Zachary turns 11!

Wow, time flies! So Zachary actually turned eleven about 7 months ago!.........but I am still catching up, so this is better than never!

Zachary loves to be funny, as he is above in this picture:)

Since Zachary's birthday is in the summer, we seem to have a hard time finding cousins and friends who are not on vacation! Several of Zachary's cousins came over for Zachary's birthday. Zachary requested a baseball cake, so I made the cake and then I decided to add cupcakes.

Can you guess that Zach's favorite sport is baseball? Zachary also loves school and that might sound a little crazy, but I count my blessings every single day! Right now I won't worry about whether or not it is normal for a child to love school, come home and get right to his homework with hardly any persuading from mother, and continue to make straight A's in GT classes. I'm not going to worry, just count my blessings!

Zachary is a tremendous blessing to our family. He is certainly the peacemaker amongst his siblings. He is also the caring child, who always seems to know when someone needs something. He's the young man with the common sense too. He doesn't usually worry about much, he simply does whatever needs to be done to fix anything that's going wrong. Zachary is a GREAT guy to have around when things get stressful. He really knows how to help and how to calm us all down! We absolutely love having Zachary in our family. It is so much fun to have all these different personalities around to contribute to our family in such fun ways!

We LOVE you Zachary!

Some of Summer 2010

Madeline really improved last summer in swim lessons. She's always been fearless around water, so that scares me a bit. I figure I'll feel a bit better if she becomes a strong swimmer, so I signed her up for more swim lessons. I took these pictures of her last summer.

Another cake I made for the 2nd cake decorating class that I took. We were strongly encouraged to put a basket weave on the sides of the cake.

I made a fondant/gumpaste blend to create the flowers and leaves for the top.

After the first cake decorating class that I took, I decided I wanted to make a ton of cakes! We had a cousins birthday party with all the cousins who live here! Madeline had a special request, a princess castle cake. Cousin O also had a special request, a worm cake! So the worm cake looks a little funny, but it tasted good! Cameron and several others requested a fish cake. We all had a great time playing, talking, and eating!

We took a trip to Flag Pond with some friends. There were tons of jelly fish! The kids were very careful to not touch them and thank goodness no one got stung! They were, however, fascinated by them and had a great time fishing for them with little nets.

2010 Spring Recap

We've had so many things going on in our family that are blog-worthy and I have FINALLY made the time to blog about a few highlights!

Madeline and her cousin, O., love to play together. They are so funny to listen to and to watch when they play. I couldn't resist snapping this picture. They both decided to dress up. O looks super important talking on Madeline's pink phone and Madeline obviously thinks she's a beautiful little ballerina.

I took a few cake decorating classes during the Spring and Summer of 2010. These are my very first cakes. It was really fun to learn several different techniques and my family all loved eating the many cakes I baked!

An Orioles game with great seats, fun friends, cousins, and great weather!

Madeline and cousin O. love the sandbox. What child doesn't love to play without shoes and get sand all over and inside their clothes?

This also brings back some of my own blissful childhood memories:)

Joshua is still in band, playing the saxophone. Here you can see him a bit, even though this picture was taken from the very back of a dark auditorium, so not the best shot. Nevertheless, he is doing really well and is 1st seat this year!

Orioles game! We had great seats for this game, but the weather was a little chilly, not what you expect during baseball season! We still had a really fantastic time!

Mike brought Zachary on a fishing trip to the Chesapeake Bay during the Spring of 2010. Zachary had so much fun that he talked about it for weeks afterwards. These are the fish they caught. Here in Maryland we call these Rockfish. This year Joshua gets to go!

Our kids absolutely love to roast marshmallows and hot dogs with Opa in the backyard. Such a simple, yet enjoyable and relaxing thing to do!

Washington D.C. Cherry Blossoms!

World War II Memorial in Washington D.C.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.

Madeline with her cousin O. at one of the many fun parks near our house.

Nest like a Heron....Madeline with cousins O and M at the Baltimore Zoo.

Baltimore Zoo with cousins.