In January I decided to let the kids decorate their own cupcakes. You see, I am a bit of a perfectionist and so I never let them help me when I am making cupcakes for parties or classes etc.. So, I decided to be nice and I let all the kids invite a friend over. I made 48 cupcakes (chocolate and yellow), lots of frosting, and laid out a TON of candy, sprinkles, and other decorations. Then I said... Have fun. I think that they did!!
I love to make treats, especially fun ones for my children. So when they needed people to bring cupcakes to the annual carnival I gladly volunteered. They were needed for the "cupcake walk" game. Knowing it was Halloween themed I quickly looked for some ideas online. Not surprisingly I found some I really liked on the bakerella website. Here is my finished product. They were super simple but fun. All of the children helped me make the spiders and the dirt ones, they were so easy!
Sarah is having a smallbirthday gathering tomorrow with four of her friends. I always want to make a cake for the kids that either reflects them in some way, or is a design of their choice. I asked Sarah what she wanted on her cake and she promptly gave me her design. Here is a photo of her drawing... a picture of her and her four friends (the crowned one is her of course!) If you would like to see how the cake turned out please see my cake blog... I think Sarah will be pleasantly surprised when I bring it out tomorrow!
The first and probably the most important thing is to be prepared to feed all of the children Mac and Cheese! (This is to ensure that the adults get the Crawfish, and not because the children won't like it!!!) Seriously... first you start with 70 lbs of fresh Louisiana Crawfish. (pictured here is a 35 lb sack) Then you ensure that they are all alive!!! Next you dump them into a cooler and sort and wash them. After the first rinse you add salt. Here Nelson is dumping the last of the salt on them. When they ingest the salt in causes them to purge (what? the kids ask... oh, you mean throw up!) This helps them to be cleaner inside as you eat them!! Once they are cleaner you dump them into an already boiling pot of water filled with Cajun spices, sausage, potatoes, onions, garlic, and oranges! At the end you also add mushrooms and corn on the cob. 20 minuets later you pull the enormous basket out of the water.... ...and dump it onto a table. (careful not to spill!) Then you put it all on platters and enjoy. Enjoying includes snapping the tails off and pulling the meat out and discarding the rest, unless you want to squeeze the head (gross in my opinion). During this time you pull apart potatoes and add butter, enjoy garlic and sausages, and enjoy each others conversation and company. (Unless you are Deric's brother Clark in which case you eat as many craw fish as you can possibly shuck in an hour and a half!!!
We had such a wonderful time! We are grateful to Brad (and Deric) who drove the Crawfish all the way from Louisiana for us to enjoy. There were 32 people that came to eat, which included many kids!! We were celebrating Brad's upcoming birthday and celebrating the fact that he joined the Army National Guard to be a helicopter pilot.
Just before Sam turned eight she had a baptism "preview" to help her get ready for her baptism. One of the ladies from church who is over the primary made these cupcakes for the event. She makes wonderful cupcakes and these were no exception. The children loved the vivid colors. The frosting was yummy too... this cupcake has already been licked by Nelson. Sorry I don't have the recipe, but I thought I'd share the cuteness anyway!!
My oldest baby, the one who made me a mother, turned 9 today. It can't be. I feel it was just yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time. She was perfect, and I was overjoyed at the wonderful little spirit that I had been given. She has grown, A LOT, since then. She is now a beautiful, sensitive, loving, caring...young lady. I am grateful for her, and the fact that she is a wonderful big sister, and helper. Happy Birthday to my "baby" Jessica!
To celebrate Jess had a sleepover last night with her friend Jocelyn. They played wii, decorated the house, made chocolates and chocolate covered popcorn, made pillowcases, and watched a movie. I turned out the lights at 12am...today she was exhausted, but I think it was a fun sleepover! Today we had the cousins over for cake and ice cream. Here they all are wishing her a happy birthday after she opened her gifts. (Thank you for the great gifts!)
Jess requested a guinea pig cake this year. This is what I came up with, I think it came out pretty good. She definitely liked it! Here she is after seeing it!
The guinea pig was modeled after her own 'pig' butterscotch.
Hey everyone, Deric has started a new blog for me. He wanted me to post my cakes when I make them, as well as put up past cakes I've made. You can follow the link on the side under "Fun Links"... the blog is listed as Cakes4Fun.
MMMM.... yummy cupcakes!
Yummy, what treat is next!!
Seriously... first you start with 70 lbs of fresh Louisiana Crawfish. (pictured here is a 35 lb sack)
Then you ensure that they are all alive!!!
Next you dump them into a cooler and sort and wash them.
...and dump it onto a table. (careful not to spill!)
Then you put it all on platters and enjoy. Enjoying includes snapping the tails off and pulling the meat out and discarding the rest, unless you want to squeeze the head (gross in my opinion). During this time you pull apart potatoes and add butter, enjoy garlic and sausages, and enjoy each others conversation and company. (Unless you are Deric's brother Clark in which case you eat as many craw fish as you can possibly shuck in an hour and a half!!!
We had such a wonderful time! We are grateful to Brad (and Deric) who drove the Crawfish all the way from Louisiana for us to enjoy. There were 32 people that came to eat, which included many kids!! We were celebrating Brad's upcoming birthday and celebrating the fact that he joined the Army National Guard to be a helicopter pilot.
To celebrate Jess had a sleepover last night with her friend Jocelyn. They played wii, decorated the house, made chocolates and chocolate covered popcorn, made pillowcases, and watched a movie. I turned out the lights at 12am...today she was exhausted, but I think it was a fun sleepover!
