Spongebob

OK. So once again I am not a cake designer, but I had to share my latest work.

One of my daycare moms asked me to make a Spongebob cake for her sons second bday. I had made a Elmo cake for his first, so I thought why not take on the challenge. I love the research and ideas I find on the Internet. I always choose one that is easy but cute. I learned this method after driving myself and my husband crazy with hard cakes. My perfectionist attitude didn't help in the matter either. I have also learned what is special about a homemade cake is mistakes. It is done with caring, loving hands. Or this is what I try to convince myself! Spongebob is pretty easy with him being square and all. This is all frosting. I don't know how to do the fondant stuff. All the talents of the hands. Only kidding. I'm NO artist, but I sure do enjoy baking a cake and seeing the final product.

A game and more...

OK. Mrs. Pullan, I'm not too much of a fan of these "computer" games and this is a good example of why. This is a game where you are supposed to paste the picture from your fourth folder and then the fourth picture. Then your supposed to explain the picture and tag four people. Well here is where people are lucky because I don't know 4 people who blog, and out of my empathetic heart I will not make you post a picture like the one above. It is pretty funny, and I will try and do my best to "explain" it.
First of all, notice the snot dripping out of my sons nose, the slobber out of his mouth, and what is that on his cheek?? Looks like a big zit to me! He looks like a child with a swollen head, I'm sure it was just one of those times he was recouping from pneumonia. OK so no I'm not a photographer, thank goodness that is something Sam is really good at! This is during a time in my life where I had quit the nursing job, decided I wanted to be at home with my babies, and to make ends meet I decided to start babysitting. I thought I had made a huge mistake at first because the first couple of kids I watched I didn't really care for. I think the little girls name was Cara. I took care of her and her little brother, and not for very long. It was a sad situation that I have seen too many times over the past 5 years of my job, a torn apart family. I won't go into detail but I didn't take care of the kids for too long, which was probably a good thing. So, the above picture was of Cara and Luke preparing to go outside and play! They both look kind of "dirty" don't they??

Let's move on. Last weekend I filled out a survey called "My 3's". Basically it was one of those surveys that ask you to write your favorite foods, 3 places you've been, and so on. One of the questions was to write down 3 things you want to see happen. Well I wrote something like, I want summer time, lake time, and I wouldn't mind seeing a good snow before winter leaves us. If you know me, then you know I'm not a fan of winter. I hate being cold, I hate being stuck indoors (Sarah doesn't go outside if it's cold), and there just isn't much to do. But if winter must come I enjoy a beautiful snow. Well I got what I asked for...well kind of. More like a big ice storm. Kimberling City got like 1 to 2 inches of ice and about 2 inches of snow on top of that Monday night through Tuesday. Now I will admit that when the snow finally came Tuesday night it was gorgeous. Huge white snow flakes, and they fell at a glorious pace. It was stunning! We have been pretty much stuck indoors since Monday. The kids haven't had school all week, and it's not the kind of snow you can play in. At least I don't think so, more like the kind of snow you fall and break your neck in because the majority of it is ice. So my poor babies have been stuck inside for days. It always reminds me how good my kids are in a situation like this. They get along so well with each other. They play for hours and hours because the TV is limited in our house during the day time hours.
We all have a case of cabin fever now, but hopefully by tomorrow we can get out for a while. My kids have been sick one at a time starting about 4 weeks ago. Sadey first, then Dev, then Luke, he got it worst of all and turned out to be strep throat, and now Nate has it. So not only do we have the cabin fever but the kids have literally had fevers for the past month also. It has been a pretty long month, and I can say I am truly looking forward to spring and summer now. Only a couple months to go!!

Go Gators!

I say it's Great to be a Florida Gator! Who won that 08' National Championship?? That's right the Gators! I'm so excited! What an intense game that they pulled out! Thank God for our defence, and then finally our offense! Tebow is my superman!!

You can just add 08' to that picture above! Whooo Hooo!

The Shack

I have found a book that everyone should read! The Shack.

To be completely honest this book was hard for me to read. I'm at a point in my life right now where I am having some issues with anger. And as the average human that I am I try to find blame with my anger. I have many sources but one of them is God. Watch out I may be struck down by lightening! It is a hard thing for me to admit, to be angry with the One who created me, how absurd! It may be absurd but it is my truth right now. Or at least was my truth. I believe God puts a book in your hands with His meaning when you need it, and he did that with me through The Shack. This book has lightened my heart, taken away some of my anger, answered some questions that the human race has had for a long time. It may be WM. Paul Young's answer to these questions, but I believe God spoke through him. It is so hard to realize sometimes that I am worth God's love, but I do believe He loves me. Crazy, to love me!

This book has opened my eyes and changed my heart forever! For those who doubt the existence of God, it may open your mind to Him a little, or at the very least it will be entertaining for you. Those who do believe in God must have an open mind. It all makes perfect sense to me! It is a book of fiction but as Willie said at the end of the book, "Do I think it's true? I want all of it to be true. Perhaps if some of it is not actually true in one sense, it is still true nonetheless--if you know what I mean. I guess you and Sarayu will have to figure that one out."

If you read one book this New Year, give The Shack a chance.
It is not just a chic book, men will love it too! Actually I could see where a man may be touched more by this book than a woman.

Also, this book has phrases at the beginning of every chapter. Oh, how I love little tid-bits of knowledge written down in a way that makes you ponder for awhile. Some of my favorites...

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. Paul Tournier.

