Spring: Season of Parties and Tutus

Hey Everyone, Apparently spring is all about parties, or at least it is with the Scharpenbergs. Where to begin . . . Well, Mom started with making a cake for one of Aunt NayNay's coworker's baby shower.

The whole things was from scratch. Dad thought it weighed about 40 pounds, serving over 35 people. The base underneath was a big cake, and then the popcorn box was a smaller cake, decorated with fondant and other good stuff.

Then we went down to Portland to see Gramma and Grampa. Well, the real reason we went was for Mom to throw our friend Erika a baby shower. Of course, while we were there, I went for a bike ride with Grampa down by the creek. . .

And then, this is the layout that they put together for the baby shower. There was a lot of fuss and muss over colors and bunting, but I paid most of my attention to the cupcake display :)

All those cupcakes, just calling to be shoved into my mouth . . .

We had to include a picture of the Erika. She's the best.

Come here my little cupcake friend!

And, of course, Finley was sporting a tutu. That seems to be the fashion of choice for her age. Girls are funny :)

Then, at the end of March, we had Finley's birthday party. She started that day in her birthday suit.

It was in the morning, and she was just about to get pulled together for the day's events, but she did do a few laps around the house lookin rather risque. . .

But, the adults got a hold of Finley and dressed her. Of course, sporting a tutu.

But, she seemed happy enough, and I think it fits her. At least she didn't get a tiara too.

And Mom, she went into all out hostess mode. Even the napkins and utensils got special treatment.

Have you ever heard of cake pops? How about a bouquet of cake pops. Feed my face!!!

The layout was magnificent. Bunting of course, balloons (always a favorite), cupcakes and cake pops. I just wanted to sit at the table and feast. But, we all had to be patient.

And, there were a couple of gifts for Finley.

And, before I could wait anymore, Finley finally started on her special birthday cupcake. Check out the little stand that Mom used for presentation.

I think Finley's first time having cake went well.

Come here cake!! It is your fate!

And now, Finley is 1 year old! Hard to believe. She'll be walking soon too, and just in time to perfect her strut before we head to Europe in May. . .

Cakes, Mosques, and Aliens, OH MY!!!!

Hello Everyone,

How you liking that daylight saving time? Man, its like I closed my eyes and, when I opened them again, my baby sister is almost 1 year old. She crawls, babbles, and has enough teeth to rival some of the nice people at the old folks home.

Anyway, I digress. We start this blog post with some nice pictures of Finley.

Finley turned 10 months old in January and really started to settle down. She is sleeping really well, crawling a lot, and babbling a ton.

And, she does a good job posing for the camera.

I got to celebrate a half birthday at school, so Mom made some treats for the class. Can you place these guys? OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Back in February, Dad went to Amsterdam for work. He went walking in this area a bunch. It had a lot of pretty lights. Seems like a lot of them are red though, don't you think?

And, if you look carefully in this picture, some of the buildings on the right have a serious tilt to them. The tour guide said it had to do with sandy soil, but I think the Dutch may just have trouble stacking their blocks.

And, check out the really narrow townhouse in this picture: 1.8 meters wide.

After Dad got back from Amsterdam, we went down to Portland and got some skiing in with Dad, Aunt Liz, Grampa, Auntie NayNay, Uncle Ian, and his friend Nick. We had a good time.

I got tired at lunch, so despite some nice fries, I started falling asleep.

Then, after Portland, Dad headed out to Istanbul for another work trip. He got to see the underground Roman cistern there.

And the Haggai Sophia, an old church built ~500AD that's seen a lot of history, including being used as a mosque. . .

Inside you can see the Christian and Muslim influence.

Some of the old mosaics still exist.

Then, across the way, there is the "Blue Mosque". Very cool.

The colored paintings on the walls and ceiling are beautiful.

While Dad was out traveling, Mom kept working on her cake making skills. This cake was a practice run at the "Wilton" class she took.

Then she made a cake for one of Auntie Naynay's coworkers. Nice fondant decorations here.

And, just a month later, Finley turned 11 months old. She's getting big!

But, her love of the camera hasn't changed :)

And, she's an expert crawler now. She "walked" right off this photo shoot.