Birthday Cake Love

I don't know why I can't just purchase a birthday cake for Sydney. I have this voice in my head that says no one will put as much love and detail into it as I will. Ok, I have a control issue and want things done perfectly. This year I decided to tackle a Care Bear cake. I've seen several people take on this very same task and have them look lovely, so I should be able to as well, right? Luckily for Amanda, she was in town and I cut my hand earlier in the week on a ceramic bowl and ended up in the hospital getting stitches. This meant she was my right hand girl in the Care Bear cake fiasco. I baked the cake, Amanda mixed the gazillion colors we needed, Chris was on dishes duty and the fun began. I knew it was gonna be a long night when I misread the very first directions and iced the entire cake....after reading it over again, I learned I was only supposed to do the belly and the sides. A half hour later of wiping of the cake I was ready to move on to step 2.

My little supervisor who kept saying "I want the purple care bear mommy!"

The lovely wiped off cake along with my beautiful outline.

Amanda's start of the color mixing! (yes, this was only the beginning)

Finally after six hours (yes SIX) the cake was finally finished. I was the lone crazy person at eleven o'clock at night adding the final touches as my counterparts were supporting me while snoozin on the couch. :)

Now that the cake is done, it's time for the party!!!

Our Little Bike Rider

So the day has come where Sydney finally mastered how to pedal her bike. For a little while there we didn't have hopes of it happening any time soon. She'd do a half pedal stop and then not be able to get the momentum back. Then we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood with her in the bike trailer and the rest was history. We got home and she wanted to hop on her bike and an hour and a half later, we had to drag her back into the house kicking and screaming. It's a good thing we live on a culdesac where cars rarely ever drive by because I have a feeling we'll be doing this a lot!

Going so fast that I had to run in order to keep up with her!

Going, going, GONE!

Pima County Fair Photo Session

I won a photo session with Leah Simmers last year, she's seriously talented. She photographed us when Sydney turned one and I walked away ready to cry because I didn't think any of the photos would turn out. Syd was a super duper stinker. When I saw the final pictures, I was stunned. She captured hidden moments and shots that are still my favorites. I had one of them blown up onto a canvas, I loved it so much. So, to say that I was excited to get to work with her again seems like an understatement. Leah came up with the idea to shoot at the Pima County Fair. They had a petting zoo, tractors to ride on, elephant rides, shark exhibits and more rides than you can imagine. Once again, true to her form, Syd was a stinker. She didn't want to smile for Leah and really gave her a challenge. As hard as it was for me, I left my camera behind and let Leah capture all the moments. Here are a few sneak peeks that she just put up on her site from our session.

Oh look, it's stinker Syd ;) We get this pouty look several times a day.

The girl likes to twirl

I see this as my potential next canvas