Ride Em Cowboy- My Boy is 3!

Just couldn't let this day go by without some extremely cute pictures - biased I know - but you gotta admit - pretty cute, huh? If you can't be proud of your kids, then what can you be proud of??!We celebrated my boy's 3rd birthday on Saturday with friends, cake, ice cream, heat, and presents. He wanted a "horsey" cake so I hauled my hiney to every craft store in the metroplex looking for this cake pan - luckily found one hidden in the Elmo section. I do think it turned out pretty darn cute, but lets just say that frosting can hide a multitude of errors!We also celebrated in Indiana with some pretty blue cuppie cakes. Three spankin's and a pinch to grow an inch.......


This is "Jack" the bouncy horse- he was my brother's first, then passed on to my sister and I. He stays out in Papa's barn and the kiddies love riding him. My boy had a ball playing on him this visit.
Notice the big boy underpants?? Yes, he's potty trained! Yippee Yahoooooo Cowboy!!!!!!
We love you baby!!!!

The "Happy Fly Cake" and my girl is "6"!

My sweet boy has labeled this the "Happy Fly Cake", and I made it! I AM proud of myself. I showed you all the craft club cake and cuppy cakes I made using Anna's recipe several weeks ago - but this was my first attempt at a go it alone, full fledged birthday cake - for all the world to see. It was totally time consuming (2 full days), but worth it.

I would like to thank the Academy - ....no, really I'd like to thank Anna for your cake knowledge, Susan for maintaining the cell phone line during production, and Shannon for moral support!

She had a crafting party at Joann's yesterday with several of her closest girl friends. They made the cutest fabric covered memo boards to hang in their rooms.

Happy 6th Birthday Sweet Pea! Hope you loved your day - I love you!!!!!!

We took our girl to Dallas on Saturday to pick out her American Girl doll. We had promised her a dolly on her 6th birthday. After some consideration, she picked out Kit. Such a cute store - the dolls really are nice. I love the fact that there are books about each doll as well. We all had a good time, kids had fun (#1 girl about laughed her pants off at her brother who stood in the middle of the store and TOOK his pants and shoes off for the the whole world to see what, we don't know!) Finished the trip off with dinner at Cheesecake Factory - YUM.

Oh Yeah....Momma Likey! (Frosting, that is.)

Ooh, that buttercream frosting tastes soo good! What sort of world would this be without the decadence of butter. Forget that nasty margarine, shortening, oleo goo. Just enjoy the real stuff, that's what I say anyway. (Until I step on the scale).
My girl decorated these............
After Craft Club the other night, and feeling more confident in my decorating skills, I made these cuppy cakes for Supper Club. I've told you all about Craft Club - well, supper club is similar. Four of us in my neighborhood get together once a month and bring an entree that we have assembled and frozen ahead of time - enough for 4 families. It's not as bad as you might think - first of all, we all have similar sized families (ex. no growing teenage boys, just 2 parents and 2 little people). We also put the dinners in 8x8 Pyrex dishes, ready for the oven after defrosting. That makes plenty for a family of 4, and often times we eat the leftovers another night.
Each of us has a different category - either chicken, beef, vegetarian, or chef's choice plus dessert - that was me this month. We also supply the recipe. That way you can take a red marker and put a large X through it if you hated it (just kidding, anything I didn't have to think about preparing at 5:30pm in the evening with 2 munchkins hangin on my leg tastes out of this world!) - You may just not want to prepare that meal again for your in-laws (or........ you might, depending on your level of "likey, likey"). You also get to try a variety of foods and might find something that your whole family loves - in that case take your red marker and put a big Heart around it.

For us, Supper Club is more than that though - it's just a good excuse to get together with other mommy friends and spend some time together without the kids. We also make each other's lives a bit easier by providing 4 meals/month, in your freezer, ready to go.

I made Chicken with Artichokes and Olives in the slow cooker for my entree this month. It's on the menu for dinner tonight, we'll see what everyone thinks.

Are you part of a club such as this? If so, tell me about it!

Cake Decorating with Craft Club Friends

Anna hosted our monthly Craft Club for August. We learned cake decorating this time! I've always wanted to take a class or learn more about cake decorating, but just never took the time. The colors in these pictures didn't turn out very well - they were much prettier in person.
It's been so much fun spending time with friends and learning something new in the process. I love the fact that by learning something totally new to me, I'm inspired to create new things in my own realm of sewing.

So, maybe if you're in a rut creatively. Just try something new. It jump starts certain sparks in your brain and turns your creativity back on. It also makes you want to head straight to Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Joanns and blow a wad of money on new supplies!

Anna, thanks for a great evening. I still can't believe how late I'm getting home on these evenings (12:30 AM folks!) - that's pretty late when you've got little ones raring to go at 6am the next morning. But, it's been well worth it.

I hope I can further inspire all of you in sharing my creative outlets. I'm hosting the next Craft Club night - we'll be making aprons, of course! I'll be sure to share the pictures.