Princess and the Pea, Part Two

Well, 8 hours and 6 cans of frosting later, I had a Princess and the Pea birthday cake. And it almost turned out the way I envisioned it. My original plan included buttercream frosting made from scratch, but I quickly realized my frosting recipe would not yield the amount I was going to need: this cake was 6 layers (even though the mattresses give the illusion of only 4 layers), so that ate up a great deal of frosting. Plus, I had to put a few coats on the outside, before tinting it different colors and making the mattresses. Quite the project, I tell you.

I was pretty nervous about the chocolate scrollwork for the headboard and footboard, but using cocoa melting candies instead of just melted chocolate chips really made it more sturdy. Although, I did resemble one of those chefs on the Food Network Challenge shows (you know the ones that make those fragile, elaborate cakes that run about 5 feet high?) when I carried the cake from the refrigerator to the table, as the crowd assembled to ooh and ahh and keep the path clear of any obstacles.

In the end, I had one very surprised girl (it wasn't easy working on my confectionery masterpiece without her seeing it -- I told her she mustn't see it beforehand). It's important to keep the birthday cake a surprise, I think. So, she cutely covered her eyes with one hand while feeling around blindly with the other, every time she passed through the kitchen -- which happened often because, as I mentioned, this cake took me 8 hours over the course of 2 days to finish. Totally worth it. Thank goodness for video cameras, because I didn't get to see the look on her face when I brought it into the room. I was too busy trying to sing "Happy Birthday" and not drop the towering inferno onto the carpet (no one else wanted the responsibility of carrying it, lest if fall apart from point A to point B).


Roo's real birthday is this week, and we will celebrate with just the four of us on that day. I will be making a second cake for this second party. No, I'm not crazy enough to try to pull off another themed cake. In fact, cupcakes are sounding pretty good (and easy!).

Princess and the Pea, Part One

For Roo's 4th birthday, we are celebrating with a Princess and the Pea theme. The Princess and the Pea fairy tale has been one of her favorites since receiving a big book of rhyming (I know, there I go again with the rhyming) fairy tales when she was 1 year old. The book was from a librarian friend of my mom's, and it has been opened up more than half of our books put together. My husband loves it because the stories are short and sweet, each fairy tale nicely wrapped up in 12 pages or less.

So, it seemed fitting to make this particular fairy tale the theme for our princess.

I've been working on a canvas and fabric decoration to hang above Roo's bed. I gathered a dozen or so of her most worn and loved clothes from her babyhood. This is a great way to recycle baby clothes you couldn't part with (especially ones with stains, since you can snip around the less desirable parts. And yes, I saved many, many outfits: stains and all). I certainly had no shortage of pink fabric to choose from! But it is Princess and the Pea, after all, isn't it? A palette of pink seemed like a must. For the headboard and foot board, I used some chocolate brown corduroy that I used to make her some winter pants a few years back. I think the wales in the corduroy lends a nice, grainy, wood look.

I merely layered swatches of fabric as the mattresses. I made some striped fabric yo-yo's out of one of her co-sleeper bed sheets. Inside each yo-yo I placed a fabric-covered, circular piece of cardboard. All that's left to do is use my alphabet stamps and some sage green ink to stamp her name: one letter per circle. Then it will be all set to adorn her bedroom wall for many years (I'm hoping she'll want to keep it forever, maybe even take it off to college for her dorm wall?? A mom can dream!).

My next post will cover Princess and the Pea, Part Two: the birthday cake. Other than the cake decorating class I took as part of 4-H when I was eleven, I haven't had much practice decorating cakes (proof of evidence: Rascal's robot cake). Wish me luck!

Our Boy turns the Big "1"

The Birthday Boy peeking outside, awaiting the arrival of his guests.

We celebrated Rascal's first birthday on the heels of returning from our trip. (Note to self: Don't plan on returning from vacation the night before hosting a big party -- especially if you haven't baked and decorated the cake yet, shopped for party food/decorations, or wrapped any presents. Yeah, not sure where my head was on that one).

