Party fit for a Princess

Today was SB's third birthday party.  In her own words, it was her "best birthday party ever." 
I opted to hold the party a few weeks before her actual birthday hoping that the weather would be a little cooler.  It was.
One of my former students came as Cinderella to entertain the girls and they really loved having her there.  If you live near me and want a Cinderella for your party, she is for hire.  Send me a comment or email and I'll put you in touch.

Meet n Greet:  Question of authenticity- "Where's your prince?" SB asks.

I was tired before it was over.  Thanks for the help, Mom and Crystal.

A sweet and caring princess.  SB had 4 cake pops on her plate and still managed to take a bite of Cinderella's.

Tea Time for 12 toddlers!!

Two pretty princesses, one semi-smile.  By now, you know how she rolls.

Mary Ellen looks more excited about Cinderella than Lilly Mae.

Thank you, Brooke for doing a super job.

Baby Remy, Crystal's boy.

Mary Ellen, Katee's girl.

She's got smiling down to a science.

The gentlest touch...

doesn't always...

receive a warm welcome.

I leave you with this.



Happy Birthday SARAH BETH!

Busy Bee

This was my first photo of SB since late November when I took her Christmas pictures.  She's growing up and if not for my mom, I wouldn't have much of a record of the past few months because I have taken no pictures.  Mom takes pictures of her every Friday when she stays with her for the day.  Because I'm fairly confident that she takes pictures every week, I haven't worried about it.  Mom's photos are great for the most part.  SB doesn't make it easy.          

Work has kept me entirely too busy lately.  Our student art show is fast approaching and my students are never ready early.  I blame myself.  I have a hard time saying "no" to any student who wants to try to do something better days before things are due.  I end up staying after school every day until the very last minute urging them to work faster.  They tend to take the pressure as well as I do.

The word "yes" seems to fall out of my mouth freely for any reason whatsoever.  I have trouble turning anything down.  It's not so much that I feel pressured into doing some task, it's just that I like a challenge.  

Some of those "yesses" include:

-making a beauty pageant costume look like a head of cotton; I couldn't resist. 

-making a 4 tier wedding cake.  (I will never make another wedding cake again if I have any say in the matter.)

-have another exhibit of my artwork with no current pieces to speak of.

-exhibit my students work when it isn't required.

...and now I will abruptly end this typing spree because I'm really

t i  r   e   d  .  .  .

 

Monkey Cake

Here's a cake I made in June - a good learning experience. I've been asked to post it even though it's an older one. This happens to be the second cake I've ever decorated. The design is copied from the birthday party invitation. The mom/party planner wanted the cake to go with the theme of the party so I figured I'd do well to make the cake look like the card. Happy birthday again, Allie.

Summer Fun

Fun with cousin Lilly Mae at Papa Steve's and Granny's

Fun with Nana Cathy once a week this summer to give Mommy some ME time

Fun with Mommy always

Fun with friends at a girls weekend getaway

Fun taking naps and waking up with crazy bed hair

Fun with Daddy at Jambalaya Park

Fun with Micah, Judah and Gabe as they get their new birthday present (a puppy)

Fun with Jess as she gives her kids their birthday gift

Fun taking pics of SB

Fun at the Sprayground

Fun licking the water that falls on her face

Fun taking wedding pictures

Fun staying up until midnight 3 nights in a row to make this luau themed birthday cake

Fun making the smash cake for the 1 year old, Gabe.

What a whirlwind...so let's rest until next summer.

Belated Birthday II

Here are a few pics from SB's birthday party. With all the hullabaloo, I didn't think about taking pictures, so most of these have been borrowed from those who did. As big of a deal as I made of this whole thing, I did not make any effort to document the event. I guess you can't do it all.

This picture I did take at my house on her real birthday. She was really sick and needed some cheering up, so my mom brought over her birthday gift even though her party was cancelled. -It's a kitchen that talks to you. She still cooks for us everyday... (The food tastes a bit plastic.)


Her BirdDay cake - 5 layers of sagging fun. Lessons learned: 1. Round cakes make it harder to smooth fondant. 2. Fondant - only pleasing to the toddler palate. 3. When cakes look crowded it just might be that someone is trying to cover a mistake ... or lots of mistakes. 4. Chocolate icing is yummy! 5. I love to paint fondant - (Sadly, the only things I painted were the birds.) *Not too shabby for my third cake ever although I liked the second cake best so far.

SB in the inflatable jumper. I think she would have been happy in that thing all day long.

SB and her daddy who thinks she hung the moon.

The image above and the next two are the only evidences that there really was a party. No one seemed to take any pictures of anyone other than Sarah Beth. Family came in from out of town and I didn't get any pictures of them...bummer. I did manage to get a few chopped off heads.

These girls look pumped about watching her open presents! Observe the enthusiasm.

She uses the word duck frequently and quacks when necessary. Thanks for the duck, Mrs. Polly.

My photo. Yeah, it's mine. Sadly it's blurry and blown out. Still, I like it and I'm keepin it!

Let them eat cake!

Mom's birthday cake.

Disclaimer: I am not a cook or a cake decorator.

I made this cake for my mom for her birthday. (It was good practice for SB's birthday which is coming up in May.) This was my first attempt at decorating with fondant...decorating period. Turns out I'm not so good at it. I have no prior experience and have only read one book about using fondant. (It was mostly pictures.) I figured it would be like working in clay. Not so!

Hidden (or obvious) flaws in the above cake:

• The round disks on the bottom are covering the worst attempt at blending the fondant into itself. There were a lot of excess folds left over and I could not get the seams to merge...so I covered them with dots.
• The clumpy round balls on the ledge of the second layer are there to fill in the large gap that would not close. I tried covering the entire cake instead of one layer at a time. Unfortunately this kept the fondant from clinging to the sides and making corners. I decided to fix it by scoring the corners and pressing them in the creases. The fondant began to pull away and left a large gap around the whole bottom of the second tier. Thus the round clumpy balls. Tasty! (A thought...Tasty and Nasty are one letter apart.)
• The corners are not all at right angles.

What did I learn from this?

• Practice more with forming the fondant around each layer before attempting anything for public viewing (and eating.)
• Cover each layer one at a time.
• Draw a sketch before sitting there for hours trying to figure out what to practice.
• Wear a back brace. One cake puts ten years of wear and tear on the back.
• Start before 8:00 pm.
• Pay someone to do SB's cake if the next practice one turns out as bad.
• Appreciate those who decorate cakes well.