BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have had a hard time keeping this a secret, and now I can finally let the cat out of the bag. NO I AM NOT PREGNANT! Scared ya, didn't I?

Have you ever heard of these people?



Well, they are coming to the big metropolis of Gainesville. As if that is not exciting enough, guess who is doing all of the demolition of the old house and the dirt for the new one?







And, one more exciting detail: Guess who the licensed contractor is that will be pulling their very first permit for the demolition?




I am excited beyond words! If this doesn't make Daddy proud, I don't know what will! If you are interested in any of the "extreme" details, check out this website. There are still many ways you can help be a part of this event. There are food and blood drives and several other needs.

Stay tuned next week as the family and location are revealed. It is going to be AMAZING!!!

I am really proud that my dad and Uncle Brad decided to be a part of this event. The economy is TERRIBLE right now, but God has blessed us beyond measure, so it is a blessing to give back. We are just so excited about this opportunity to help someone in need, and be a part of such a great experience.

Crowns and Poodles

This past weekend was AMAZING! Rob and I spent some much needed alone time Friday night. I surprised him and took him to see these people:


Casting Crowns is Rob's favorite group of all time. Their music was instrumental in helping him turn his life around. We have sung some of their songs in church together. Rob idolizes Mark Hill. They truly are an amazing group with an amazing ministry. Here is our picture with them after the show.
Rob is about to poop his pants right about now! We drove home from Brandon that night with our hearts full and our soul on fire!

Saturday morning, we took the kids to PetSmart to see all of the dogs. There were tons of dogs!!! They fell in love with each and every one of them. Cade has been asking for a dog for quite some time now. That is the only thing he has asked for Christmas. Convincing Daddy was the trick. We haven't had the best of luck with dogs, and Rob hasn't forgotten it. So finally he gave us some criteria that the dog had to meet. They were:

• Had to be inside
• No shedding
• Not too expensive.

Well, if you know anything about non-shedding dogs, you know that a poodle or a doodle of some sort is the best bet. I had emailed about a poodle that was advertised in Ocala4Sale on Friday. They were giving it away. She emailed me back and said it was already gone, but she had a 2 year old if we were interested. She left a number for me to call. It didn't work. I emailed her back with my number, but never heard from her. Hence the trip to PetSmart. We left PetSmart, after 2 hours, empty-handed. Cade was upset.

We went to Publix and then home. I was getting ready for the game and company, when I get a phone call from the poodle lady. I was explaining to her why we were interested in a poodle. She told me she had a registered male, 2 years old, house-trained, and great with kids. When I asked her how much she was asking, God really blessed us with "If it is for your son, you can have it." WHAT! I couldn't believe it! (How is that for meeting Daddy's criteria!) Cade and I got in our car and took off down I75 to Ocala to get this sweet little guy:



Cade is the proudest little boy on the block! He spent the entire trip home telling "Blue" (he was already named) about his Daddy and Sister. It was really sweet:)

SaraGrace absolutely LOVES the PUPPY! I'm not so sure the puppy loves her so much. Take a look at his poor little face.

This weekend was filled with many blessings that I am so thankful for. We serve a MIGHTY GOD, and as we were told at the concert, we aren't here just to be here. We are here to make sure the "Whole World Hears" the story of Jesus. I hope my life can be an example by which those I come in contact with can know the story of the love of God.
The dog was just an added blessing, and I want to make sure the sweet poodle lady knows it!

God bless!

Pee-Can or Pu-Con?

There is an age-old argument, here in the South, over the pronunciation of the infamous PECAN. Me personally, I say pee-can. Either way, these precious little nuts have made their way into our yard and into our kitchen. Actually, they have been in our yard for quite some time, but no one bothered to tell me that!

Rob and I were out in the back yard talking to the owners of the land behind us. Her parents used to live in our house. We started discussing the tree below.

It is in the corner of our backyard, and it's full of nuts! They were all over the ground, and a lot were still on the tree. Cade had a blast picking them up. But Rob had a great time picking on me as I did the following: (WARNING: Don't think I am sick. I actually enjoyed doing it!)

I was the raker. I raked all of the leaves off of the pecans so the boys and SaraGrace could gather the pecans. We gathered a 5 gallon bucket full, with tons still left to be picked.
Rob loves a good pecan pie, so I told him and Jon if they cracked 'em, I'd cook 'em. I called my Aunt Wilma (Wimmy) and got a recipe. Of course I only had 1/3 of the ingredients needed, so I drove to the local grocery store(20 minutes away) and gathered them up. By the time I got back, the boys had cracked and shelled just enough pecans for the pie.

Well, here it is. A promise delivered:

Now, I don't eat pecan pie, but I must say, it was pretty tasty! Rob and Jon sure enjoyed it. They enjoyed it so much, we cracked and shelled more to bake a pie for Bible Study that week. Cade has enjoyed picking up pecans everyday after school. If you have any great recipes that require some pecans, please pass them along!

The Vaughn Costumes

Halloween is always a fun time for me as a mom. I have enjoyed coming up with fun, creative ideas for costumes. Cade's costumes have included a frog, Dennis the Menace, Spider Man, Jack Sparrow, Darth Vader and now Jengo Fett. SaraGrace has been a pumpkin and Strawberry Shortcake x 2.

Here they are at our church's Fall Festival. They had a great time.