Despite my lack of pre-planning and a very, very late night of birthday party prep-work, it was a fun day filled with balloons, laughs, family, and the excitement that swirls around children and birthdays. We went with a robot theme, mostly because Roo really likes robots, and Rascal is too young to care. Roo was more than happy to help Rascal open his presents, and play with them for him too.

I appliqued him a robot outfit to fit with our theme (and I was feeling nostalgic, so all the fabric I used came from his infant onesies and receiving blankets).

The robot cake, which Roo helped me decorate. You think you know what a robot looks like until you try to make a cake that resembles one!

Unfortunately, Rascal did spend a good part of his birthday feeling under the weather. He was feverish and congested at the start of the party. By party's end, he was flushed, glassy-eyed, and a limp ragdoll in my arms. Poor guy.

I took him upstairs and rocked with him while reading the birthday book I bought for him. It's called If I Could. It is simple and sweet. It's one of the few books I've come across that celebrate the relationship between mother and son. I've seen lots of mother/daughter or father/son books, but very few mother/son books geared toward the younger crowd. Anyway, it doesn't have many words on each page (and the ones it does have, rhyme -- I know I've mentioned my affinity for rhyming text in children's books), which is one of the reasons I bought it.

Rascal just doesn't have the attention span for reading books that his sister has (and had, even at less than 1 year of age, she could sit and listen to me read until my voice was hoarse). The fact that he sat completely still and we shared a tender moment reading together confirmed what I had already suspected: he was sick, sick, sick. For the first time in history, he didn't even attempt to grab at the pages or close the book prematurely. And, sure enough, he got sick, sick, sick just shortly after I put him to bed. Literally. All over the sheets, comforter, and floor. Ugh. Not a good way to end his birthday. Fortunately, as my husband said, "At least he won't remember it."

On to some of the "loot":

Any child of the 70's will recognize this toy: the Fisher-Price garage with elevator! My sister and I played with this exact one. My sister's son and my daughter played with it, and now Rascal gets to see what all the fun is about! (P.S. Thanks for saving it, Mom!)

This delightful board book edition of Virginia Lee Burton's "The Little House."
We have two other books by her, "Katy and the Big Snow" and "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel," which are regular reads around here.


Wooden fire truck from A Toy Garden
(yes, that is the crown I so lovingly and painstakingly sewed for him, tossed aside in the background)

A piggy bank (that is actually a puppy) from Archiver's. Roo received a piggy bank for her first birthday from my aunt, and I thought that was such a classic gift idea! I especially liked that this bank says, "Little Buddy," which is what Roo calls her brother. :) She was more than happy to fill it for him with the little bag of money that I included with it.

Rascal is a joy and a treasure. At the same time, he has pushed me way beyond my limits as a parent. And yet, each day I get up I can't wait to go back for more! My feelings for him have certainly evolved over the past year. And while it took a little longer than I had hoped, he"fits" with us now. Or, more accurately, he has molded us to fit him!! ;) We are blessed indeed.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Sibling Love

I hope these random acts of kindness between sister and brother continue for years to come.

-Head on over here for more Wordless Wednesday links-

Back to Normal

We have returned. What a trip. It was so nice to take a break from the day-to-day routine. Even though the weather was less than cooperative:

The rain began almost the moment we pulled away from the house. By the time we reached the mountains, the rain had turned to snow. Blowing, whirling, snow mixed with hail! Hmm...this was going to be interesting.

The snow had ceased, but the wind off the water made the rainy day feel twice as cold!

We were determined not to be deterred by the rain! We drove along the winding roads, always on the lookout for moose--which we were told were everywhere. I really wanted to see a moose up close and personal, so as to snap a picture. But no luck.

Roo so wanted to go swimming, but I was pretty sure hypothermia would put a damper on our vacation. She settled for running along the water's edge and drawing pictures in the wet sand.

Mark, who is normally not known for observing or noticing nature's subtle beauty, snapped this photo of the mountains in the morning mist (just around the corner from our cabin!).

