The McSpadden's

When I was adding our pic and labeled it "The Mc's" it brought back a funny memory. Bayli was probably in Kindergarten or First Grade and we were eating at a restaurant in Pikeville and Bayli of course was talking to people at other tables. Don't know where she gets her talkativeness from? The lady at one table asked her what her name was and Bayli replied "Bayli of THE McSPADDEN's". Like we were important royalty or something. That lady found it very hilarious.

Cecil

Meet Cecil, soon to be the next member of the McSpadden family. Yep we named before we have even seen him in person. That's just the way we roll and when a name is perfect it's perfect. He is half English Bulldog half Bassett Hound. We can not wait to get a hold of him! Wonder if he will be super lazy? For all of ya'll that don't know me I am a total animal lover. I don't care what kind of animal so if it's close to the house I start running with food and trying to make it a pet. So for someone like me to have to wait on actually bringing my puppy home it is MURDER!! Thinking about our new puppy gets me thinking about my past dogs. There were many: Starsky & Hutch, Bogie & Bacall, Spot (everybody had a dog at one time name Spot), Carmel (yes this is how we spelled it), Hootie, Dog, Sugar, Spizwink.... and on and on... Carmel loved to chew gum and Sugar bless her heart had the most patience I believe. You see when I was little I was attacked by a dog. It pawed my face all up and slit my eyelid all the way across so that it had to be glued back together. Thank God for glue because it would be super weird to see everything and not even have to actually open your eye. Mom and Dad thought that I would be scared of dogs after this, but they were wrong. We got home from the ER and I went to play. Mom started hearing this gagging type sound and went to find me. I tended to need a lot of supervision. Still do :) She found me with our dog Sugar (not the one who attacked me, that was our dog Dog) who was the sweetest beagle ever. I was trying to teach her to drink out of a straw. I thought I was doing pretty good until mom made me quit.

Cupcake

At Church we were going to have trunk or treat for the kids. Last year was the first year and we loved it. We also give first and second prizes for the best decorated trunk and first and second prizes to the best costume. But to make it fair Mrs. Connie only allows the trick or treaters and their parents to vote. I was very surprised when I won first place in the costume contest. I was having a hard time this year trying to decide what to be and then I ate my favorite food, cupcakes, and realized what I wanted to be! That's right I was a cupcake. I'm not very arts and crafty, but with Lealan's help we made a great costume. One little girl said as I was handing her candy "I could eat you up!" I also decorated my trunk with cupcakes on cake plates. I'm already trying to think of next years costume because I want to be the one to beat every year :-)

Let them eat cake!

Bayli and Lealan's birthdays were August 28. Yes, they share a birthday which means 2 birthday cakes. Lealan usualy wants a german chocolate cake, but this year he wanted yellow with buttercream. No problem, however, Bayli wants a multi layered cake with fondant. I have never done anything with fondant. So about 2 weeks before this I bake a cake and practice. It turned out alright so I thought I could tackle the 4, yes I said 4 layer cake she wanted. I spent the Friday before the birthdays baking and decorating. This time with fondant was a little trickier than the first time, but it came out okay. I think I managed to hide the worst areas. It may not have looked the best, but it tasted great and Bayli loooovvvved it! Her loving it was worth all the time it took.

Orientation

Tuesday we had Bayli's 7th grade orientation for 3 hours. As if I wasn't depressed enough realizing that my baby was going to be in the 7th grade, but I also had to sit through 3 hours of several different people reminding me that she is growing up. I swear she was just in Kindergarten last week! We got her class schedules, met all her teachers, and realized how much money we would be putting out from now until school starts. All the school supplies, clothes, shoes, workbooks, planners, trips... And then when school starts it will be more each week for this and for that. It never ends. Well enough of my complaining. I have actually considered taking a math class at Chattanooga State just to be able to help her with her homework. She got put in honors math so (fingers crossed) she won't need help?! I mean she's in honors math, doesn't that mean she should be able to do it all by herself? Mr. Gravitt, the math teacher, said they would also be working in the 9th grade math book. Well, what's she going to do in 9th grade, NASA math? We went to school and actually had gym every day and some free time and recess and now they don't have any free minutes at all and come home with lots of homework.

Bragging

Bayli had her 4th watercolor painting lesson yesterday and I just have to brag. She is doing AMAZING!!! She didn't get her talent from me because I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. Marshall, my brother, can draw and paint very well, but he doesn't anymore and that drives me crazy. If I had that kind of talent I would be using it to the extreme. This sand dune/ocean painting is the one she did yesterday and I love it! We are going to frame it and hang it in her room. She is enjoying her lessons so much and Sam Reilly is a wonderful artist and teacher.

Shrek Spoon

When I got the wooden spoon it reminded all of us of the spoon Shrek eats with. Since my husband is quite a bit bigger than I am I sometimes lovingly refer to him as the Jolly Green Giant, Grape Ape, Ogre, etc. etc. He recently switched job duties and is now doing more physical work than before. He came by where I work one morning and said he had bought a bag of frosted flakes and a gallon of milk and was considering going home and just pouring the milk in the bag of cereal because he was so hungry. I then being very considerate of his hungry state asked him if he was going to eat it with his Shrek spoon. He didn't find it as funny as I did and since then I picture him eating with the spoon every time I see it or him eating and usually make some mention of it as well. Today he sends me this pic of him holding the said spoon over a large mixing bowl. It made my day! :)