Wedding Cake Entirely Made of Fruit

This has been an insane few weeks, but as of Saturday evening my baby sister is married!

The wedding was stunning and genuine and full of love.  My mom and I made all the food (for 120 guests!) and we worked our butts off, but it was so worth it and came out so well.  We had many willing helpers - my sister and her new husband have a wonderful, sweet group of friends - and even with some last minute snafus it all came together beautifully.

The bride and groom during their first dance.  Isn't my sister gorgeous?

But I do have to say that of everything we made I was the most proud of the cake.  My sister has multiple food allergies that include (among many other things) most grains and sugar. So Mom and I created - using her cutting skills and my design - a wedding cake entirely made out of fresh fruit.
 

The Aiken Wedding "Cake"!

 
A cake the bride could actually eat! The base is 4 watermelons shaped very carefully. (Two on the bottom layer and one on each other layer.)  It is covered in blueberries, pineapple rings, and strawberries and topped with a pile of raspberries. We surrounded it with a bed of grapes.  I had a picture in my head as soon as they announced their engagement and it happily came out just as I envisioned.  It was a labor of love and my sister is so worth it!

All in all, it was a wonderful day and I know their marriage will be even better.  Congratulations you two!  

Famiy Pictures 2015

While my sister was visiting from Florida we were able to take a little time and she snapped some pictures of my crazy family.  It's a good thing my sister is patient!

I think they turned out wonderfully!

Happy 1st Birthday Declan!

Declan is 1 year old today!

WARNING:  PICTURE OVERLOAD!  :)

 Happy Birthday Declan!! How has one year flown by so quickly?  Laughing, troublemaker, serious, mama's boy - his serious, solemn personality has been changing ever since he started crawling. Now he is into everything and laughs hysterically when told "no". This one is going to keep us on our toes! And like all my children he turns one and starts turning a corner for sleep. Last night he slept in his crib from 8:30 until 5 this morning. He nursed and fell back asleep and woke up for the day at 9am. I can live with that! He is such a blessing to us and I am so thankful for this handsome little boy.

This weekend we had a joint birthday dinner for Declan and my sister Annie.  Their birthdays are 2 days apart and she was up from Florida where she lives so we jumped at the opportunity.  

Annie's "cake"!  She is allergic to flour, dairy, etc so Mom made her is gorgeous thing!

My happy birthday boy!

Declan's slightly melted birthday cake!

What's this?

Carrot Cake mess!

Nom. Nom. Nom.

 

Presents!

Annie and friends

Annie and our Mom

Annie and her cake

Birthday morning with his new toy!

Big Boy! 

WNC Nature Center

My husband was able able to take an unexpected day off and we decided to take advantage of it!  We headed to Asheville to the WNC Nature Center and we loved it!  The price was very reasonable and we spent over 3 hours wandering around looking at the animals and playing in the play areas.  Our favorites were the river otters, the racoon that walked only a few inches away from us and the bears! 

Snakes!

Claire

Looking for creatures

Being spiders

 

Chandler

Claire was helping us navigate with the map.

Right there.  That is Fiona wrapped up in a nut shell.

Declan just did not want his picture taken!

My family.

The river otters were such hams.  The kids loved them!

One of the little play areas.  What a good idea!

 I highly recommend the WNC Nature Center if you are near Asheville.  Everything was well done, fun and educational. 

My Heroes

Homeschool Day at the Lake

We got to head to the lake with our homeschool co-op.  Everyone had so much fun!

Declan and I hung out under the tree while the big kids played in the water and sand.

Chandler

Fiona

Claire

Look at those unsocialized homeschoolers!

Fun in the sand!

After everybody started going home the five of us went for a little hike around the lake.  There is a nice clear trail with little creeks and waterfalls.  One of the kids favorite hikes!  

Ducks!

On part of the trail. 

I love these days with my children, I know they are going to flit by!

Those Moments

I snapped this picture of Fiona and Declan and it immediately made me stop.  This is one I know I will treasure when Fiona is a grown woman with children and Declan is a big, strong man with a beard. 

My two babies. 

Who will always be my two babies. 

Someday they will be gone and living their lives, but I want to be able to look back at this picture and remember those blue eyes, blonde hair and happy grins.  Just a moment of real life.  A moment of Fiona trying to love and mother on her baby brother and Declan looking at me like, "Dude.  Can you do something about this?" 

Waterfalls and Park

Well, it wasn't what we planned but we had fun this weekend.  We wanted to take the kids for a little hike around Cliffside Lake, but when we got up there we found out it was still closed for the winter.  So we ended up going to Dry Falls (always a favorite) and went to the playground in Highlands.  The kids enjoyed it.