Today I had a large cake due. It was actually ordered at the same time as the last mini ruffle smash cake was ordered. It ended up being a monster of a cake even though you can’t really tell from the picture. It was almost 10 inches in diameter and 8 inches tall. I swear it weighed as much as Jacob. Well not that much but I think you get the idea! It was too big to fit in any of my cake boxes so luckily she brought someone to help carry it home.
I love when I get to try new trends and techniques! This ended up being extremely easy but so adorable! Especially when you get to see it with all the other decorations for her daughter’s party!
I had posted pictures of the Ollie cupcakes that I had done for a friend last week and I got an order for something similar from Emma’s 1st grade teacher. We have kept in contact with her over the past year. Emma just adored her! She studied ballet when she was younger and I think that really captivated Emma.
Her order was for a couple dozen GIRL elephants with lime-green bows! I was excited to do it and have it in my portfolio. Elephants seem to be all the rage these days. I’m sure they’ll be out dated at some point but for right now I’m glad that I’m able to accommodate for the trends.
Emma earned a whole dollar by helping me make the bows and I taught her how to “glue” the pieces together. I think she was really excited because they were for her favorite teacher but also I think we were both excited about the new “business opportunity” that presented itself. I really want my kids to learn how to EARN money. I don’t think I’m a fan of allowances just because they should already be doing their part around the house as part of the family but I have every intention of paying them for going above and beyond. These are skills that they’ll take with them as they move out of the house or start a family of their own. Benjamin mows the lawn, washes the cars while Emma weeds and waters plants and flowers around the garden. I decided that she can help out with little aspects of my cake making and earn money from that. Sometimes I have to deliver products and she is an excellent helper with that. This is the perfect opportunity for her to learn how to EARN money and not just have it handed to her because it’s the end of the week.
Today was Emma’s dance pictures. She got her costume about a week ago and we’ve been anxiously waiting for the time to wear it. When she got all dressed with her hair and makeup done she was a vision! I LOVE how her costume is modest. You never know these days but I’m so glad her costume is age appropriate. Jared didn’t quite get the pink and blue but I think it looks wonderful with her blue eyes and blonde hair. She’s dancing to the song “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical Oklahoma. It all makes sense then that she had lace gloves and it has that sort of southern charm to it. After her group pictures at the studio we stopped by the park on the way home. I wasn’t allowed into the room where they were photographing so I hadn’t seen her poses until I asked her to jump up on a pillar and pose. She took my breath away! I guess I hadn’t seen how graceful she had become with her poses and movements but she was pure perfection from the top of her bun to the point of her toes!!! Ballet suites her so much and now I’m more excited than ever to see her performance!
My friend is throwing her little brother a graduation party tonight and she had ordered 4 dozen cupcakes from me. He’s graduating from the same High School that Trissa did a few years ago.
The school colors are red, black, and silver. She had wanted something similar to my apple cupcakes but I would have to dye the frosting pink before putting on the red sprinkles and we thought that might be a little feminine. So I went with the red liners, silver sprinkles, and black graduation caps on top. I added some red frosting words (2013, D.O.H.S.) on the caps and some red tassels to complete the look. Really simple but really fun!
My friend’s little boy just turned one and I was asked to create cupcakes and a small tiered cake for the occasion. She went all out! Her cute theme of baby elephants made me immediately think of the little baby shower cake I had made a couple weeks back. I decided to do something similar but also try something new.
Even though the elephant on the top of the cake was fashioned after “Ollie” I thought doing something different on the cake itself would be a great way for me to try a mosaic technique. I LOVED the way it turned out. It was great that it added different colors of blue and green because the candies she had ordered were different colors than she had been expecting. It all worked out beautifully!
She ordered 4 dozen cupcakes, two dozen of which I kept simple and added little inserts that matched her design. The other two dozen became adorable little elephant faces made out of fondant. Emma helped me a great deal with this particular project. It occurred to me, after she helped me create, assemble, and deliver the cupcakes that she could earn a little extra money while also developing a skill. She might not want to do this same hobby when she’s older but at least the option would be there for her if she did.
Benjamin has not been allowed to go to boxing for the last couple of weeks until his grades come back up. Instead of completely taking him out we decided to put Joseph in instead. Last year when we had him take classes he wasn’t mature enough and I still feel a little like that but LA Boxing has changed and is more focused on UFC fighting which throws in a little more of the wrestling aspect. Joseph is really suited for that!
I went in a little early to see how he was doing and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he has been responding to everything. He has been to a total of 3 classes and he was able to follow the instructions of his teacher and be successful!
