Happy Birthday Rebekah

Today is the day. Rebekah's first real birthday party. I thought a Rapunzel party would be perfect for her. The movie came out just days before her birthday last year. We saw it and we all fell in love with the movie. Soon after Rebekah decided to change her name to Rapunzel as seen here and here. She is back to Rebekah now, but still loves Rapunzel.

I had about 3 hours to decorate while Rebekah was at preschool. I got most of my ideas here and here. I braided a yarn for the door and Emma had drawn a welcome sign (notice the magic sun-flower).

I printed out these sun_buntings and ran it through the sewing machine (a great way to attach them together for hanging. I also added these golden stars from my Christmas decorations.

I found these cute paper lantern lights at Five Below and decorated with lots of purple and yellow balloons. There's another magic sun-flower on the table (just a golden poinsettia). I had hoped to do some sidewalk chalk drawing for decoration and for an activity, but it turned out to be a cold and rainy day. Oh well.

As the kids arrived I had coloring_pages set up. I also had music playing from the movie and some of the kids couldn't help but dancing.

After everyone arrived we made these cute Pascal_blowers. The kids loved it!! We followed that by a fun game of "pin the frying_pan on Flynn Rider".

After the games we took a trip to the "Snugly Duckling" for some snacks. Like the frying pans? I included apples for Maximus. I loved the idea of braided_bread for Rapunzel's hair, but decided to do it much simpler. I bought 2 cans of Pillsbury french bread, cut each into 5 parts, then each of those into 3 parts to braid together. They were a big hit.

At last it was time for the cake. It took me a few long nights to create it. And the tower started collapsing in on itself (it was a little taller). However it is all cake (with a ice cream cone on top) and completely egg free. It would have held together better with some royal icing, but we wouldn't want the birthday girl to go to the hospital on her birthday.

After opening presents it was time to hand out the goody bags. I used the same sun buntings to label the bags. I made these cute bookmarks and loved the idea of including "Rapunzel's Paints" in each bag (found at the dollar store).

After all that partying I was too pooped to make dinner. We went out to Red Robin for Rebekah's free birthday meal followed by a very large ice cream sundae. Happy Birthday sweetie!

Surprise Party

We threw a surprise party for my dear friend Melinda's 40th Birthday. It was a lot of fun and she was surprised. Doesn't she look fabulous!

Melinda is currently on a gluten-free diet. I told her I wanted to make her a cake for her birthday, so she loaned me Rose's_Heavenly_Cakes for some recipes. I made 2 different cakes for her. The first was Chocolate Feather Bed with Raspberry Ganache. There is no flour, just lots of dark chocolate bars and eggs. The raspberry ganache was a pain. Mainly because I didn't have a food mill to puree the raspberries without getting any seeds. I had a very small fine-mesh strainer that I had to push the raspberries through with the back of a spoon. I think that step alone took almost 2 hours. I was also caught off guard when the recipe said "make 2 batches". I had read it earlier and thought it said "makes 2 batches". I had 16 minutes to whip up the second cake before the first one came out of the oven (took 45 minutes). Luckily I had enough ingredients to make it again, since I stole the chocolate from the ganache. Had to go to the store to replace that before I could make the ganache. I also didn't have the right size pans for this, had to buy 2 new ones at the store.

The verdict: It took forever to make and I got very frustrated. I am much more for the quick and easy and still tastes great. This was not quick and easy. But the taste was heavenly.

For the second cake I made Lemon Canadian Crown. The best way to describe it is similar to a frozen whipped lemon meringue. I love lemon desserts. I saw this in the book and had to try it. I had a similar problem with using a fine-mesh strainer to push lemon zest through, but it was a very small amount compared to all the raspberries. Overall, it was a much easier recipe. I bought gluten-free ladyfingers from Wegmans. That saved tons of time. I didn't have a 9-inch spring-form pan for this recipe but was able to borrow one from a friend.
The Verdict: light, airy, and very lemony. I loved it. Didn't care for the ladyfingers, maybe because they were gluten-free and too thick. Might try it again with a different crust.

American Girl Party

Emma wanted a birthday party at the American_Girl store. A new one just opened near us in Tysons Corner. Since the cheapest party is $30/girl + $20/adult, I said no. However, I suggested that we could take a field trip to the new store and have treats at home. Emma loved the idea and spent the next few weeks selling lemonade, cookies, and baked goods with her friends to earn some spending cash.

We got the the store right as it opened and went straight to the doll salon. Emma wanted to get Felicity's ears pierced. The girls spent the next hour exploring the store with lots of giggling. Rebekah's favorite part was twirling in the sparkly pink dressing room. The girls made their purchases and we headed back home. We own 3 of the American Girl doll movies, so the girls watched Samantha on the drive to and from the mall.

Back at the house the girls put on a doll fashion show with their new purchases. I made dolphin shaped sandwiches and mini cupcakes for the girls and their dolls (notice that Rebekah doesn't have an American Girl doll but used her favorite "spotty dog" as a substitute).

Happy Birthday Emma!!

Today Emma turns 9! We asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday and she said canoeing. We took the ferry across the Potomac River to a little shop that rents canoes. We had to split up, myself and Emma in one canoe, Clay and Rebekah in the other. We paddled about 1.25 miles up to a couple of little islands. There we stopped and had lunch. Then we paddled back down to return the canoes. It was a beautiful morning, a little hazy to keep things cool. The river was low and slow, like a lake. So beautiful with big green trees lining the banks. I wish I had pictures but we were afraid to take the camera with the girls with us. We saw lots of herons and other water fowls. We even saw some fish jumping out of the water.



That evening we invited Uncle Jay and his girlfriend, Leigh, over for dinner to help celebrate Emma's birthday. I made skirt_steak_tostadas_with_mango_salsa. It is so good! One of my favorite marinades (except I use balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce). Turned out great and the girls love it too. After, we opened presents and had some cake!



I made this cake completely egg-free so that Rebekah could have some too. All the flowers are done with real buttercream. No meringue powder to stiffen it up, so I had to work fast and keep it in the fridge. But it tasted great! I love doing these cakes for my girls. Emma loved it! I also tried a new_method for frosting the cake to get it smooth. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Gardening and cakes

Here is what our garden is looking like. We've got a lot of things growing right now: strawberries, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, marigolds, zucchini, cilantro, mint, rosemary, oregano, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. While I was out taking this picture of the garden I noticed we had a visitor:

There is no way he is going to get in. We've got chicken wire, fencing 6 ft high, and netting on top. But he was looking for a way...

We had an activity tonight for the women at church, I was asked to make 24 cupcakes, decorated in white. I decided I wanted to make a mini-tiered cake too (top layer is just 2 inches). Just for fun to see what I could do. I wanted to cover it in fondant, but my fondant wasn't working, so it's just butter cream with edible pearl decorations.