If you know our family, you know we live for a good laugh. Rob wanted to dress up SOOOOOO bad. But he also wanted to go buy a $50 costume. Our dear friend, C J, was at our house Thursday night, and offered his assistance with coming up with Rob a costume. After many funny ideas, the perfect idea popped into C J's head. You see, when Cade was 3, he got this HUGE stuffed "Shampoo" from Sea World. It was the biggest one they sold. We have held onto that thing all of this time, and it finally came in handy. C J asked Rob if he had a wet suit. Of course he did. He is a scuba diver. Once C J shared his idea, Rob agreed. I will have to say, this was the funniest costume of the night. You don't get the full picture without all of Rob's sound effects and routines, but here he is.....

He is Shamu's trainer! I give him props for being a good sport!

Finally, A Halloween Post or Two.

October just flew by! I can't believe it is November. Only 23 more days until Black Friday and I am already making my lists. I'll save that for another post!

Last weekend, we had our October Sunday School Social ~ A Pumpkin Carving Contest! It was a blast, and we had some really neat pumpkins. This one was fun because it involved the kids. They painted pumpkins while we carved 'em.

Cade & Christian were "TOO COOL" to paint pumpkins. Instead, they just broke the rules and climbed on the playhouse. But it did make for a cute picture!

SaraGrace did a mighty fine job painting her pumpkin. Surprisingly, she got more paint on her pumpkin than on her shirt. She had a blast.

I signed up to bring a dessert, so I thought I would try out these cute little spider cupcakes. The kids, especially Cade, loved them!

Finally, Rob and I were slap out of creativity when it came to our pumpkin. We just didn't have it in us. So, here is our pumpkin, in typical Vaughn fashion!

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of people in our SS class. It took us a long time to start going, but we are so glad we did. Some of our BEST friends came out of this class, and we keep gaining more and more as our church family grows. If you don't currently attend a small group, I encourage you to do so. They can become such an amazing support group, as well as some great Christian friends. For the first time in our married lives, Rob and I have an ABUNDANCE of fine, Christian friends that we can have a great time with, and they help keep us accountable. If you don't have any ideas where to start, let me do my job as the "Welcome Wagon " and invite you to ours. We meet at First Baptist Church Alachua, every Sunday morning at 9:30 am. By the way, I am the official welcome wagon for our class. It is a "real" job:) Also, if you are interested, Rob and I host a weekly Bible Study at our home on Thursday nights. You can come, bring your kids, enjoy some dinner and fellowship, as well as some great discussion. Email me if you are interested.

The Puppy Named "DUMB"

Wednesday night, all four of us were piled in our bed discussing Christmas wish lists. Cade told us that he really wants a puppy. Of course, SaraGrace chimed right in and said she wanted a puppy. Cade then told us we would have to get 2 because he wanted his own. So I asked SG what she would name her puppy.

Her response..."Dumb"

Rob and I couldn't keep a straight face because she was so serious. Then I asked Cade what he would name his puppy.

Before he could say anything, SG blurted out...."God."

So if we decide to get puppies, we may have to live with the names "Dumb and God." Can you imagine those conversations?

Kids say the darndest things. When I had my myspace account, I blogged regularly about Cade and all of the funny things he said. I called it "Wise Words of Cade". Starting next week, I will start sharing some of those here. They are sooooooooo funny! I will have to start one for SG as well. I look forward to sharing those hilarious stories.

Sweets

Remember this post? I have always wanted to learn to make cakes and such. The problem is I am great at mustering up an idea, but the execution is not always up to par. I am learning by trial and error, so it is definitely a process.

This past week, three of my closest friends had birthdays. Amy, Kristen and Mindy had birthdays within 3 days of one another. As luck would have it, they were all coming to Gator Growl with me. I wanted to do something special for them, and I had just the perfect idea.....CAKE POPS! These are the cutest things ever, and you can make them into anything you can dream up. I decided to go with cupcake pops, because they are super cute.

The recipe is simple. Just use this recipe for cake balls, shape them however you would like them, add the stick and candy coating, and any additional details you would like.

Cake Balls: Pick a cake mix, any cake mix. I chose red velvet.
Bake as directed. Cool completely.
Crumble the cake into a bowl. Add one "can" of your icing of choice.
Mix really well. It is much easier to use your hands instead of a spoon.
Roll into quarter size balls and place on a cookie sheet. (You may choose to refrigerate before doing this.)
Once rolled, chill in freezer for 20 minutes.
Melt candy coating and dip until your little heart is content!
Very EASY!

This was my finished product:

I made one can for each of them. Now I am trying to come up with some for the Florida/Georgia game. Oh the ideas I have!

As if these weren't ambitious enough, I made a cake for Kristen for her birthday get-together. I have the best friends. They always let me try out something new on them. This cake was my first attempt at homemade buttercream icing. Everything else I have done has been with fondant.

She is an AVID Seminole fan, so I made her a Seminole Spear cake. The design was hand-carved from my homemade pound cake recipe. I then made and colored the icing. Spreading the icing was an entirely different beast than fondant. IT IS A PAIN!!! And I am way too much of a perfectionist. But....here it is.


She LOVED it so that is what counts. And I gained some much needed experience for my next project.

The biggest problem I have is that I have no tools that are common to baking and decorating cakes. If I ever make a business out of it, I should name it "Primitive Creations" because I do things the hard way....PRIMITIVE! I have asked for some tools for Christmas so we will see if Santa delivers.