My sweet friend from high school, that ordered all those amazing Bubble Guppie birthday treats from me, gave my name to her step-sister. I guess this sister had ordered a specific cake from a well known bakery here in town for her baby shower and hated it. It didn’t come out anything like what she had wanted and had paid close to $200 for it. I hate hearing things like that 😦 .
So now her baby is turning the big O-N-E and she’s trying to get this cake again for her birthday and photo shoots. Sara gave her my name and number and we talked about what she wanted. I was really surprised by what she wanted because it was a fairly simple technique but I practiced on an inverted cup to make sure that I could give her exactly what she wanted.
When she came to pick it up she was thrilled and I was so happy I could give her what she wanted! She sent me these beautiful pictures of her little Marlee eating my cake! I love to see how much they love the things I make.
This year was a bit different from the past years with Benjamin and Emma graduation Kindergarten. This year our school had 8 Kindergarten classes, the largest it has ever been since opening. So this year, to keep things short, they only had two classes per ceremony. Joseph’s class was first up!
They started the whole thing off with the “Star Spangled Banner”. I could watch Joseph sing all day! It amazes me how much he learns through music. He knew every single word to that song!
I loved hearing the other songs that the others had sung in years past! It’s such a fulfilling thing to experience something like Kindergarten graduation! Although this year felt a little rushed. Usually the end of the year comes eventually but but this year it seemed to just pop up out of nowhere and throw on the breaks. I do have to say that I think I’m ready for the end of the school year. We have some fun things planned for the summer and we’re going to try our hand at no schedule what-so-ever.
But anyway, back to graduation! I had heard Joseph practicing his songs while in the car and everytime I’d hear a little and ask him what he was doing he’d stop, smile, and say he couldn’t tell me and that it was a surprise! They sang “The Kindergarten Class” song that’s sung to the tune of The Adams Family. He really had fun learning how to snap 🙂
Then they moved onto singing their “First Grade” song. That’s sung to the tune of “Start Spreading the News”.
Something new that they did this year that they haven’t done in years past is turning the tassels. Sorry about the video, I’m still learning how to work the video capabilities on my camera.
After the ceremony, Nana and I made our way to his classroom for refreshments and saying our good-byes to friends. Jared was sick about not being able to make it the graduation but we’re both slowly coming to the conclusion that we won’t make it to every event of all of our children. At least I was able to make it and Nana was able to come for a little bit before she went to work. It meant a great deal to me that she came and supported him!
In his classroom he showed us his desk, gave me his awards of accomplishment and then showed me the much anticipated “Student Treasures Book”. He showed me the pages that he made and I have to say I was very impressed. Not so much about the hand writing because I’ve seen it at home but more that he had paid attention to what’s been going on around us. Trissa is at basic training and has been since February. She’ll come home for a week or two in July and then move to wherever she’ll be stationed. We talk about her and where she is all the time but all the kids seem to talk about her and write to her as if she’s still down the street. Every now and then they say something in a prayer or draw something like this to remind me that they are never too young to try and talk to and explain the truth of some situations. Joseph saying good-bye to his wonderful teacher, Ms. Valez! Even though we only had her half of the year she worked wonders in encouraging him to learn and
My little man is maturing so fast! I love this boy so much and am so glad for all the progress we have made in his learning, both intellectually and emotionally! Can hardly wait for first grade and all the new adventures it will bring!!!
So I have been busily preparing for a large cake order spanning a few weeks time. The first part to the order was this cute baby smash cake for the little boy’s photo shoot. I needed to start early on this elephant (Ollie 2.0) because she’s going to take it off this cake and we’re going to reuse it for the birthday party cake. That’s great for me because surprisingly these little succors aren’t that easy to make. They are pretty basic, but in their basic structure you can see all the imperfections.
An old friend that had moved away a couple of years ago contacted me through Facebook and asked if I would make her little daughter some first birthday cupcakes and smash cake. The theme was cats! How “purr-fect”!
I fell in love with making these little guys! I made 1.5 dozen chocolate cupcakes with fondant noses and ears and then I used some chocolate chips for the eyes. They looked a little dull until I added a little white frosting to put some depth in the eyes! I added a fondant birthday hat for the smash cake and stood back and admired them!
By the time she came to pick them up I was holding, not only my kids, but myself back from devouring them! They smelled so good, I’m just so glad we have 6 extras that we can eat later 🙂 !
This year was a bit different from the past years with Benjamin and Emma graduation Kindergarten. This year our school had 8 Kindergarten classes, the largest it has ever been since opening. So this year, to keep things short, they only had two classes per ceremony. Joseph’s class was first up!
ALL because TWO people fell in LOVE 