Doors

It's official. Aiden can open doors! OMG OMG OMG.......gonna have to start deadbolting the exit doors now. WHY DID THIS COME SO SOON!

I was having "Me" time in our bedroom. aka Daddy watching Aiden. He walks down the hall, opens the door, and comes running towards the bed squealing. Mommy I found you! Oh goodness!

Now there is officially no privacy.

Hungry Caterpillar

HOW CUTE IS THIS PARTY IDEA!!!! And after one of the best books "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" This would make an ADORABLE party for Aiden for next year, since it's going to be a low key party. I was thinking WonderPets...but this is soooooooo much better! The Dr. Seuss party is for when he's 5 that I posted about before if you were wondering.

The invitations. I can just drop these in the mailbox myself since it's really only going to a few close people. I'll have to make a few card ones for my parents and siblings since they live in FL.

Step 1Using the flat inner lid of from one of your jars, trace circles on various colors of cardstock (one for each invitation) and cut them out. Write the name of one of your invitees on each circle, then use a dot of hot glue to attach a colored circle to each jar's flat lid.
Step 2To create the caterpillars, connect four green pom-poms in a slight zigzag pattern with dots of hot glue. Glue a red pom-pom to one end. Use wire snippers to cut a 4-inch length of brown pipe cleaner. Bend it into a "V" shape and slightly curl the tips. Slip the "V" in between the head and body and give it one twist to hold it in place. Cut out small ovals of yellow cardstock and layer a smaller piece of green cardstock over each, attaching with glue. Use hot glue to attach two eyes and a small green nose to each caterpillar head.
Step 3Fill in our invitation template with the details of your party, then print them on green cardstock and use scissors (or a craft knife) to cut them out. Use your hole punch to create caterpillar bites, and lightly score each leaf down the center.
Step 4To assemble, tuck one green leaf and one pom-pom caterpillar inside each jar. Screw a personalized lid onto each jar, and hand-deliver them to your lucky guests.

The cakes. Aiden will get a personal "Apple Cake" and everyone else gets Cake Pops. LOOOVE! I especially love the grassy mound the pops sit on. Couldn't be any cuter!!

Apple CakeIngredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light agave nectar
3 large eggs, brought to room temperature for 1 hour
Cream Cheese Frosting
Red Food Coloring (most markets now sell food coloring that is free of dye)

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, or one 9 x 13" baking pan.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Combine the milk and vanilla and set aside as well.

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides if necessary, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. With the mixer still on medium speed, slowly pour in the agave syrup. Stop to scrape down the sides when necessary until it is evenly incorporated and smooth again. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time until combined.

On low speed, add one half of the dry ingredients and mix until barely incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla mixture on low speed again, scraping down the sides to incorporate. Finish by adding the last half of the dry ingredients and mixing on low speed just until smooth, about 15-20 seconds. (Over-mixing will lead to a tough cake.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans.

Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted of the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and allowing them to cool completely.

Using a 4" round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut three circle of cake out of the cooled cake. (At this point you can cut the rest of the cake into smaller circles or squares for other people to enjoy.) Place one of the pieces of cake on a small saucer, then frost with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. Stack another layer, frost it, and place the third layer on top. Using a small serrated knife, cut the cake into the shape of an apple. Dust off the crumbs.

Color the rest of the frosting with food coloring until the desired color is reached. Frost the cake, making sure to leave a small “hole” in one of the sides to resemble the space for the caterpillar. Top with the decorative marzipan or candy for the leaf and stem.

Frost the other pieces of cake and decorate as desired.

Pop CakesIngredients
1 box white or yellow cake mix (or homemade cake), baked and cooled in a 9 x 13" pan
1/2-3/4 cup vanilla or cream cheese frosting
2 14-oz. bags green candy melts (available at crafts stores and baking supply stores)
1 14-oz. bag red candy melts
Decorations for the caterpillar's face: Candy “eyes” or yellow and green fruit candy strips for the eyes, sour candy straws for the antennae, fruit candy strips for the mouth.

Equipment
24 lollipop sticks
1 foam brick, green if possible, at least 8 x 4"
Green moss
Craft blue
Happy birthday letters

Preparation
When the cake has cooled, use your hands to crumble it into a large mixing bowl. The crumbs should be no larger than the size of peas. Add 1/2 cup of the frosting and stir to combine. To see if the cake pops will hold their shape, pinch a piece of the cake mixture between your fingers. If it sticks together, it's perfect. If not, add another 1/4 cup frosting and stir to combine.

Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands, form 1 1/2-inch balls of cake. Place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Make at least 1 dozen small cake balls for the caterpillar's body, then use a larger ice cream scoop or your hands to form a 2 1/2-inch ball for the head. (Make an extra one if they're fragile.) Once all of the balls have been formed, place them in the freezer for 1-3 hours.

