Nice Day for a Black Wedding

So you find that you have been invited to a Dead Brides wedding!! And they have asked you to bring the wedding cake. What to do what to do!?! Well ne'er you fear Miss Kara is here to save the day!!

We first you start off with three cake mixes. Why three? Cause Cameron's class needs cupcakes too. Aren't you sweet? Last minute decision decide to do a three colored marble cake. Black which you do with a chocolate cake mix, orange and green with the yellow cake mixes. It's not hard. Three bowls all lined up dump mix, add eggs, oil and water. Yep you have quite the assembly line but it really wasn't hard. Beat batter with a 3 yr old standing next to you yellow mix, yellow mix, then chocolate mix. Didn't even need to change the beaters. Then stir in food coloring. 3 different spoons of course. Poor into cake pan and then let three yr old swirl with knife. I tell you what all bakery's need a three yr old on his handy dandy stool.




Then bake. While 3 yr old sits on his handy dandy stool watching intently. If you do not watch them bake it will not turn out right ;) Also for all concerned people out there the front of the oven doesn't get hot and he never once tried to open it.

Get ready to ice it with black icing. I did forget to photograph the moment I had to call Shay hoping she had extra black coloring cause I did not have enough. Or the picture of her hubby Shannon at my door with said coloring. You can skip that bit if you would like. Even though it is always a joy to talk to Shay and always a joy to see Shannon.

Get ready to decorate with sprinkles and plastic rats and spiders. No dead bride's cake is complete without them!!

Keep adorable 3 yr old away from cake!! Even though it really isn't a problem he won't touch icing. But the picture I tried to take was a bit funnier his nose could not of been more then half a inch away from the cake. A lesser Mother might of accidentally bumped the back of his head!! heehee But not this Mom!! She just fantasizes about such events!

At last minute think of two extra black roses that would look cool on top of cake and then VIOLA!!!


Realize you are THEE coolest Mom on the block ;)

Isn't the Dead Bride just a vision?

The girls are actually at their Girl Scout Halloween Party.

The troop and their leaders!

I know I know Hannah needs to learn how to brush her teeth!!! :)

Just a quick shot after the party to show you how cool the marbling turned out. I didn't tell anyone about it til I cut into the cake and the girls thought it was pretty cool.



Now what did we learn about this little adventure? Marble cake with three colors was easy!! But I will never work with all black icing again!! It was terrible! And even though it drives some people crazy I am planning next years cake :)

Gunkins

For those of us who have been pronouncing it WRONG all these years Cameron was kind enough to let us know the proper pronunciation. Gunkins not Pumpkins. We need to alert the media!! Next year we are all going to Gunkin Patches.

I am going to let you in on a little known fact outside of our little Davis bubble. I hate gunkin carving. I have participated in the past to show my support for the girls but I have just accepted this little tidbit about me awhile ago. No sir didn't like it. Hannah is losing her enthusiasm for it. But Miss Josie B is a gunkin carving addict!! Go girl go! As long as she wants to do it we will buy her gunkins. Well Miss Hannah is still at the age if Josie gets to do it then she wants to do it. So she asked for a gunkin even though she didn't want to carve. Of course she does not inform us of that til she guts the gunkin. So Josie finishes her gunkin but Hannah only gutted.

But wow what a way to start!! Putting some muscle into that first plunging of the gunkin!!!

You see those decorations on our window behind Jason? We have had those for YEARS!! Jason put them there at eye level to see how many times it scares us at night. Let's just say WAY to many times that I should actually be embarrased. But when you close the blinds at night and then let Zoe out and you see these eyes through the blinds. Makes you jump I promise!

Lucy scoops out the innards of the pumpkin

Linus "Ohh. You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it!"

OK Cameron doesn't look quite as traumatized as Linus was. A little bit more on the bored side.

Now here is another reason Josie loves Gunkins!! Gunkin Seeds!! I let her do it all this year. She is very VERY generous with the salt. Even I thought so.

I knew there was no way in hades Cameron was going to touch anything after seeing the innards of a pumpkin. I never really planned on him carving I knew I was going to let him paint. Kinda cool though cause we can just wipe it off and let him start all over if I....um I mean he doesn't think it is good enough ;)

Josie's finished product!!! Jason did the sketch before hand and then transferred it for her and then she carved away!! Hannah's gunkin is still empty and uncarved!! Ah well now we know.

Some of my friends will let you know that my enthusiasm for Halloween is quite shaky right now. Still haven't decided if we are going to even have it. Oh yes that is how heartbroken I am!!! Last year in the ever fabulous after Halloween clearance sales I purchased quite a few tombstones. We are going to have a graveyard in the front of the house. But the weather, and a little bit of Cameron, have NOT been cooperating and my graveyard has not come to be quite yet. There will be some tears if I don't get my graveyard this Halloween!!! OR!! We are going to have the scariest front yard for Christmas.

