Thinking About Coming Back...

So I'm not sure anyone really ever checks this anymore... Well anyone besides the people who send me spam everyday, but I thought I'd come back and say hi. 

I'm thinking about starting my blog again...

I've had a crazy year... was so busy and stressed. Hopefully this year will be much more boring and I'll have time to write.

I miss the blog world. I was reading some of my old posts... they were actually pretty amusing! 

Anyway, if there is anyone still chocking this give me a holler in the comments.

Talk to you soon...

Rayli

Here's What's Doin'....

Hello Again!

Remember me?

Well I am not sure I have an audience anymore, but I just thought I should check in just in case.

So I have been very busy lately. My 10 year old has left me and gone to sleepover camp for the first time. I miss her like crazy but she is having a blast!

My almost 13 year old is getting ready for her first trip to Israel with my mother-in-law. And also getting ready for a month of camp shortly after she gets back.

My house is getting quieter and quieter.....

:(

But, the fun busy part of my life is the baking I have been doing!

I started selling desserts out of my house, and having a lot of fun doing it!

I always felt bad making desserts for my family because they always ended up in the garbage. We are just not big cake people. So this business is the perfect thing for me. I get to make cakes and cupcakes and pies and they make it out my front door in a pretty pink box, instead of a garbage bag!

I spend a lot of my time googling new recipes and creative ideas for decorating, and this morning I found my new inspiration, which I hope to replicate and send up to Emily at camp!

Get ready for it.....

Here we go....

The perfect treat for a 10 year old and all her friends.....

Justin Bieber Cake Pops!!!!! and the background purple ones that spell out I (heart) Justin Bieber!

Emily would die for these....

So thank you Bakerella for posting all your fans' pictures on your site today!

Another idea I am working on is from i am baker's

f

lickr group pictures.... gonna try this one out today....

isn't it cute? It's a sugar cookie pop!

I'm in love with it. Wish me luck!

I'll post pictures (but only if they come out good)

:)

He Scores!

The Bears may not have scored enough points to go to the Superbowl.....

The fans may feel pretty stupid for sitting out in the freezing cold, watching the Bears not score enough points to go to the Superbowl....

But there was one guy that scored a lot of points with me during that game....

It was the guy that wanted to watch the Bears so badly... that he did something I never in a million years would have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes....

The guy who had a friend sitting on his couch eating a hot dog... cheering on the Bears....

While his wife was baking....

His older kids were playing....

And his youngest daughter was sitting next to him on the floor...

Giving him a pedicure!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Bears fans, that is a true fan.

If you know Jon, you know that he does not get pedicures.

He leaves the girl stuff to us girls.

But if that's the only way he can watch the game,

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

At least it was blue.

Wanna see some pictures?

Cake Pops

I don't know if any of you are familiar with bakerella, but she makes the cutest desserts I have ever seen. I think she is widely known for her cake pops. It is cake and frosting mixed together, dipped in chocolate, on a lollipop stick. I have seen all the normal looking ones at some friends houses.... drizzled with chocolate or icing, or with sprinkles on it. And I really would never want to it eat them but they are definitely appealing. But when I see all the cute ones Bakerella makes, I just wanna get in my kitchen and try to make them myself.

like these:

and these...

and these...

and these....

and these...

So cute!

Big Kids are... well Big Kids

On Sunday, Jon is taking Jessica and Emily to Vail.

I am terrified.

I am kind of a control freak. I like to know where my kids are, what they are doing.

The fact that they are flying to Colorado to ski down a mountain for 5 days without me is freaking me out a bit. I know that Jon will take care of them. I know that they will have so much fun (this is their first time). But I am so worried about them getting hurt. We went to Vail 2 summers ago. I know how high those mountains are. They are not like the little hills they ski down in Wisconsin!

Jon told me that they will be in ski school the first day, that I shouldn't worry. How do people just put their kids in ski school? Without knowing the instructor? Or where they will be skiing all day? What if they get hurt?

