A Night in Paris

For my birthday I really wanted to have a nice mellow night with a few besties and no kids! ;)  Gregory was awesome and ambitious enough to take the kiddos out to Red Robin for a nice romantic dinner while the girls hung out and did our share of girl talk and then buried into the couch to watch Midnight in Paris.

The Menu was simple (it was my birthday after all, I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen) & delicious.

We had an assortment of French Cheeses.  Brie, Comte & Boursin 

Assorted Quiche (Spinach, Mushroom & 3 Cheese) as well as simplified Croque Monsieur's (Ham & Cheese) Croissants

The salad was Bibb Lettuce with Apple, Toasted Walnuts and Roquefort Cheese.  Then topped with homemade Vinaigrette.

Princess Birthday Cake Castle

Sophia has always been near and dear to our hearts ever since she was born.  When Trina asked me to make Sophia's 4th Birthday cake, I was very excited.  Sophia's favorite themes were Princess and Barbie, so Trina and I started researching some cake ideas.  Even little Sophia did some research on her own.  I had never made a two-tiered cake before so I thought, now is the perfect time.  A little princess deserves a two-tiered cake for her birthday.  I had a lot of different ideas in my head but after going through cake cookbooks with Sophia and getting a feel for her favorites, I knew we had to do something with Barbie and her Castle... 

And this is what was created...

Sophia and all of her girlfriends crowded around the birthday cake as she blew out the candles and made her wish.

 It was worth every minute of baking & decorating to see Sophia and a room full of 4-year-old's eyes light up, when they saw the castle cake.

Captain Mason's 1st Birthday Party!

Our Good friend's Ashleigh & Archie threw an amazing Pirate Party for there son Mason's 1st birthday!  

I was able to help contribute to the pirate theme celebration by making the dessert table.

The treasure chest was a lot of fun to assemble.  I used Hershey's Gold & Silver Nuggets, Gold and Silver Chocolate Coins, Ring pops and Candy Necklaces for the "Treasures."

The amazing Pirate Ship Cake was made by Cinderella Cakes (www.cinderellacakes.com)

 It was a the perfect "centerpiece" for the dessert table!

This was my first time using royal icing on sugar cookies.  (You would think with my love of baking it wouldn't take me 32 years to decorate a cookie with royal icing).  It was definitely intimidating because I wanted everything to be perfect, but I can't be too hard on myself for my first try!  And most importantly they were delicious!!  I am excited for more cookie decorating/practice/tasting in the near future! :)

Ashleigh really wanted to try and keep the table colorful and fun because it was for just a little one's birthday after all!  I decided to keep the frosting colors bright and fun and I couldn't resist when I saw the adorable pirate themed cupcake decorations.  I especially loved the ship and parrot cupcake toppers!

These adorable pirate skull lollipops were found online

The Canon balls were really easy and fun to make.  When the Rice Krispies were ready, I used a cookie scoop to shape the rice krispie treats into balls.  They were chewy and delicious and I added some red and blue sprinkles to the mix to bring a little color to treat!