Mystery Party

Emma wanted a murder mystery party for her birthday. We invited her friends and assigned them all a role to play for the party. We started off with a fun photo booth.

 We had a little crime scene set up for the game. And we all found out who did it.

 Emma wanted a mustache and monocle cake for her party. 

Birthday Party

Today Emma turns 11. 

We had a family party for her down in Lake Stevens at Granddad & Grandma Kris' house. Aunt Allison came over with some great party ideas. First she brought out her most awesome box of beads. She let Emma pick out beads and design a necklace. The she brought out a blank canvas and some gel markers for us all to decorate and sign our names as a keepsake for Emma's birthday. Isn't Allison the coolest!!

Granddad was busy making lunch for all of us while Kris and Deanna kept the grandkids entertained.

Onto the presents!

Time for cake!! 

This year she got another Dairy Queen cake. It is just too hard to make fancy cakes when on vacation. I would not have been able to go canoeing and whale watching with everyone. So this is just easier. And she was totally happy with an ice cream cake.

Trying out the 'stache glasses.

Grandma Kris had another great project for the kids. She has a little Children's Garden at the entrance to their subdivision. She had a few plants for the grandkids to add to the garden. 

Emma put her nail polish kit to work right away. Everyone was lining up for Emma's Exceptional Spa. When she did mine she wanted it to be a surprise. She covered my head with some tissue paper and then put my sunglasses over it so it would stay one. 

Cypress was a great sport to let Rebekah brush her hair. Seems Rebekah gets away with a lot of things other don't because she is so cute.

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).