Cake Decorating

Jesikah has this dear young woman leader (actually several).  Her name is Clarisse Warren, and she is a professional cake decorator.  Jesikah really wanted to learn cake decorating for one of her projects for young women, so she asked Sister Warren (as she goes by at church) if she could come and help her sometime when she was making a cake or just watch and learn. 

Sister Warren has had Jesikah over multiple times to help her with cakes, teach her things, and Jesikah always comes home with her own personal cake too.  Jesikah has learned a lot and has gotten really good.  Below are some of the cakes she has made as part of this project (she has done WAY over 10 hours):

Flip-flop made of fondant

Clarisse Warren with one of the cakes Jesikah helped with

Shoes made of fondant

More shoes

And more...

There was another cake that we made for St Patrick's Day that was a color gradient cake, but for some reason only half of the picture will come up on Blogger.  There were 3 segments of cake that got progressively darker, but you can't really see it.

Cake Jesikah made for Anne (her friend that was moving)



Jesikah taught us the smoothing technique for these cakes



This is one of the cakes she helped Sister Warren with

And she was with Sister Warren she made these angry bird cakes too.

Jesikah has spent a lot of time with Sister Warren while learning to make these cakes, and has learned a lot.  I am so grateful for all the time Sister Warren has spent with her!

Spiral Shrub

In April, you may remember that we planted these two spiral shrubs.  I love them, but they are proving to be very tempermental!  This picture was taken at the end of July and as you can see, the one on the left is completely DEAD!  I thought it may have been possible that I hit it with some Round-Up while spraying, but I really didn't think that I would kill it even if it did get a little mist that blew that way.  I called the nursery to see if they would replace it, and they said that they wouldn't unless they planted it, but that they would give me 30% off a replacement.  Since there is no other place in town that carries these, I went ahead and bought the replacement but even with the discount, it still cost $70, and Eric and I planted it!  

Now, I am not so sure it was Round-Up because the green one in the picture is not so green anymore.  I added more fertilizer and have been watering it daily, but it is not looking very good.  I haven't completely given up on it yet.  I am still holding onto the hope that it might come around, but I am not sure.  It is an Alberta Spruce, and I am wondering if this is just not the climate for these.  It is SO hot, it looks to me like it is getting sunburned.  Anyone know anything that might help?

Big 4-0

 On August 23rd, Eric turned the big 4-0!  It was a very busy day.  In fact, we didn't even see him until about 8pm.  Jesikah helped me decorate the kitchen.

He finally made it home! He has been helping a friend of his coach his son's football team.  It has taken up a lot of time.  He practices Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 5:30-7:30.  He went straight from work and didn't even get home until around 8.  That same day Alex had piano lessons and a soccer game.

Sign made by Jesikah

From Jesikah

From Tessa and Jarem

Also from Jesikah (pens and dark chocolate peanut M&M's). Eric's favorite!

From Alex

I got him a new electric razer that comes with an eyebrow, nose, and ear hair trimmer.  That is the part he is pointing to.  He said that now he is over 40, that nose and ear trimmer should come in handy! :)

Lemon Meringue pie for dessert

It's funny that the kids all got him junk food for their gifts.  I think the reason was because they were all short on cash having just bought school clothes and having Jesikah's birthday also this month.  The snacks were things they knew he would like and within their budget.

We also went and used out credit at Dick's Sporting Goods to get him soccer cleats and shin guards so he can practice soccer with Alex and the other kids.

Eric and I went out for a late dinner at Longhorn to celebrate!  Then, I threw a little 40 party for him on the following weekend...more to come later.

And another turns 13...

Jesikah turned 13 on August 13th, and that means another child in the Bass Family has earned the rank of "teenager".  I am not sure how many more we can handle...  (lol)

We let our kids have friend parties on the even years, so this year was her family birthday year.  She wanted to go to a movie with Eric and I, so we went to see "The Smurfs" which was the only decent thing playing.  It was pretty cute.  We made her favorite meal for her birthday.  Eric cooked yummy ribs and we had mashed potatoes, grren beans, and sweet carrots.  It was good.

Her birthday was on a Saturday, so we let her open her big present in the morning so she would have something fun to do.  It was the Diagon Alley Lego set.  That was exactly what she wanted, and she was very happy!

Jarem and Tessa were excited too

 Before her family party, she had already built part of it:

Birthday Dinner

 It turned out to be a little funny because Alex had been helping out at another boy's eagle project all morning, and he called to see if 2 of his friends could come home with him.  I was not keen on the idea since it was Jesikah's birthday, but he finally convinced me that if it was ok with Jesikah I would let them come over.  He easily talked Jesikah into it.  She has a soft heart and just a few kind words and she was in agreement.  So, strangely, Alex had two friends at Jesikah's party.  She did ask her best friend to come over for just dinner and presents, but she already had other plans.