Two roads diverged in the middle of my life,

I heard a wise man say

I took the road less traveled by

And that's made the difference every night and every day

Larry Norman (with apologies to Robert Frost)

The soul is healed by being with children. Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Let's pray that the human race never escapes Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. C.S. Lewis.

Growth means change and

change involves risk, stepping

from the known to the unknown. Author unknown.

Even should we find another Eden,

we would not be fit to enjoy it perfectly nor stay in it forever. Henry Van Dyke.

Two more....

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully

as when they do it from a religious conviction. Blaise Pascal

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations,

but truth has only one mode of being. Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Happy reading!

theshackbook.com

Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We did! With the way the economy is right now we knew Christmas would be tough, but God truly blessed us! Why does Christmas always seem to come down to money when it is about so much more, JESUS! Our kids asked for very little and got everything they wanted, and received all their gifts with excitement!

I was so very thankful that my kids have a thankful heart! They were truly pleased! It is sad to say but some kids don't have a thankful heart, and just seem to be greedy! I pray with all my heart that my kids will never become one of these brats! It was a true blessing watching them open their presents with looks of surprise and never thinking "this is all I got??"! Because in reality they did get all they wanted, and thank God for that!

We enjoyed a Christmas Eve at home watching Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe Chronicles of Narnia! The kids each had their own bag of popcorn (a treat in this house), and had a plethora of blankets laid out before the TV. Good times. We also enjoyed a few Christmas books, and the most important the story of baby Jesus! It was a great night being at home with my family!

Christmas day the kids opened their presents, and then we headed to the hill, my in-laws. The weather was nice, finally, so the kids enjoyed a lot of time outside. They received many great presents from their grandparents, and Elke out did herself again on a great Christmas meal. It was a good day.

Elke watched the girls for a couple days, so the boys and I have had a good time together. It has been a great week, and now the real world of work comes back. I enjoyed every minute I had with my kids, and will treasure it! Hope you all had a great Christmas, and enjoy your New Year!

Just a quick share to show some pictures of the Deaton gang doing our annual Christmas cookies. It is always such a pain in the butt to clean up the mess, but well worth it! They get so excited, and get more creative each year. Devyn is now 10 and her cookies were well decorated, she liked to try to lick the frosting more than anything (true sugar freak)! Mom and I had to send her into the bathroom to wash her hands a few times:)! Sadey is 7 now and her cookies were quite the creation also. I just give them each their own frosting, knife, sprinkles, and this year used writing frosting. Sadey used barely any of her frosting (to my disappointment, that's the best part), but they turned out pretty. Lukas just cracks me up. His nickname is Turtle for a good reason! It took him 10 to 15 minute to decorate one small cookie, but it did look good. Really good actually the child did a good job, and took it serious! Nate, well what can I say, he is Nate. I think he broke one or two of the cookies while decorating, and then gave up after a couple because he was too concerned with wanting to lick the frosting bowl. I just gave up and didn't let him have any more cookies, so we wouldn't have Nate germs all over the cookies!! It was fun and always an adventure. As I say I love holiday traditions!

Christmas at Mom and Dad's

For those who do not know my dad works off shore on an oil rig, and is gone a lot. So due to his absence at Christmas (usually) we have our Christmas celebration with them a little early when dad is home.



It's always such a wonderful time with family! Last year and this year we did soups with mini-sandwiches and lots of snackie foods and LOTS of dessert! Always way too much to eat in such little time, so we come together the next day for lunch and try to finish it off. It is so good. So good to the point that you are miserable after the feast! (extra workout time needed after that weekend!)

Anyways Friday night mom and dad watched all the kids, and Sam and I enjoyed an evening together. Mostly we went into Branson and finished our Christmas shopping, but it was just nice being together. The score of that evening was a new book store called Books-A-Million. I could have spent so much time in there! It was a heaven to me.

We went to my parents on Saturday around 1pm and started our now annual celebration. I hate the fact that dad is gone most Christmas's but this early celebration has become one of my favorite times of the season! It also seems to help with the over stimulation of the kids getting so many presents at one time from two sets of gparents and us! This gives them time to enjoy the presents from mom, dad, u.Dan and a.Andrea.

We all got wonderful gifts, but a few I want to write about in particular.



1.The American Idol game the young Pullans got the girls. It is so much fun. You can plug your own Mp3 player into it and dance away. It is hard, but I just put it on a slow pace and dance away. We all tried this Saturday, and I believe we worked out our stomachs as much as our legs from all the laughing!

2.This gift wasn't even to my family, but it has to do with that Wii I love. Mom and Dad got the young Pullans the Mario Kart game. WHOOO HOOO that is fun! Oh how I love the Wii.

3.Mom and Dad got all the kids a Scene It game. We played it yesterday because the kids had a snow day. It was so much fun! It's a Disney one, so the kids are pretty educated in that department! Great way to pull all of us together!

But like I said all gifts were great these were just a few that we have had time to enjoy together!

The best dog ever got a little present too, but he destroyed it in less than 5 minutes. Oh how I love that Chocolate Labrador Retriever! I could never own a dog that sweet and who seems to know every thought I have. He is a precious, precious animal! Sometimes he seems more human to me, and I believe he himself thinks this too! Sorry about going off about the dog. We lost our cat this week, and I'm having a hard time with it! We will miss that silly crazy cat that blessed our lives for just over a year!

Enough of the sad stuff! I'm so very thankful to be blessed with a wonderful family, and it was another fascinating Christmas holiday at the Pullans! Thanks for the good times! I just love traditions!!!