I've been a bad blogger...

I apologize, but I simply haven't had the time to blog lately between the kids, the pups, the husband and lots of other things that keep me from this!

We did start out dessert tour but it kind of stalled after two weeks from lack of funds (we'll start it back up soon, I hope!).

Sookie is doing well. She's really learned how to manipulate my husband, that's for sure! Here she is in her Halloween costume!

I'll have other pictures to share (from several events) as soon as I find more time to sit down and post them! Thanks for sticking around, if you have!

Erie dessert tour suggestions wanted!!

If there is anyone local that still reads this, I'm calling out to you!

We want to try to do a dessert tour of Erie county. Originally my husband wanted to try to get this done in one day, but I think I've convinced him that if we were to do this, he'd end up going into diabetic shock. It has been discussed further, and we would like to do this over the next few Saturdays (starting October 9th).

Sooooo, here is where you come in, dear readers! I am looking for restaurants, bakeries, ice cream/gelato places (I realize we are starting this towards the end of "ice cream season") and local hidden gems (like Frank's Farm Market that was suggested by a friend on Facebook). We're trying to keep this local, not choosing national chains.

If you have a suggestion - please let us know what to try there! Between the four of us, there is bound to be something everywhere that at least one of us will try! Our goal is to try to divide county up (north, south, east, west) over four weeks.

I plan on bringing my camera and blogging one or two places a week, to make this more of a series, since I've been a blog slacker lately!

Thank you, in advance, for your help and suggestions!

Paws at the Park

Miss Sookie is currently zonked out on the living room couch right now. Before that, she was sacked out under our bed upstairs. I wore her out today!

Today was Paws at the Park here in Erie. It is put on every year by our local Therapy Dog group. There are vendors and demonstrations and lots and lots of dogs! My sister and I went together and let the "cousins" hang out (her dog and Sookie - Milo stayed home because he doesn't always play nice with other dogs). We had a really good time! I took lots of pictures - here are some of them! You can follow any of them to Flickr to see the rest (I have to get around to renewing my Flickr membership - I don't like the rest of my 1000's of photos floating out there and I can't get to them)!

Sookie!


We saw more Corgis than I expected to see here! The little red and white fella here only made it to Erie yesterday all the way from Missouri! He was SO stinkin' cute!


We got to watch an Agility demonstration - I've done agility before and love it, but not so sure I'm coordinated enough to do it now!


Blog readers, meet my sister and her pup, Raider! We took a time-out to get a new picture of them (because the last time I tried to take one, Raider wouldn't cooperate!)!

I think that about wraps up today! Thanks for stopping by!

Wordless Wednesday

Calendar Girl!

If you follow the link to the fantastic Corgi Butts blog, you will find our sweet little Sookie is Miss December on the Corgis (with blogs) 2011 calendar!! I would love to thank everyone that voted for her!

She has taken to chewing two very specific things lately around the house - sandals and the button eyes off of Mason's stuffed animals. I think she's trying to send us a message. "If you try and leave the house, I'll chew your eyeballs out!"

We love our little girl more every day. She loves having the boys and I home all the time since we started cyber school with PA Cyber this school year. This means more walks and pets (and treats) and lots and lots of loving! You can usually find her crashed out either on our bed (if we pick her up - we need to invest in some doggy steps, I think) or in my office, guarding our vast dvd collection.

I am SO excited that she made the calendar that I just had to share it! Any money from calendar sales will go directly to Lakeshore Corgi Rescue in Iowa, so I totally encourage you to pick up a calendar when they go on sale, or even just the digital version, if that's all you can afford.

Again, Sookie and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! Happy Tuesday, everybody!

Worn out pup!

IMG_9465
Originally uploaded by Make Way For Cupcakes

Sookie has been enjoying playing with the neighbor pup (a shepherd mix) and comes home completely zonked - we love it!!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts again but with school starting, things have been a little hectic!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

This year, my husband Dave, took two weeks off work for his vacation back in July.

I was ready for him to go back after the first weekend. I love him dearly, but his vacation weeks really throw off my groove!

We mostly stayed right around Erie, with an exception for a day trip to Cleveland to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We visited the TREC down on Presque Isle and went to Sara's.

Connor turned 11!

We did a movie day and saw Despicable Me (LOVED IT!) and went to Steak and Shake. This next picture is the last one of Mason's long hair - he got a haircut over vacation too, finally!

We went to Family First Sports Park and did mini golf with the in-laws another day. There are no pictures from our Cleveland trip because they don't allow pictures to be taken inside the R&R Hall, so I just left the camera at home.

We visited the Erie Zoo, after not going last year (we just couldn't fit it into our schedule last year).

There was also a bowling day in there somewhere (for the kids).

This wasn't on vacation, but I just had to share it!

