R2D2: Me vs. Pinterest

How's that for a title?

And how's that for an R2D2 cake?

My little brother is turning 9. This afternoon he had his 'friend party'. Last night as I was making the menu plan as we were going grocery shopping, I for some reason decided to get on Pinterest and look up 'easy Star Wars cakes'. Yes, less than 24 hours before the party.

(Pausing to define something before moving on.)

Getting on Pinterest:

       a) making a supposed-to-be-simple-party not so simple 

       b) signing yourself up for spending hours working on projects

       c) ensuring that you'll get frustrated because yours doesn't look like the pic

I soon decided on this one, with Isaac's approval. The lego storm trooper was a close second. I wanted these awesome Leia cupcakes, but it wasn't approved for a party of boys. :P

Side note: While looking at Star Wars party stuff, I decided that we are going to do a Star Wars themed benefit for Grace's adoption. Thing is, spaghetti dinner is already in the talks.. anyone know anything Star Wars related that rhymes with something spaghetti related? Oh and I also decided that we are adding a boy to Grace's adoption, and naming him Jedidiah! Get it? Jedi-diah. hehe And yes, I decided both without parental agreement.

Anyways, back to the cake. Last night after we got home from the store, I baked a 9x13, a 9" circle, and 8 cupcakes (from the leftover batter from the circle).

Today, the fun part. I ended up not cutting the feet from the second half of the circle like the example, instead I just cut them from the bottom of the 9x13. 

Cut - the black is just decorating gel. :)

Mostly frosted! Just needed some touch-up.

Almost done! - The red is cables by the way, not blood.

My designs were also slightly different from hers, and if you pay enough attention, you'll notice mine is flipped or like a mirror of hers. That would be blamed on my brain for not flipping the image correctly when R2 was upside down and I was working at the top of his head. ;)

I used aforementioned cupcakes to spell his name. (Aforementioned?? Geez, can you tell I've been reading Pride and Prejudice as of late? I love that book! Is that weird??)

It was a whole lot of work, a whole lot of putzy, and I tend to be a sort of perfectionist without having the skills do be such. That said, I can conclude it'll be awhile before my next R2 cake! Maybe the benefit??

This, by the way, leaves the score at Sarah: 0, Pinterest 1.

Once again, Pinterest won by making me do something beyond my baking/cake decorating skills, and I'm left to figure out how long it takes to come out of a sugar coma.

On the other hand, brother liked it, his friends thought it was cool, and it was cheaper than a store-bought cake would have been, so maybe I won the "war" of R2D2??

See cupcake in bottom left corner? That's supposed to be the top of R2's head. Had to do something cool with the leftovers!  ;)

Updated to add the score changed... it's now Sarah: 0, Elijah: 1. Said child decided to place the iPad he was using on top of the cake (which had cling wrap on it, so the iPad is fine), push down, and pull it towards him. Grrr. At least it's still edible, even if you can't tell what it is. :P

A Happy Easter! (+Shawna & Seth update)

Just had to share this first. I blogged about Shawna and Seth a couple day ago. The next day I found out Seth was no longer available for adoption, he was taken into domestic foster care. :( I hadn't blogged about it yet, but guess what I found out tonight!!! SHAWNA HAS A FAMILY! Soo happy for her!!! Please keep her and her family, as well as Seth in your prayers!

♥♥♥

Yes, this is in part copied from my mom's blog, but I wrote it so I can steal it. ;)

We're with family this weekend, and yesterday we had the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Elijah and Jonathan quickly got the hang of it if they didn't remember from last year, but I don't think either of them realized that there was candy inside!

Jonathan

Elijah

Rachel

Rebekah

Isaac

Anna

And... this would be where my camera stopped working so no pictures of me. Not that I would have posted them anyways. :)

And some pictures from this morning (from grandma's camera)...

Best picture we got of Rachel in her dress... she wasn't in the picture taking mood. This beautiful Ukrainian sparkle dress was Little Miss Ruby's dress (one of the way cute Nance kids I got to take care in Kansas). She generously donated it to a blog auction to help her new big brother, Maxim, come home from Ukraine. Rachel loved wearing it today, even if she didn't want to pose for a picture.

Elijah was all dressed up too.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Sometimes Max comes to visit

For the 3rd year in a row, we've gotten a visit from our friend Max during his time in the US. This years visit took place almost 2 weeks ago. It was soo great to see him, if only for a few hours. We all love Max!!!! A couple pictures from our time with him when he shared at church.

Anna, Max, me, and Isaac

I am part of the mission committee at church, and this year, we launched a drive to collect 2013 items for Max and his ministry in 2013! It's only March, and we are at 560+ items!

We had a nice size group (for how unadvertised it was) come to hear him, and a dessert social afterwards. He treated us to some absolutely amazing stories of how God is working and what he is doing through Max and True Hope Ukraine.

Max loves seeing how much bigger the boys are every year! He met them both when he visited my parents when they were over there adopting the boys.

Visiting & making new friends

Posing by the mission spotlight board about him.

With the Mission Committee Head... aka my dad.

