Scott Family Portraits

So in December we went to a local Portrait studio and had our family picture taken...they were so good that it was hard picking just which one we wanted. You see, during the May Fair at the girls school I bid and won a 10x13 picture. Here are a few of our favorites:

Okay, so we didn't really like this one, but it's good for family to see just how tall our girls are getting. They are so tiny, but growing up so fast. It won't be to long before Catherine may be taller than me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've been called crazy before and I'm sure it's not the last time. So, I'm sitting at Abby's school helping with the Book Fair when I'm browsing through the cookbooks and Scholastic has Bakerella's Cookbook. The lady has the most amazing cake-pops, which I'm sure you've seen all over the blogging world, Pinterest & the Internet in general. 

Well, I'm browsing through this book & start thinking "Wow, these would be really cute to bring into the Valentine's party for Abby's class tomorrow". Yes folks, you heard me - tomorrow. So I wrap up helping with the book fair & tearing it down since it was the last day & counting the funds since I'm the treasurer. So...it's already after 8 when I leave the school & head out to the grocery store & craft store. 

 I already had Valentine napkins on hand, but I picked up a styrofoam block for my pop stand at the craft store. There, I also picked up candy melts & the extra long popsicle sticks. I made a grid pattern, used a tooth pick to poke holes, then used 1 popsicle stick to finish out the holes. I opened up a napkin and wrapped the foam block then re-poked the holes.

I mixed up a white cake mix and while the 9x13 cake was baking I helped Abby with her Valentine cards that she would give to her classmates & I even painted Catherine's fingernails. The cake was done, I let it rest on the cooling rack. Since I needed it to cool quickly I went ahead and cut it in 1/8 size pieces so the heat would escape faster.  Once it was cool I crumbled the larger pieces of cake into a large mixing bowl.  Abby helped crumble the cake up even smaller. 

Then I took 2/3rds of a tub of frosting and mixed it into the cake crumbs.  Yes, I clipped the box-tops (Bonus this round with 2 of them on this tub) it's amazing how fast the school can earn money by clipping these little box-tops and turning them in!

I used my large Pampered Chef Cookie Scoop to make uniform sized balls that I dropped onto wax paper. Then I rolled them into tight little cake balls. I placed them on wax covered lids (I suppose if I had cookie sheets I would have done that...but I only use pampered chef stones...and I didn't want to lug those heavy things into my freezer drawer - since I didn't have much room in there.) and popped them in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

While they were firming up I prepared my space. I counted out the right amount of popsicle sticks, had my foam board ready to go. I melted my candy melts according to the package directions. I used my 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup. It worked perfectly (at the time I didn't realize I would need a second bag of candy melts...but I bought an additional bag the next day & quickly finished the last 6 I needed for the party).

I pulled my cake balls out of the freezer, I dipped the popsicle stick in the melted candy & plunged it 1/2 way into the cake ball - I repeated this for all of them. Then I started dipping the cakeballs into the melted candy. Being careful not to roll them - just dipped them straight down and pulled them straight back up. I rolled them & did the "careful bounce" to remove the excess candy off of the ball. I placed the balls into the form and let them dry.

 They were completely adorable and I was so proud of myself for making them. I will certainly be making more and even working with more elaborate designs. :)

Here they are at the party:

The kids enjoyed them, and were tickeled pink that they could eat them! :)


We've been busy with other pink related items. Abby has been practicing a dance routine with a friend for the annual talent show. She's dancing to "I'm a Barbie Girl" by Aqua. I ordered bar-stools (I'm so thankful to John & Sherri over at Young House Love for telling us about the stools they found & how so many comments were made about how great they hold up. Purchased here) for the basement and the boxes were perfect to create Barbie Boxes for Abby and her friend.

 I picked up wrapping paper and the dollar store and printed a few Barbie images from the internet. One down and one to go! From the front panels that I cut out I even created a vanity or dresser for the girls. This one has the flowers on the inside and the stripes on the outside. I may reverse it for the next one and put the stripes on the inside. So far I'm loving how it's turning out. Her talent show is this Friday, so it won't be long before I post the video for you!