There will be more cupcake pictures here again later in the week as I am making wedding cupcakes this week! Here is just a teaser ;)

Vince and Linda's Civil War wedding

I was recently asked by a good friend if I would come take pictures at his wedding. I jumped at the chance because I had so much fun with the last pictures I took for him! Why, you ask? They're Civil War re-enactors! Their wedding was held out at the Yellow House in Girard, PA during Dan Rice Days, immediately followed by a battle re-enactment. (I didn't not stay for the battle. I don't do well with loud noises!). Here are a few of my favorites that I took.

I am ordering a print of this for myself!

As you can see, I love the little details!

Thanks for reading and I'll post again soon!

Is this thing still on?

Hi! I'm still here, I promise! I've just been super busy (which is a really good thing)!

School is starting just around the corner, and this year the boys are going to be going to cyberschool instead of an actual, physical school building. We are all really excited about this!

Sookie is doing wonderful. She really is too cute for her own good, which makes it hard to scold her for being bad sometimes. She is just about six months old now and really keeps us, and Milo (our JRT) on our toes. Milo tolerates her most of the time, but lately, she always seems to have one part or another of him in her mouth - she particularly likes his ears or his tail. The one really good thing as of late is that she FINALLY figured out how to get down all of the stairs in the house. Before yesterday, she could get up the stairs, but not go down them - we would have to carry her down the stairs, earning her the nickname "The Queen". "Would The Queen like to go downstairs now?" We definitely love her more each day!

I'll use that last photo to transition into the other big part of my life right now - CUPCAKES! I finally found something that I love to do and am happy to get out of bed every day to bake! I didn't feel that way about my old job at all. I have a few weddings coming up, and I will be very happy to share those with you as I complete those jobs. I don't even really look at it as a job because I have so much fun doing it! The backdrops you'll see in the following photos are simply scrapbook papers (that I got on sale at Michaels - LOVE that store!!).

The Connor's birthday cupcakes (he's 11 now!) - Turtle mini cupcakes


"Wedding Cake" and Red Velvet minis


Fluffernutter, Chocolate/Chocolate, Snickerdoodle, Orange Dreamsicle, Cookies 'n Cream, and Wedding Cake w/ Raspberry filling minis


White Chocolate Raspberry, S'mores (with toasted marshmallow buttercream), Red Velvet, Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Peanut Butter minis

There are lots more, but you can follow any of those pictures to my Flickr to check them out!

I'll do another post soon (I promise) of Dave's vacation - he took two weeks this year) and the Civil War wedding I took pictures at as a favor to the groom!

Well, I'm off to start baking for the day - thank you for those who still peek in and I'll try to do better about blogging when I have the time!

Our little Sookie...

... isn't quite so little any more!

Sookie is 5 months old now and we love her more every day (even if she has a bit of a shoe fetish, LOL!)!

Here she is the day after we brought her home with us:



and here she is just the other day!



We are doing weekly training classes along with my 4-H club and she's getting the hang of things very quickly! She just doesn't like to stand for anything, but we're working on that.

She and Milo still like to get in each others' faces, but they're getting better. He's much more tolerant of her now and they actually play together some. I've even caught them sleeping next to each other but as soon as I go to get the camera they're both up and wanting attention!

I think that's the update for now! Off to walk the pups!

Cupcake assortment.....

....and only one puppy picture this time, LOL.

This is a box of 7 dozen mini cupcakes. From bottom to top - Orange Dreamsicle, Malted Milk Ball, Pink Lemonade, Cookies and Cream, French Toast and Bacon (yes, bacon!), Ho-Ho, and Grasshopper mini cupcakes.

Funny story that goes with the Malted cupcakes - I took a box of cupcakes to my mom at work last week for her birthday, and she announced that the milk ball ones "taste just like a Whopper" (meaning the candy ball) and someone else asked "like from Burger King?!" LOVE IT!!

Just so I don't leave my other dog out of my blog again, here are both pups, eyeballing me for a treat!

Sookie (in pictures)

She's been here with us almost two weeks and has completely stolen our hearts.

New update

Cupcakes are going very well! I've been really busy and I love it.

In the box above, from left to right, are Cookies 'n Cream, Faux-Ho, Cinnamon Toast, Snickerdoodle, White Chocolate Raspberry, Pink Lemonade, Boston Cream Pie, and Shamrock Shake mini cupcakes.

We finally got our puppy! The trip to pick her up went very well (better than expected, actually!) and she slept most of the way home either on my lap or between my feet. Milo has been doing ok with her (he is our almost 10-year old Jack Russell Terrier), with only a growl when we brought her in, to which she growled right back. They've been getting along fine since then - which pretty much means that Milo has been ignoring her, LOL!

I think that's about it for now!