Oil/Transmission Fluid....Same Thing?!

So, I have a pretty unbelievable story to share with you. It happened to my sister. It involves a Tire Center located at a huge store chain-let's call them "Zwall-Mart". So, it's Thursday and September is about to go and pick Morgan up at the Univ. of Michigan and take a road trip to Pittsburgh for the weekend. She decides that she's going to get an oil change before she picks Morgan up. That's where "Zwall-Mart" comes into the picture. Even though she hates this place Dad and Johnny have told her that it's the place to go for an oil change-the price is right and what could possibly go wrong with an oil change!? She drops the car off and about a half hour later heads back to the tire center in order to check on the progress. Sep sees her car in the parking lot with three mechanics taking a look-not a good sign! The manager recognizes her and says, "We've got a problem with your Montero...we'll be right with you." As she waits she sees one of the mechanics get into her car and reverse it out of the parking spot. As Sep put it-the car jumped out of the spot and when he put it into drive in order to get it back into the bay it jumped all the way there!! Turns out the mechanic down in the oil change bay apparently didn't pass the mechanics course :How To Tell The Difference Between The Oil Cap and the Transmission Cap. He drained the transmission completely, realized his mistake, recapped it, drained the oil, and told NOBODY about his mistake! Can you say-currently unemployed? So, they tell September about the problem and refill her transmission fluid. Fortunately, Dad and Johnny are like car geniuses so September brought them into the mix-via phone. Bill-the Tire Center Manager assured September that everything was fine and fixed and she was good to go. I believe that he even guaranteed his job on it! So, she was off to pick Morgan up. Smooth sailing from here on out.....well, until 30 minutes into the drive when the AT Temp light lite up her dash. Sure enough it was the Automatic Transmission Temperature light-what are the chances of that!? Car Genius Senior helped September discover that the transmission tank had been overfilled. Back to Zwall-Mart she drove. They had overfilled it by 2 1/2 quarts!!!! As they were draining some of the fluid off the apprentice did a little detective work of her own. She asked the guy behind the counter what exactly they had put in her car. He handed her the empty bottle and she called CG Senior again. He uncovered the fact that they had put the wrong product in the car! Apparently, the mechanic #2 knew that it was the wrong product but "they didn't have enough of the correct product so he just put something else in there"!! Apparently, he didn't pass the mechanics course: There Is No Substitute For The Correct Product! He may be joining Mechanic #1 in the unemployment line Monday morning. They had to make a special trip to Auto Zone in order to get the correct product. In the mean time a store manager who knew the situation approached September and told her how sorry she was for the situation. She wanted to offer September something for her time and trouble...."how about $25?" TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS for 5 hours of her time!!!!???? September did not accept it because she would have to sign something in order to accept it. Plus it was TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! As she was leaving the store, six hours from the initial arrival, she asked Bill-the manager-to throw in a tire pressure gage, to which he said, "ok, that'll be $5.02". He actually charged her for it!!

Yeah for Daddy!

Daddy has been working hard in order to be state and nationally certified in order to be a loan officer-it's a new 2010 requirement. And.......Daddy has passed all of his exams with flying colors!! We came home with a special dinner and dessert last night in order to celebrate. Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and a small cookie cake that said "Congrad Daddy". She didn't want to write "Congratulations Daddy"because she said it wouldn't fit. So, I thought she said she would write "Congrats Daddy" but apparently she said "Congrad Daddy" because that's what she wrote. That doesn't even make sense!! Should have taken a picture and submitted it to Cake Wrecks!

So, this afternoon Layner was sitting on the counter and knocked the rest of the cookie cake onto the floor and it went crashing! What a mess...as you can see.

18 Month Checkup

(at 19 months old)

This was sweet little Layne right before her checkup. I hated to wake her up, but I had already missed her first scheduled 18 month checkup so I had to!

She's finally following HER line for weight. Now, her line is well below normal....but it's hers and she's not dropping lower anymore. She weighed 19 pounds 15 ounces which is in less than the third percentile. Her head and height are both in the 50th percentile though. 32 inches tall and 46 1/2 cm head. She ended up getting three shots, but that's it until she's 4!! As the doctor said, "It'll give her some time to like us!".

