It’s been a LONG time coming. I’ve been needing to update my theme for quite some time but I finally buckled down this week and did it. It’s quite a departure to go sans color and maybe I’m getting old but this one doesn’t hurt my eyes as much. Let me know if you have any issues!
Lexi’s Cupcake Flower Birthday Cake
This weekend I realized that omigosh, Lexi’s birthday is in 3 days and we haven’t picked out a cake yet. Normally, they can not WAIT to finally pick out a cake from the grocery store. They have always loved going by the cake case and deciding on which they will pick for their birthday. Well, sadly I think they are getting a bit old for that so a cake was not on the forefront of my mind. So a-googling I went! I was inspired by this cupcake cake and thankfully Lexi approved!
And this is what we came up with:
It’s not as professional as the inspiration and Lexi REALLY wanted blue flowers instead of the pretty pink but overall, I’m super proud of it and Lexi LOVES it.
And I’m happy to say we took some pictures along the way so you could see how it’s done!
First, Lexi wanted yellow cake. Sorry to all my chocolate-loving family including myself that will be eating yellow cake tonight.
Next, Daddy got involved a cut some board to 20×30” and wrapped it in tinfoil.
After the cupcakes cooled, I arranged them how I wanted them. I put the puffier ones in the middle with the smaller ones would fit better.
Then I made some of my mom’s icing. I separated them into 4 bowls, the largest going to the blue that is not pictured. We used this really cool NEON food coloring I got from Harris Teeter.
Then, I got to decorating. This is approximately 9pm at night so sorry for the bad lighting and hair.
Then, dear goodness, I actually broke out my cake decorating set. I have to say, I had fond memories of my mom doing this very same thing the night before my birthdays. Mom, thanks for all the hard work you always put into our birthday cakes! I put 3 purple dots at the edge of each flower near the middle. And then outlined each flower so it made it look more like one cake.
And I just have to include this bad picture because it catches me going, “Oh my, is this going well? I’m really not sure!”
I used the rest of the purple to write “Happy Birthday Lexi” on the side. Given my bad handwriting skills, I felt like it went well.
And then, I used my spatula to “paint” a stem with the green.
And that’s it!
Oh, until we get to the end and go, oh my, how are we going to keep this covered until tomorrow? And then Scott’s resourcefulness and OCD took over.
I think it’s safely covered until the party tonight.
Here is my mom’s icing recipe I used:
1 cup of Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
Dump all of this in a bowl and blend with a mixer. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.
Good luck on not eating it before it makes it to the cake!
Happy Birthday, Lexi!
“I can’t believe I have a 6 year old!” I keep repeating that to myself to make sure I understand that my BABY is 6 years old. I mean, LOOK, she doesn’t even look like a preschooler anymore! Just that picture taken this morning before school says so much about her.
She loves everything bright and glittery. She loves dresses. She loves her picture taken. She loves long socks that are fixed just so in her tennis shoes. Which by the way, she wears so the mulch doesn’t get in her flip flops and irritate her. Her school teacher, whom she was getting ready to go see in this picture tells me she loves everything neat and tidy. She’s a sweet girl that is respectful and well-behaved.
When she’s at home, where she is in this picture, sometimes she’s dramatic and admittedly fake-cries when she doesn’t get her way. And when that happens or she gets hurt, she always, always wants a hug. Well, she ALWAYS wants a hug anyway. And lately, gives two kisses, one on each cheek and sometimes a 3rd on her Daddy’s head.
She loves playing on the computer and coloring and Barbies. She loves jumping on the trampoline and playing school. And anything her big sister will do with her.
She’s a complete joy to our family and I feel so blessed to be her Mommy!
Catch-up
I think I inadvertently went into a bloggy break. So what have we been up to?
- Halloween! We spent the weekend getting the girls in and out of their costumes. Saturday morning we tried to make it to a local festival but it was just too insane and turned around and went home. Saturday night we thought we could hit a few neighborhoods but the only one we could find was at WalMart of all places. The kids actually liked that quite a bit. On Sunday we spent FIVE hours in between our old church, my parents’ church and my parents’ neighborhood. We have two very packed pumpkins to show for it though.
