Tinkerbell Cupcakes :)

Yay for fun birthday parties! And YAY for friends who trust me to make their cupcakes, and YAAAYY for friends who use cupcakes as an excuse to donate toward our adoption!

I had free reign as long as chocolate was involved.

I made Chocolate-Chocolate Chip and they were darn good (I have to sample, of course).

This was my first time using fondant and I was a wee bit nervous. The flowers were fine, just cut and paste basically.

I made little Tinkerbell shoes, which I thought were kind of cute...

Until I put them on cupcakes with greener-than-I-intended buttercream icing. Then they just looked like deformed grasshoppers. (The white spots are actually silver shimmery "pixie dust" sprinkled on top).

Not exactly what I was going for, but live and learn I guess. I did learn a lot and I'm excited to try what's next!
Hope you had a great party, Anna!

SHIRTS ARE READY!!!

Shirts are ready for purchase to help bring Anna Gray HOME!!

Nathan had a basic design and then our sweet friend, Mandy, took it and made it FABULOUS!




(If you can't see the picture well, it has a compass with "West" and "Annie'" on either side. The writing at the bottom is Ephesians 1:5).




We are selling the shirts for $15 each or 2/$25.

Adult sizes come in Small- 2XL.

Children's sizes (in a slightly different gray) come in XS (2-4) to XL (18-20).



Comment here or email me to place your order. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.




Thank you all SOOOO much for supporting our adoption and spreading awareness!

My little MAN!

Cale decided he needed to wear a tie on Sunday. Since he didn't have one of his own, his next choice would obviously be daddy's Air Force tie. He looked SO cute! When he came out, even Brynn said, "You look so handsome, Cale!".

He ate it up, of course :)

Cupcakepalooza.

This past weekend, I made 105 cupcakes!


Definitely my biggest challenge so far... but it was SO fun. I had both a church bake sale and a bridal shower to bake for, so I just went all out.

Carrot Cake Cupcake: Nana's cake recipe and cream cheese icing recipe

The texture was a little off (user error, I assure you), so I'll have to work on that for next time...

They did get a thumb's up from my dad, so they couldn't have been too bad!

Strawberry Cupcake: Mama Sylvia and Meme's cake recipe (same) and Mama Sylvia's strawberry buttercream icing recipe.

It's kind of hard to mess this one up.

I struggled with the texture of the icing... my first batch was great! But as I went on, it got too runny. I thought maybe it had gotten warm, but even after some time in the fridge, it wouldn't firm back up.

Tiramisu Cupcake: The bridal shower was for my cousin, Catie. I was in charge of the cake, and I remembered a LONG time ago her telling me that she loved tiramisu. This is what insipired the whole baking weekend really, once I decided I was going to attempt it in the form of a cupcake!


White cake brushed with a coffee/powdered sugar mix.

Filled with a marscapone cheese/Kahlua mixture...

Topped with another cream cheese icing (different recipe) and chocolate shavings.

The later in the night it got, the less light- and photography skills- I had. It was hard to balance a camera with hands covered in batter!

Turtle Cupcake: Catie's other favorite, and I wanted to provide some variety.

I didn't love this chocolate cake recipe... I thought it had a tad too much vanilla for my taste. And I didn't buy enough of the *Turtle brand candies to fill the cupcakes, however, I did the rest of them with caramel filled centers and I think I actually liked that better!). The candies were SO chewy and just too much, I think.

Chocolate buttercream icing, drizzled with caramel.

These were definitely one of the favorites of the weekend. Although, I honestly got rave reviews on all of them! Exciting :) Imagine how much everyone would have enjoyed them if I'd been able to keep the fresher (had to bake on Friday for Sunday's shower). I did think they looked nice on the table...

Me and the bride

I was pleased with my first effort for all of them, and get this... a friend asked me if I would bake cupcakes for her daughter's birthday party this weekend! I'm pretty excited :)

Sunday's excitement...

