Basketball Cake...and Tears

Somehow I closed my eyes and took a sigh and my sweet baby boy...

...turned into this five foot tall, athletic, smart, funny, and handsome young man.

All it took was ten years. A decade. I have been a Mother for a Decade.

Now I understand all those parents and grandparents who told me time and time again, "Cherish these moments." "Love him up while you can." "He'll be grown before you know it." Because at the end of these next ten years, he will be twenty. A thought that makes my throat seize and my eyes fill with tears.

And I thank God for ten years of  gigantic smiles, bright brilliant blue eyes, goofy dancing in the kitchen, cuddles, excellent debates and discussions, reading together, music, praying together, endless laughter and endless adventures.

So how do you celebrate all this? With a cake! Doesn't cake make everything better??? Even the idea that your baby isn't a baby anymore is lightened up by his excitement over Birthday Cake!

Yep. That's Louie. My Ten Year Old.

And this is his awesome Basketball Swoosh Cake! Inspired by Parenting Magazine...they always have the best birthday cake ideas RIGHT before our Birthday Season starts!

Basking in the Glow of 10 Candles!

Now...excuse me while I grab some toilet paper...I've run out of Kleenex!

Angry BIRD-Day Party...Take Two!

Here's my second (and final) installment of our 9 year old's Angry Birds Party.

The Cake!

Pretty sad, isn't it??? I usually do a pretty good job (if I do say so myself), but we had some Cake-tastrophes that contributed to our simple and gooey cake: dry & crumbly cakes, cakes stuck to pans, runny frosting (totally blaming the insane humidity on that one). You name it...it went wrong!

But we held our Angry Cake Chins high and plodded on!

The "structure" is made of chocolate wafer cookies. The small stones are CoCo Puffs. I was going to add some Oreo Dirt, but we also had a Blender-tastrophe! And the little figures are right out of the kid's Angry Birds "Knock on Wood" game!

But the Kidlets loved it! And the Grown-ups seemed to like it!

Humid Frosting aside...it tasted pretty yummy!

This is my life, Good Bloggy Friends! 

John apparently didn't get the "Crazy Shot" memo!

Angry BIRD-Day! Part 1...

I'm pretty sure everyone and their Mom knows the game Angry Birds.

Well. Maybe not. My Mom was like, "What? What's this you're talking about?" But then, my parents still have a rotary dial phone in their kitchen. Ma & Pa Kettle they are!

Anyway. My kids are obsessed with this game. And they're ridiculously good at it! So it wasn't a surprise when my soon-to-be nine year old asked for an Angry Birds theme for his birthday party.

He wanted an Angry Birds cake, Decorations & Party Invites...but all the gifts on his list were either Pok-e-Mon (which will be the death of me) OR Skybenders (I don't even know if this is correct. It's the video game where you can buy little guys and put them on your glow pad (for reals) and that figure becomes your violent cartoon game character). 

Oh. And he wanted the game Mouse Trap.

But I had to squeeze some sort of Angry Bird into the gift pile. And I found the perfect idea over at Angels have the phone box. She has an excellent free crochet pattern page with the Main Angry Bird Himself and a Green Piggy to go with Him!

Seriously. Don't you want to smack that smug smile of the goofy pigs face when he doesn't explode?

Moving right along...the patterns were easy and quick to follow!

Here he doesn't look so angry! Let me mention that the safety eyes I had malfunctioned and attacked me...so I just made thick knots out of black yarn to use as pupils.

Now he's looking angry! Also, since these were going into the hands of a crazy energetic kid, I crocheted the Angry Uni-Brow instead of using black felt. And I stitched that bad boy on...tight!

Here's my finished pair. They look rather friendly with each other!

And here's my Happy Customer!

Cars Birthday Party

A few months ago we celebrated Middle One's 4th Birthday.

He is a Pixar Cars nut, Cars 2 being the first movie he was able to go to the theater to see! So, of course, he wanted a Cars Party!

If you're doing Cars...you HAVE to include McQueen & his best bud Mater.

My first project was making fork & spoon holders after being inspired by Simply Crafty!

Here's what I did...

Mater & McQueen are empty tissue boxes. I cut out the tissue opening to look like their mouths were open. Then I spray painted Mater brown and McQueen red. Everything else is cut from construction paper! I used the tissue boxes as a guide for how wide to cut out their eyes. Mater has one working and one broken headlight. And McQueen has his racing number on his nose (?), and I cut out yellow lightening bolts for each side. These were a huge hit! Now they're on John's dresser and hold all his treasures!

