Team Spirit

Amelia's friends were signing up to do the mini cheer camp at the high school, so I signed her up as well, because I'm that kind of mom. If they were signing up to jump off a cliff, I'd sign her up for that too. (Not really. I don't think.) Actually, I signed her up because I just love to see what this girl will do. She was such a shy and timid kid up through preschool, and now she'll try just about anything that's thrown at her.

I did not expect her to love it as much as she did. All week long she practiced her cheers and kicks around the house. The camp was Monday thru Friday, with the "minis" cheering with the big girls at the high school football game on Friday night. Clearly all that hard work paid off. Have you ever seen a more skillful high kick? No, you have not.

I'm pretty sure she grinned like that the entire time she was out there.

Trapeze, with kids.

The girls have been begging me to do trapeze for months. Groupon finally put up another coupon for it, so we bought some and took the kids. They loved it, and have now added Trapeze Artists to their list of career options.

Accessorizing

Everything looks better with cats.

(I bet you thought I was done with the cat posts. Not even close.)

Love these little kitties so much, I'm going to try to grow some more.

Little Happinesses

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Remember way back when I told you we did a big Blackham-Bailey photo session while we were in Utah? Well, we got the pics back. Here's a few:

And because I'd hate to give you the impression that we are a clean, well-behaved, respectable crew, this is what happens when the cameras stop rolling:

I kind of think we should make the wrestling photos look pretty in Photoshop and frame them for our wall.

The Parentals

My parents came to visit last weekend, and we treated them to some good ol' NW weather--gray skies, fog, and rain.

The sun decided to show its face on Mom's birthday so we headed out to spend the day on Whidbey Island. We took the ferry across at Mukilteo, and worked our way up the island. We loved Fort Casey.

The next day the rain returned, so we hunkered down in our pajamas until the rain stopped for a while, and then we headed over to the salmon hatchery, which really is not as lame as it sounds.

And we finished the day with a stop at Triple X for rootbeer floats before taking them to the aiport.

It was so much fun having them here! Thanks so much for coming to visit, Mom and Dad!

Bakerella cake review

I'm pretty sure I'll never make another chocolate cake without chopping up Reese's peanut butter cups and dumping them into the batter. If you're into that chocolate and peanut butter deliciousness thing, which I am, it will be the best cake you've ever had.

I got the giggles while I was making the icing. One cup of heavy whipping cream brought to a boil, poured over half a pound of dark chocolate, with half a cup of peanut butter whisked in. Seriously? Just give me a straw.

I finally had to dump the leftovers into the trash because I was powerless over it. (And yes, Jodi, I had to put some gross stuff on top of it so I wouldn't be tempted to dig it back out of the trash.)

The scale is a little bit angry about it today.