The costume Parade

I swore off making Halloween costumes this year....But Reagan came home from school saying "MOM I have a great idea.  Since we are reading AliCe in WonDerLanD in school...I should be the queen of Hearts for Halloween."  After searching online for all of 10 minutes I realized how cheesy everything was...I headed to my home away from hom (aka the fabric store)

A few sleepless nights later...this is what I came up with. 

The crown was a total copy cat of one I saw on Etsy.  That was the funnest thing to make.

Hope Riley and Avery like it too..because someday it will be their Halloween costume too. :)

You know a child is growing up, when your pre teen gets invited to her first middle school party.  Madison has very definite tastes now.  No longer does she wear what ever I bring home.  She studies Latin at school and they learned about the Greek Gods.  So she wanted to be Aphrodite!!  I was not going to buy the $65 costume that she wanted. So here is what I came up with from her closet and a few cheap gold accessories.

This may be the last time you see her put pink on her body...or willingly let me put lots of makeup on her.  Yes, the sporty fun gal has emerged.  Maybe she just recognizes that her inner beauty far outshines the made up version.  But wow what a knock out. She is gonna be breaking hearts all over Utah.
But I still chase her around the house with lip gloss...saying "some Moms teach their kids to floss...but I teach my kids to GLOSS".

Now Riley is a different story.  I take fashion clues from her.  She has known what looks good together since before she was potty trained.  No lie. She just couldn't decide...so she had 2.  One a cave girl made from my fabric stash.  

The other a Spanish Princess.  I vote for look 2. 

Its more fitting of her diva demands!

And finally the littlest babe.  You have seen her as the bumble bee from her birthday party, which was her real costume.  But I had to show you this get up...she struted around in.

 
So there's our costume parade for 2010!
And one more peek...It was rainy and COLD...Go figure, its UTAH!

Queen Bee Avery

We all know that its the toddler that rules the house.  So when I was thinking what kind of birthday bash to throw for this little chunk...I reflected back to her previous shindigs.

• 1st Birthday- Little Witchy Poo
• 2nd Birthday- Little Monster Mash

I had to keep with the theme of this high energy (= high demanding) baby...so queen bee was what it  had to bee.  First I secured the outift ( you know I always have to dress them like the theme).

I knew the cake would be the 2nd most important thing to obsess over...so I spent many LONG hours searching the web for the perfect cake.  And here is what I came up with.  Everyone knows that I am NO cake decorator...but here was my shabby attempt.  It only took about 8 hours and a few curse words being said. I made the FAT bumblebees out of fondant...that sure is a sticky mess to make..but fun.

The cake was black and yellow striped inside...for each size layer I made a chocolate and a yellow cake.  I sliced the layers in half...so the finished product wouldn't be 6 feet high.  So I had a choc and yellow 9" layer...a choc and yellow 8" layer...a choc and yellow 7" layer...a choc and yellow 6" layer and FINALLY the top layer was a yellow cake that I baked in a metal bowl and inverted to be the top.  WOW WEE that was a lot of eggs, oil, sugar and flour.  I must have gained 5 pounds from licking the bowl for 9 layers.

I found the cool wire thingys for the bees to fly on at Michaels.  Good old Chef Duff from Ace of Cakes designed these fabulous-O things.

Next I hunted for BEE-u-tiful paper products and goodies to decorate the party.  Not an easy task in the middle of October.  This is usually a summer theme.  But found them I did.  Which really stung the pocket book.

As for the guest list...It included everyone she counts as "her friends"...no matter their age.  She thinks her sisters friends are hers too and the funniest she thinks her mommys friends are hers.  She talks about her friends Mrs.Jen, Mrs. Julianna, Mrs. Ellen.  So come one...come ALL.  We decided to have Bar-BEE-Q and feed everyone.  Daddy whipped up his spicy TEXAS brisket and we fed the whole herd.

It was another party for the record books (ok..so maybe only my record books).  And I am sure Avery, the Queen Bee will not remember a thing of the event.  But I sure will.

Sorry for all the cake pictures but it seems that it was what I focused on with all my pics.