Here's a shot of the cake table. I make the kid's cakes 90% of the time. John's birthday fell in the middle of the busiest and craziest month we've ever had! So I sucked it up and bought one! He already owned the character pillows (Disney Store on our trip to Branson in 2010). I bought the funnels from the auto section in Wal-Mart.

And here's what the tables looked like! I also got this idea from Simply Crafty and I used it on the guest tables and the cake table. It's as easy as putting down a black plastic table cloth and then running yellow duct tape down the center. Instant Road! And each table got a cone in the middle!

I was pretty pleased with how fun everything looked, with fairly little effort!!! John was thrilled...and his smile is the best decoration EVER!

Sum-Mah (pronounced summer) Kick Off!

My boys final day of school was Friday (both grade school & pre-school). They were all excited to get on with Summer Vacation, but I just couldn't put my heart into it until yesterday. Saturday was a normal day for us...since they wouldn't have been at school anyway. I know. Mom's a Party Pooper.

So yesterday I suggested we do some Putt Putt! It's on our Summer Bucket List. It's also one of the items on my 101 in 1001 Challenge. John has spent Saturday night with my folks so Sunday we were just a family of four (in other words...equal
parent / kid ratio). YAY!

One of our local malls has an indoor putt putt course. And it's Black Light!!! Extra fun points for Me. Gotta make up for my former lack of enthusiasm.

We even put Kat in argyle for her first time golfing!

I've got to stop feeding this kid radio-active foods!

I was impressed with Louie's game. We've never taken him before, and most holes he could do in four shots. Kat was awesome at throwing the ball, giggling and twirling around in a psychedelic frenzy. All in all...I'd call it a success!

To top Sunday night off we let the boys "camp" in the living room.

Two cute boys cuddled up in their sleeping bags on the floor. That's what you'd think, isn't it?

Not for us! We took Living Room camping to a new level!

And scooted the love seat across the room next to the couch. It made a huge (and lopsided) bed! The boys loved it and whispered themselves to sleep.

Ahhhhh...summer...

Linking Up HERE!

Little Wonders' Days

An Army of Perrys...

This is my LAST Birthday Cake post. Promise! Until Kat turns two in a couple of weeks...

We found a really cheap affordable way to throw Louie a swim party for his friends. A local indoor pool charged us a buck a head. A DOLLAR A KID! Woo hoo! So I had a lot of hungry 8 year old mouths to feed. Eighteen to be exact.

We did pizza and non-caffeine pop...

...and THESE!

Doo Be Doo Be Doo Bah! Perrrrry!

I gotta say. They were pretty cute. And the boys got a huge kick out of them!

Wanna know what's under all that teal frosting?

TWINKIES! I frosted frosted each Twinkie with vanilla frosting. Then I stuck on mini marshmallows and stuck mini chocolate chips onto those. The beak (or bill if you will) is an orange Mike Ike. And the (beaver) tail is a chocolate wafer cookie, cut into thirds.

Side Note: One of Louie's besties (do boys use that phrase???) has some severe food allergies. He isn't able to consume Twinkies so I used two Krispie Treats stuck together to make his Perry body. He also wasn't able to eat the chocolate wafers so I flattened out a Tootsie Roll to use instead. Just as cute. Just as Yummy!

Linking UP Here:

delicateCONSTRUCTION

Marvelously Messy

Singing Three Little Birds

Embellishing Life

Hey, Where's Perry?

Phew! This week has slipped by!

I'd like to say I was busy whipping up a creative frenzy. But I wasn't.

It's been a lazy week. Not much has gotten done...creative OR otherwise! I keep telling myself that I'm just un-winding from Louie's EIGHTH birthday on Sat. and mentally praparing myself for his school buddy party this coming up Sat. It's been working for me! :)

So. What about my title? Where's Perry???

Do any of you watch Phineas & Ferb? With your kids? When your kids are asleep and you're gobbling stream-lining their Easter candy stash?

We DO! I don't like too much TV time and most of the shows that seem to be geared to my pre-tween child make me cringe. But we LOVE us some Phineas & Ferb! And who could say no to making a Perry the Platypus Birthday Cake? Not ME!

I think it turned out pretty cute! All the cousins thought it was hilarious! All the older Aunties & Uncles were like, "What on Earth is that?"

