Cupcakes For Kindergarten

I started taking cake decorating classes a few months ago, totally LOVE them. It started with our son's Bryan's birthday party. He wanted a How To Train Your Dragon Cake before the movie came out so of course all I could find were the toy figures for his cake and that was it. We were going to buy a cake from the grocery store but none of them were making them yet, so we made our own. It was great he said. I however had a wake up call that I needed to take some classes. Since we have 6 kids, it would be cool to make their birthday cakes. My poor husband had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Other than cakes for class, I have made Nick's birthday cake which was a 3d one that was suppose to be a dinosaur and ended up looking more like an iguana, lol. They all loved it none the less. I made a cake for our family's crawfish boil which I loved my fondant figures, hated the cake itself but it was a hit and got an order for the Halloween party that they do every year.

Next came an order from a friend of mine for a Twilight cake that I will be making and delivering the 1st part of July. I am excited and scared because black and red are the two hardest colors to get right but I have plenty of time to practice before then. I also am doing a surprise anniversary cake for a special couple I know but I can't say who just yet. I am making a cake for this weekend and cupcakes for our church Memorial Day gathering. By far my biggest challenge and project has been for Rice Elementary Kindergarten.

I wanted to make cupcakes for the boys classes but I was informed I had to do cupcakes for the entire Kindergarten, all 66 of them and 3 teachers. So I went online to find something I thought was cute and was on my way.

One night I baked 140 cupcakes because I over estimated how much cake batter it was going to take. The next night I turned everything in my kitchen a bright shade of blue as I began icing all the cupcakes except the chocolate ones which belonged to JT. The cookies were baked but needed to be decorated and so I employed my husband, for free of course, to help me out.

He cut chocolate bars for the tops of the graduation hats, he unwrapped mini reece's cups for the bottoms of the hats. As I dotted the cupcakes with icing he was sticking the together. He is not an artist by any means, at least he says that, so the cookies were all me.

JT was off work the next day so he took the cupcakes to the school only to be told that Bryan's class couldn't have theirs because his teacher neglected to mention you have to do for the entire grade. I was sad but he still got to eat them so he was happy.

Nick however, assisted his teacher, Mrs. T, in passing out the graduation cupcakes to the entire Kindergarten class who reminded me at their graduation that they were grateful.

I love what I do and look forward to mixing up icing when I get home, making some more cakes and designing even more as our 2 daughters and my husband's birthdays are all coming up.

TTYL! Have a Sweet Day

Reinventing Yourself

It's funny because it seems like my husband and I have been on this journey for quite some time, at the same time but didn't know the other was (I mean we did just get back together in January of this year and married him in March after 14 years apart).

For me it has been a LONG journey through all these dark, ugly places that led me to this clearing filled with light and surrounding me by all the beautiful people who have always been a part of my life and introducing me to ones I had yet to know. I am finally coming in to who I am as a person. For years I put on a show, a front, because I thought that's what people expected of me but I found me and I love being me almost all of the time. Life has it's ups and downs of course and there are things that go on that I don't like but I love my life. I love that I am discovering talents I didn't know I had, that I can embrace my hip hop loving, country living, garden planting, truck driving self and am accepted just as such. It felt so good for my mom to tell me she was proud of me for all that I have done with my life so far.

My husband has been on this journey too. He had a not so good marriage that lasted a little longer than what he needed it to but he is very responsible and mature and is one of those people who don't show that he is falling apart on the inside. Changes came a little quicker for him, though they too still took a few years. He moved away from the town we grew up in because it was such a black hole for him, he embraced who he was really, started finding himself, the old him that everyone loved, including me. Well with change sometimes comes some things we don't expect. I haven't shared this with anyone but I am going to. Almost a month ago we found out that next Friday is my husband's last day at his job. So he has been looking for a new one but decided that he would only focus his search closer to where we live.

We both currently commute over an hour one way, 5 days a week. So of course, like any wife, I begin to panic and we had our little discussion last night and today he got a phone call that we have been waiting for. He has an interview with a company not far from our house with benefits that are better than he has now and the same pay he makes now. I am so excited and thanking God for answering prayers. I told my husband this was his job and I am putting faith in God and claiming that this is his job.

My husband is the smartest man I know....why you ask?

We are going through some things at our house which I will leave private. Some of you know and some of you don't. Like any good wife, I am starting to get into panic mode about this situation. That's me and my high strung, put my feeling out there self. My husband on the other hand keeps everything to himself and shares little when it comes to situations where he knows I will freak out or panic.

