12 + almost 5 = almost 17

Years that is.

You see, Hubby and I dated for 4 years and 11 months before we got married.  And today, we've been married for 12 years.  So that, equals almost 17 years with my honey.

And I think the years have been good to us ~

I mean, here we are during the first summer we were dating.

(yes, I took a picture of a picture ~ notice scratches and the flash?)

And here we were Friday night 

(and the Saturday before that)

Don't you think marriage is treating us well and bringing out the best of each other?

(I think I've heard it said, that married couples start to resemble each other after awhile... 

What do you think?)

Seriously though, I'll admit,  the days have not all been fabulous. We've had lots of ups and our share of downs.  The downs don't defeat us, they only make us stronger.  We've learned that a successful marriage doesn't just happen, it takes work.  It takes love, sacrifice, understanding, trust, compromise, forgiveness and laughter.   I love who we are, what we have, and where we are going.  And I am so looking forward to the next 12..... 17...... 25......50 years and the surprises they will bring!

But from the beginning of creation, `God made them male and female.' For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.

~Mark 10 6-9

We are one heck of a class act :)

The kids and I had ourselves a little dance party the other night.

We were all wound up and being goofy.

'Cause we're classy like that!

It was perfect :)

Come on people, get out from behind the camera, get in front of it 

and make some lasting memories with the ones you love!

Princess Cake

Smiley had decided she wanted to have a "Minnie" themed birthday party.  Just like last year :)

Then she decided she wanted a "Dora" themed party.

Then  "Princess"

Then a "Dora, Minnie Princess" party.

Ultimately she decided on a "princess" party.

I had a feeling this is the route she would take which was good, because I had "pinned" some cute princess cupcakes ~ cute and super easy!

source ~ my pinterest via Jennycookies.com

Then, I made a mistake.

I asked a 2 year old, if she wanted cupcakes or a big cake for her birthday.

Of couse she replied,  "A BIG cake Mama!"

Bring on the internet and the millions of princess cakes to go along with it!

I gave her 5 choices:

#1

Source 

#2

Source ~ Pinterest

#3

Source 

#4

(Source)

#5

(Source)

Well, which one did she pick?

# 2

I admit, #2 was probably my favorite, but I was secretly hoping she would go for #3 or #5 as I figured they would be the easiest :)

And while I liked #2, the tiara wasn't my favorite, so once again, I relied on handy dandy google to see me through!

I ended up making a gum paste tiara using the template from this website.

The process I used was pretty much the same process she used.  

I found an old utensil holder, taped my template onto it, then parchment paper over top of that.

I tinted my gum paste with pink gel color, rolled it into fairly thin "snakes" and placed it over my template. Having 2 templates is a great idea.  One flat on your workspace to guide you and one taped onto your rounded object.  To get the gum paste to stick to the parchment paper, I would dip a small paintbrush into water then paint the water onto the template before sticking the gum paste onto the template ~ it worked fabulously.

When I was finished, I set the whole thing aside to dry.  The longer you give it to dry, the harder it will become (although after awhile the color does begin to fade a bit).  Since my "snakes" were fairly thin, mine dried pretty quickly.  I let it set for about 25 hours before putting it on the cake.

I thought it turned out GRRReat!  (channeling my inner Tony the Tiger)

Now onto the cake

I did 4 layers total

2  ~ 9" round cakes one of each white and chocolate cake

2 ~ 6" round cakes one of each white and chocolate cake

For the white cake, I used a recipe I had seen on pinterest called ~ Wedding Cupcakes.  Obviously I didn't make cupcakes, but I used the same recipe.  It was a really easy recipe ~ basically you doctor up a boxed cake mix.

And the end result was fantastic!  My kids LOVED it!  They said is tasted like yummy marshmallows!  Definitely a recipe I will remake!

The chocolate cake cake was also a box mix.  I doctored it up like I typically do ~ Add follow the directions on the box, but add in and additional egg, 1 small box of instant chocolate pudding and 3/4 cup of sour cream.  The result is a super moist, delish cake!  A favorite at our house.

Between all of the layers and for the "crumb coat" before I put the fondant on, I used my very easy "go to" Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe.

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended, then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more (you can add more cream as needed to get the consistency you want)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I put the cake together with the buttercream ~ alternating layers (and no making fun that they aren't even ~ they still taste good!!!).

Then covered the 9" layers with Marshmallow Fondant (recipe found here)

And then the 6" layers.

Next, I stacked them up.

Colored some of the left over fondant with gel colors and decorated it in a similar pattern to our "idea cake", by cutting out circles and stripes, rolling little balls, and by making more "snaking" to use as trim and flowers.

The result:

A DELICIOUS cake fit for a princess!

Seriously people.... If I can do it ~ so can you! :)

Someday Crafts

Fit for a Princess

Friday was little Smiley's birthday.

She was definitely smiley all.day.long.

Ready for the Princess Party?

A Princess Cake

Fit for a 3 year old Princess

Presents

Crazy Dancing

A request to slow dance with Mom 

Birthday song Sung and Wishes Made

All done while hangin' with family

Wanna know more about the cake?

Come back tomorrow and I will tell you about how it came to be :)

I must have blinked!

Three years ago today, I was at home, alone, and my husband was in another state with Sassy and Action.
I called him early that morning and said, "Hey honey, I think you may want to come home a little earlier than you had planned."

You see, even though I was only 37 weeks pregnant, Smiley was ready to make her entrance.

Here's the story ~ Hubby was going out of state to go on our annual hunting trip.  I had just had a prenatal doctor's appointment a few days earlier and my doctor suggested (or shall I say, told me) that I shouldn't make the trip ~ 5 hours in the car to a town with a population of about 1000.

I obliged.  That weekend, I did LOTS of Christmas shopping, movie watching (I still remember that I watched the Sex in the City movie and Baby Mama) and relaxing.  Sunday night, I decided the crib needed to be put up.  Right then.  So as I was contorting myself into interesting positions in order to set it up all by myself, my brother called.  My brother lives 45 minutes away and we began talking about what hubby and I would do with Sassy and Action when I finally did go into labor.  It was settled, I would call him and he and his wife would try their hardest to help us out.

I ended up having sporadic contractions all night.   I knew.  So in the morning, I made the call to hubby.  Who packed everyone and everything up and began the long drive.  Hoping he would make it in time.  I went and got my eyebrows waxed ~ flinching from the contraction pain and not the eyebrows being ripped out of your skin pain, and dropped off a birthday present. I called my brother and reminded him of the conversation we had had the night before.  He figured out a way to get to my house.

(photo taken around 3 am ~ couldn't sleep,  and between little contractions here and there, I knew we would be meeting our new little one soon, and I didn't have any belly shots yet! Hence a propped up camera, with a flash and artificialy light = AWESOME) 

Soon, hubby and the kids were home and Uncle T arrived.  We took off to the hospital full of nervous excitement ~ would our new little one be a boy or a girl? Healthy?  Would everything go ok? And,  I knew I wasn't going to have an epidural (personal choice) and I was a little nervous about the pain.

I will spare you the lovely details, but in no time we were holding our beautiful baby girl, with hearts overflowing with love and happiness. 

(the only picture of me holding my baby girl in the hospital! 

Totally bums me out that I don't have more!)

I must have blinked, because today, this beautiful baby:

Has become this feisty, best hug giver, sweet,  music lovin', 
little 3 year old.

Happy birthday baby girl!  

I love you more than words could every say!