Sweet Caroline's 30th!

This cake is for my sweet, crazy, wonderful friend Caroline who is celebrating her 30th birthday today! Along with Caroline's birthday comes lots of fun as the girls are celebrating tonight with a 30 and flirty bar hop in Atlanta. Mode of transportation..."The Fur Bus". EEK!

I must admit, I'm one mama who is very excited to get out of the house for a night out with adults!!! And I've never been on The Fur Bus so I'm not sure what to expect, but it does sound interesting! ;) We shall see...

Happy Birthday Carol!!!!!

Its been a while since I've baked a cake!

But that doesn't mean I've been staying out of the kitchen!! In fact, I would say since Christmas I've been spending about 90% of my time cooking with my girls. We've been serving up things like turkey, pancakes, any veggie you can think of, cupcakes, cookies and even a steak!!!

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(all plastic of course)

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Bailey and Olivia got a new kitchen for Christmas and haven't wanted to stop cooking since.

Here is their new kitchen...I remodeled an old ugly desk I found at Goodwill by painting it pink, removing/adding some doors, sticking a sink in the middle and adding some oven eyes.

Before pic. The ugly old desk that is no more...

And here are my busy little bakers.

Don't forget about Santa!!!!

We almost did!! Bailey was so focused on getting to bed early tonight so that she didn't disappoint Santa that we nearly forgot all about his cookies!!

OMG, seriously...that would have been BAD!

About 5 minutes after I walked out of her room I thought, "OH NO!! We forgot cookies for Santa!!". So I ran up and got her out of bed to set up our highly thought out plan to figure out Santa's favorite cookie/milk combo!!! You see, he told us earlier this week when the girls went to sit on his lap that his favorite cookie was chocolate chip so we knew what his favorite cookie was...but he never told us what his favorite milk flavor!!?! So we set up a sampling station...this just basically covers all our bases and gives Santa no room to complain!!! (can you tell I'm a mom who is used to accommodating different food tastes??)

My money is on the ol' trusty regular white milk, (easier for future Christmas Eves) ;) but Bailey is convinced its either strawberry or chocolate.

I guess we'll know in a few hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

And carrots for the reindeer!!!!! (they're a little old, but they'll do)

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in the Internet world! I hope you all have a wonderful/happy/blessed Christmas!!!

Snowman Handprint Ornaments

If you are anything like me you might be feeling a little wistful about the craziness of the season and how you'd like to slow down and spend some quality time with the kids. That mama-guilt thing is treacherous!! Well, I've got a cure-all..... a sweet family project sure to be a great way to make a memory. Just look at these Snowman painted handprint ornaments from Eighteen 25 .

Just a few small canvases, some paint, paintbrushes, ribbon and sharpie markers and you've got a fun craft and adorable keepsake to hang on your tree. Remember to sign and date them on the back, too.

And just in case you are having trouble finding small canvases, you can always try this version from Twigs and Curls using a small wood plaque.

Have fun and make sure to share your crafts with me on FACEBOOK -- I'd love to see all of your creations!

Trim the Tree/Gingerbread Decorating

I am having so much fun this holiday season! My Bailey girl is 4 1/2 now and totally into all the Christmas season festivities. Today we had Bailey's ballet class friends over for a Trim the Tree/Gingerbread decorating party! (I obviously couldn't decide on which activity to do so we did both!) lol We had so much fun!! The girls sipped on hot chocolate out of fancy china while they worked on their crafts. Such big girls!!! Here are a few pics from today's festivities.

First up, the hot chocolate bar...complete w/ marshmallws, sprinkles, reeses peanut butter bits, candy cane stirrers, and snowman cake pops!

These little bowls are made from chocolate!! I got the idea from this site. Check it out!! Lots of clever party ideas!

Bailey checking out the dessert table...

Time for hot chocolate!!!

First activity, decorating Christmas trees! Each girl was given her own personal tree to trim, a basket full of mini ornaments and a popcicle stick star to decorate. The girls had a "tea party" with their hot chocolate while they trimmed their tree.

Next up, decorating gingerbread houses! I made these out of graham crackers. Easy, cheap and the possibilities for these little decorators were endless!!! Even my little Liv got in on the action!! Mama was so proud....

Bailey's house. :)

All the houses...these are seriously the cutest things I have ever seen! LOVE how well they all did!!!!






My team of decorators....

Snowman Fun - Part 2

And now for the second installment of SNOWMEN FUN!! There are some super cute ideas in this post from all around the web -- I hope they inspire you all to take a break from the cold weather and have a little indoor snowman fun this winter.


Family Fun has an fun idea for your snowman party -- Snowman chair covers. They have a tutorial with a little sewing involved, but I think it would be a little easier to use a white pillow case and then glue some felt pieces and buttons or pom poms on.

Now who wouldn't love to dig into these sweet snowgirl and snowman milkshakes from Whisk? I still can't get over their adorable-ness! The perfect drink for you snowman table.

And I certainly can't leave out Bakerella and all of her creative culinary perfection! Snowmen cake pops with Oreo hats would fun on a dessert table or even wrapped up as a sweet little party favor.

Snowman shots from Babble look super easy. Make them before the party and set them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Then all you have to do is pop them out to serve.

Here's a simple little craft that might make a fun party activity, a snowman ornament from Craft Passion.

Craftbits has a cute snowman ornament craft that could be a fun party activity and favor as well.

I just loved this picture, and then unfortunately didn't copy down the link. I have searched and searched but it's lost somewhere on that world wide web. If anyone can help find the source, please let me know, but isn't it the cutest??

And another yummy snowman treat -- this one from Food Create using ice cream, chocolate chips, a marshmallow, a chery and Twizzlers.

Snowmen Treat Bags from Crafts by Amanda would be a fun party activity, too. Have all of the pieces cut out and ready for the kids to glue onto an ordinary white paper bag. Then they can use it as a favor bag as well.

Adorable Snowmen Cupcakes from Meet the Dubiens make me want to go to my kitchen right now and start baking! How adorable!

You might have seen these snowmen cupcakes from All You with their sweet little ear muffs.

And Betty Crocker has a great snowman cupcake, too. I love how simple all of these ideas are using items you probably already have in your pantry.

And if you are in a hurry, these couldn't be more simple from iElixa.com .

Wouldn't your kids just love these cuties?? Snowman cupcake pops from My Little Cupcake with their precious hats and scarves would thrill my little ones!

These look pretty simple to make from Cupcakes Take the Cake.

And another cute marshmallow snowman treat from Keen Cakes this version uses a decorated sugar cookie as a base.

And I'll end with one of my favorites -- Mr. Melty cookies from Chic Cookie Kits just bring a smile. How ingenious!

I hope you all have a great day today -- get those presents bought and wrapped soon! It won't be long before Christmas!