Before removing the cake balls from the freezer, melt the green candy melts in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring in between until they're melted. (It should take 60-120 seconds total.) To form the cake pops, dip the end of one lollipop stick 1/2" into the candy melts. Poke the stick into a cake pop, making sure it only goes halfway through. (This will help the pop adhere to the stick.) Then dunk the entire pop into the melted green candy, and gently spin the pop over the bowl to remove any excess drips. Poke the lollipop stick into the Styrofoam to let the cake pop dry. Repeat with the remaining cake pops, then melt the red candy melts to complete the caterpillar's head. Once the candy coating has dried, decorate the head. Cut the straws into 3-inch pieces. Run a toothpick through each one, then use the bottom of the toothpick to attach the antennae to the head. Cut the candy strips into the shape of the eyes and mouth, then attach with a little bit of frosting.

Once the pops have set and are placed in the Styrofoam, glue the moss around the brick, then attach the letters of “Happy Birthday”, if using. Allow glue to dry before presenting the caterpillar.

Decorations
How to Assemble Lantern
1. To create your caterpillar's eyes, cut out two large yellow cardstock ovals (approximately 3" x 1.5"), then cut out two green ovals that are just slightly smaller. Use hot glue to attach the green ovals atop the yellow ones, and affix the eyes to the red lantern. To create the nose, cut out a small half-circle of green cardstock and glue it to the head.

2. For the antennae, fold each pipe cleaner in half and twist the ends together, and then kink the ends slightly. Use hot glue to attach the antennae just inside the top opening of the red lantern.

3. Cut seven lengths of clear fishing line for hanging. Tie one to each lantern. Hang the head first, using tape or a tack to attach it to the ceiling, and then hang the green lanterns in alternating shades behind it. To create the appearance of movement, adjust the length of the line for each one so they're not all at the exact same height

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Christmas in July?

So I have recently started talking to people about Christmas...and I have to post this or I will forget. :-) Yes people Christmas in July. I'm starting shopping in Sept...so I gotta get to it.

I have a few projects I want to do.... 1. Advent Calendar.

I'm not sure if Aiden will truly understand this Christmas this year, but I still want to do everything. :-) So let's start with the Advent Calendar....I remember having them as a kid, and I want Aiden to experience that. Well what's better than a homemade advent calendar! One that we reuse every year! All those savings :-) and personally made by Mommy! Double bonus.

So the hunt began for ideas.....Thanks to Tip Junkie there were LOTS there. I will take and grab from there, but below is the one I want to make. I love the concept of it! What kid doesn't love decorating a tree!

I can DEFINITELY make mine look better than this one....and ORGANIZE those pockets. They drive me crazy with all those empty spaces. lol But this is my starting point. 

Steps: Use felt as the background and the tree. I was thinking a Red background and a Green tree. Possibly even put a Yellow star at the top. Then for the pockets I will go and find some cute Christmas fabric. Now comes the fun part. Button hunting! Once I have 25 buttons, attach some Velcro behind them and DONE!

Cute right?!?! Then I was thinking on some of the days attaching a note to the button.

Example notes: "Makes cookies for Santa." "Watch a Christmas movie with Mommy and Daddy." etc....then when Aiden get's older do notes like "Give away a toy" "Make cookies for neighbors and friends"

But then my yearly tradition that's starting this year is the Christmas Eve present. So that will definitely be a note. What's the tradition.....new PJs! New PJs to wear to bed and wear on Christmas day. For the whole family not just Aiden. I'm excited about that one!!

Feeling Loved

As I announced in my last post about my new position...it was just announced to the world at work and I've been overwhelmed with the number of emails and pings of congrats, thank yous, and don't leave mes.

Today during our team meeting it was announced and needless to say everyone was SHOCKED and thought the Security group "stole" me, when I informed them I did interview and there was no stealing involved. lol I just had to explain this wasn't a "get me outta here" move, but a promotion move. Just stepping up the corporate ladder. Then all was good, but they were sad and I'm kinda sad too. I love my coworkers. But I'm excited for what's to come.

So I end with a few of the reasons why I love my users...they crack me up daily. A few memorable responses to finding out the news:

*NOOOOOOOOO! Who's gonna help me so patiently like you when i mess up again!! Like I always do?!
*You think ____ is gonna be your replacement!? Nooooo, I can't make stupid comments to them!
*No one will quickly look into the issues like you when I call them....I'm going to have learn to wait, and you know that is not in my vocabulary.
*What are they offering you? I will offer you 10 times as much if you come back. That is if you will take IOUs, because you know IP doesn't pay me that much.

etc. etc. etc. All day I have been cracking up. I love them! Like I said yesterday I feel so blessed and one really feels it during times like these. I just need to remember that always. :-)