Kathryn creates

I have been making and decorating cakes for a little while, and have been having fun lately with lots of new techniques.  Apparently, this has made an impression on my Kathryn. 

We were playing outside yesterday and she tells me "I'm going to make a cake."  I watched as she gathered her supplies.  A grapefruit, sticks, and flowers.  (She says it's a cake.. I think it's more like a florist's creation. )

Then she did this. 

Matthew thought he would 'help' and water Kathryn and her creation

She kept breaking the sticks and putting them in one at a time.

Isn't it pretty!

Add a truck-full of water to keep it fresh

And done!

"Tangled" tower Birthday cake

This last week, my friend and I embarked on a cake making adventure.  It was her daughter's fifth birthday, and so to celebrate, we made a cake.

This was not to be just any old cake.  This was to be a masterpiece. :)

After doing some online research and some dreaming, we settled on making the tower from Disney's Rapunzel movie... along with cute figures to create a scene.

Here we go:

Players:  My friend Bety, her husband Mike, and me.
Mission:  Create a Tower from rice krispie treats, place on 1/2 sheet cake of chocolate cake, decorate with lots of detail and figurines from Disney store.
Mishaps:  Many! :)
Time:   5 days.

The basics: have a structure made (by Mike) to support the cake and the tower 

Packed rice krispie tower, the colored stuff is modeling chocolate. We did lots of packing, and shaving and shaping. Finally happy with the shape here :)

A straight line helps make the tower straight (thanks Mike!) Brick detail added

After the brick inlay was set, we wrapped with fondant and then cut away a 'crack' :

Bety cutting away the fondant. 

We covered the top with packed fondant too, and then started 'tiling' the roof with multicolored pieces of fondant

The front of the tower (it started to droop a bit.. boo. Rice krispies are heavy!)

The cake itself was chocolate with a whipped chocolate filling.  We placed it onto the cake board, used cake scraps to create a mountain and frosted the whole thing.  Then we covered it with fondant.  The board was exactly the size of the cake, and instead of cutting it back and smaller, Mike made another board and screwed it into the original cake board. Because it wasn't heavy enough already.  haha :)

Here you see the basic cake. We replaced the river shape with a piece of blue fondant. And you see the details we added to the tower of the grey brick planters and wood detail (modeling chocolate) 

 Here is where the real fun began. We added all of the details! Royal icing made, vines up the tower, grass and leaf detail, 3D flowers placed, and chocolate rocks. I think it was about 4 am on Saturday morning.. day of the party.  We finally finished and the sun was out and gorgeous.. 6 am :)

Back of the cake

Left side

Front of cake. Modeling chocolate whimsical bridge and the blue piping gel swirled over the piece of blue fondant

Check out Pascal on the roof! And 3d fondant flowers in the windows.

Trees also made of modeling chocolate, leaves of piped royal icing

Felt sorry for those having to transport this! yikes! But they did fantastic and it made it without any issues :)

 Bety created the flower for Mother Gothel!  And Maximus is about to step on the Wanted poster of Flynn Ryder.

 All in all. One awesome experience.  After a couple days of rest I'm ready to do another specialty cake. .. maybe! I loved working with Bety, it's the best to be able to talk about ideas together and make details that I wouldn't have thought up. Plus a little late night induced giggling!

Happy Birthday to their sweet girl! :)

Matthew turned 2!

We love birthdays, and always celebrate at least a little bit :)  It is amazing to think of the journey Matthew has been on since his birth 2 years ago. 
He has come a long way since he was born and stuck in his little box in the NICU! Now, he is happy, healthy, full of life, and such a bundle of boy energy and joy!  To God be the glory and praise :)  

Things he is doing: 

He talks.  A lot.  He is a parrot and repeats everything we say.  He sings.  On his birthday we sang birthday songs to him, and he kept singing them to himself all morning.  He jumps and runs.  He climbs on everything.  The other morning he woke up early, snuck into the kitchen, moved a stool to the counter so he could reach food himself. He ate a tomato (something he shouldn't eat.. grr!)   Then I came in and told him not to do that.  He spent the next 5 minutes shaking his finger and repeating "No, kitchen. No, climb. Ask Mom, etc".  It was hard to keep a straight face.  I finally told him, "I'm glad you understand, Matthew.  Go tell Dad." ha ha.  

Matthew loves playing with his brothers and his sister.  He loves animals.  He knows how to open all of the doors and constantly is trying to escape out the front door.  (I have to bolt it.)  He says "NO" all of the time.  But he still loves hugs and will come up and kiss us all of the time.  Being 2 is busy and a lot of fun!