- I’ve spent lots of time running errands to different stores using up all my Swagbucks, eRewards and OpinionOutpost money to start Christmas shopping. Having Christmas presents before December 15th is a huge deal around here.
- I’ve been planning the girls’ birthday parties. Tomorrow is Lexi’s birthday and Emma’s is in a few weeks. They decided on a combined party at Build a Bear this Saturday. Tonight’s task is making cookies and a cake.
- I started my reading list for the INSPYs this year. First up was Evolving in Monkey Town. I wish I could do a full review at this point but I’ll just say it’s messing with my head a bit. The next one on my list is Hear No Evil, which has been on my list for awhile as it’s by one of my favorite Tweeple.
- Budgeting, budgeting, budgeting. We finished our first month of Dave Ramsey’s envelope system and in the past few days have geared up for another month. With Christmas and Birthdays coming up, there’s a lot of shuffling going on. Overall, though, the system has been absolutely fantastic.
- I finally took the girls to see Toy Story 3 this Friday. It started at the $1.50 theater which means my Entertainment envelope could finally afford it. It was well spent as the 3 of us laughed hard and then, yes, I cried at the end.
- Work. I hate to add this boring one in here. But it’s been high-stress, longer work hours lately. Or maybe I’m just making it that way. I don’t know.
- Friday Night Lights. The show is back for it’s 5th and final season which means it’s podcasting time again for FNLFans! Anyone else loving the new guy Hastings?
- Speaking of TV in general, I’ve really pared down my list. The only shows I watch live are One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries and Grey’s Anatomy. 3 shows. That’s it. When I get to it, I watch Parenthood, Modern Family and most recently Hellcats on DVR. During the day, I’m also still working on catching up with Everwood, Chuck and The Office. So yes, TV is still around but I’m not sitting in front of my TV for hours on end every single week night. And I love it.
- And finally, we’ve just been spending time with family and friends. Whether it be having friends or family for or going to dinner or grabbing coffee with a friend or doing homework with the girls, my time seems to be spent off the computer. Can you believe it?
THE Christmas Card
If you walk into Scott’s grandmother’s back door, it will land you in her kitchen. On your right will be two fridges and the second will have an entire row of our photo Christmas cards from the past, oh, six years. Anyone on our “Christmas card list” can trust that the Bennett’s will be sending out holiday cards. Even if it gets there on December 27th. Which I’m pretty sure has happened more than once.
On a side note, I don’t think I ever mentioned last year when my friend Dani and I were talking and she said, “Oh, by the way, did you send out your Christmas card?” I said yes, expecting some comment on the photo or layout and she said, “Yeah, I thought that was you because I got an envelope addressed to us with no return address and the envelope was empty. I figured it was you.” Yeah, that’s me.
So this year I’ve actually scheduled a photo session with PJ, who I went to Catalyst with. I might actually have a picture before December 24th to use on the card. And then it’s time to pick the almighty photo card layout.
I usually go for the modern slash boderline-cutsey card. I usually do one family picture in front of the Christmas tree. Because, you know, when I take it, it’s up already and too cold outside to do anything else. And most of the time it’s the longer, skinny envelope size—whatever that is called. However, I’m pretty psyched about some of the layouts that Shutterfly has this year.
I love this idea of the photo taking most of the real estate with only a hint of Christmas, especially knowing some family members display it year-round.
Our wedding invitations were square so I absolutely love these new 5×5 sizes. Isn’t the floral pattern SO CUTE?
But I LOVE that this one combines the 5×5 with the full real-estate photo:
I think one like that could be our winner this year! I can’t wait until our photos are in and I can put it all together…hopefully sometime before New Year’s this year!
I posted this as part of Shutterfly’s blogger program and will receive 50 free holiday cards. You can find out more information here.
Radical Chapter 6
The title of Chapter 6 is How Much is Enough?: American Wealth and a World of Poverty. Platt spends the chapter discussing the blind spot of materialism we have and how God wants us to open our blind eyes to the poverty of the world. To put a name to a number and if required, sell all our possessions to give to them. I have to be honest. How Much is Enough is not a question that is prominent on my mind this week. God is working through the “how much” with us. He’s using a simple envelope system to show me just how much falls like sand through our fingers and has opened my eyes to just how much that could do to help those in need.