We had one partly sunny morning, so I let my children (who both must be part fish or something--they cannot get enough of the water) dip their feet in. Those cute, pudgy piggies turned purple in a hurry!

A pile of dandelions lovingly picked and set out for me by my sweet girl!

Ah, here comes the sun (less than an hour before our departure -- figures, doesn't it?). We took the kids to a huge dandelion meadow that I had been eyeing for days, thinking a romp through there would be fun. Roo protectively helped her brother walk among the flowers because "the ground is lumpy and he's going to fall and smoosh too many 'dannalines.' "

Make a wish, Roo!

I made a wish for more moments like these.

These horses made for pretty scenery right outside our door.

Gorgeous, snow-capped peaks in just about every direction you looked!

Lots of lush, green meadows at the base of the mountains.

It was wonderful having the freedom and time (read: no agenda) to just meander down any path we chose, looking for neat spots to explore ("let's go 'sploring' " was a common phrase used by our adventure-loving daughter).

So nice to take a journey together! And even though the unpacking and laundry piles have seemed endless since our return, there really is no place like home.

A Little R & R...

I'll be taking a few days off from this blog, as we're off on a little getaway! Call it a pre-birthday celebration, if you will. We're all very excited since it will be the first vacation we've taken as a family of four. Hopefully the new sleeping arrangements won't interrupt the routine too much. I don't think it will be an issue, though. The new surroundings (gorgeous, at that) and more exercise and fresh air than they've probably ever experienced, will hopefully lead to peaceful slumbers. A Mama can hope, can't she?!

I will be taking lots of pictures, and I look forward to sharing some of them with you upon my return. Whatever your plans may be for the rest of the week, hope you have a wonderful time (that goes double for you, J!). Take care, everyone!

All About the Birthday Crowns!!

They are finished! And with a week to spare! Amazing, really. I hemmed and hawed over color, trim, accent choices. I snuck in a few minutes here and there, careful to hide them from the children (I can't tell you how many times my daughter has found a special creation I was working on for her, thus forcing me to either abandon the project or wait long enough before unveiling it that she has forgotten she ever saw it). But, this time, I was especially stealth-like.

There are so many beautiful variations of birthday crowns out there: like here, and here, and these too. You are only limited by your imagination. I followed the basic directions from this book, changing it just slightly by adding a fabric cover to hide the elastic around the back. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I used that beautiful plant-dyed wool felt I ordered from A Child's Dream Come True.

For the accents on the side of my daughter's crown, I chose some clear buttons with tiny violet pansies pressed inside. I chose flowers because they seemed symbolic of her: beautiful, hardy and yet a wee bit fragile, and a personality that is ever-blooming.

(Fortunately, it looks much better in person! Sorry for the blurry picture of the buttons)

For my son's crown, I wanted it to look regal, with a touch of "naturalness," as he is already showing a fondness for being outside and getting his hands in the dirt. If he were old enough to have a collection of something, I think it would be twigs and bark. He is fascinated by both. That's why I chose coconut-carved leaves, which have a nice, thick, wood-feel. As the flowers on Roo's crown symbolize ever-changing beauty and delicacy, the carved leaves on Rascal's crown symbolize strength and the changes we've witnessed in him during this first year. And as the leaves change with the passage of the seasons, we will have the pleasure of watching him evolve in a constant state of change too. Such an exciting time, when they seem to change almost before your eyes!
I really, really enjoyed this project. There was just something about making an object of permanence (unlike the clothes that they outgrow so quickly): something that will be pulled out each year and presented on that special day. I visualized them wearing their crowns this year and for, hopefully, many years to come. I tried to pick colors and trims to suit them. I wanted the crowns to be uniquely them: now and in the future. Not too babyish, so as to grow with them through the years. As I sewed, I flashbacked to the days of their births, Roo's nearly 4 years ago, and Rascal's almost 1 whole year ago. My, what wonderful changes we've seen, in them and in my husband and me too. Amazing, miraculous changes -- so much to celebrate!