I just wish those mountains weren't so high.

I tried to ski once. When I was visiting my cousins. We went to Vail. I was 15 they were like 3 and 5. I had an instructor. I knocked him over and we both slid down the mountain. Or maybe I should say somersaulted down the mountain. I quit that day.

I think they will have a good time though. They are so much braver than I am. Especially Emily.

This happened to me last year. When I went to Miami to run my half marathon. I was so worried about them. I prepared all their lunches and clothes and suitcases to go to mom's for the weekend. And that was all the kids. This is just Jessica and Emily.

Maybe I am just gonna miss them.

It's gonna be really quiet in the house without them. When Will and Alyssa go to sleep, who will I watch Chopped and Cupcake Wars with?

Maybe I should look on the bright side...

I will have much less laundry.

I will not have to make real dinners.

I will not feel guilty for not making real dinners.

I will not have to wake up early to get Jessica to school on time (she starts earlier than the rest of them).

The house will be a lot neater....

Ok, ok. I'll stop freaking out. I am gonna let them enjoy their trip with their Dad, and not be nervous, or worried, or jealous that they are having fun without me.

Time to cut the cord. I know, I know. They are 12 and 10. They are not my babies anymore.

I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time on facebook next week. Maybe I'll even blog more often.....

New Things To Try

I have been looking for some new fun things to bake and craft. I came across a few new blogs that I like with great ideas. If I ever make any of them I will post pics.

Been really busy and haven't blogged in forever. Truthfully, I haven't even read any blogs in months. I am very busy getting deals for wedeal.com and I am seriously exhausted by the end of the day. I give all you working moms a lot of credit. I only work a half day a few days a week and I am totally exhausted by the end of the night.

Anyway, I hope you all forgive me and hope that you all check in on me every once in a while....

These are a few of my accomplishments while I was on my "blog break".....

- found a great recipe for buttercream, which I changed a little and made better, and no longer have to buy it from someone when I want to make cakes.

-made an amazing shower for my cousin with my mom and siblings.

-gave my kids an amazing winter break filled with sledding, roller skating, ice skating, bowling, ceramic painting, cupcake war baking, mini golfing, overnight waterpark trips, movies, shopping, and playdates.

-found the show Chopped on the food network (love).

-made a kiddush/lunch for my neighborhood on my husband's birthday.

-went to a Bulls game (3rd row!) for the first time in 10 years.

-played in the snow... well the kids did at least.

-and made lots of fun, pretty cookies.

Here are some pictures.....

some of us skated in our Uggs...

Alyssa and her bestie.... popcorn picnic & funny faces in a photobooth.

Oh yeah, Emily and her friend held a baby alligator.

These were my cupcakes for cupcake war.... each cupcake had to have a theme.

Will was the judge.

Shabbat present for a friend.

Bar Mitzvah cookies...

cookies for a friend who had a baby....

These came out bad. I used chocolate instead of icing :(

Icing is much easier.

This Child Is Not Mine....

My kids are on winter break. I try to make sure to do something fun every day.

We went to Brunswick Zone with Jessica's friend the other day. Each of the kids bowled one game, Alyssa won by the way! Anyway, afterward they played in the arcade a little. Alyssa won 2 tootsie rolls from a candy machine just as she was telling me that she had to go to the bathroom.

She ate one of them while we walked there. I held the other while she did her business. And then I gave it back to her.

I told her to wait right next to the door of the stall so I could see her, while it was my turn "to go."

It was only a few seconds, but as I was about to flush I heard the sound I was hoping not to hear....

It was the sound of an unwrapped tootsie roll falling on the bathroom floor right next to a toilet. Then I saw something that made me think twice about whether this child could actually be mine....

Before I could get the words, "No! Don't eat it! " out of my mouth, a little hand picked up the candy and.........

SHE ATE IT!!!!!

Oh my god! I wanted to throw up!

This child cannot be mine!