I made two sheet cakes (Funfetti. It's how we roll.) and layered them. The frosting is tinted with Wilton's Teal coloring. Louie was the judge when it came to tinting. The eyes are marshmallows with chocolate chips. If I were to do this again...I would have cut one marshmallow in half to use (the eyes are a bit buggy). Then the beak, feet & hands & tail are craft foam that I eye-balled and cut out.

"He's got a beaver tail and a bill! And the women swoon whenever they hear him say, "GluggGluggGlugg!"".

Here's the Birthday Boy with his favorite Agent P shirt on and his Agent P hat! Funny story...the fedora was my great grandfather's. I've always loved it and kept it. Louie is named after him and he loves his "Pappy in Heaven's" hat!

We do a big cook out for the family and set up in the garage. Louie and I quickly whipped up this sign half an hour before the party started! If you've got a Perry Theme...you need to throw a little Heinz Doofenshmirtz into the mix!

Linking Up Here:

Spunky Junky

Simply Designing

Inspiring Creations

Homemaker in Heels

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Craft Goodies

Super Complicated Recipe...

Are you up for it?

I was nervous.

But I made it work with my mad cooking skills!

You take some popped popcorn and put it in a baggie.

Then add some Cheeze-Its.

Then add some Fruit Cheerios.

Then add some mini marshmallows.

Then add some milk chocolate chips.

Then add some Kix cereal.

Then do it 27 more times!

This equals what we call Stash Busting Snack Mix and it's what my almost-8-year-old asked to take to school tomorrow to share with his friends for his birthday!

Saturday is the big day in our house! My BABY turns EIGHT!

Waaaaaaaah!

Mustache Love

Kind of sounds like a song, doesn't it?

Meerkat Love?

MUSKRAT Love!

Anyway...back on track, Amy! I'm talking about Mustaches (Mustachi? How do you make that plural?)!

I'm sure you've noticed that they are EVERYWHERE! On mugs & glasses & wall art & cupcake picks...And Tom Selleck and Burt Reynolds are thinking, "I knew it would come back!"

So I wanted to share in some of the Mustache Love that's going around. That's how I came up with:

Muah-Ha-Ha-Haaaaa!

No, my three year old isn't jacked up on growth hormone injected junk food! He's sporting the super cool Mustache Key chain we made as a gift for his Godfather!

I'll be honest. I didn't take a lot any photos of the process...because I didn't think it would turn out so darn cute! But I really like it...so I'm sure I'll be making some more! I just HAD to share NOW!

So here's what I did. I went out looking for some leather, but I found this gigantic roll of bumpy black vinyl at Hancock Fabrick for super cheap! I bought a small piece and I could probably make 100 more of these babies out of it...it goes a long way!

I did some searching for mustache silhouettes online and found a nice, stereo-type 'stache and sized it just right. Then I printed it out and used that as a template. I cut out two. Then I put the "wrong" sides together and did some mustache trimming (heeheehee) to make the pieces match up exactly.

I used black thread and whip stitched the pieces together. I thought this would be tough with the material and the double thickness, but it wasn't too bad! On the tip of one side, I wanted to add a loop for keys. I (or you) could add a piece of ribbon, or material to add the ring, but I just stitched it right on the tip of the mustache. (You can just see the metal of the ring on the left side)

Now. Really. I'd love to stay, but I've just found my keys and MUSTACHE!

Cross your fingers...

I'm entering this in:

God Bless You Banner

Happy Friday, Everyone!!!

Today I'd like to show you this banner I whipped out on my Silhouette.

This past Sunday, Louie celebrated his First Communion! There was a beautiful service for the entire second grade where every child took part. Either with a reading, song, or (Louie's job) to bring forward the bread! There was a very sweet song Thanking Jesus and a very sweet prayer to Bless all the parents. Cue the tears!

Following service we had a little party at home with family and food and CAKE! I wanted a little something to hang behind the cake table.

The "flags" came as a three flag set on Silhouette's website and the letters are from a regular font from my computer. So easy to make and Louie loved it. He thought it looked "manly" and...I quote..."It works for my Communion, but it also works if I sneeze!"

Pine Wood Derby

So we're a Scouting Family.

It started last year, when Louie decided he wanted to go camping and shoot arrows and yell Den yells.

And when our family does something...

We do it BIG!

Which means I'm the Den Leader.

And my husband is the new Cub Master.

We sound like Rick Moranis & Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters.

"Are you the Cub Master? I'm the Den Leader."

ANYWAY!

I don't mean to complain. We've had a lot of fun!

I've got a great Den of 9 boys. Woo Hoo!!!

So the Pinewood Derby was this weekend.