Well today we had a discussion. This is one thing I love about my hubby is that we don't fight like I did in my 1st marriage or in the long term relationship I was in between my divorce and marrying my husband now. We have discussions which is nice because there is no screaming, yelling or name calling. We respect when the other person is talking and what they are saying. I guess when two people have dealt with the opposite before it makes the kind of fights aka discussions so much better. Plus we are adults aren't we suppose to be able to have discussions and differences in opinion without it getting ugly? lol

So I told him that I didn't want him to get upset about what I said. He let me say my piece and then looked at me with this very serious look but with compassion in his eyes and said you need to turn your P word into a different P word. Yes, I was confused too so he explained. You need to turn your panic into prayer.

The funny part about it all was that we were on our back porch while having this discussion and we were outside because that's where I was. I was outside staring up at the full moon and talking to God about everything.

My husband is a smart man because he understands what being a husband is, what being a friend is, how to handle stress and stressful situations in ways that help me not Panic or freak out. He is smarter than your average bear because he knows that it is really not something that we control anyway but it's all part of God's plan for our lives and we just have to embrace it as so.

I'm a lucky woman to have found my heart and I am lucky that he was crazy enough to marry and over bearing, high strung, opinionated woman like me. I love you JT.

Wordless Wednesday

For The Love Of A Stepmom

After the ordeal at graduation I figured I would take some time to get on my blog and talk about how hateful and ugly "it" was tonight but instead decided to do something different and that's talk about step-parents and how great they are.

I have a step-mom who has not liked me from day one and has been a wedge in the relationship that my father and I have to this very day. For some reason I feel as though she views me as a threat or maybe it's because I'm so much like my mom but I feel lucky because my step-dad is totally different. My step-dad is more like a dad to me than my real dad is most of the time. He loves me even though we don't share the same DNA, he dealt with me during my teenage rebellion years, corrected me when I was wrong, let me cry when I had my first heartbreak and has always been there for me even when my decisions weren't the best.

My daughter, Alexis, has an amazing step-mom who I thank God for each and every day. It wasn't easy at first to accept another woman in the role of mom in any manner when Erica first married Lexi's dad. I was hateful toward her and resentful but then it hit me one day: she loves my daughter, is good to my daughter and treats my daughter like she is her very own. I am blessed. She doesn't try and take my place, in fact we had an hour long conversation today about "our" daughter and what is going on with school and other things. She corrects Lexi when she is wrong, teaches her how to have manners and respect, takes an active role in her school and things that interest Lexi. Some may have a big problem with it and I did at first too but our daughter calls her mommy but when I am not there, Erica is her mommy because she chooses to be.

Now that I am a step-mom, I understand how hard that job really is. You love these children just like they are your own. You know they aren't and they know they aren't but you make no difference between them. You teach them right from wrong, you love them even when you don't agree with them, you take an active interest in their lives. you attend school functions, bake cupcakes for the entire Kindergarten because you love the kids. You aren't trying to take anyone's place and you don't ever expect to.

At times the biological parents make things more challenging than the ever have to be but you take it in stride. I wanted to react in a very major way with the things that took place tonight but in the end, I think of my sons and the love that they have for their daddy, their mother and for me and I could never do anything that would make them look at me any different.

I love my boys as much as I love the children I gave birth to and if that make others not like me I will not apologize nor will I change the fact that these precious angels are now a part of my life and I would give my own life if it meant they could keep theirs. So before you act cruddy toward the new spouse of your ex-spouse, take some time and evaluate what kind of person they are and how they treat your children rather than being worried or resentful that someone is trying to take your place because a real parent knows that won't happen and doesn't make it their mission in life.

A special thanks to my other baby's mama, Erica Odom, for doing something you are not obligated to do and that's love my daughter.

WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!

The winner of the business card giveaway is NICCI!
Congrats and I hope you put them to good use!

A big thanks to our friends at uprinting.com for sponsoring the giveaway!

140 cupcakes/30 cookies

So the baby of the 6 pack graduates Kindergarten tomorrow. For me it is bitter sweet because my baby boy is growing up, the end of the days of the baby and on into the big boy world. I remember when Joel started Kindergarten and then Junior High, I cried both times. When he was in Kindergarten he consoled me and told me he wasn't scared and I didn't have to cry. When he started Junior High he got embarassed because the once cool mom, at least I thought, was now embarassing him in front of the cool kids.