For his birthday celebrations, we first went to Red Robin last Saturday.  He got his own meal and balloons and ice cream.  He thought it was great that everyone was singing to him.

He keeps making this face when we take pictures.  He smiles and squints and turns away. :)

  On Monday night, we had a small celebration at our house.   I have been wanting to experiment with some different cake decorating techniques, (watching a little too much of "Cake Boss" lately!)  So I made him a "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" birthday cake.  So fun! 

Cake details:  The "house" part is cake, the foot/door, hand, slide, and Mickey head are made out of Rice Krispie treats.  I wanted to give a bit of texture, so I made the grass by coloring coconut green. I made modeling chocolate by melting a 14 oz package of candy melts, mixing it with 1/3 cup of light corn syrup and the color of choice.  So easy!  I let it sit for a while and then I was able to roll it out, or just press pieces together to cover the cake or krispies. I really liked the 'give' of the modeling chocolate.  The only thing I got annoyed with was the slide.  I couldn't get the color right, so I ended up putting blue frosting over it.  ha ha :)  Part of the fun and learning process I guess. Add a few little characters, and it's the Mickey Mouse clubhouse!

Matthew had so much fun playing balloons with Grandpa, (my dad). 

I also made a tiny cake shape out of Krispies, and frosted it, putting in the 2 candles.  It surprised me that my older kids thought that was the best part of the cake. It makes sense, right? Mickey Mouse made Matthew a cake? :)

 Happy Birthday, precious Matthew.  You truly live up to your name and are God's Gift to us!

My Wesley

....will always come for me!

 I love the Princess Bride movie.  And I love that I am married to MY Wesley :)

I wanted to dedicate a post to my husband.  He had his birthday on March 3rd, and I have been so blessed to be married to my best friend.  He is everything I could want in a husband.  Man of God, hard worker, provider for our family.  He works so I can be home with our kids, especially as Matthew has needed me, and I am so grateful for that!

Wes is generous and kind.  Thoughtful of others. 

He is a great father to our kids.  He wrestles and tickles and plays with them.  I love to see how the kids love him.  But he is also a father.  He gets their respect and they listen to him right away.  I admire that.  He has such a good balance with them!

I love his humor.  He has a way of being so playful and is able to make any situation better.  He gets me in trouble too! I remember being in church in Yuba City. Our pastor was preaching a message and said something in jest about "Raise your hands if you feel abused by your spouse... just kidding, don't raise your hands". Well, Wes raised his hand, and I hit him.  Then I realized what he just made me do and I started laughing so hysterically until the pastor had to stop his sermon and have us explain what just happened.  All I could say was "He raised his hand, so I hit him".  Oh, Wes!

He is a perfect match to me.  Through every time that we have had, he is a rock.  He is steady to my emotional ups and downs.  He is encouraging and loving.

So excited to spend our lives together and be a family together.  It is my joy and such a blessing. You  remember at our wedding?  They asked if "I took Wesley to be my husband, etc." And I responded with a very heartfelt  "I DO!" with cheerful inflection.  Well.. I STILL Do :)  

Happy Birthday (although belated), My Wesley.  How I adore you!

I love this because it's such a "Wes face" ha ha!

Kathryn's birthday, Continued

We always take the kids to Red Robin on their birthdays.  They really enjoy going out, and they get a free meal.  Here are a couple of "phone pictures" from that night.  (A bit blurry... sorry. But she looks so happy!)

We also had a party on Tuesday the 15th.  We just had the family who lives next door come on over for dinner and cake.  We were planning on celebrating on the weekend and she was going to go to her ballet class that night with cupcakes.  But, she had a cold so couldn't go to ballet. boo! :(  I was determined to make the day special anyway, so we threw together a party really fast. 

The Rapunzel cake I made.  Probably the fastest cake I ever decorated. lol  (Imperfect, but she liked it)

Look at my hands! They are reddish from kneeding the purple into the fondant! Yep. That had JUST happened. 

My kids and their cousins :) 

Happy Birthday, my princess!

Flashback to February :)

I have seriously neglected my poor blog!  Without further ado, I am back with a vengeance. :)

Happy Birthday to our precious Princess Kathryn!  On February 15th, she turned 4 years old.  It amazes me how time has gone by. 


Kathryn had 3 separate birthday celebrations. Lucky girl! First, we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma in Menifee, so we put together a party, and family and friends came over.  Oh, she had such a great time!  I forgot my camera at home, but Wes saved the day with a few shots on his phone.

All gathered around the cake :)

Kathryn's castle cake. It was the cutest thing because the kids all helped put the candy all over.. and the m&m pathway

Matthew in on the action!

Lucky girl about to open her presents

Blowing out the candles. I think every kid wanted to help her do it!