 Jarem and Tessa put their money together and bought the knight bus Lego set as well as some candy and a card.  Jesikah really liked it.  In the picture. Jarem is saying, "No it isn't" when Alex said that it was from him too.

I bought this peasant top for Jesikah after we went school shopping because she loved it, but couldn't afford it.  Because I am writing this later, I can tell you that it looks beautiful on her. She also got several other tops, a sweatshirt, and a skirt.

She is still looking at the Legos.  Beside her you can see that she got the whole Percy Jackson and the Olympians book set because Alex doesn't like to share his and she loves to read books over and over.  She also got a poster.

About the cake, she had planned to have a mint chocolate cake with brownie pieces on top and pillars.  She sketched the whole thing out in full color.  But, the day before was Eric and I's anniversary and we had bought this Cheesecake Factory cheesecake at Sam's Club.  We planned to share it with the kids on the evening of our anniversary after spending the day together.  Well, we got home a little late, and we really didn't want to eat a heavy cheesecake so late, so we told Jesikah that if she wanted it for a birthday cake, she could have it.  Surprisingly, she decided that she did!  She does LOVE cheesecake, but the real reason why was because "her" cake would take a lot of time to make on her birthday and she wouldn't have as much time to enjoy.  I told her I would make it and she didn't need to help, but she wanted time with me doing other things.

She got several Burt's Bees for her birthday.  Here is her full collection now.

We love having Jesikah in our family.  13 things about her:
1) Loving
2) Helpful
3) Enjoys doing many of the same things that I do
4) Pretty
5) Takes time to make herself look nice
6) Responsible
7) Has a soft heart for others
8) Very good with kids
9) Smart
10) A good cook
11) Is not afraid to stand up for what is right
12) Has high standards for herself
13) Is a friend to everyone

Cooking Project

The day before school started, Jesikah wanted to complete one of her Young Women value projects that a lot of the other girls had been able to complete at an overnighter that she hadn't been able to go to.  In their young women program at church, they are required to do (8) 10-hour projects (one project for each of the 8 values) as well as many value experiences. 

Jesikah chose Divine Nature for her value, and she completed a cooking project where she prepared, cooked, and cleaned up 3 meals.  Jesikah invited 2 girls over to do it with her: Yuklin and Pramika.  In addition to the main course, she also made an appetizer and a dessert.   Her young women leader, Nikki Collis, was sweet enough to come over and bring ingredients to make some of the foods that she was teaching them how to make. Below, they are cutting up fruit to go with breakfast with Nikki.

Jesikah making fruit dip

Ready to eat! It was very yummy!

Making their appetizer: bruschetta

With fresh tomatoes from the garden and fresh mozzarella, these were SO good!

For dinner they made: Chicken Alfredo

It was supposed to have fettucine noodles, but we improvised with the spiral noodles that we had.  It turned out good too.

They also had broccoli as a side (not shown)

For dessert, they made this yummy pound cake with Nikki.  It was VERY, VERY good!

It was a full day for them, but I had fun teaching them, and they were very receptive to being taught.  It was also fun to have someone else cook for a day!  I am proud of Jesikah for working so hard on her young women goals.  She is self-motivated, and doing very well.

Driver's Ed

Alex took an accelerated course of driver's education July 18-21. It was Monday through Thursday, 8-4 everyday, but only 4 days! He complained of it being "painfully boring" and that he didn't learn anything. I did feel a little bad for him since I remember how much I disliked driver's ed and I only went 2 hours a day and it went on for something like half of my summer every morning at 7am. However, I think I would have been grateful to have it done in 4 days, and I did choose a course where he had a soccer friend in class with him. I think he did learn some things, and I am glad that he took it.

After the class time, they had to do 6 hours of one-on-one driving with an instructor in 2-hour blocks. He did the driving part the first week of August just before school started.  The week in between was youth conference in Nauvoo, so he had a very busy summer.  Below was his first day with the instructor. It was nice that they came to our house to pick him up, and dropped him off afterward. Alex was nervous about driving at first, so the instructor drove out of our driveway and the first few minutes.

On the first day, Alex said that he was "so good" that the instructor couldn't believe that he hadn't driven before.  He is doing pretty well on the road now, but sometimes he gets a little over-confident.  In Tennessee, they are allowed to get their learner's permit at age 15, but must have a learner's permit for a minimum of 6 months and be age 16 before they get their official license.  While they have their learner's permit, they may drive only if an adult is with them.  It has been a little bit scary at times, and sometimes I push "my brake" when he is not stopping fast enough. :)  He has been improving though and trying hard.  Driving with him is sometimes contentious however because he doesn't like being corrected...  Anyway, for the most part, I am looking forward to him getting his driver's license and easing the burden on me of driving each of the kids to so many places.