It hasn't been easy to get Nicholas through Kindergarten. Each day is a struggle to get him to listen, to stop playing and do his work so yes, it is a big deal in our house when he brings home a green face. In honor of him graduating, I decided I would make his class some graduation cupcakes, yeah, except I was informed that I would be making cupcakes for the entire Kindergarten.

Now we live in a small town, I mean small but we have a water department, a fire department and a post office along with the school that not only services our little town but the 2 other towns on either side of us so that makes Kindergarten a total of 66 kids not even counting the teachers. Now if I do something for Nicholas, I also have to do something for Bryan. Thank God it wasn't the entire 4th grade, lol.

So I decide I am going to use Duncan Hines box cake mix since I have so much success from them and that is what Wilton recommends also. Figuring, without reading the box of course, that I will need 8 boxes of cake mix to be on the safe side since 1 box must equal 1 dozen cupcakes.

Sparking up the 2 mixers I have in my kitchen, I embark on a mixing mission pouring each batch of vanilla cupcake batter into a giant red bowl I have. 7 cake mixes later the giant red bowl is filled to the top and I mix the chocolate cupcake mix while I begin filling cupcake liners. Well, let's just say my calculations were off by ALOT!

Including the chocolate cupcakes minus the 4 that JT and I ate some where in the middle, the count is at 140. For Nicholas' cupcakes they are going to have graduation caps on them made out of mini reese's cups, chocolate squares, blue mimi m&m's and icing (I'll post pics and instructions when i am done). For Bryan's we are going to ice them and put a sugar cookie on the top that has a bulldog footprint (again will post pics).

Thank God I have no homework tonight so I can come home, make dinner for the hubbs and start on the completion of my little master pieces. I guess I should be getting off here for awhile and getting ready to go to that nasty place known as my job. ttyl.

Giveaway is now closed!

Our first ever giveaway is officially closed! We will be announcing the winner this week! Good luck to you all!

First Ever Giveaway! 500 Business Cards!!

Some of you may or may not know this but I have been having the time of my life with blog giveaways! I have won many things and my friends at www.uprinting.com have given my the opportunity to host my own giveaway!





500 Business Cards

2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)

14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock

Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing

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Color Business Cards - http://www.uprinting.com/Business-Cards.html

printing services - http://www.uprinting.com/


Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only. Must be 18 years old and up.

How to Enter:

Be sure to include your email address in each comment so I know how to contact you.

1. You must be a follower (1 entry)
2. Tell me what you will be using the cards for (1 entry)
3. Follow me on Twitter (1 entry-see sidebar)
4.Follow me on Facebook (1 entry-see sidebar)


Contest end May 21, 2010! Winners will be announced on May 22, 2010.
You will have 48 hours to confirm you won or the next person will we awarded the prize.

Crawfish Cake

I have been taking Wilton Cake Decorating Classes. I am in course 2 currently which, due to a recent change at Wilton is no longer like the older course 2 so my amazing Wilton instructor at JoAnn's fabrics, Lisa, is somehow combining the old course 2 with the new course 2. Let me say that I love my class almost as much as I love Wilton.

This weekend my cousins are hosting a crawfish boil. They do this a couple of times a year and since I need practice working with fondant and my husband is tired of eating cake, I decided to make a cake to take to the gathering.

I used Wilton's pre-colored fondant for the corn and the crawfish. I love the pre-colored fondant because making it the exact color you are trying to get is not always easy. The only draw back is that fondant is not cheap and this was a 4 pack of primary colors so the individual packages weren't very big but the colors turned out great.

I started with the corn first. I was 3/4 of the way through the 1st ear of corn when the hubby said "Wow, that looks like real corn"! I am not good at making things look realistic so the crawfish are both cartoonish in nature but I like them. The potatoes are just rolled fondant with Wilton's brown food coloring gel brushed on to them.

I am looking forward to putting the cake together tonight and diving in on Saturday. Having something sweet to cut through the spice of the crawfish boil mix will be nice.

Have a sweet day.

check out this giveaway! I did

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The 1st time with the whole 6 pack

Since we got married on March 7th, we had our first outting with the 6 pack. That's what we call our 6 children. We went to eat in downtown Midlothian, Texas since my oldest 3 children had to also attend their grandfather's 79th birthday party that afternoon. It was interesting to get our whole family together. We looked more like a school field trip and we got lots of stares. It was amazing how well everyone got along, like they had known each other the entire time.

My husband was a little quiet but this is my favorite outting with my family since it is the first one. Can't wait for summer so we can spend more family time together.