Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party

We had Dallin's birthday party today.  It was the coolest coldest party we've been too.  So we are really grateful to our friends for hanging out in the wind for us.  Just for the record, the average temperature today is in the 70's!

 The invite (mailed out ones didn't say to come as a pirate!)  Dallin wanted a "Jake" party.  From Disney Juniors show Jake and The Neverland Pirates.  The show is so new you can't buy anything from it.  So I am very grateful  Disney put these free printable invitations on their website!

 Thank you gift bags had a ring pop, eye patch, some "gold" candy, Jake bubbles I created, Jake coloring pages from the Disney website, and crayons.

We loved the location of the party.  The park is on the lake...perfect for little pirates!  And this slide looks like water.  They loved racing each other on it!

 It was too windy to lite the candle.

Food was put into sand buckets and other sand toys.

 And every pirate needs a {balloon} sword and eye patch.  I learned how to make the swords on YouTube.  Super easy!

We made this poster print of Dallin so we could play pin the eye patch on Captain Dallin.  But it was super windy, and after wind blew a drink over on it, (thank goodness it had been framed!)we decided to just keep it safe in the car.

My New Hobby

And we can blame Grandma P.!  For Dallin's last birthday he received a kit to make balloon animals.  We just opened it two days ago,{and yes I know his next birthday is in 10 days.}

So finally instead of hiding it, like I've done for the past year every time it managed to be re-found, I looked up how to make balloon swords.



After about 6 swords, the boys convinced me today that they needed parrots.  So, I googled that (what on Earth did mom's do before google??!!)   And what do you know...now I can do parrots too! {click HERE for video}  And I am thinking this is pretty fun.  And I like making balloon animals!  In fact I plan on making swords for Dallin's pirate party next month...and I am looking forward to it!

I even got Jerret in on the excitement, and he took over on the first try of the parrot, basically after the first two steps.  But I got to make the second {purple}one!

Mad Scientist

Today we had a party to celebrate JC's birthday.  He invited his two closest friends.  We had a blast doing science experiments and playing science themed games.  

The kids safety goggles I ordered still haven't made it since weather has caused package mayhem, but the kids didn't care.  JC plans to still hand deliver them to his friends once they've arrived.

 The little scientist.

Lab coats were just mens plain white t-shirts cut down the front. 

I gave each child  a name tag with Dr. their name.

We made their hair crazy with gel and mousse.

Creating their own shade of frosting and decorating mini bunt cakes.
How awesome are the sprinkles in vials?   I found those at Targets after Halloween clearance last year.  Worked out perfectly!

 Everyone needed a candle to blow out for good luck!

Atoms and Molecules ice cream!

The funky glasses were won in a game of Operation.  Each time they successfully removed an item they got to pick a gift, trade theirs, or keep what they had.  Amazingly in the end everyone got what they wanted most!

Blowing out the candles!

Here is a link to the flask cake, I kind of tried out my own thing with my mini bunts, it wasn't awesome.

Funny Cake

Yesterday was the Blue and Gold Banquet. For center pieces my friend Karla and I had ask all our boys to collect 100 of something {it's the 100th year of scouting} and find a creative way of displaying it for the table. Karla and I decided we would make giant cupcakes to display our 100.

I decided to do 100 mini marshmallows. Actually I thought about doing Teddy Grahams but that's a lot of little bears. I felt that a S'mores theme was appropriate with scouting though. So I made a yellow cake with crushed graham crackers, mixed in some mini chocolate chips. Then between the top and bottom layer I filled it with marshmallow cream and chocolate frosting.

Finally came the really fun part —decorating! So I proceeded by covering the bottom layer (or the cupcake cup) with chocolate frosting and mini Hershey bars. Then came the top. I covered this in marshmallow cream, then tried to swirl in chocolate frosting over that. Finally I place on my 100 mini marshmallows, the Teddy Grahams, and chocolate chips.

I thought it looked pretty cute. So I got my camera to take a picture to send to the hubs who is out of town (and also thought I was crazy when I told him what I had planned for my cupcake.)

After I took the picture I noticed something. The top had more white than I remembered. As if I had forgot to decorate a good chunk of the top. Then upon better inspection I realized all the toppings, starting with the chocolate were sliding off the marshmallow cream. I wasn't sure what to do. I guess I could have pulled everything off and tried to redecorate the thing. But that seemed time consuming and MESSY! So instead I stuck in in the freezer hoping to freeze the toppings in place. And it worked!

So after almost forgetting it as the boys and I rush out the door. I get it in my car and get it to the B&G in one piece. I get it placed on the table and purposely face the sliding place to the back of the room to "hide" it. Then my boys and I sit down at the same table. My friend Karla, her husband and boys soon show up. They sit at the table too. We laugh about my cake and then the dinner starts.

Dinner was entertaining. I keep looking at the cake and since it's no longer in the freezer its started up again with the sliding. It was like watching a train wreck in sloooooooooow motion. Little by little it's sliding, until plop a chunk falls off. So we feed it to the kids, then another clump, and another. By the time we have finished our dinner, honestly the whole back half was gone. I should have taken a picture of this but I was just so darn embarrassed over the thing!

So my long story has a point. They say scouting delivers many skills and life lessons to the boys. Let me tell you it's not just the boys. My life lesson I've learned from scouting is that sticky as marshmallow cream is, it does NOT make a good adhesive for frosting. Who knew?  So if you feel like making your own giant s'mores cupcake, use frosting.  :)

Your welcome for sharing this valuable lesson with you. Now you don't have to learn this one the hard way.

My first attempt at Marshmallow Fondant

I have to admit I am pretty proud of myself. It was my first time making and using MM (marshmallow fondant.) My friend Becky made a really fun cake for her daughters birthday with MM and she was nice enough to get me started on my attempt. I started the process on Wednesday of sketching out what I wanted the cake to look like and then making the MM and coloring individual balls in the colors I would need. Yesterday I baked two cakes in 4 different pans then froze them. Today was the day to bring it all together.

D. loves Rocket from Disney's Little Einsteins but I didn't want a "Rocket" cake. I decided on a Little Einsteins Pirate adventure instead.

So finally here it is my first attempt at MM.
here it is "naked."

And here it is finished.