Beflowered Zebra Cake & Western Horse Love Cake

I'm in love with the two cakes I got to do over the past week. 

The first may be my all-time favorite.

It was huge and heavy. 

The "12" was a lesson learned.  Any topper like that must have at least two days to dry before assembly.  The two kept shrinking (and eventually toppled in the middle of the party, I'm told). 

Mostly I had fun trying out the dahlia-style flowers. Because it felt like play. The purple ones were glittery, but it translated into dusty for the picture.  I loved it in person. 

The second cake was patterned after an incredibly cute pair of boots.  Brown leather on bottom, jean-colored leather with inset red hearts on top.  And fancy stitching.  Of course, there was fancy stitching.  So I copied the boot pattern on the two tiers and topped it all with a cutesy horse. 

Cake design is addictive. 

Cake & Celebration

Birthday festivities were tonight to accomadate busy grandparents.  It was a lovely, quiet evening.

  

Davyn helped me design this Mario Brothers themed cake.  He is relentless in seeking perfection.  Every color, shape, size had to meet his approval. He even insisted that I research by watching him play the Wii. 

For dinner he chose:  "that good chicken that Dad grills", parmesan tilapia, and salad.  What 6-year-old has that combo as his dream dinner?!  He had seconds of the tilapia and then begged thirds. 

A big thank you to Papa for keeping our Azure entertained (and delighted).  You have definitely earned your clown wages (and a little girl's heart)!

Eagle Scout Cake

I daydream as I cake (yes, the word is now a verb here). 

And as I decorated this one, and considered that my Aidan's scouting career begins this year with his 8th birthday, I imagined the many Eagle celebrations in my future.  This design is a good start, but I may have to get more creative as we go.  

What else happened as I decorated?

Miss Azure's arms are getting long.  I do realize that I'm not the most observant human (especially when I'm deep in concentration), but the girl grabbed this apple sauce from the table and managed to open and suck it dry without my notice. 

Thanksgiving and cousins and Christmas

Thursday morning Davyn asked, "so when does Thanksgiving start?"  Well, the whole day is Thanksgiving, so it already started.  The answer clearly did not satisfy.  So he asked again.  And again.  And with each repeated explanation, he grew more and more annoyed.

The boy finally found satisfaction when I changed my answer to:  Thanksgiving starts when we get to Grandma's house. 

Perfect. 

Grandma Kay and Papa definitely know how to entertain kids.  With chickens and turtles, climbing trees and a huge backyard, it's one of my boys' favorite places to be. With a quiet backroom for sleeping babies and a napping couch for tired moms in the upstairs theatre room, I wasn't complaining either. 

The food was delicious, and we enjoyed a relaxing day with Jim's family.

I never think to take family shots, but saw this on Shanon's blog and stole it (thanks!) because it perfectly encapsulates my biggest Gratitude.  I love these four humans I get to call mine!

On Saturday we enjoyed all of the Hendrix cousins.  Since JoDee was visiting from Utah, Megs came up from Tucson and we had a cousins party/Christmas gift exchange.  Imagine 17 cousins ages 16 to 1 (but mostly 5-8) in my house.  What you're imagining is Chaos.  But I still love seeing them all together.  Andersyn helped me make the decorations for this cake we made for that night.

I love spending time with my sisters and mom.  The only humans in the world who can get me to wake up at 2:30 a.m. on Friday morning to shop.  They not only make me laugh, but they always manage to inspire me with ideas that make my life better.  

After writing this, here's my vow for Christmas/December:  more pictures!