If you don't know about this, here's the set up. The boys get a block of wood, four wheels and four nails. They need to turn this into a racing machine. There are strict rules about axles and lube (seriously...wheel lube) and a bunch of stuff I don't get into. This is a job for Son & Dad. The car has to weigh 5 oz. Then we all get together and race them on this track. It's VERY high tech...figures out the mph,

whatever's and whatnot's. I show up, chat with some parents, munch on some doughnuts and take pictures!

I just noticed how crooked the wheels are! Oops!

Each Scout has an assigned number. They bring their car in. It gets weighed and put on this mat. No Touching your car after official weigh in!

Here's the track. The cars get loaded at the top of the far end. Then they race down the slope towards the finish line. This table to the right is where the track owner has his computer hooked up. There was a big screen off to the left that showed the boy's name, lane and finishing results. Hi-Tech!

Here is one of the rounds of racing. Louie's car is the yellow one. He came in second here. The boys each race four times with different cars. Then the computer compiles all their information and poops out who the fastest is by Pack & Den.

And here are the trophies! These boys take their trophies seriously!

Louie got one of the little ones...Fourth Place in his Den.

Not too shabby!

Cake Explosion

I've always liked to bake. During Louie's first year I never really thought about whether to make or buy his birthday cakes. My cake experience involved the cake staying in the pan and me spreading frosting on top of it. So when my hubby's Aunt Jo volunteered to help me make Louie's first cake (a replica of the cake she made for James' first birthday) I was excited. Since then Louie has had a couple store bought cakes, but the majority have been done by me. This year he wanted a volcano. Dum Dum Dummmmm (scary suspenseful sound inserted here.)!

I started with three round cakes (chocolate was his choice this year). I left one whole and gradually made each other one smaller. I used leftovers for the top and fourth level. I frosted each with chocolate frosting and frosted in between layers.

Now it was time to add the cascading lava. For this I used some extra strawberry frosting I had on hand. I added no-taste red food coloring. I loved this cake in that you couldn't mess it up, because volcanoes are already a mess!
A good exploding mountain needs rocks and boulders. I used CoCo Puffs for rocks and chocolate donuts for boulders.
Finally I needed something to explode out the top. I Googled homemade lollipop recipes and found one that wasn't too hard. Sugar, light corn syrup and water. I added red food coloring to half and yellow to the other. Then, instead of filling a candy mold, I drizzled it on top of greased wax paper. I only burned myself once (and in the process I learned that a meat thermometer is NOT the same as a candy thermometer)! It hardened overnight and was ready to insert into the top of the volcano (or Mt. Wanna-Hawka-Loogie as I fondly think of it) the next morning.

Party Games

As I mentioned in my last post we decided to let Louie celebrate his 7th Birthday with only a few friends. We were supposed to have his party at the park with a few organized activities, pizza for dinner and the rest of the time spent running and climbing on the park equipment. Wind, rain & ridiculously cold May temps had us re-plan and have the party at our house instead! So I had to come up with a few quick ideas to keep six 7-year-old boys entertained!

As the boys came we let them just run around and play. Louie gave them the grand tour of his room and introduced everyone to Hammy the Hamster. When everyone was here we sat down and had pizza for dinner. I had two party games planned and let the boys vote on which one to do first.

The "Human Knot" won. I remember playing this in grade school. The boys sat in a circle and then reached into the center. Everyone grabbed someone else's hand. Then we "cut" the string in one place and the boys had to un-tangle themselves to form a line. Here they are in the midst of un-tangling.


The other game was "Pin the Saber on the Jedi". I got the idea for this game here. This is a poster from Louie's room. I made these (highly unrealistic) light sabers out of construction paper. We blindfolded the boys and had them sticky tack their saber to the poster. Not bad!



Then we had them sit down and to the Marshmallow Shooter craft that I detailed in my previous post. The boys LOVED creating their own versions. They sat still and quietly working for almost half an hour! Then they raced downstairs to attack our wall with marshmallows!

Next it was cake time! If you couldn't already tell, Louie is a Star Wars fan. His "cake" was a light saber made up of cupcakes. I got the idea here .

We did presents and then wrapped up with a Darth Vader Pinata. We found the kind with strings and the anticipation the boys had each time someone pulled the string was hilarious. This way the pinata wasn't ruined and Louie has a Vader hanging above his bed.

So even though we were excited about having a Park Party, the boys had a fun time. Their excitement level and energy was great to see! Louie told us it was his "best birthday EVER!" And, "I knew, Mom. I knew that being seven would be awesome."