And with the committee head's wife. Please note the double cups of coffee and treats, he had a 5 hr drive ahead of him. :)

If you don't know who Max is, aside from this post... he is an amazing young man, who runs a ministry in Ukraine ministering to the hopeless. My dad and I met him while on a mission trip summer 2010, and he visited my parents when they were there with both adoptions. I blogged more about him here.

Please, please, please take the time to watch this video about the new project Max is working on. You will not want to miss being a part of the amazing work God is doing!!!

**Oh and fun little tidbit of info. The lady seen in much of the video walking around with Max, in the black jacket and pink scarf. That would be Stephanie, the mother of the kids I took care of while she was in Ukraine adopting little Max[im]. She was able to spend quite a bit of time working with Max and his team while she was there!

Please consider partnering with Max and support the renovations of the True Hope Center. Former orphans caring for orphans, that is what is going to break the cycle.

Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day

Last night we went to Monkey Joe's (a inflatable jumpy thing place-I'm good at explaining things) with our local Ds support group to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day.

Jonathan just wanted to sit there and bounce. He didn't like that he couldn't walk very well.

"Oh there you are... stop stalking me."

Rachel

Rebekah

Contrary to what this picture would have you believe, Chunky Monkey like the slide. Just wanted one of us to be at the bottom before he went down.

Elijah getting ready to go down with Anna behind him.

Ha! This picture cracks me up. Just chilling at the bottom of the slide.

Isaac at the top, and a blurry Anna.

Is there a rule about going down head first? If there is, leave it up to Elijah to break it! ;) Great sensory input for him though!

We weren't the only family there though.. there were a bunch of other cute kids too!

Like Mr. Lucas! Adopted from the orphanage I visited in Ukraine!

And Micah, Lucas's brother, adopted domestically. You can visit their mama's blog here.

And Ruby and her family! Sister to Lilya (who I assume was there... she's the only one I didn't see!), who is from Ukraine, her family paved the way for our adoption, and I traveled with them to NDSC in July. This was the only picture I got of her
that's focused enough to post! She didn't stop moving, not even to say hi to me! :)

A fun night, celebrating some fun kids!!

My Big Thanksgiving and Black Friday Post

Thanksgiving Eve I was home with the little ones while everyone was at the Thanksgiving Eve service, so we made Thanksgiving treats! All was going well. Rachel was having fun, Elijah was getting lots of good OT, Jonathan was being cranky. Until they finished peeling the Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and I let them each have one. Then Elijah decided he did not like his, and gagged on it, and I was reminded again I don't do puke. ;P

Here are some pictures from before our little episode:

My adorable helpers!

Mr. Cranky and me

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My day Thanksgiving day started at 5:30, when my dad, my 8yo brother Isaac, and I got dressed in orange. But unlike usual when we dress in orange that early, we were'nt going out in the woods. We were also getting dressed to go running, and to go and take a picture with a giant turkey.

Our first Turkey Trot! A 2mi run/walk. I'm not athletic and I'm not a runner, but I started running about a month ago, and am happy to say I finished my first "race"! I'm homeschooled and have to get my 2 PhyEd credits in somehow, right? ;)
Here's my vlog (video blog) of the race. But if you don't want to watch it, here are a few pics.

Getting ready to start! 

That's a lot of peoples!

Isaac crossing the finish line!

Me crossing the finish line!

2 mi in 26 min! My first run was 1/2 mi in 30 min, so not bad to improve my pace that much!

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I posted this on our Handiwork for Lilly and Owen Facebook page Thanksgiving night -
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Today we are thankful for YOU! Thank you for helping us help Elijah (now Sarah's brother), Anastasia (now Carrington Burman), Sergey, Eddie (now Gideon Evensen), Noah (now Noah Silva), Jonathan (now Sarah's brother), and now Lilly and Owen home!!! Plus Carter Gibson, Caleb Prevost, Naika T, and Jimmy Ott home through benefits and craft sales! You guys are amazing, and we could not be doing this without you!

In addition to that, today I am thankful for all the usually things - family, friends, a roof over my head, always enough to eat, etc.... but I'm also thankful that God has broke my heart for what breaks His, and that I am able to advocate on this blog for the least of these. All the hours I've spent blogging, all the tears I've shed over children, it's all worth it, if it helps bring one child home.

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Ok, Black Friday. First of all, I love this picture, and I totally agree with it's message. Such a wonderful reminder.

At the same time, I am not against getting good deals on things that people would have bought anyways even if it wasn't on sale. But you do have to draw a line somewhere, and some people can get a little crazy and obsessive on the day after they say they are thankful for everything they have. Ironic, isn't it, that those two days, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are right next to each other. :P

We did do some Black Friday shopping at Kohl's (it opened at midnight... we can do midnight, but not 6am!), but it was mostly things like church clothes we would have bought anyway. I went mostly for the fun of it, and did another vlog, about it and the... people there when the store opened. I would call them crazy and stupid, but that's not very nice.


We weren't one of those in and out people.. we were actually looking around and shopping. And picking up knocked over cloths. And trying not to get run over. This one lady barged her way through where I was standing, and literally knocked me over. She didn't stop to help me up, say sorry or even acknowledge what she just did. And another lady got mad at me because I was in her way when I was trying to get up. People weren't even treating each other like human beings!

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Happy Thanksgiving Weekend Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day with your family, and that you didn't forget about those who have next to nothing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.