two cute

Our sweet and sassy Annie turned 2 last Sunday. She went to bed the night before with a fever. It was clear she wasn't feeling great that morning. She had the traditional number pancake with sprinkles for breakfast and only ate a few sprinkles.

 

 

Once Dave returned home from meetings, we had her open presents.With a pout on her cute face, she began. Fortunately she decided presents were fun after all.

Because she had a fever, cough and runny nose, we kept her home from church. After watching an episode of Dora, she fell asleep and took a long nap. After church, both sides of our families came over to celebrate with us. To prevent too much spread of germs, Anne mostly stayed in our bedroom watching Dora. She came out to blow out the candles on her cake. Once again, she had the most adorable sad face through this birthday activity.

Annie's history with birthdays has not been good so far. Last year, she spent her birthday stuck in a car on the way home from California. This year she spent it feeling sick and sad. Hopefully next year she will truly have a happy one.

Now for the party details! I wanted to do a "cute as can bee" party. As always, my plans were much greater than my execution. I spent most of the week before her birthday feeling awful due to a pregnancy-related ailment. This left me with just Saturday to get everything ready. I made a garland and bee decorations, made Jello and chicken salad, baked and frosted two kinds of cupcakes, baked a four-layer cake, tried to cover the cake with fondant and failed and then figured out how to salvage it with a too small amount of buttercream. It was a long day. I was completely aware of the fact that I am the one who cares the most about such party details. After finally going to bed when a feverish Anne needed me to lie down with her, I wondered if the time spent was really worth it.

Judging by the satisfaction I felt and the way the treats all got devoured, I guess I will conclude it was indeed worth it. What can I say? Parties make me happy!

let them eat cake

Emma has a definite interest in cake decorating. She recently decided she should try out her skills instead of just watching shows like Cake Boss. I showed her a picture of a chocolate cake and she made her version completely on her own.

Then, today we decided to try out royal icing on sugar cookies. She invited a friend over to join in the decorating too. While nowhere near the quality of the cookie blogs I often visit, they turned out pretty cute. These are the ones I did. I really need to work on my outlining skills.

Wouldn't it be a fun way to earn money as a teenager if she got good enough to make cakes for people? We could go into business together--Danny Cakes, LLC. Maybe? Perhaps we're not quite ready for that yet but this is the kind of practicing that is fun!

three no more

Sawyer is four!

It was our turn to host co-op on his birthday. We managed to squeeze in presents before it started. He got a new bike! Because co-op was all about ancient Egypt, I made a pyramid cake.

Unfortunately it rained most of the day so he did not get much time on his bike. He spent the day playing with friends and watching movies.

Four things I love about Sawyer:

1. He has the best dance moves.

2. He can go from wearing a frilly princess dress to being totally aggressive on the soccer field in the blink of an eye.

3. He is just so dang handsome. The hair. The eyes. The smile. Heart-breaker in the making.

4. He is such a bundle of personality. Ranging from happy and sweet to mad and violent. Full of passion, adorable wit and surprising intelligence.

I adore him.

last days of summer

On Monday, we enjoyed a barbecue in the park for Dave's work. It was a thank you for all the hard work his team has done. The weather was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves. Slade and I had a sword fight with Nerf swords. The boys flew a kite. Emma played kickball. Anne and Sawyer rolled down the hill.

On Wednesday, Dave and I went to see Keri perform in The Pirates of Penzance, which was thoroughly enjoyable. A good show and a great date. Can't beat that.


On Thursday, we were invited to Seven Peaks for a client appreciation event.


Also that night, I made this yummy six layer Fudge Cake for my homeschooling book club. It was a hit. I also made Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes. Personally, I liked those even better.

weekend wrap-up

Emma and Slade participated in their first official swim meet on Saturday. It was my turn to go watch (and take pictures).


This weekend was the Family Festival in our little city. In our fourth summer here, we decided to actually purchase tickets to participate in the festivities. We went swimming last Saturday, ate dinner at the park on Friday, watched a parade and went to the carnival on Saturday. The best part of the festival is the fireworks though. Although we could sit on our front lawn and watch them, we drive over to the golf course and get a front row seat. I don't love everything about living in Utah but I seriously do love my neighborhood!


Sadly, Anne was sick all weekend. She had a fever and just wanted to be held. Of course, she always wants to be held but it is far less annoying when she is sick. I stayed home with her while Dave took the kids over to the park.

The one good thing about her being sick is that she slept a lot. During nap time, I made fondant for the first time to cover a cake. I made lots of mistakes and learned a lot. Now I am really excited to try it again. Cake anyone?


Dave and I also celebrated our 12th anniversary on Saturday. Our celebrating consisted of sitting together on the couch. I held Anne and Dave played with his new smart phone. It was very special. :) I am such a lucky girl to be married to this guy. Seriously. He is amazing.


I made that orange electric guitar cake to celebrate my very best little brother's 25th birthday. He is all grown up and can even rent his own car now! He was gracious about his guitar not having any strings (I never could figure out how to add them) and we all enjoyed a nice evening together with them and Keri's family. Happy Birthday, Francis!

oh cupcake

Slade requested "lots and lots of cupcakes" for the party after his baptism. I love cupcakes and was happy to oblige. I made them all with my hand mixer since my Bosch was in the repair shop. I made even more for book club on Wednesday. I have eaten WAY too many cupcakes this week to say the least.

I thought I would share some of the recipes I used as they are some of my favorites.

This is probably my favorite of all cupcake recipes right now. When I gave some to one of my friends, she said it was like eating sunshine.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes
from Kraft

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) lemon instant pudding

1 cup water

4 egg whites

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

HEAToven to 350ºF.

BEAT first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

BAKE 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended. Spread onto cupcakes.

I intended to jazz up the white cake mix recipe with these instructions from Saucy's Sprinkles:

Mix one cake mix package in mixer with three eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter and one cup water or milk. Blend on low speed for a minute and scrape down sides of the bowl. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until smooth and lighter in color.

My mom was too on top of things though and made just regular cupcakes. They were still super yummy because I frosted them with this frosting recipe from Our Best Bites. I used almond extract and it was so good. I usually double this recipe so I can make big swirls on top.

Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling

3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (whole milk is best)
1/2 C real butter (not a cheap store brand)
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract, or other flavor

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring, until it looks like pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it). Remove from heat and let cool completely.

It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla.
Beat on high for 7-9 minutes.

The chocolate cupcakes I made from scratch didn't really work out. I would have been better off to have used a mix. However, I really did like this chocolate buttercream recipe. I ran out of vanilla and used orange extract instead.

Chocolate Buttercream
from All Recipes

1 cup butter softened
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
dash of salt

Cream butter. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Happy Baking!

let them eat cake

I've made some good cakes.


And some not so good ones too.


I've just used plans I found on the internet. Fun cakes. Theme cakes. Made for great kids cakes. For a long time, I've wanted to learn how to do traditional cake decorating too. This month I finally seized the opportunity. I took a cake decorating class at Michael's with my sister-in-law Angie. Angie has lots more natural ability than me. Our instructor oohed and aahed over her work while encouraging me to keep trying! The key thing I did learn though is that with proper tools and practice, I can do it too.

Not to mention that my cakes look pretty good too as long as they're not sitting next to Angie's!