Charlie Brown: Well, don't take it too hard, Linus. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, too. Linus: [furious] STUPID? What do you mean "stupid"? Just wait 'til next year, Charlie Brown. You'll see! Next year at this same time, I'll find the perfect pumpkin patch that is really sincere and I'll sit in that pumpkin patch until the Great Pumpkin appears. He'll rise out of that pumpkin patch and he'll fly through the air with his bag of toys. The Great Pumpkin will appear and I'll be waiting for him! I'll be there! I'll be sitting there in that pumpkin patch and I'll see the Great Pumpkin. Just wait and see, Charlie Brown. I'll see the Great Pumpkin. I'll SEE the Great Pumpkin! Just you wait, Charlie Brown. The Great Pumpkin will appear and I'll be waiting for him...

Butterball Day

I have none of the belly!!! Her teeny tiny itty bitty belly!!!

My friend Jenny of the couple 'George and Jenny' is expecting her first baby!!! She is due near Thanksgiving hence the nickname I had immediately come up with!! Butterball. George loved the nickname but I have never gotten a enthusiastic repsonse from Jenny ;) Tough noogies the newest addition to this world shall be affectionately called Butterball from Auntie Kara!! We have been friends with George and Jenny since Alabama. George worked with Jason. Then George got orders to Charleston and we knew we just couldn't live without him so we followed close behind! LOL No we got orders and got here 2 months after them. And for awhile there they were actually 2 doors down here in base housing!! How convenient is that!?! So Miss Jenny and I knitted together a few times and cooked together a few times. George helped us paint our house and I have a original George art masterpiece hanging in my house!! And for my blog devotees you might remember a thank you to George and Jenny for Miss Josie B's bed!!

But anywho I went to a baby shower Saturday for Jenny. Hannah went with me. We took a handful of pictures but it was a rather tight squeeze with as many of us that showed up to give Butterball Day some love so I had to have Hannah sit on the floor and click some pics. Jenny's friends had cameras too so she will have alot of shots. But I cannot believe I walked away with no pictures of her belly!! She is a GORGEOUS pregnant lady. And I say that with confidence cause I have traveled down this path 3 times and I was never this gorgeous!! You wouldn't even know she was pregnant if it weren't for the tiny little bump in front of her!!

It's a girl by the way! And I have decided it will have the color of Jenny's hair with George's curly Q's. Well I put my order in we shall see the end of next month if George and Jenny listened to me ;)

And no your monitors are not messed up my hair is pink!! I had done it for my Walk for the Cure. But don't tell Jenny I told her I had done it for her shower ;)

The Family Factor Races for a Cure!!

Saturday October 20th at Daniel Island the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure was the place to be!!! This year thanks to a simple question from Hannah I was inspired to put a team together for the race. Hannah came to me and asked if she could be a part of the Race. I did a little research and talked to a couple of people and thought it would just be a cool thing to make a team. I got the message out there that I was putting a team together and I was very happy and pleased with the response. I named our team The Family Factor. I wanted to use the word Family cause I didn't want this to be a girls only team! I wanted the husbands and sons out there too!! And as I was looking in the dictionary I came across the word factor. Which means -something that actively contributes to a result! Which in the end is why we are all here! Breast Cancer. We are all coming together to contribute to the awareness and hopefully the CURE for Breast Cancer. I am so proud of every single person that joined my team! Thank You for coming out there and being a part of a really great morning!!

Here is most of our Team!! It was definitely a live and learn experience for me as a Captain. We found each other but I didn't realize the chaos. Denise and Ave were the last to find us so they aren't in the picture. I got things figured out and next year will hopefully go smoother!!


Naomi with Zyllah and Raven!!

Kathy and Erin. Erin by the way could of left us ALL behind if she could of just been let to strut her stuff. I don't know how her Momma keeps up with her!!! Next year Kathy says Erin can just run the race ;)

The Mills Family! Chris, Michaela, Emily and Brandon!

The 'other' Davis Family!! LOL I can envision Shay now! I am in trouble!! Just kidding my love Davis Families RULE!! Shay, Shannon, MJ, Quinn ( the one with the FAB mohawk!!) and Rhys. Shannon, Quinn and MJ actually ran in the race. Hannah wants to run it next year! I think she can do it!

My friend Kim and I!! She was in my Bunco blog and my Beaner's blog! She knows how to play Spades so she is definitely a keeper :) Besides the fact she is so sweet!

Me and Naomi FINALLY in a picture together!! Naomi's hubby Mike works with Jason. That is kind of how we met. She was going to school to become a EMT at the time so her time was very precious. After awhile though her life got back to 'normal' and we discovered that we get along fabulously!! She is pretty much stuck with me ;) She knows it though and has accepted her fate.

Me and Ra-Ra FINALLY in a picture together!!! Showing off our BFF necklaces I got her for her birthday!! This is my girl. Hunter and Parker's Mom. My neighbor. My sanity. My reality check. She brings me back down from Cloud Kara when need be. She is the reason I made it through the last half of Jason's deployment. Her husband Chad was gone too. And we were inseparable. We told everyone we were married. A perfect hubby and wife team! I , the wife, was at home making sure dinner was ready and she , the hubby, was off at work but called on her way home to see if we needed any milk. She took care of me and I took care of her. Just the way we Military Wives are supposed to do it!!

