I'll Be Home for Christmas

These beautiful photos were taken recently by my brother, Jonathan, while hiking at Douthat State Park near Clifton Forge (my home town). They sure do make me look forward to the coming of winter and to heading to the mountains for Christmas. Thanks for sharing, Uncle Jon.

A picture of the girls in their holiday best.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

The Dean Family 2009

I am so proud of this cake...

even though I didn't make it.

O.K., so I did design the cake (on a piece of paper), but my neighbor Anulette actually did all of the work you see here. I really don't think I could have done it better myself. Well done, Anulette!!! And Happy Birthday, Jilly-Bean!

It's November!!!!!

I really can't believe how fast time is moving. It's been less than a month since the big Apple Butter Festival (photos coming soon to the Apple Butter Blog ... see link) and we've been busy with many activities. So, here are a few photos of just a few of the things that have been keeping us on the move.

I know this looks like an ordinary pile of rocks, but you're actually looking at a pile of aquamarine, garnets, tourmaline, morganite, goshenite, golden beryl...I can't remember all the names -- many I heard for the first time during our visit to Gem Mountain Mine in North Carolina. Steve took me on a mining tour for our 15th wedding anniversary. We got filthy, banged up, cut up, but we had a great time. These are (from R to L) aquamarine, garnet and golden beryl. I left the aquamarine and golden beryl to be cut. I think the golden beryl was an especially good find.

Picking pumpkins at Hanover Vegetable Farm.
Evie found hers quickly.
All you can carry for $20.00!!!!

Lilly enjoyed carving the pumpkins.

Evie did not.

It's Halloween and the gang's all here!!!

Evie and Lilly in costume.

Children of the Corn

My first baby shower cake.

Happy Birthday Sylvie!!

We are heading home today to help celebrate the 9th birthday of our lovely neice. She is having a pizza party followed by a sleepover (which will include around 12 or 13 young ladies). I made this cake for her based on her early request for a "fashionista" cake (she's been watching the "The Cake Boss"). I think this might be the best cake I've ever made -- maybe because I used fondant and edible images, I don't know, but I'm very pleased and I think she will be, too.

Happy Birthday Meg!!!!

Our sweet little friend recently turned 4 and for her birthday, she requested a Hannah Montana cake. The rotating, lighted disco ball definatley gave it some "umph" and I was pretty happy with the cake but felt that it was still missing something... so at the last minute, I added a candy guitar. I think it finished it off and gave it a bit more Hannah Montana flair.

Happy Birthday Evie!!!!!!

Today is Evelyn's 3rd Birthday. We had her little celebration yesterday and this is the cake I made. I was not very happy with the result but it looks better here than it did before I scraped off the frosting and started over. Someday, I'm going to make a cake for Evie that I actually LOVE. Maybe I need to get away from the insect theme...

My nephew Rob just turned 13!!! Oh my gosh do I feel OLD!!! I made him this paintball cake and was pretty happy with the way it turned out. Happy 13th Birthday, Cool Rob!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday

Lillian Morgan Dean!!!

Here she is...7 years ago.

And here she is now...blowing out the candles on her 7th birthday cake.

Lilly wanted a sea shell cake. So, I made the shells out of candy melts and the fence was made out of popscicle sticks darkened with black cocoa. The top tier was was a crazy rainbow swirl cake. The bottom layer was a dark chocolate cake with cherry curd filling. I was not the best tasting cake I ever made but Lilly loved it and I was happy with the way it looked on the outside.

Sweet Land of Liberty

We celebrated this 4th of July with family and with neighbors. In the morning, we drove up to join Steve's brother Jim and his wife Lynette at their traditional party by the lake. We came back home for the evening festivities on our street -- a hotdog party followed by a bicycle parade and fireworks. It was a great day and for the occasion I baked cookies and brownies. Kyle finished the parade with a bang!

Hello Kitty!

Say hello to the newest member of our family. Her name is Molly (a.k.a. Molly Malone, Molly McButter, Molly Brown and Good Golly Miss Molly). She was alone in the woods at my Mom's house and decided she wanted to live in Mechanicsville (like all the cool people do). She's a great cat and is making herself at home. She is spending her nights sleeping on the end of Lilly's bed.

Unfortunately, this is how Molly spends most of her day.

On Friday we drove down (and then up again) to Chincoteague Island on the Eastern Shore. We had such a wonderful time that the girls and I didn't want to come home. If you've never been there, you should make plans to go. Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Lilly and Evie enjoy a sunset together on our balcony.

Lilly received a riding lesson on a real Chincoteague pony.

Evie had a pony ride, too.

Evie didn't really like the water so she stayed in the sand.

Lilly loves playing in the water but took a little time to play with her sister.

The Assateague lighthouse was closed so we had to view it from the boat.

The blobs of color in the middle of the photo are wild ponies. I felt a little frustrated that we couldn't get a better look at them, but the next day we went for a hike and...

TaaDaa!!!!! We rounded a turn in the path and there they were!

They were so calm and sweet. We could almost get close enough to pet them.

On the last morning of our stay we woke the girls up at 5:00 am so that we could drive to the beach and see the sunrise. It was worth it. The beach was quiet and beautiful.

It took Evie a while to warm up to the feeling of sand between her toes.

But she loved running away from the waves.

Evie especially loves riding around on her Daddy's shoulders.

Lilly always has fun on the beach (we think she must be part mermaid).

Evie liked digging in the sand and watching the birds.

We walked for a while and enjoyed the beautiful morning, but the highlight came when a wave washed this lovely shell onto the sand. I feel certain that it must have been carved by a mermaid and Lilly is thrilled to add it to her box of treasures. Chincoteague is an amazing place with beauty, history and magic. We will definately go back again.