A Super Birthday Party Plan

Thank you to everyone who sent words of encourgement over the weekend in response to my last post. I hated to be a Debbie Downer but it was something that had been weighing on my mind for sometime and it felt good to let it all out.

Today I have something much lighter in store. Con-Man's 4th Birthday is coming up! This year he is really getting into Super Heros. He still likes cars but Superman and Power Rangers are taking hold pretty quickly.

So for his birthday we are doing a Super Hero Theme. I used this background for the invitations:

Con requested a moon bounce for his party, and because it's been well over 100 degrees here we are having the party at the AFB community center. I didn't want a bunch of kids passing out in my backyard- so indoors we go! 

Other than that it's going to be pretty simple. I'm going to attempt to make him a Power Rangers cake:

And just for fun I'm making some kid size cardboard cutouts of the Red and Pink Ranger the kids can take their picture with:

Sawyer's first birthday is this week also. We're combining his birthday with Con's (poor guy ;) I'm making them both birthday shirts and Sawyer will have his own special little cake to eat and smash up.

Other than that it's pretty low key- friends and family having fun. I'll be sure to share pictures next week.

Have a great week!

Con-Man's Birthday Preparations

The Con-Man is turning 3 in a few weeks! We're having his party this weekend; early, just in case Tiny Falcon #2 makes an early appearance. I've been busy with preparations for his party. I thought I could whip up a few things for the party but being pregnant seems to make everything take twice as long!


I sent out the invitations a few weeks ago. I hand stenciled them with stencils from Hobby Lobby. We're doing a water party since the temps have been in the 100's here. I got the inspiration for them here- I liked that they were a "water" theme but not to literal.

The big thing I've been working on is a PVC Pipe Car Wash (Or Kid Wash I guess). I tried to finish it today but realized I bought some wrong connectors. Always shooting myself in the foot!

Lots of water balloons will be on hand.

We have a pretty big Kiddie Pool I'll fill up and stuff it with water toys. Like I've been seeing these Sponge Bombs all over Pinterest and it's about time I make some! And some water guns and anything else I can find that might be fun for the kids.

As for snacks we'll have the usual chips and such but I thought some fruit and other frozen goodies would be refreshing to have on hand.

And of course cake and ice cream. Though it's a water party I'm not doing a water themed cake. Con-Man's favorite character is Lighting McQueen. I've been looking at McQueen cakes online for ideas. I'm not an amazing cake decorator but I like to make his cakes myself so we'll see how this one turns out! Not sure which I'll go with yet~

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For Party Favors one of the things I'm giving are these Giant Gummi Bears! They have nothing to do with "water" theme but they were so cool and on sale. I couldn't pass them up.

The final countdown has begun and I have lots to do! Will share pics after the weekend.

What sorts of things have you done for your child's birthday? Do you like to do a lot of it yourself or do you like to dole out the tasks?

Cadbury Cupcakes!!

Happy Easter Weekend Everyone! We're down in Houston visiting family for the weekend so just a short post today. 


I swear I've gained 10lbs since the invention of Pinterest. Here's another great idea I saw and just HAD to make. 


Cadbury Cream Egg Cupcakes! Cadbury Eggs are my favorite candy of all time. So when I saw this recipe online I had to make them.

They are super delicious and were met with rave reviews from the entire family. You make the icing from the centers of Cadbury Eggs. Yum! For this recipe and a ton of other yummy treats check out Sweet Tooth Blog. You will not be disappointed.

And since it was Good Friday we had our usual family tradition of boiled crawfish- another one of my favorite treats. Con-Man wasn't too sure about them. Maybe he'll try one next year.

And finally in unrelated news I made 24 weeks with Tiny Falcon #2. 16 weeks left to go!

Have a safe and blessed Easter Weekend everyone!

Birthday Follow Up

Success! I can bake. I made Connor's Birthday Cupcakes and people actually ate them. Hooray! Here are some of the highlights:

Yum! 

The Birthday Boy in his Birthday Shirt I made him.

He actually refused to eat his cake in front of everyone. He chose to eat it on the floor when he thought no one was looking.

Putting some of my other creations to work.

So that was the party in a nutshell. Now I'm trying to decide what my next project should be; I have a few on the list. A desk for Connor, paint some end tables I found on the curbside, or a sewing project. 

Anyone have a preference?

And don't forget about the giveaway end soon! Leave a comment to get your name entered into the drawing.

Birthday Baking

Connor's 1st Birthday is tomorrow! I can't believe my little baby is going to be 1 year old. He's so grown up. ;..)

So to celebrate all of our family is coming in town. They never get to see him since we live San Antonio and they live in Houston and Baton Rouge. So I figured I wouldn't be able to do anything to creative this weekend except make Connor's cake! I don't have a lot of practice baking but I love to cook and have lots of inspiration:

My friend Angie has her own company Callooh Callay Creations where she's always making lots of yummy stuff.
http://twitter.com/calloohcallay09

 Or all the scrumptious cupcakeries here in town offer lots of eye candy as well.

Cupcake Couture

Or Saweet! Cupcakes

Anyway, I'm making myself hungry. What kind of mom would I be if I didn't atleast attempt to make my son's first birthday cake? I decided to use a recipe my mom gave me that I've had several times. The cake is so light and fluffy and the icing is to die for. I just hope I can make it the same way she does. Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Cake Batter

Makes about 6 cups. Prep 20 min.

(Add an additional 1/4 tsp vanilla extract if you don't have almond extract.)

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. almond extract (I'm going to add a little more of each of these so its extra flavorful)

3 cups cake flour (I'm using Swans in the red box)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a heavy- duty mixer until creamy and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; add sugar to mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium- low speed just until blended after each addition. (Batter will be thick.)

I'm making cupcakes so I followed these directions:

Vanilla Cupcakes
Prepare basic Vanilla Cake Batter as directed. Place paper baking cups in muffin pans and coat with vegetable spray; spoon batter into cups, filling three-fourths full. Bake at 350 for 20- 25 minutes or until a wooden pick insterted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans or on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove pans to wire rack and cool completely; about 1 hour (Seriously 1 hour!!!) Spread tops with buttercream frosting. Makes about 24 cupcakes

Phew that's a lot of words, I think I need some inspiration to keep me going.

That's better!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Makes about 2 3/4 cups; Prep 10 min

If you love frosting double the recipe

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

1 (16 oz.) package powdered sugar

3 to 5 tbsp milk

1. Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

2. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with 3 Tbsp milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, beating at a low speed until blended and smooth after each addition. Beat in up to 2 Tbsp additional mild for desired consistency.

Hopefully Connor's cupcakes will turn out as good as those pictures. I don't want him to look back at his first birthday pics and be embarassed! Must...Channel...Cupcake...Goddesses...

I also uploaded the full article I got this recipe from. It was from Southern Living and had a lot of variations on the batter and icing. Yum!! Happy Baking!

Cake Recipe

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