LP had an eventful weekend!
After Saturday, she had a big day planned for Sunday too :)

OUR LITTLE GIRL GOT BAPTIZED!!!


According to her, her heart feels bigger :)

Here's a sampling of shots I could grab between proud tears.


I love the look on her face here...

Look how happy!

Her baptism gift from Nonie and Pap

You can see the rest of the pics and photos of all her spiritual cheerleaders here.

Saturday's excitement...

FairyTale Dreams "Back to School" pageant...

Brynn was going to be in it too, and even "practiced" for me a few times (her practice consists of giving me a number to call her, then shaking her tailfeathers until 'the judges' thank her for her participation). She decided the morning of the pageant that pageants are just too slow. As L says, "she likes to do everything fast." It's true.

So L and I headed out on our lonesome one more time, which is probably my favorite part- getting some one-on-one time to really talk about what's going on in her life and hear her thoughts and opinions on various subjects. Good.

We forgot our hairspray, her glasses, and... well, I forgot what the third thing was. So we just sat in the floor eating grapes and watching everyone else scurry to be ready.

Beauty first: slow and steady, proper and and graceful and all that jazz.

Then OOC- "Back to school wear": We had a little peppy routine in our heads, but she asked if she could do "whatever she wants on stage, like Brynn". Sure, knock yourself out. She had so much fun! Skipping around and giggling without a care in the world :)

Guess it worked...

She won HIGH POINT SUPREME!
Highest title possible, making her the overall winner for the entire pageant... crazy! I think we were both in shock!

Furry suds.

Oakley needed a bath and the littles needed something to do... seems like a no-brainer to me!

Turns out... Oakley didn't love the idea. He likes being rubbed, for sure. But the squishy, bubbly stuff all over him and a 4-yr-old coming at him with a hose pipe? Not his idea of a good time, apparently.

He continuously tried to run under the car to hide, leaving me and my weak muscles in charge of keeping all 81 lbs of him still.

The kids weren't thrilled with all the fur that was sticking to them either.

We all got thru it nonetheless, and he was a little cleaner... I think?

Any given Sunday.

Just some peeks of my little ladies playing outside this weekend...

Mom-fail Monday.

Today is not my best friend :)

We were running late for school for the first time this year. About the time LP was getting out of the car, I realized I had forgotten to pack her library book. I promised to go home and bring it back. About the time Nathan called me to tell me he couldn't find C, I realized I had forgotten to tell him we pick up in a different location. Just after that, I realized I had not, in fact, taken LP's library book back to the school and it was too late. Not long after that, the school called to say she had basically ripped the entire leg out of her tights and her shorts were too short to go without them, so we would need to bring more clothes.

Fantastic.

To be fair, I'm quite distracted today (thank you, Captain Obvious). Nathan took the day off, which is great because we had/have SO much to do... but him being here has kind of thrown off our whole routine. We have gotten a lot done for the adoption today, even if it did require a few shots of tequila and a defibrillator. Juuuust kidding. Needed, but not used.

It is what it is and what it is, is.
Next up... Terrific Tuesday!!

Maybe.

Cupcake madness- get excited.

I've had a love for both the eating and the baking of cupcakes for quite some time.


(Sugar-free, Dairy-free for my little man. I had some decorating help.)

Recently, it's taken on a life of it's own. You know how I like to keep my hobbies on their toes.

("Ice Cream" cone cupcakes)

I am becoming cupcake-crazed. It's like feeding my creative monster and (relatively cheap) therapy all at once.

(Peanut Butter cup cupcakes- peanut butter batter and milk chocolate icing filled with a mini Reese's cups)

I have no problem stealing ideas (I don't think you can plagerize cupcakes?), but am also working on my own tweeks and concoctions.

(Finished peanut butter cup cupcakes)

I'm doing another practice recipe this week before taking on an order (my own, for two occasions) of five dozen next week! I am soooo excited!!

(Mini oreo cupcakes)

I obviously want them to be delicious, but I also want them to be visually delightful!

("Corn on the cob" for 4th of July)

Any requests?! ;)