...and my Baby turns 11!!!!

Jordan turned 11 today!!! Can you believe it? My baby!!! It's okay, he doesn't read my BLOG and isn't on Facebook...I think...he did get busted a few months ago setting up a FB account.
So, the tough part about Jordan's birthday is...he doesn't like cake...no cakes what-so-ever...so, I "whipped up" an "ice cream sandwich" cake. He loved it....put some ice cream sandwiches at the bottom of a cake pan...smash on some softened ice cream....freeze it...invert it (so that the sandwiches are on the top)....and spread on some more softened ice cream for the "frosting". He wants another one for his family party on SuperBowl Sunday....which works because there are more people (on Jeff's side) who don't like cake...but loves ice cream sandwiches.

Note: those "strange" people are on Jeff's side. My side? All about cake and frosting...yum!


Thanks to Teresa (Jeff's assistant) for this idea. I think Joyce Rice also did something like this for Zackary's birthday, no?

Glass and Ceramics

For the last two weeks, we have been going back and forth to Stanford Hospital. My mother
has been having some health issues and recently they have been getting worse. She is doing better...but, she will still be in the hospital for a few more days.

Whenever Mom is sick, my older brother Dean, who is developmentally delayed, gets very stressed....Dean had a very bad experience in the hospital about 6 years ago....resulting in numerous surgeries in a range of 6 months. So, he always gets stressed and irritated.

To help "calm" him down, I found this great place in the Town and Country Center....Create It!...Dean painted a vase for Mom. Unfortunately, she can't have any flowers or plants in her room...but she can enjoy the vase.

Here is the before picture...Dean in action...he painted the vase blue and then added green polka dots.
















Here is the "after" picture:





















Of course, I couldn't let him have all of the fun...I made two "fused glass plates...the first one will be a bowl...I don't have it back yet...

















The next plate is Jeff's family crest....I saw the hearts at the shop and I thought it would look cool....Actually, I went in the next day and spread out the hearts...I thought it would melt together...


















The final project is below....I also added a border when I went back...I like the way it turned out...I guess I did spread it a little too far...but, it looks ok.