Homefront: A Balloony Birthday

I wanted Caleb to have a little surprise for his 5th birthday when he came home from school, so I made a balloon doorway for him. There were balloons laying around his room so he could play with them, before his brother came home from school. He really had such a blast!

 

 

He is so excited to be a 5 year old big boy!

I have my mom's cake decorating box from when we were kids, so we have a lot of vintage pieces there. These dinosaurs once graced a cake of my brother's when he was a wee kiddo.

Caleb has been asking for a monster truck for years now, and he has gotten lots of cheaper

 remote control cars, but this was the real deal that he tested out when we went to Bass Pro Shops.

 

And of course, no party is complete without balloon popping belly fights! And no pants.

 

Sweet Treats: The Cake Thief

My hubs turned 32. His work had some big shenanigans, than gave him this monster cake. I, (okay, my mom) baked him a b-day cake (chocolate by request), and me not being a fantastic decorator (which I fully intend to remedy one day, well my Halo one was awesome)... outright STOLE the flowers off of the store cake and put them on the chocolate one. Ah-ha! It was spectacular, trick candles and all. And oh boy, did that bad boy smoke!!

The pilfered flowers had some smudging, so I just did some slight camouflaging with the chocolate icing

and used a toothpick to blend the weird edges, and it turned out alright. Sprinkles helped, naturally. By putting foil around the bottom of your cake, you can freely frost it without getting icing smudges all over the cake stand. Then you just pull the foil bits out and it's nice and clean!

 

 

 Yes, he got a venus fly trap, homemade cards, balloons and hugs and kisses for his birthday. 

I also made his favorite dish, chicken enchiladas... my first time! Recipe coming soon :)

 Some people say we look alike. We got confused for a brother and sister the other day  Oo

The trick candles kept relighting, it was a family effort to get them all out. In order to avoid a cake full of spit, we eventually resorted to throwing them in a bowl full of water.

 

 

DIY Birthday Cupake Toppers

It was my oldest child's 6th b-day and we are only allowed to bring store bought cupcakes to school. Since we weren't having a party for him, I really wanted to do something relatively fun for his kindergarten class. I checked out our local store's bakeries and all they had were these neon colored frosted cupcakes, so I bought these cute eye candies thinking I could decorate them as monsters. When I asked my sweet hubs to pick up cupcakes, he brought these home, (he went to a different place). They look kind-of meh for a kid, and all of my colorful ideas/supplies were not working. So I found ton's of super cute free online printable cupcake toppers, like LEGO Star Wars, Angry Birds, robots and such... but alas, our printer wasn't working! So, I raided my scrapbook paper stash (haven't updated it in years by the way) and found a square of camouflage. Pretty much the only thing that would work, since the baby blocks, pastel flower paper or shabby chic damask prints clearly was not going to work for a 6 year old little guy!

 (They tasted better than expected too!)

 
I cut bamboo sticks in half, making sure to get rid of any sharp ends, stamped out some circles and tied on some twine, and viola, decorated cupcakes. A lot easier than expected. I only had one size circle punch, so I stamped all of them with it, then handcut the camo ones a wee smaller to there would be brown space showing around the edges. Of course, I used hot glue for everything. So, you can make your own simple cupcake toppers, in a hurry even, much easier than I thought and you really don't need that many supplies.

My happy 6 year old birthday boy! Unfortunately, my camera is on it's last legs and doesn't take very good 'action shots', one reason why there is a serious lack of original photos right now!

Andrew Rose Gregory: Funding The Song of Songs

Andrew Rose Gregory is a multi-talented and ultra friendly independant musician who is in need of some funding. He has started a kickstarter project, in which they will only fund his project if he makes his donation goal. He only has 14 days left to get about $5000 in donations, so if everyone spreads the word and pitches in a small pledge to donate, his lovely album of "The Songs of Songs" can be released. Plus, he promises goodies in return. Here is how he describes it:

"Over the past 5 years, i've been working on an album based on The Song of Songs, an ancient love poem that most people know from reading The Hebrew Bible or The Old Testament.

While most of my albums in the past have been modestly arranged folk albums, this one has turned into a beautiful sprawler - an orchestral indie-folk-rock album with horns, a stand-up bass, a grand piano, & my sister-in-law Sarah singing half of the songs - as about half of The Song of Songs is spoken by a woman.


The songs span a whole range - - from tender duets, to brash up-tempo numbers in unorthodox time signatures, to these weird little instrumental duets that we improvised in the studio.


I recorded the album a year & a half ago, & while i really believe this is the most beautiful piece of music i've ever made, i've struggled to find a record label to release it. at this point, i'm scared that this record is going to be lost, & that people will never hear it.


But! this being the year 2011, i'm hoping that you & i can be the record label that this album needs, & get it out for the world to hear.


thanks so much for your help.


andrew rose gregory"

Here, he and his family (Evan, Michael, Andrew and Sarah of schmoyoho/auto-tune the news/ gregory brothers fame) sang me a Happy Birthday in April on the Digitour. See? I told you they were nice!

Chatting with the Gregory Brothers.

what the crap am I doing with my hand?

Evan, Michael, Me, Sarah and Andrew

Sarah, David (my husband), Me and Evan  (Sarah and Evan are married to each other.)

Homefront: Easter Mantel

 It feels like it's been a very long since since a mantel post, but really, it was only since the Valentine's mantel... I've probably changed it already about 4 times since then. But for some reason I only did the Easter mantel today... crazy late for me. I haven't posted a single Easter idea post this year. Here's last years Easter mantel, for reference sake. And though, personally, I'm less of a bright bunny rabbit, chicky Easter type gal, and more of a neutral and lovely, Lettered Cottage Spring decor girl, but I do it for the kids. They just love the holiday mantel changes, and it is growing on me as well.

I got this little big guy for $7.. he's adorable!

I think I've been so excited about seeing the Gregory Brothers/Auto Tune the News/ Schmoyoho for my birthday tonight that I haven't been thinking clearly. It's funny, the last concert I went to was on my 21st bday.

For Easter this year, we are doing a long church activity, complete with a little church field trip to our local temple and do some temple work as well. I really think it's going to be a wonderful experience and will help balance the spiritual side of Easter with the chocolate bunnies, colored eggs and jellybeans side.

 my favorite vintage bunny

 "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said." Matthew 28:6

“In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: ‘He is not here: for he is risen.’”

“As one of His special witnesses on earth today, this glorious Easter Sunday, I declare that this is true, in His sacred name—even the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior—amen.”
—President Thomas S. Monson

Read, watch, or listen to President Monson’s April 2010 conference address “He Is Risen!”
You can also view the list of scriptures referenced in this video.