Just as a comparison, when Hayden was 18 months old she was 21 pounds and 31 inches tall.

Sick Bowl

This morning Hayden came running into our bedroom crying and coughing saying that her neck hurt. I knew exactly what was about to happen so I sprang out of bed and rushed her to the toilet. When she's going to throw up she says her neck hurts. Sure enough, she got sick. So, I brought her into our bed since Jeremy was already at at UPS. I put a towel down and got her a bowl. She did such a good job of getting it in the bowl every time! She brings the bowl with her everywhere she goes. Does anyone do that? I remember when I was sick mom would get me a bowl so I didn't have to rush to the bathroom and risk an accident. I think that this was actually the same bowl that I used or at least it looked just like it! So, she and this green plastic bowl will be good buds today. Layner has it too, but it goes right to her diaper (T.M.I.?).

Cuddly Sisters

Hayden was sitting on the rug today and Layne just backed right up and plopped right down in her lap! That's so rare for Layne. She normally doesn't like it when Hayden tried to hug or hold her. Maybe she was ok with it because it was HER idea.

Hayden tries to be such a little mommy to Layne.

Layner's Two Favorites

These are two of Layne's very favorite things-her blankie and her bear. She cannot go to bed without either. I have started bringing them with us when we go to the store. They calm her while I shop....at least for a little while!

Wiley

The name suited him, but a better name to describe the very first dog that I got while I was "on my own" would have been Tasmanian Devil! I remember it like it was yesterday. I was going into my senior year of college and my roommates and I had a house. If you have a house, you need a pet....right-even if it was "illegal"?! So, I looked in the paper for a small breed dog. I aranged to meet a guy in the parking lot of a McDonalds to see a puppy. My dad came with me just to be on the safe side. Well, as soon as we got there dad went inside to get some fries or something. That's when it happened. The man pulled up next to our car and came out of the car with the most precious fluffy white puppy. He was so white he almost appeared to be angelic! Those of you that knew Wiley know how funny that sentence really is! Needless to say, I was getting that dog no matter what. It was love at first sight.

Wiley had the most annoying bark and he chewed tables, walls, and shoes and if he go off his leash he went bonkers, and when he got super excited or scared he "sprung a leak" if you know what I mean- he was like a ball of fire...all the time! He was my little Wiley though and he had me wrapped around his little white paw.

We even made the move together to Georgia. Unfortunately, Jeremy and Wiley didn't see eye to eye. We were getting married and moving into a new house and the peeing and chewing was not going to work so well in the new house. So, Wiley took a trip to Pittsburgh to live with Mom and Bern! All I will say about his flight is that when mom and Bern got to the pet carrier that he traveled in it was falling apart so the airport people had wrapped caution tape all around it! Ok, it may not have been caution tape, but still!

So, he had a sweet life up in the burgh with mom and Bern. He had a huge fenced in yard to run around it, lots of dog buddies to play with, and two parents that loved and pampered him. Wiley and Bern were special buds. They were like two peas in a pod. Bern and Wiley even got into arguments! It was a crazy sight to see.

All of this to say, Wiley is in doggie heaven tonight. He had a great life and he will be dearly missed. A special thank you to mom and Bernie for taking such amazing care of him. I love you guys.

Toy Basket Train

This afternoon the fun thing to do was to pile into the toy basket with all of the Elmos and go for a ride. They did a good job of switching riders and pushers.

I was surprised that Layne could push Hayden, but she gave it everything she had and got moving!

Superman/Clark Kent Cupcakes

Whitney asked me to create some Superman/Clark Kent cupcakes for the SRO at her school. So, I created the Superman logo out of royal icing and the hats and glasses out of fondant. I enjoyed making these little topper.

She made a last minute change to the order (added a few) and I didn't have enough time to make some more royal icing logos-they need time to dry. So, I added in the handcuff toppers since he's the resource officer at the school.

Twin Birthday Cakes!

Brady and Connor are 4 year old twins with different interests. So, Sandra asked me to make them each a small cake. Brady saw the one that I did for Aaron and loved it. So, I made him a version of the Boston Red Sox cake. The ball is a toy since Connor had so many toys on his cake I wanted Brady to have something to play with too.

