8th, 5th and Kindergarten

It was one week ago this evening that I was tucking my kiddos into bed,  listening to them tell me a few more of the things that had happened that day.  That day was the first day back to school for Sassy and Action and the very first day of elementary school for Smiley.

The morning started early.  My alarm went off at 4:45 ~ up early enough to make rolls (a yearly tradition)  before Sassy had to head off to school. Sassy's alarm sounded at 5:45.  Her bus came to pick her up at 6:50.  Action and Smiley rolled out of bed around 7:15.  Rolls were eaten, the perfect clothes put on and hair was fixed (for the 5 year old anyway!)  Their bus pulled up to get them at 8:20.  I admit, a tear or two did sneak out of my eyes.  After all, my baby is going to kindergarten.  But my feelings regarding this will be an entire post of its own......

And, of course, the morning did not go by without a handful of pictures taken.  And don't let their smiles fool you, Smiley was really the only one of the three who was excited to go to school!

My lovely 8th grader:

My not excited, yet smiley 5th grader:

And my super excited and a little bit nervous, cute, little kindergartner:

5th Birthday Cake

Perhaps you already know this, but last week Smiley turned 5 (no?  click on the link to see some pics).  As a family we celebrated her birthday quietly by driving 4 1/2 hours in the car back to our home from Great Grandma's house after a fun weekend of family time and a bit of pheasant hunting.  She chose where we stopped for lunch ~ Subway ~ and opened presents when we arrived back home.

We tend to not do "friend" birthday parties until the kids are a bit older but since both mine and hubby's families mostly live in different states, large family parties tend to not happen either.  However, this year, my parents were able to come up for a visit and my brother and his family were able to come down.  So, a small party was planned.  And you can't celebrate a birthday without a birthday cake.  However, when you are five, it can be very difficult to decide on what kind of cake you want.  After going through the typical character cake ideas... Dora, Princesses (which I made for her 3rd birthday), Doc McStuffins and Fairies, Smiley determined she wanted a rainbow cake.

Whoo Hooo!  I was excited :)

So, we got baking!

I started with 2 boxes of white cake mix ~ disregarding the box instructions, I doctored them up by mixing them with (use 1/2 of these amounts for only 1 box of cake mix):
1 C Vegetable oil
1 Cup Water
16 oz sour cream
8 eggs
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding mix

Once the batter was throughly mixed, I:

• Split the batter evenly (about 1 3/4 cup of batter per cake) into 6 different bowls.
• Added a different rainbow color of food coloring to each bowl.  I used a small blob of Wilton's  concentrated gel icing color to each bowl (I used no taste - red, orange, yellow, kelly green, blue and purple).
• Mixed the coloring into the batter very well.
• Poured the batter into 6 different, greased (I also line the bottom of my pans with parchment paper cut to size)  8" or 9" round baking pans (lets be honest, I only have 2 pans, so I repeated this step 3 times)

• Baked each cake about 18 minutes at 350°
• Removed from the oven, cooled about 5 minutes in the pan then removed from the pan to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
• Once they were cool, I wrapped them in Saran wrap and stored the in the fridge until the next day when I was ready to frost and assemble the cake.

Fast forward to the next day:

I made up some frosting:

3 sticks softened, unsalted butter
3 8oz packages softened, cream cheese
3 lbs confectioners sugar
* Using my stand mixer, I mix the butter and cream cheese together until smooth, then gradually add the confectioners sugar.

*I left my frosting white (actually off white in color due to the color of the butter) as I wanted the inside of the cake to be the star.

Time to assemble:

• I started by leveling each cake ~ using a serrated knife, I sort of shaved the top of each cake to make sure they were straight across and not rounded/raised in the middle.
•Then I began to stack and layer:  (I wanted this cake to go the "typical" rainbow route)   purple - frosting - blue - frosting - green - frosting - yellow - frosting - orange - frosting - red then frosting across the top and down the sides of the cake.

I had purchased some long, stick like sparkle candles as well as a tall #5 candle, but I thought I needed more decor for the top of the cake.  I headed to my craft room and pulled out some fun paper.  Using the colors of the rainbow, I created a bunting to stick into the top.  I did this by cutting the paper into a diamond shapes, then folded and glued each one over a piece of black string to create a double sided flag.  I attached the ends of the string to 2 bamboo skewers and stuck them into the top of the cake.  Ta dah ~ a super simple cake decoration.

I also added some colorful sprinkles to the top of the cake for a little hint of color as well.

We brought the cake out, sang happy birthday to Smiley, let her blow out the candles, and got ready to enjoy a little cake and ice cream.

Our guests were very surprised to see that the inside of Smiley's plain looking birthday cake was not so plain at all, it was a beautiful rainbow of color.

And me, I had fun telling everyone to  "Taste the Rainbow"

Five

A week ago, on the 21st, my "baby" turned 5.  I say this all the time, but where have the last five years gone?  

I feel like I blinked and they disappeared!

Anyway, our little Smiley is still just as smiley as she was when she was a baby 

(see here, here, here and here ~ I could go on and on, but I'll stop).  

And her smile....well, it makes us all smile.  

The girl is chatty, goofy and outgoing....unless put on the spot, 

then she turns into some super shy girl who looks like my daughter.  

She love, love LOVES to sing.  She sings top 20 hits,  "church" songs and makes up her own tunes on a daily basis.  

Last week she was heard singing while  sitting in a closet at her Great Grandma's house.  She had a picture book and was making up a song to go with the pictures on the pages. 

She loves to dance, practice gymnastics, hit a volleyball around and pretend to pitch a softball, color, craft, create and "help" in the kitchen.  

Smiley has blessed our lives in so many ways, and the joy she brings to our family is tremendous!

Happy 5th birthday baby girl!

School and everything else.....

Last week...

The kids survived their first week back to school as

a fifth grader

and 2nd grader

and there were only 2 major homework meltdowns, as we began to once again find the balance between school, sports and enough sleep.

I began cleaning out our basement and donated 9 boxes and 4 bags of stuff.  And sold a set of speakers my hubby saved so hard to purchase in college.  The sad thing is so much more could/should go.

Two of four new appliances were delivered the rest come on Monday.  And this makes me REALLY want new cabinets.  But new window are first on the list.

Action had his first football scrimmage ~ first game will be on Monday.  His helmet and shoulder pads totally accent his teeny tiny waist and legs.  They play full out tackle and this is his first year playing.  He really wanted to, once practices started he wasn't so sure, but now he's growing to like it more again!

And now he is gone at his first friend sleep over (Ahh.... my little boy is growing up ~ anyone have a kleenex?).  Sassy is watching a movie, Hubs just mixed me a drink and Miss Smiley, who by the way took a scissors to her hair today......and of course she is to don a pretty white dress and grace a sure to be fabulous wedding as flower girl in two weeks, is on her way to be tucked into bed as soon as I hit the publish button :)

And so I'm off.....

Hope you are having a beautiful and carefree weekend!