No, the question I’m asking is Who Is Enough?
It’s easy to sell your possessions for the poor whose greatest choice in life is which item to pick out of a garbage can to eat. It’s easy to hand money over to a clinic that’s going to help a pregnant girl who would otherwise abort. It even makes me happy to sell a belt so people have clean water who otherwise might get cholera. But let me tell you, when you’re asked to give money to someone who isn’t working their fair share or who you know will squander it, it’s not easy. The cheerful giver is nowhere to be found in that moment. So I ask God, are they enough? Do they deserve my very hard-earned and saved money? Do I give it when it hurts to take out of that envelope? And I realize only in that moment is it a sacrifice. The world may say it was unwise and 99% of me says it’s unwise. But if I don’t give, children don’t have necessities and babies don’t have food.
I may be being vague and that’s on purpose but I’m just struggling through giving a little right now. At times I feel unwise and foolish and even a little angry. And I keep asking myself Who is Enough?
But who of us is enough? Am I better just because I’m the one holding the money? The money is not mine and if I truly believe that I have to extend it to where it’s needed no matter the cause.
I identify with the rich man from Platt’s church who was radically selling and donating many of his possessions who said,
“I wonder at some points if I’m being irresponsible or unwise. But then I realize there is never going to come a day when I stand before God and he looks at me and says, ‘I wish you would have kept more for yourself.’ I’m confident that God will take care of me.”
And so I give out of obedience and love for Him. And confident that if there’s justice to be executed, He will do it.
Pine Cone Wreath
Look what I made this weekend!
Can you believe it? Someone has abducted Amy and has replaced her with some Martha Stewart rip-off.
See? Even Scott could barely believe his eyes when I was using a hot glue gun and took a picture!
The best part about this wreath is that it was FREE. Several weeks ago the girls gathered a huge bag of pine cones at my parents’ house and they’ve been sitting in garage since. We keep talking about doing some crafts with them but for some reason Lexi balks every time I mention putting peanut butter and bird seed on them and that’s really all I’ve got in the pine cone-craft department.
So I’ve been wanting to change my wreath on the front porch for a while but with this whole budget thing it’s been hard to fork over cash for a wreath. So after several googling sessions, I just decided to go for it. My current wreath was one I bought from Wal-Mart probably 2 years ago. It was a purple clustering of flowers. Well, I just ripped the flowers off the styrofoam base. I have to say, it was quite cathartic. Then, I laid out pine cones around the wreath. The smallest ones I fit around the middle and mid-sized ones for the middle and outer rows. The largest pine cones didn’t work for this project. I do hope to make some peanut butter bird feeders with Emma soon.
I started the wreath by hot gluing the smaller ones pointed towards the center. The middle row I leaned the pine cones all clockwise, gluing on the bottom and sides. The final outer row took a lot of hot glue but I pointed them all counter-clockwise, gluing again on the bottom and sides. When I was done, I turned the wreath upside down and glued around the edges for extra hold. I couldn’t believe how strong the hot glue held the cones though!
After the pine cones were done, we noticed the purple Styrofoam was still sticking out…note to self: spray paint foam before starting next time! We went in the backyard and picked up some of those pesky acorns (sorry, squirrels!) and randomly hot glued those in the spots with the largest gaps.
My only cost was the bow I got at Michael’s for $1.19! I thought I had bought some fall ribbon from the Dollar Store yesterday to match the gold bow but I could not find it in our bags. Oh well. If I get a chance to go back, I’ll pick some up. Otherwise, it will be adorable with the red/gold leopard print Christmas ribbon I picked up at Michael’s for just a few dollars!
Super-mom Sunday
There are not many days I can say this but today I leave the day feeling like Super-Mom.
Church,
CVS trip,
made brunch,
nearly completed school project ,
birthday party invitations created, printed and addressed,
Halloween cards and gifts made, packaged and addressed,
attended TWO birthday parties and
made roast beef for dinner,
nearly all by myself with the girls.
Oh, and washed a load of towels.
Yes, feeling like super-mom.
And unabashedly savoring it while I can.
Now can I please get a weekend from my weekend?