brooklyn's plate but we all received an individual jam jar.

Everything on Brooklyn's plate was mini; mini scones, mini sandwiches etc.  It was absolutely adorable.  And everyone was given a box of Empress Tea to take home with us at the end of the 90 minutes we spent there.  Not to mention the lovely tones coming from the pianist in the lobby.



Flowers from my sister



The birthday girl

Last Boating Days....

Our boat has now been pulled out of the water, and Darrell is busy polishing it and winterizing it before we pull it out again next April or May.  So here is out last set of photos from a day trip with our friend Kristy, to our weekend at Deer Harbour, U.S.A. with our kids and then Poet's Cove last weekend with the kids and their friends Liam and Trinity.



Deer, Harbour, U.S.A.  I just had to take a picture of this vignette, so Americana and a nod to a time when life was simpler.



So here is out last set of photos from a day trip with our friend Kristy, to our weekend at Deer Harbour, U.S.A. last weekend with our kids and their friends Liam and Trinity.

Kelowna and the English Sweeties !

We finally got a chance to visit my sister and brother-in-law's BRITISH INVASION SWEETS & GOODS store in Peachland.  If you go there you have to visit!  It's the cutest store with a bureau full of teapots.  I even bought a great big picture for the wall in my rec. room.  And we filled UP on English sweets, some of which I haven't seen in literally years.

And of course I got to visit with my gorgeous little nephews.  Love those guys!

Forget it. I have to post them separately.

Nope.  I couldn't put them ALL together.  Just too much info for one post....

SO - the 'MOTHER PART 2' took place on August 28th.  As some of you may remember from last year, the Mother was a dream (literally!) of Darrell's last year involving a big BBQ, tents and a live band.  Well this year we had part 2.  Different band, same tents and 86 people later the sun shone us as we dined on yummy food and listened to some great tunes.  Thank you to Benson Hicks and James Liira for providing some FABULOUS tune-age !

Catchup from the summer

I feel like I am going to do some of this summer's events an injustice, but I'm going to lump a whole bunch of fun things together in this one post as I didn't post about them individually.  Just TOO much fun for one summer!

Proud Mama and Little Brother

First of all - our dear Emily and Lane's wedding !!! How exciting this was.  Emily is like my younger sister, or niece, or older sister of Brooklyn's..... she and Curtis and my children have grown up together even though they are almost 15 years apart.  So we were so glad to be a part of her wedding, and I also did the wedding cake (with cupcakes).

As you can tell from the bridal party behind him, he ALMOST could have been a groomsman!



Blurry, But VERY happy !!