I tried to make it more of a little boys cake. This cake was chocolate chocolate chip with butter cream filling and icing.

And Connor was very specific about the kind of cake that he wanted: strawberry cake with peaches and blue berries and buzz light year. He got the Buzz light year and the strawberries.

Here's the cake without all of the toy toppers. This cake was strawberry with strawberry cream filling and iced strawberry butter cream. Everything in this picture is edible.

It was so great to actually see their reactions as I brought the cakes in. Most of the time my clients come and pick up the cakes and I never get to see the kids/adults reactions. Connor and Brady were SO excited and thankful. It was great to see.....

Lego Cake with Cupcakes

Lego Birthday Cake

I made the Indian Jones hat cake with hat and whip cupcakes for James last year for his birthday. This year it's a Lego theme! Everything is edible. The lego men are gumpaste and everything else is fondant. The cupcakes will be decorated tomorrow....pictures to come.

Hitching a ride....

Mommy's little helper (aka fondant tester) in the kitchen. She watches every move I make while I am baking and decorating cakes. Can't wait until she is old enough to really help me!!

Knitter's Cake

I made this cake for Jan's birthday. She loves to knit and crochet so I thought it would be perfect for her. I was excited to do this cake because I have been wanting to try a new fondant recipe and try out modeling chocolate.

All of the brown is actually chocolate! The yarn balls are cake balls covered with fondant. That extruder was just about the death of me this morning! It's caramel cake with caramel filling.

Right on the Kisser

These are actually lollipops with plastic lips on the other end. I just had to see what the girls looked like with they sucked on them.

After picture time was over the lollipops went away too. You would have thought it was the end of the world at our house!!

Layne leaned over to kiss big sis with her big lips! So cute!

Daddy and mommy got the girls big coloring books for Valentine's Day. They decided to color in them this afternoon. Then they decided that it would be way more fun to dump every single crayon out on the floor and spread them ALL around. We all had a good time cleaning that mess up when they were done.

The Cutest!!

The girls got lots of Valentine's Day cards throughout the week, but this was the cutest! Thank you Morgan for the cutest Valentine's Day card....we loved it. Thanks to great grandma, grandma, pop, grandma, pap, and pappy for the great valentines.

Here are the girls opening their special Valentines package from grandma and pap on Sunday morning. They had been waiting all week to open it.

Candy, candy, and more candy!! Thank you.

Peaceful Beauty

This morning when I woke up I walked into the family room and was surrounded by beautiful white trees against a bright blue background. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

This is something I don't remember seeing up north in the 21 years that I lived there! Up north during the winters the sky stays a grayish white color for like 4 months straight.

Loved it!

We went back outside this morning, after our Valentine's breakfast, since the sun was already melting the snow!

I asked Hayden if she wanted to make a snow angel and she immediately knew what to do!

Layne wasn't too excited about making snow angels.

I rolled a big snowball for Hayden.

Then we all went on a 4 wheeler ride down the street. It would have been funny to take a picture of the 4 of us piled on the 4 wheeler. Would have made a great red neck Christmas card picture or something!

Valentine Present

Today starting around 2pm it started to SNOW! Hayden was waiting and waiting for the snow and she was SO excited when it finally arrived! They just stood at the window and watched it fall.

After nap time we got the girls all bundled up to go outside.

Layner just couldn't believe her eyes!

The falling snowflakes kept getting stuck in Layne's long eyelashes.

We walked around the deck for a while and then ventured out to the yard.

The girls decided that they wanted to slide down the snow slide!

Hayden has never moved so fast down a slide. It was pretty funny because she is very cautious when she goes down slides. She puts her feet on the sides of the slide so that she can control her speed. Well, since her feet and the slide were wet she couldn't control anything!

She zipped down the slide into the pile of snow!

Next it was Layne's turn. I thought she was going to go down head first, but she changed her mind.

She literally flew off the slide!

Our snow covered front yard.

We found a little snow shelter while we were walking. The branches of the bushes were draped over so the snow did not fall on the ground in this spot.

Back inside, dry, and getting warm by the fire while mommy made hot chocolate for all!

Ahhhh, what an adventure.

Rubbing their hands to warm them by the fire.