Look Who's THREE! {Lots of Pics - Sorry!}

So, Little Guy turned 3 last week. We had a small nuclear family thing on the special day. First thing in the morning, he awoke to the family's special birthday song - The Beatles' "Birthday". Then, after a special birthday breakfast of oatmeal in which he was allowed to sprinkle a crumbled-up Oreo, we made him a special birthday crown. Little Guy and I took the bus to Kroger where he got to pick out a tiny cake from the bakery and then he got to choose which frozen pizza he'd like for dinner. Well, he chose the cake, then saw the cupcakes (he's a cupcake-lover), so I ended up getting him a single one just for his special birthday cake. He picked out a yummy white special birthday pizza with mushrooms, spinach & artichokes on it! He got to pick out a special birthday Hot Wheels car (Hey - they're $1!) The cashier gave him a special birthday Cars 2 ring, then she gave him another because he said "Thank You" without any prompting. The bus driver let him honk the bus's horn as a special birthday treat. A police officer sitting in his car turned on the lights and sirens for a special birthday surprise for Little Guy as we walked past. It was very special birthday!

And now you know our stance on medical marijuana...

 (More about blue dye in an upcoming post.)

 On Friday, Little Guy received his special birthday package in the mail from Gammy. She always decorates the outside of the box with really neat stickers and writes all over it. My oldest said, "Gammy boxes are always the best! You always get a LOT of presents and you never, ever know what is going to be inside." He was right - Little Guy got a ton of new puzzles (he's up to 100-piece ones now!), lots of new Thomas the Train PJ's, paints, a card game... and more!



On Saturday, my dad stopped by with MORE special birthday gifts in the afternoon! Less than a week after Halloween, Little Guy received an entire bag of Smarties. (My dad told him they'd make him smarter and he replied with, "No, if you eat too much candy you are not smart!" LOL) All of the pics of my dad came out pretty badly, so I am not going to post them. Hubby was in charge of taking pics and his shaky hands and the small room made for a pretty bad set-up.

 On Saturday, the neighborhood kids came over for cake. It always takes me twice as long as I figure to decorate a cake. Little Guy wanted to have a special birthday Thomas the Train cake (of course) and he got one. I got rushed at the end because I ran out of time, so it didn't turn out quite as I wanted. I also pulled out a couple more presents from the stash I have been saving up since early summer...

On Sunday, we had planned a big party for everyone. You see, Hubby's son's birthday is in September, hubby's birthday is in October and so are both of his daughters' birthdays. Then, of course, there's Little Guy. And, since my oldest didn't get a proper birthday party, we included him on the receiving-end of the party. I made another cake and decorated it on Sunday morning (we're up to cake #3, now!) I wrapped presents, then we cleaned. We had another party. This time, I gave Little Guy the last of his presents. Lucky for you, we forgot all about taking pictures. Hubby's daughters took some, so we'll have those.

WAY too much sugary cake!!!

All-in-all, Little Guy had three birthday parties, three birthday cakes, five chances to open gifts, and lots of extras. When you ask him how old he is, he'll proudly tell you "I'm Number One!" Oh, well! LOL

Finally Caved and Made Cake Ball Thingies

A few weeks ago, Little Guy  got a monkey on his back. We were at the farmer's market, taking in the sights of all of the healthy fresh produced heaped high on all of the vendors' tables. He's point to something and I'd tell him what it was. Sometimes, he was asked to help me pick out which bunch of carrots or basket of apples we should get. At one point, he ran ahead of me as I was paying for eggs. I caught up with him to find him chewing on something. Oh no! What is he eating and how much do I owe?

There were two very sweet-looking ladies behind the table he had stopped in front of. One spoke up, "Oh, it's OK. He's just tasting a sample of our cake balls." As he finished his mouthful, he went in for seconds. The other "sweet" lady took the plate from the table and told him that his Mommy would have to buy some cake balls for him if he wanted more. You can imagine the carnage that came after I found that one dozen quarter-size cake balls would set me back FOUR DOLLARS! I just don't have that kind of money, not even for a splurge. We left with me hauling two very heavy bags of produce on one shoulder and a kicking and screaming 30 lb. kid under one arm. (I did hear someone mention how mean it was of those ladies to do that to me and Little Guy. Yeah!)

Well, he's been talking about those things ever since that day. Often, upon waking up in the morning, presumably from a dream, demanding I give him the cake balls that he knows I have hidden somewhere in the kitchen. When I tell him (repeatedly) that there are none, we end up in the middle of a first-thing-in-the-morning, before mommy has her coffee, full-on tantrum. So I decided that since hubby's birthday was on Monday and we needed to make a cake anyway, I'd so a single layer for him and we'd use the other layer to try our hand at making these cake thingies.

I checked out a few posts from other bloggers to see how the whole process worked. I basically found the following: 1) They're super-easy to make. 2) You basically crumble the cake, mix with frosting, roll into balls, then dip them into melted baking chips. EASY!!! I figured there must be a catch. I asked on my Facebook page for tips from those who
've already done these things and Lisa, Baking Momma of Two, was the only one to speak up. She directed me to a post she had written when she decided to make (really cute) Spring Chick Cake Pops. The basic directions on her post were the same as I wrote above. But she also described some of the problems she encountered and how she got around it (or would now that she knows better.) Things like the dipped cake balls looking pretty ugly (a second coat fixes this!) You don't want to buy the "super moist" cake mix (this tip had me over-bake the cake a little to get rid of the extra moisture.) She mentioned how messy making the cake into crumbs was, so I was able to elicit the help of Little Guy (payment came in the form of not complaining when he to big bites out of the cake!) Oh - here's a good one that I'd probably have tried if she hadn't done so first: Don't attempt to use plastic candy molds to make shaped cake. Don't try to get too fancy with the decorating - it's harder than you think. Apparently, you need to work fast to get all of the decorations on before the melted baking chips harden. (Lisa made her own mini baking chips in the colors she needed! I'd have probably left the chicks beak-less!) And, finally, it take a LOT of time to make these things. That is one that I just didn't believe enough - I put the finishing touches on mine at 10:20pm - three hours after I started dipping them into melted chocolate. This does not account for the time spent making the cake, making crumbs & icing, and rolling it into balls.

