Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tyson Michael Braucher

February 13, 2009 this beautiful baby boy was born to a wonderful mother. A mother who knew she could not take care of her new baby in the situation she was in. God gave her the courage and strength to make the decision to let someone else raise her beloved little boy. That someone else is my brother and his wife. They flew from Colorado to Ohio to adopt this little angel. They already have a 2 y.o. little girl named Maya that they adopted as well. Now they are blessed again with this wonderful gift of a baby boy! Adoption is an amazing thing! I am in awe at how woman find the strength to give up their babies to the care of some complete stranger. I also admire those who take the gifts and love them like their own! I am happy with my family of five children but if God ever decides that we should add to our family, I pray it is through adoption!
The Aunts admiring their new nephew!

There is no sweeter picture than this one! My 98 y.o. (soon to be 99) grandmother holding her new great grand baby! I just wish my mom was around to share in the JOY!


This got Bill's heart aching for another baby! He is such a baby lover! Of course Maria is all for having a baby in the house! If only she could change the diapers!



Kathy trying to juggle it all! Feeding the baby and balancing Maya on her lap! I wish we lived closer so I could help her out! It is hard to be a new mom when you are so far away from family. Kathy had to stay in Ohio for 3 weeks until all the papers cleared, so at least she had some family around to help out in the beginning. However, Marc had to go back to Colorado and leave his little ones behind. It was a hard time for the whole family, but now they are all together and adjusting well to their family of 4!


Praise God for this little blessing!


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Happy 2nd birthday Mercedes!

The Bubble Catching Dog! One of those moments of joy... discovering our dog loves to catch bubbles! I know it is not something that is profound, but it did have my kids and I laughing together! Sometimes that is worth the delay in our schooling! I treasure our times of pure laughter, even when it is at the expense of our DOG!




Check out those DUMBO ears! I love them! They are so velvety soft. They even flap when she is riding in the car and the wind from the window is blowing on her!


Great Bag for SPRING! I made this set for a customer... I hope she loves it!

Monday, March 16, 2009


I have just gotten back from my Walk to Emmaus weekend! Words cannot express what I experienced the last 72 hours, it was truly a wonderful and awe inspiring event. I can say however, that I am a NEW PERSON! I am not surprised, after spending 72 hours with the Lord and wonderful Christian woman, it is no wonder that a person comes out of it renewed!
In future posts, I am sure that I may talk more about the experiences I had, but for today I am basking in God's glory and enjoying my 4th day.
May God bless anyone who is reading this and may you bless Him back by thanking Him for all He has done for you! I encourage you to find out more about the Walk to Emmaus and feel free to ask me about my experience and how you too can deepen your walk with Christ!
De Colores!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Lil Cupcake Party - part 4

CUPCAKES!
YUM!

Everyone got their own bowl of icing - this is why! You cannot resist licking your fingers when there is icing on them!


McKenna concentrating so hard on icing her cupcake!

Drew, icing his cupcakes - notice Livy still licking her fingers!
After the icing we then gave them cupcake wrappers filled with different candies! Some where so precise on where all their candy went, others just piled it on! Some didn't even use half of their candy...what is wrong with them?! We ended up dumping a lot of candy in the trash can. Same goes for the icing. I thought they would use all the icing in their bowls, but they barely put a thin layer on their cupcake! It was the best icing too! It is Wilton's Butter creme icing from a box! We get it at Walmart in their wedding section. Bill usually makes his own icing, which is to die for, but this comes in a close second and is much easier!
Each one of them got to eat one cupcake and take the other two home. Notice Delaney's cupcake in the lower corner. She put dots of icing on it and them stuck sprinkles on them, she is a minimalist! Keeping it nice and tidy, just like her mom!
Rachel knew how to do it! She pretty much used every piece of candy we gave her! I really doubt her mom let her eat them!
Make a WISH!
I had been planning this party for weeks, so in my mind I knew exactly what to do and when to do it! Well, I missed one little detail... singing happy birthday and blowing out the candle! They were all off playing and it dawned on me! So I had them all come back to the table in order to do it! You cannot have a birthday without blowing out your candle and making a wish!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Lil Cupcake Party - part 3

Games and Gifts
Pin the candle on the cupcake! Thanks to Alex for making this cute little cupcake for me! I added the sprinkles and hideous markers colors. She was quite mad that I ruined her masterpiece! I said it was for a bunch of 6 year olds and they would not care that they had "poop green" and "purply black" sprinkles on top of their cupcake!