First image is showing the front and right side of the box - the second image shows more of the left side and still the inside.

The girls will stand in their boxes for the first few lines of the song then jump out as if they just came alive. Then towards the end of the song they'll pop back into their boxes....think Toy Story. I will show pictures of them on stage this weekend - the Talent Show is this Friday! :) The girls are all ready talking about how they want to make sure these come home so they can play with them. Catherine says she's turning hers into a race car! :) LOL

UPDATE: You can view Abby's Talent Show here.

Painting a basement floor

Oh Yes we are! So we've been working in the basement. The carpet has been removed. The floor has been scraped. We swept, vacuumed, swept & vacuumed again. Bobby used all kinds of chemicals to try and remove as much as the glue & carpet foam that remained, and we swept & vacuumed again and again. The floor was as smooth as we could get it. It's not perfect....but it's a basement! Let's be real.

We pulled out the paint that we bought at Lowe's. We got the black porch & floor paint, and started painting!

 It's kinda fun painting a floor. It's different than painting the ceiling or the walls.

Even when the floor was dry, the paint didn't take perfectly....but that's okay! We have a solution for that!

We'll be adding a hounds-tooth pattern with the aid of a large stencil that was purchased online. We have it, we just haven't worked on the basement in awhile...so I'll show more progress pictures as we continue.

December Update & into January 2012

Long overdue, but here's a quick recap on my Christmas Candy Tree we had.
I took the styrofoam circles and carved a spiral in it with a table knife.

Then I burnished the edges with the rounded end of my table knife to make a better indent in the foam.

Then I burnished around the outside perimeter of the styrofoam circle. It's looking more like a lollipop isn't it?

  I painted them red & white, I ended up painting a few, and sticking dowel rods in them for the giant lollipops then made some into giant pepperment candies, using the clear cellophane wrap.

The tree was loaded down with candy themed treats. I loved those larger than life signs. I still can't believe I found them at the dollar store. I'm so glad I could envision them on my tree & picked up several of them. When I went back, they were all sold out.

We also made some gingerbread boys & girls. The girls had fun helping me decorate them.

This is the first year we light up the top of the house with the lights. We even bit the bullet and bought all LED icicle lights. We made sure to buy them in Warm and not Cool (we made that mistake one year in the town house & we didn't like the "blue" hue the gave off). The outside was all in icicle & snowflakes. Very charming.

Although, the Christmas Banner was on the front door for this picture, at some point I changed it out for a Snowman stocking that the girls used to use.

Christmas Eve the tree was loaded with christmas gifts underneath.

As per our family tradition, the girls get to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. They're on to me, and know what to expect....a new set of jammies & some little surprise or two tucked inside. This year it was comfy socks and really trendy "unmentionables" which they giggle & say "Moommmmmmmm!"

Santa really filled our stockings this year!

Cookie tore into her gifts & loved pulling things out of her stocking. Just like a toddler, she didn't get it last year, but she sure did this year! She had her very own "Ugly Christmas Sweater", rawhide candy-cane, fleece jacket & new squeaker chew toy.

Abby displaying a few goodies from her stocking (and yes, she got a toothbrush with all those sweet treats). Catherine & one of her favorite treats of all times...Cotton Candy!

This year their "big gift" was a flat 19" tv/each, besides receiving tons of other fun things & cool clothes. Catherine got the BAMA jersey she wanted so badly. Which she proudly wore to school & for the big game where BAMA beat LSU for the BCS Championship.

We also celebrated Catherine's 12th Birthday this month. At the end of a very long day (school, activities, dinner out - her choice this year was Friendly's) we made it home in time to open a few gifts before going to bed.

She finally got her iPod touch that she's been wanting forever...or 3 years! She was thrilled, which you can see by the first picture here:

 

 We celebrated her birthday with a few friends a few weeks later. We took her and several friends ice-skating then they had a slumber party here at the house. I took some pictures with my iPhone, which I haven't linked up for pictures yet.