I know I know Miss Josie B is missing! Robin's hubby Chad was supposed to be with us. But he had to go TDY. And since we had to be out there so early in the morning it was just easier to let Josie stay at Robin's house with the boys. The boys were probably still sleeping when we started strutting our stuff! Cameron was simply amazing though!! He never once made a fuss. I was very very proud of him!!

Kara, Kathy and Shay!

The beginning of the Race!! There were over 5000 participants this year. They said it was the best turn out they ever had! The women wearing pink shirts are Breast Cancer survivors. And the pink pieces of paper on their backs are 'In Memory of...' and 'In Celebration of....'

Here we go.......

Cameron was so funny in his wagon. He had a pink carnation in each hand and he held on to those things the whole time!! Oh yeah and the sexy shawl he is sporting is from Ford. They have some fabulous stuff if you want to go to the website!! http://www.fordvehicles.com/warriorsinpink/index.asp

Hannah was the perfect cheerleader!! I am surprised she even has a voice left. She screamed for every runner she saw. Next year we are outfitting her with pom poms :) No megaphone though. She definitely does NOT need a megaphone!

pant pant pant here I come!!! I tell you what people 5k kicked my butt!!! Doesn't mean I can't look fabulous! OH BTW I know I am not sporting my shirt but it was way to tight around my neck and of course me bum. I wore my pink ribbon that my friend Wanda made for us!! And my rockin' new hat I bought. Which yes covers my fabulous pink hair. I didn't plan that one very well did I? :)

Hannah sees the finish line!!

What a great morning!! I am so glad we did this and I promise you next year The Family Factor will be back!! I want to end this blog with a couple of Thank You's!!

Mom and Dad

Tija

Darby

Brenda

Mrs lmn-Olney

and my Bunco Babes!!!

You guys all gave me donations and I want to thank you!!! I know other people on my team was able to raise funds too. Thank You to all of you who gave towards our cause. It was greatly appreciated.

Karaoke, Hair, Make-Up and the Limbo

I think when all of those things happen in one day at your house you officially have a teenager!!! I already shared with you guys our family day with Hannah but these are the pictures from Hannah's party with her friends!! It was one of the easiest parties I have ever thrown together and it lasted all day and the girls had so much fun!!! First you buy a Karaoke machine with a assorted mix of Disney High School Musical CD's. Then you ask your fabulous friend Sarah to do hair and make-up! You invite a assortment of Hannah's friends and then of course bake yet another cake that your daughter chooses to be orange ;) I am not sure if you necessarily need to do a orange cake but that is what we did for ours :)

OK so you have a houseful of girls who LOVE High School Musical and a Karaoke machine full of tunes. We moved the furniture back and everything to give these girls leg room. It was the quietest Karaoke party I have ever seen!! It totally blew my mind!! Oh the girls sang. ALOT!! They sang songs for almost 4 hours. They passed the microphone around and sang the same songs over and over. But they never got up and got crazy!!! I tried to get the other Mother's out there to show them how it was really done but they were wimps ;) Besides the fact I would need the furniture completely removed to have room for my killer dance moves. Thy are pretty stunning ;) This is the only shot of any of them dancing and they pretty much did it to shut me up :)
Other then that they sat and or stood around singing nicely. Wimps!!! :) Yes I know I already called them that but I really really mean it!!

Here is a better shot of my Miss Sarah doing hair. She is doing Erin's hair. Erin's Mom Kathy is one of the Rockin' Leaders in the Girl Scout Troop H&J belong too.

Time for cake!!! I have so much fun doing cakes. By no stretch of the imagination am I pro-level but I think you can tell I get a kick out of it. I did the front cake and with the leftover stuff Miss Erin helped me decorate the back cake. It turned out so well I went ahead and put the 14 on it!!

Our party crew!!! Erin, Zyllah, Megan, Raven, Brittany, Josie, MJ up front is another Megan, Cameron and of course the Birthday Girl!!

Very resourceful children pulled out the wire for the microphone and made a limbo!!! Cameron won of course ;)

Since it was basically a High School Musical Party her friends pretty much gave her awesome presents from the movie!! And alot of jewelry from Claire's!!

Hannah after her make-up was done. Doesn't she look like a professional singer? I look forward to her Vegas lounge act when she gets older ;)

Megan and Hannah.

Zyllah getting spruced up!

Hannah, Zyllah and Raven!

Hannah got the HSM DVD game from Brittany that the girls played for quite some time!!

Brittany and Hannah!

MJ and Hannah. MJ's Mom is Shay whom you have met through my Beaner's post!! She is also a leader for the Girl Scouts!!

There is Miss Hannah's LAST celebration for turning 14 :) Now it is time to plan Miss Josie's!! She wants ice skating. And of course a blue cake.