"Hot Candle!" my version of Hot Potato, but we passed Livy's #6 birthday candle instead. The the kids were very concerned that I would lite it while they pass it!? The parents had a good time with that one and what I am teaching them!



Sprinkle Relay - we divided up into 2 teams and they had to carry "sprinkles" (aka - Mike and Ikes) from one bowl to another one by the spoonfuls! This was quite the challenge for those who thought they could pile up the "sprinkles" and hurry to the other end. Many ended up on the floor! Still was a lot of fun!



Marshmallow toss! The object is to get your marshmallow into the muffin tin. They got 3 marshmallows and the cups where numbered. We totaled up their scores and the highest score won the prize. Who knew marshmallows would bounce so much?! Most ended up on the floor. I lucked out and found pink marshmallows at Target, part of their Easter candy!



Livy wanted to open her gifts first, but I did manage to hold her off until after the games. She was very thankful to everyone who gave her such nice things! Notice the Livy Marie handbag - I will put it picture up on another blog. Also notice the barbie fishing pole and tackle box that her dad got her! She was so excited to have her own!

Love this picture of Maria! Her hair is getting so long and is keeping it's curls! She did well during her sister's birthday party, even though all the "hoop-la" was not for her. Although she is already making out her birthday list - which is not until December!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Lil Cupcake Party part 2

Ok, I have no idea what happened to yesterday's blog... it really got butchered! It angers me that when I preview my post it looks great, but when you actually push the post button, something happens in cyber space and it gets all messed up. This blog is going to go through a major overhaul real soon... so stay tune!
Lil' Cupcake Party - part 2

The birthday girl modeling her new outfit that Nana and Grandpa sent from Florida!

The mantle decorated with streamers, tissue paper flowers and a birthday sign (made from my cricut too!).

The party table! Simple decorations but it looked so cute! The center pieces where tissue paper flowers that Anna had fun making. I use to make them as a kid and loved it as much as she did! You just fold two layers of tissue back in forth, like making a fan. Then twist a pipe cleaner around the center and gently pull apart the layers. I tried to keep the table clutter free, because when it was time to decorate the cupcakes it became full of candy!

I added die cut cupcakes to the pastel goodie bags (made from my cricut machine - I told Bill I would make it worth it's money! I use it more for things like this than for my scrapbooking!). The bags contain their aprons with cookbooks and wooden spoons, cupcake book markers, and a cupcake cup!
The centerpiece was simple tissue paper flowers! I use to love to make these when I was a kid, so I showed my ten year old, Anna, how to do and she loved making them too! You take two layers of tissue paper and fold them back and forth like making a fan. Then twist a pipe cleaner around the middle and gently pull apart the layers to create the flowers!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Lil Cupcake Party - part 1

Sorry for the long delay in my blogging! I was busy getting ready for Olivia's 6th birthday! I have thrown some pretty elaborate birthday parties in the past for my older 3, so I thought it time for Olivia to have her own special party! Over the next few days I will post highlights of her "lil' cupcake" party!

THE INVITES

I made these cute little invites using my scrapbook papers and my cricut machine! The inside read:
Our "little" cupcake is turning 6!
Olivia is excited to celebrate her day,
Won't you come for games and play?

The icing is on all the cupcakes,
And they are here for you to decorate!

Please join us for some birthday fun,
the party is March 7 and starts at 1!





THE
APRONS

If you are going to be working in the kitchen decorating cupcakes, then you need an apron! I custom made 8 little aprons for all the party guest. I added a pocket to hold a spoon and small dessert cookbook. Then I personalized them with their initial on the pocket! They turned out so adorable! They are reversible too! I think we will be seeing these aprons worn outside the kitchen!



































The six aprons that cordinated together! I think I may have to put these on etsy and see if I sell any!


We had one little boy coming to the party so we created this bbq apron for him! Actually this apron was made by my sister in law for Curt when he was much smaller! I just took off the pocket and added the initial! Nice and quick!








The guest modeling their aprons!