So, here's my journey in pictures. I really love how they turned out. These won't be made on a regular basis (cupcakes are SO MUCH EASIER!), but they're great for special occasions. Oh, and the $4 price tag was nuts - even with the time I put in on these, there's no way that each one is worth $0.33 each!

Making Crumbs

Over-baked Cake

Naked Balls (!)

Helping Clean the Icing Bowl

UGLY! I began to despair at this moment. It was my first layer.

Looking better after the butterscotch layer went on!

Yes! The dark chocolate covered up all of the mistakes!

We used leftover melted chips to decorate Hubby's cake. (Like my last-minute candle fix?!)

Little Guy knows that, now that we've sung "Happy Birthday", he can sample some cake balls!!!

Have you made these things? How did they turn out? Have any tips to add for next time? Little Guy's birthday is just 2 weeks away and I'm going to make more, so any help would be welcome!

Need to Show Off!

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I just wanted to show off my cake decorating skills. For years, I've been decorating cakes with just one piping tip and one star tip. My mom gave me a Wilton Professional Decorating Set for Christmas and this was the first time I've been able to use it.

I really wanted to do a Yellow Submarine-themed cake. But, since it was my son's birthday, he got to choose. I know it looks pirate-y, but that wasn't the plan. I was supposed to leave off the crossbones and add "Lucky" above the skull. He also wanted fire. I ran out of time, so this is what we ended up with. Still pretty cool, right?

I've got to learn how to take pictures indoors with that camera!

After my son added his bit of creativity.

What do you think? Do you like to decorate cakes, cookies, or cupcakes? Do you have a favorite decorating glory that you'll always remember?

About Me (Part I)

I feel that, when you stop by to read a post or two, you should know who is writing to you. Since I have so much of myself to tell you about, I am going to work on writing a few different posts that reveal a little more about me. Hopefully, these will help you understand where I'm coming from and want to read more (and, maybe, even share my posts with others!) So, on to "Part I":

I guess I should start off with, "Hello! My name is Alicia." I grew up in Northwestern Ohio. In fact, except for my twenties, I've lived within a 50-mile radius of western Lake Erie my entire life. I've always been interested in creative pursuits, animals/nature, and learning. The learning part would surprise you if you'd seen any of my grade cards - I'm more of a learn-on-your-own kind of person. In fact, I'm currently working toward a Bachelor in Education. Of course, it will be followed up with a Master's, and probably a Doctorate (if I can afford it!)

There's nothing like the smell of
a freshly-opened box of Crayolas!

I have always been a creative person. There's nothing better than a brand new box of Crayolas (64-count, please!) and a pile of blank paper to get my creative juices flowing. My mom was always working on one project or another when I was young. She'd repaint the rooms, refinish furniture, make clothes for us, and made (and tried out, of course) all kinds of play doughs, paints, and glues for us to play with. My father is musical. I remember his band practicing in our basement when I was little and playing from our garage during neighborhood block parties. Right now, he's playing in a band with a group of guys he just met in Panama (his part-time residence since he's retired.)

Can you believe it?!

I wish I could say that I spend every spare minute in one creative pursuit or another but, sadly, I don't. I just don't seem to be able to find the time. I love cooking and baking. I've found that they really help me get some of my pent-up creativity out. My mom even gave me a professional Wilton Decorating set for Christmas! My oldest will be 13 in March and I really want to see just how creative I can get with that set and his cake. I'm already making sketches!

I get a lot of chances to play with art supplies with my kids, too. In an earlier post, I wrote about Gummy Lump's "300 Crafts for Kids in 2011" and how I plan to follow along to the best of my toddler's abilities. I'm having as much fun as he is!

Nature has also been an important part of my life. Living so near Lake Erie most of my life, there has always been a river or creek within walking distance. As a child, I would collect amphibians, insects, and (to my mother's horror) reptiles. I also collected leaves, flowers, interesting-looking sticks, rocks... you get the idea. Our porch was the depository of many interesting collections... until I went to bed and my dad cleaned it all off for tomorrow's load of treasures. I still collect a lot of these things. My junk drawer has unmarked envelopes filled with seeds from flowers and other plants that I've come across that I thought looked interesting. These envelopes sit among the typical pens, paper clips, screwdrivers and rubber bands. There are also pretty rocks, shells, and even the occasional snake skin. Oh, and I like bugs. Last summer, I couldn't bring myself to kill the caterpillars that were tearing apart my carrots and parsley, so I brought them inside, put them in a big Ball jar with carefully selected sprigs of their favorite leaves and I ended up with a bunch of these:

Swallowtail Butterflies!!!



I always take my camera along whenever we go for walks. I have come across so many interesting way to incorporate nature in my photography. On those rare occasions when I forgot my camera, I do nothing but see those scenes that would have made great photos. I love my little $90 digital camera and I think it's the best investment I've made in a very long time. Some day, maybe I can save up for a really nice Canon. For now, I'm happy with what I have!