Tea party for Leah

Leah is turning 5 tomorrow. She has been talking about and planning a tea party since she turned 4. It was wonderful. I was totally shocked at how quiet and relaxed and "tame" the party was. You see, I was prepared for what I have always experienced, boys' parties. We have had lots of them and by the end of the party, I am hot, tired and worn out. This totally took me by surprise. Not to say that the boys' parties aren't fun, because they are loads of fun! But this was soooo different :) If you have a girl, I am certain you know what I mean and have been keeping it secret from me all of this time. Probably better that way!

The girls dressed up with accessories...scarves, earring, necklaces, purses and then got their pictures taken. Then we had our tea...delicate china tea cups, fancy gloves, lots of delicious treats, and blueberry tea or pink lemonade. The lemonade was a big hit. Everyone ate with their gloves on, at least to start.

Leah is not a big fan of cake I have learned. Since we were having fancy tea...I decided to make petit fours. If you want to know about the whole experience of actually making them, you'll have to ask me about it sometime. Anyways, she got 5 individual petit fours, with her name spelled out and the number "5" on the last one...we put candles in them for her to blow out.

She was thrilled with the whole day. When she talked about her party while we were preparing, she made reference to "when my girls come....I'm going to..." or "I will show this to my girls" or "Let's get out these pretty dresses for my girls".

After tea and cakes, we played games and did crafts-

Pin the butterfly on the flower

Relay race to set the table for tea

Sticker hunt

Make and decorate a fan

Bracelets

I just can't believe how grown-up our little girl is getting!

I have posted MANY pictures of her party to snapfish. There is a link in my sidebar to the photos.

Leah's 3rd Birthday!

Leah recently celebrated her 3rd birthday. We just can't believe how time has flown by. Our little baby is no longer a baby anymore. She loves to fill her 3year old shoes with plenty of 3 yr. old attitude! This birthday was all about ponies...the biggest thing was figuring out how to make a pony cake, that is all she has asked for for weeks! I found a cake shop in Annapolis that rents the shaped cake pans ( a much better deal than buying them, especially when you only use them typically once). So I made her "pinkie pie" from my little pony. She had a great time, and has just now (a week later) realized that it is no longer her birthday.

The flowers are from our good friends Genia, Ray and kids Grace and Elliott. They came over and had lunch, cupcakes, and played on Leah's actual birthday. The day after (when Dennis could be home) we had her presents, pony cake and family birthday celebration with both sets of grandparents.

Here she is with her new tea set.
And with Granni & Gramps

Cake Decorating Week

It has been a week of making and decorating cakes! Our swim team had an end of season banquet on Thursday, and I decorated a cake for the team, as seen below. That was lots of fun to do with the lane lines and wave-like border. Everything on this cake was done with decorater's icing, which is just Crisco, powdered sugar and almond extract. Easy to work with, requires no refrigeration, and firms up nicely to keep the cake sealed and fresh.

I was also commissioned to make a cake for a wedding shower my mom is throwing for a friend's daughter. The theme of the shower and the engagement has been much like a fairytale, so I went with a fairytale theme, indirectly. This cake, unlike the top one, used fondant for all of the decorations and covering the cake. Usually fondant tastes awful, and while it makes a smooth and beautiful cake, everyone takes it off because it doesn't taste good. I found a recipe online to make your own fondant using marshmallows and powdered sugar, and it tastes just like marshmallows....much better. Anyways, before you cover the cake with fondant, you first ice it smooth with the decorater's icing, and then roll out the fondant and put it over the cake. All of the decorations were made from fondant or gum paste, which is similar, but hardens like a rock. This was probably the most involved cake I have ever made, but I think it turned out almost exactly as I had planned, so I was happy with it!

One thing that did happen after making both of these cakes, is that my kitchen was COVERED in sugar and grease, so it gave me an excuse to give the kitchen a good scrubbing tonight after it was all done!