Cupcake Contest

So...Jelly Belly is having a cupcake contest!
Simply decorate a cupcake with Jelly Belly jelly beans and you can enter!!!

Also, you can play an instant win game daily....for FREE!!
I have been wanting to make a cupcake to submit for the contest but have been so busy I have neglected to do so......until today.

I bought the ginormous container of Jelly Belly jelly beans at Costco and tried not to eat them all before making my cupcakes.  (to do this, I left them in my car until I was ready to use them.....)
So, today I made some cupcakes...
I just made them from a box mix....good ole' Betty!
and then whipped up some buttercream icing...

And played with the jelly beans.....and ate a couple or a few....I lost count...
I loved the little blue ones, they reminded me of Robins eggs...so....

I made a little nest out of brown tinted fondant and Voila!

I also tried to make a little bunny.....

Not so happy with how he turned out but have to be honest and show my failures as well as successes.

And these little green jelly beans reminded me of mini watermelons....SO

I chopped one in half, colored the inside with edible ink markers and made a little Watermelon stand!

This is the one I decided to submit for the contest!

If you want to find out more about the contest, check out this Jelly Belly link!


oh yeah....Jake made one too....a self portrait!! :)  He is too young to enter though, you have to be 13 or older!  

And he needed one with Woody in it too....

Thanks for looking!
Love,
Bronwyn

I am surrounded by BASEBALL

Baseball is turning into my life!!!
My husband has been away at Spring Training for 5 weeks!!! In sunny Florida....sending me pictures of himself by the pool....I deleted that one!!!
and on the beach....

and at the Stadium.....

Buck Showalter & Earl Weaver

And while he is away (working....HAHA) I am home with 4 kids,.......and 2 cats.......working full time and going to school!  (pity party....ok....too busy for pity....time to stop and get back to work!!)  But that in a nutshell is why there have been little updates to this blog lately.

Now to top it all off...my Gabe wants to PLAY baseball....so like a good mommy, I signed him up and have to take him to practice....

Honestly, I think Tball is the best entertainment ever!!!

The little kids trying to learn to play this game are so cute and funny!
Here is Gabe throwing the ball...

He actually has a really good arm!!!

And trying to see with the sun shining directly in his face....

And hitting the ball! 

These kids really are fun to watch and it will be even better when we get to watch a game with 2 teams of little ones running around trying their hardest to learn this game.

I will try to document some of the funnier moments with my camera....if I can stop laughing enough to take a clear picture!

Thanks for looking!
Bronwyn

Monster Truck Cake

My friend Lauryn at work asked me to make her little Jack a monster truck cake for his birthday.  I have never made a truck cake before but thought maybe.....just maybe...I could do it!

His favorite Monster truck is Grave Digger....the graphics on this particular truck are very detailed.
I used this picture as a guide for my cake.

First I made my pound cake in the biggest rectangular pan I have....12X19 I think.

Then I divided the rectangle into three 12X6 inch pieces and stacked them with some buttercream icing in between.

I used these cookie sticks as dowels for the cake to keep the layers from sliding.

Then I carved the cake into the shape of the body of the truck....

I think it looks like Tow Mater here but....wrong truck :)

and covered the entire cake in buttercream icing....

Then I stopped taking pics because I was too busy with fondant and icing coloring all over my hands (frequently washed) to grab my camera.  I covered the cake in black fondant and then used different colored fondant to put the accent pieces on the cake.  Then I shooed my kids away from the fondant scraps because I may need that fondant for another part of the cake!

The wheels were made of rice krispy treat, covered in buttercream and then in fondant.....attached to the cake with a toothpick. 

I painted the designs on the cake using different colored Pearl Dust (mixed with a little bit of Vodka...the alcohol evaporates so its safe for the kiddos).

I added the Happy Birthday message with buttercream icing and Voila!  I made a monster truck cake.

I would have liked to had more detail to show the door/hood lines but I am pretty happy with my first attempt at a truck cake.

Thanks for looking!
Love,
Bronwyn

My New Toy

I got a new toy!!!

It is this little baby!  A new Lens!!!  Yay!

My co-worker Liz, who takes beautiful pictures, recommended this lens to me......it is auto focus for all models of Nikon SLR camera's except for mine it seems (and maybe one or two others...) but I loved the pics I got with it!

Here are some of the few pictures I have taken with this new lens.

My first model was Jake....

and his trusty side kick Bumblebee!

and here are some of Gabe...

I just love this one!

And a few of Drew.

 He hasn't been feeling well lately but he still let me take some pictures of him.

I am loving this little lens and can't wait to take more photographs with it!!

Thanks for looking!
Bronwyn

Light it Up Blue for Autism

As I have mentioned before, our family has been touched by Austism.
Our Jake has Pervasive Development Delay-Not Otherwise Specified...
in short PDD-NOS.  This is an autism spectra disorder, along with

Aspergers and Autism. 

We walked in October to raise money to help raise awareness about
Autism and now we have pledged to "Light it up Blue"

This is a small exerpt from an email I received:

"On the evenings of April 1 and 2, 2011, prominent buildings around the world -- including the Empire State Building in New York City and the Sydney Opera House in Australia -- will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on Saturday, April 2."

They have also suggested that in support of Autism and raising awareness, we light up our own houses "blue" and wear blue clothing.  Check out this link http://www.lightitupblue.org/  to the website to learn more and please.....Light it up Blue with me!!!

Love Bronwyn

 

Morgan in Charge

Morgan was helping me with the boys the other day.
When I came home, my camera was out of its bag.  When I looked at the pics I saw a short photo shoot of her brothers.

 It looks like she gave them baths....(thanks Morgan)

 ...made them pose for pictures.....

did their hair....

and made them pose for more pictures!

My Jake with a mohawk!!  He looked cute but it is so not his style!

And Gabe looking so serious....I think he was thinking...."Please mom come back soon so she will stop making us pose for pictures!!

She even took a pic of Sonic, which I am sure Jake asked her to take.

  She is a blessing to me!  And not too bad behind the lens either...I just did a small amount of post processing.
  Hope you all had a great weekend....I did in between washing laundry and dishes and then more laundry :)
Thanks for looking!
Bronwyn (AKA  she with pruny hands)

Just a bit of nonsense

So much has been going on lately that I haven't had time to do much worthy of posting.  I am not a great cook (even when I have the desire) so I can't post pictures or recipes of the wonderful cuisine I've made.  I guess I could have taken a picture of tonight's dinner....just to give you an understanding of how dinner around here goes.  Let's just put it this way, the pizza place KNOWS us!!!  A little sad and scary but too true.  They treat us well and the pizza is yummy!

So I was looking through my pictures and found some of my babies a few years ago.  They have changed so much in just these few short years. 

The pictures I want to share are ones demonstrating a sisters desire, especially an older sister, to have fun at the expense of her younger brothers.

I will just let the picture speak for itself....

MY BABY BOY!!!  And he just knows he looks pretty! :)

And here is Jake in what I think is a Hanna Montana wig.  I have many more pictures that would demonstrate her cruelty...but alas, I can't find them right now.

I came home once and Drew was all dressed up with my lipstick on.  He thought it was fun until I told him the lipstick was long lasting wear!  HAHAHA

Anyway, here is one of him goofing off.

And because she is goofy and has tortured her brothers mercilessly....

PAYBACKS  :)

Thanks for looking at my silly kids.  They make me smile (most of the time)

Have a wonderful evening!!

Bronwyn