Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody out there! We hope it was a good one for you all. Ours was pretty alright. It was only the five of us, six including the dog, but she just slept through dinner. Anyway, my mom and I were cooking all day, typical Thanksgiving. Our feet and backs hurt and we are both ready for bed, but it tasted excellent.

In my Torte class this quarter, our final is our own made up Torte. We can do any shape, flavor, color, etc. etc. we want as long as it is our own and not a remake of one we have done in class. I decided to try out my idea for dessert tonight. Here it is:

From bottom to top: ginger cake, cinnamon infused Bavarian cream, ginger cake, pumpkin mousse, chocolate gelee, and spiced pumpkin seeds. My final for the class won't look exactly like this, but it will have all the components. I hope it tastes good all together, each component tastes AWESOME individually, we'll see if it works together.

Jellyfish to Goldfish, Goldfish to Blowfish

Avary has been in swimming lessons now for 2 1/2 months and she has graduated from a Jellyfish to a Goldfish. We are so proud of her! You should see her in the water, she is a natural. I think we have a natural born swimmer in our family. She was doing the backstroke all by herself after three or four lessons, EVER!! Anyway, congratulations to Avary!

CJ has finally graduated from a Goldfish to a Blowfish. She had difficulty, I believe, switching to her back from front and from front to back, but she made it. Our girls are growing up, it is so amazing. I had to take them both to get new shoes today because they have both grown out of the ones they are in now. CJ is almost to a size 10 and Avary is a size 8 1/2. YIKES!!

Anyway, we are really proud of our little fishies!! I'm so impressed with the swim school they go to. CJ has gone further in her swimming here in Colorado in the months she has been enrolled than the year she spent enrolled in Salt Lake.

Pastillage

For the last week, we have been working on pastillage showpices (poss-tea-ah-ge). Pastillage is a non edible sugar dough, much like the salt dough that we used as kids. The stuff smells horrible, but it was fun to work with. It is EXTREMELY fragile and dries very quickly, so you need to work with it rather fast. We had complete freedom over our designs, as opposed to our final sugar showpiece, chocolate showpiece, and our little sugar showpiece. Here are some pictures of my final pastillage showpiece:

It was all structurally dependent on each piece. I think it turned out alright, especially for my very first try.

Curious George Cake

A friend of Spencer's cousin, Rachel, asked me to make her son's 2nd birthday cake. She wanted Curious George. I think it turned out alright. (Yes, there is only one "T" in their son's name.)

It is a chocolate cake with strawberry filling and almond icing. I hope it tasted good, the strawberry filling was a new thing for me, but I think it will be alright. I thought George would be easier than he was, but I think it was because of his size. If he had been bigger, I think it would have been easier.

Lap of Luxury

My mom was hospitalized this week for Diverticulitis. Tuesday when I called home on my way home from school, my mom had mentioned that she was having a really bad stomach ache. My thoughts immediately turned to Diverticulitis. She didn't think it was, but I talked her into going to the doctor on Wednesday if she didn't feel better. I took her into the ER Wednesday morning and they admitted her after a few hours. When they took her to her room, the only one they had available was a suite. These suites are what the famous people get when they are in the hospital and then they pay an extra $300 a night and hire a personal Chef. Mom and I thought they had taken her to a Hotel, it is HUGE!! Here are a couple pictures of her room:

As you are about to walk in.

Standing in the door way.

Standing in front of the bathroom.

Standing by the table, the TV looks kinda' out of place doesn't it?? For a room this size, it should have a flat screen and at least 30 inches.

The bathroom, bigger than mine!! She has a shower in the jacuzzi tub and an over sized stand up stone shower.

Anyway, she thought that maybe she might stay a couple weeks, think again mom, I want a turn!

Video of Jersey

Well, this is the first post from me, Spencer. It's about time, says Sierra!

We shot some video yesterday of Jersey and the girls playing outside:



Here's CJ and Jersey last night:


Friday night, we tried putting Jersey in a cardboard box. She ate it and escaped. So, we got a "crate" (a wire cage) instead. Last night, she slept most of the night in it without whining, so that was a good change. Today, CJ, Avary and Jersey went out and ran around in the yard for a couple of hours. Afterward, Jersey slept for about 3 hours. The girls really wore her out! This is how Sierra found her:


Sierra took this picture, too. Nice photography! Watch out, Sy!

Car Sickness and Funnies

Just when I thought I was done with diapers.....

Jersey still gets a little car sick when we go out, diarrhea, so we got her some puppy diapers for when we go out so she doesn't get all "poopie". As you can see, they don't work so well. It covers the wet end OK, but not the solid end, if you get my drift.

We took her for her first bath today and then she had her first doctor's visit with us. It was a big day. On our way home, we got a phone call from CJ and Avary, "Please bring Jersey back to us, mommy." It was really cute. They really missed her. When I left to take her to get groomed, both CJ and Avary were really upset. They love their new baby sister.

Last night wasn't the best night for sleep. This morning when my mom came down, I asked her how she slept and she just started laughing. She said that she was up all night laughing at us because of Jersey. I told her she wasn't alone and that Spencer and I were laughing too. Finally, at 5:30 this morning, I took her downstairs and fell asleep with her on the couch. We both fell asleep instantly. Now she wants to snuggle on the couch all the time. I think she is happy in her new home. I have been promised that it will get better....it better!! I need sleep to function at school.

New Member

Well, Spencer and my mom showed a moment of weakness and I charged in and took advantage of it. Meet, Jersey, the newest member of the Schumann household.

She is a ten week old Mini Beagle. She will grow to eleven inches at the backbone and is so sweet. We have had her home for two hours, at this moment, and the girls love her and my mom even said she was cute. Just the tiniest thing right now, about seven inches at the backbone. I would guess about five pounds. I have always wanted a dog, and now we have one. I'm so excited to see her grow and get used to us. Avary seems to be a little frightened of her, but she will get used to her and CJ is taking to her real well and learning quickly how to act around her.

Welcome to the family, Jersey!!