Teapot Cakes and Teacup cupcakes

So, this was my first attempt with fondant. I thought it was going to be kind of hard, but it wasn't at all, it's super easy. I googled fondant recipes and went with the one that said it was the best tasting people had ever had, and it was really yummy. I didn't have clear vanilla extract so I used almond extract. We had grandparents over for a mini family party and I practiced my cake. I had a monster of a time with the cake part. I intended to use two cakes and put them together. After making 3 cakes, 2 of which got stuck in the Pampered Chef bowl I noticed my teapot on the stove and it was this exact shape, so that was good enough for me, I guess it's more of a tea kettle. I was not happy with the handle and decided I would improve on that next time around. One of the kids asked if the handle was a donut, not exactly the look I was going for!
I added some milk to chocolate frosting to make it thin so it would look like hot chocolate. The marshmallows added to the effect. In some of the cups the frosting ran down the sides a little and I liked it.

After all, this was for Peyton's 3rd birthday so I thought I'd include a picture of her. We got her a doctor's outfit that came with medical tools and she was a very happy girl.

On her actual birthday we had some friends of hers over for a little tea party and I made a few improvements to my cake. This is the snack table. I tried to make it cost effective, kid friendly and tea party like food.

I made the spout, handle and lid a bit more decorative. I would like to learn how to pipe frosting, I'm not very good at it.

For the frosting this time I added baking cocoa to vanilla frosting and made it a little thicker.

Well, I have been trying to add a picture of Peyton with all her little friends that came and blogger won't let me add any pictures for some reason. It was fun and Peyton had a good time.

Clarification on the Crime Scene

Porter did not get stuck. Peyton tried to get him out while I was in the shower but she was only tall enough to open the tank, not tall enough to reach in far enough to get him out. She gave up and left the lid off, Porter took advantage and escaped. He roamed the house for months, always changing locations, his last location was under the treasure chest, not because he was stuck, but because he starved to death. Snakes can't get stuck anywhere they can get into, you would be amazed at the tiny places they can get to, the trunk was easy in and easy out. Poor Porter starved, apparently we don't have any rodents in our house to keep him fed.

Crime Scene Photos from my bedroom

So, you may remember reading about our snake Porter Rockwell and his 2 escapes. He was found after his first escape and hadn't been seen since his second escape when Miss P mistakingly let him go. We all assumed that he had made his way out of the house and would never be seen again. We spent weeks searching for him, all along he was inside the house. I dusted and vaccuumed my bedroom today and decided to move a little trunk we have to vaccuum under it. It had been a month or maybe two since I moved it to vaccuum under it. Lo and behold, under the trunk lay a somewhat moldy, very dead and dried up Porter. Please do not tell my children, they love Porter and are just as well left thinking he is living free outside catching rodents and lizards. So, for those of you who feared a visit here, no longer fear, the only snake we now have resides safely behind glass.
Time to bust out the carpet cleaner...

This is the bottom of the trunk he was under.

SO SAD.

We...Post#8

We went rollerblading as a family! Yes, this is my last post from last year, finally. This litle jaunt was also why I didn't have my camera for so long. See that stroller below? I put my camera in it after taking these pictures, thankfully, it came to Tyler and the camera was found.
Each of the boys got rollerblades for Christmas, since Ty and I already had some we were set. Peyton in the stroller and away we went.
Here Ben is getting his bearings and trying to manuever around the maze that is our garage.

If you can't tell this is Jacob, it was pretty cold out.

Not the best picture but I had to get everyone in.

Ben caught on really quickly.

We all had so much fun and will be doing this a lot more!

We...Post#7

Did you think I forgot about this series? Well, this is my second to last We post! I know, it's pitiful that I'm still in December but I didn't want to skip over anything. There is so much to look forward to in January too, like Peyton's birthday cakes from this year AND last year!

We visited with family! I didn't get very many pictures because our visit was cut way too short, which I won't go into. I will say though that we were SO sad that we didn't get to spend more time with LeGrand andd Becca and kiddos, some of the best people on the planet. I am also sad that we didn't get more time with Bryan and Helga. I need some one on one girl craft time with Helga someday, she is amazing in more things than just photography, she is a girl of many talents!
The girl cousins, Peyton, Adelyn, Makyla and Sophie.
Ben likes the little ones too, like big brother Micah. Makyla is such a sweetie too, you want to just squeeze her!

We met Essien's new dog Riot. He came named by Santa. My kids, especially Micah, couldn't understand why Santa gave him the name Riot, when it means something bad. He informed us that it means to disagree and argue. He is a super cute puppy and P just didn't want to let him out of her sight, or her arms.

Kolby, who is just about 3 weeks older than Peyton was such a good playmate, they got to enjoy a game of checkers together.

Brayden got to spend the night and we are so glad that he did! The boys couldn't have been happier, or me for that matter, he was a perfect guest. The only thing that would have been better is if the rest of his family could have stayed over the next night! You guys owe us a game night when we come to your house!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is back!

So sorry, download links are no longer available due to copyright infringement questions.

The Amazing Helga

My sister-in-law Helga came for Christmas again (with her husband and daughter too) and took our family pictures. She is super fun and beautiful and a fantastic photographer to boot. She gets better and better every year too! This is only a small sampling of the pictures she took for us. HERE is a link to her photography blog. Go check it out.

I'm trying to pick which pictures we want to print and frame. Which one do you like of these, black and white or color?

This is what the boys do, really.

Do you like this family picture or the one on my blog header?