Crown cake

Rosebud turned 3 on Saturday!  I will blog that tomorrow, but here is the cake.

I found my inspiration here at family.go.com

I baked an 8 inch layer and a 10 inch layer with 2 cake mixes between the two of them.  Dang, those Wilton pans rock.

I leveled them and put a layer of filling in each. 

Then I frosted and stacked the tiers.

I didn't have access to the large round sprinkles in the example and couldn't find a candy close enough.  So I used giant conversation hearts...

...and put a crown on top.

 

Oh yeah, I also did 2 two-layer 6 inch satellite cakes for princesses to sit on.

It was more work than I expected it to be, but I was pleased enough with the results.

To-do today

Photo by Chacee

I was making my list (done and yet to-do) for today and felt like sharing it.

++++++++++++++++++
up at 5:50
read scriptures
Pizzazz choir carpool (6:20)
regular jr high carpool (7:20)
elementary safety patrol (8:15)
call in one kid sick and coughing
start crockpot with salsa and chicken breasts
empty dishwasher instead of the sick kid doing it (yuck)
not make the bed - Strider did it!
clean hall and clear hobby/craft desk area
get papers out of the kitchen - file the pile
fill out permission forms for ski trips and spring play try-outs
upload Rosebud birthday pics
do 2 loads laundry
clean out microwave
schedule dentist appts
write 3 thank you notes
clean out purse
get my planner up-to-date
order jr high yearbook (finally!)
get ready to do taxes
ask Jedi's teacher what activities she wants planned for Valentine's Day
read over some merit badge requirements so I can help Potter & Bugs
decide FHE tonight
blog (hee hee)
stop wrestling with the decision to Pintrest or not
finally watch Tangled with my daughter

+++++++++++++++++
Phew.  I love Mondays.

February Photo a Day Challenge

I'm following along with House of Smith's on the photo challenge for the coming month. 

Check it out:

Won't you join me?

A trim for Rosebud

This cute scraggly-headed girl turns 3 this weekend, so she needed a haircut to get ready for it. 

I didn't want to take off too much, but her bouncy curls were being pulled straight and the sides were getting stringy.

After just about an inch, we had this!  So much better.  All the curls were back.

 

Now the piggy tails look great again.

Valentine's shelf

Here is my "mantle" shelf for the holiday.  The only new part is the jar I filled with glittery hearts from the dollar store.  Remember my heart garland from a couple years ago?  Still love it, even though three of the hearts have gone missing somewhere.

Take a look at more lovey-dovey mantles at Home Stories A to Z.



Do you decorate for Valentine's?

Valentine's Day goodness

It's time to start thinking about LOVE day and how you'll tell those around you how much you care about them.

Here are a million ideas:

75 FREE Valentines Printables

and

20 more Valentines Printables

A laugh a minute (or more)

Ah, Mr. Brian Regan.  You are a funny man.  We were lucky enough to get tickets for Christmas again (we went a year or two ago when he was in town) and we were in the front row this time.

This is taken from my lap.  No zoom.  The stool with his water bottles on it is at the back of the stage.  Obviously, this is before it began.  You can't record or photograph. 

We braved a huge storm and trekked all over downtown while getting drenched - and it was worth every second.  The ruffles on my homemade ruffle shirt?  Soaked, lol.

I laughed so hard my cheeks burned and I was actually crying when he did a bit about bagpipes and marching bands.  I seriously love his style.  ALL new material and I was so impressed. 

(The post title comes from a "compliment" he got once from someone who attended a show.  He told Brian it was a laugh a minute.  Since that's not a great ratio of actual laughter for a comedian, he was hoping to give us a reason to chuckle a lot more often than that :)

Way too much slush for walking in flats.  Oh well.

We even went to my fave cheesesteak shop.  Fan-stinkin-tastic date!!

I hope all the new stuff this weekend means that a new DVD might be on its way?  We shall see!

Yarn wrapped letters

After seeing some cool yarn-wrapped LOVE art seen here, I decided to try it.  I knew I had wire.  I had a little red yarn and wasn't sure it it would be enough.  Well it took almost nothing to wrap this, so I would say even a very small ball of leftover yarn would do.

I just started bending and making the letters.  I just did the general shape to get my dimensions.  Then after I cut my word off the spool of wire I tweaked it to my liking.  I began with a glue dot to hold the end of the yarn.  I was just lazy and didn't want to heat up my glue gun for a couple drops of glue.  Every 3 inches or so I used another glue dot, just for security. 

It was fun.  Cost: $0.

For now I just stuck it in front of our family pic. 

Church History Museum

On Monday we went on a little outing with everyone off of school that day.  We headed downtown to the church museum.

Life-size Angel Moroni statue

Ship bunks

Early chapel replica

Then we got to the upper floor which was the whole reason I wanted to go.  They have revolving children's exhibits.  Last year it was the CTR theme, now it's The Book of Mormon.  It was so neat!  There was beautiful artwork and creative activities.

Jedi with Nephi (does anyone else think Jedi's maturing right before our eyes??)

Potter looking through the gold plates

Rosebud looking out a port hole of Nephi's ship

Princess fishing off the side of the boat

Rosebud gathering eggs from the chickens

Princess tossing corn tortillas in South America

I highly recommend going if you're in the Salt Lake vicinity.  They have even more than I showed here.  The kids loved learning about the Book of Mormon while playing in this hands-on exhibit.  It interested all of my kids ages 13-2.  I'm glad we went! 

Happy Birthday Strider!

The hubby had a birthday last week.

I tried hard to make an amazing chocolate pb cake.  It was less amazing than I was shooting for.

But any combo of pb and choc is a winner, right?

 

Happy Birthday!  I hope your wishes come true.

Counter space!

I hinted the other day that we changed something in the kitchen...

Our gift from my parents this year was an over-the-range microwave.  What an important thing in a tiny kitchen!

Strider raised the cupboard 4 inches to accommodate the micro.

Once he was able to run a wire to the top cupboard for an outlet, the rest of the install was pretty easy (or so he says).

Now I have a counter for my important papers file, my toaster, bread box and baking canisters:

And one that is all open for....ANYTHING!  What a wonderful work space:

We love it!!!