Happy Birthday to my boys

Have you ever noticed that when something goes wrong in your life, it is usually at the worst possible time? I dislocated my kneecap and tore a ligament in my knee 3 weeks ago. After 2 weeks on crutches, (and incidently, have you ever tried to bake and decorate cookies or cakes on crutches? Trust me, you don't want to.) my doctor decided after the MRI that I probably would not need surgery. YAY!! I apparently did not hear the last part of that statement, "at this time".
During the 3rd week, when I could finally put weight on it without wanting to die, I had 3 of my 4 boys birthdays, the same 3 kids with baseball games and practices every day, plus cookie orders for 2 weddings and a birthday, a total of 320 cookies. Oh yes, and the church bake sale. So I spent most of the last week standing. On a leg that I was not yet supposed to be standing on. So I am now back to having a knee 3 times its normal size, and bruised from mid- thigh to mid-calf. I have a horribly sinking feeling I may have just pushed myself into needing that surgery. Oh, AND, my camera died! Yippee!
Long story short, I have had a seriously crappy few weeks. Ok, enough of my venting.
Almost.
What do you do when 3 kids having 1 cake want SpongeBob, Clone Wars and Star Wars on it? They all like to fish, so I ended up having SpongeBob, Han Solo and a Clone Trooper fishing together. It was pretty pitiful. Thankfully, the boys are more concerned with presents than cake, so it worked. The figures are toys - I had every intention on making them out of gumpaste, but that didn't work out.

I've got many cookies to post, so check back soon!

Happy Birthday, Chase!

Happy 11th Birthday, Chase! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Noah & Jacob!!

Happy Birthday to my 2 wonderful boys, Jacob & Noah! I can't believe you're 6 years old! I love you & I'm proud of you both!
(Cake pics from Jacob & Noah's birthday will be coming soon - Their party is Saturday)

Now on Facebook!

After much nagging from friends (thanks, everyone), we are finally on facebook! Please visit our page and become a fan!

http://http//www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Richmond-IN/Jennifers-Cookies-Cakes-n-More/121159177927370

My boys - part 2

I can't leave out my baby. Christian is a little doll. I very rarely have any trouble with him. He is very often better behaved than his big brothers. Hopefully that will last through the terrible twos!

Christian

My boys

My kids saw my blog the other day, and I got an earful because their brother's picture (2, in fact) is on here and theirs are not. So, since their birthdays are coming up this week and I am still on crutches and unable to bake, I thought I would introduce my boys.

Chase will be 11 in about 2 weeks. He will be in 6th grade. He loves baseball, swimming & weather. Yes, weather. Only kid I know that likes to get online so he can check out the weather. Not to see if it's going to rain, mind you. That would make sense. He's just fascinated by weather. He did a science report on tornados this year. I've never seen him work so hard on something for school. Maybe he'll be a metorologist.

Chase




The twins will be 6 years old on Tuesday. I can't believe it. It's amazing how fast the time has gone by. It seem like they were just sharing a blanket in that teeny little bassinet, and here they are going into 1st grade. They have been a joy in our lives, and there has never been a dull moment.

Noah is a sweet boy, but definitely the ornery one. He loves music, loves singing and playing the piano. He is a flirt and a comedian. He can be infuriating, but at the same time he's impossible to get mad at. He spent several weeks in the NICU when he was born. He is our little miracle.

Noah

Jacob is very smart. He spent most of Kindergarten in 1st grade classes, and this year will be in the gifted program. He taught himself to read before his 4th birthday, and was reading at 5th grade level when he started Kindergarten. He is always the one to take control, and loves to remind Noah that he's the oldest (by 1 minute).

Jacob

Hawaiin Birthday

The beach cake for my niece Sydney's birthday. This was another one that I had to throw together quickly and hope for the best. The base is a 2 layer white sheet cake, carved to resemble the sand. The cliff is a 3 layer chocolate cake, also carved, and filled in with scraps. The entire cake was covered in buttercream, then graham cracker crumbs were added for the sand. The brown got a lot darker than I had planned. It is hard to see the gray rocks on the cliff next to the dark brown cliff. The waterfall is fondant, brushed with luster dust. I loved the effect I got with it. The palm trees, sign, umbrella, flip flops and Sydney are all fondant.


As you can see, I cannot make people. I don't know why I have such trouble with them. I can make flowers, animals, just about anything. Except people. I should have let one of my 5 year old twins make her - she probably would have looked better than this. Oh well, I'll just keep practicing. Maybe one of these days I'll get it. The birthday girl (and all of her guests) loved it, and that's all that matters.

Her cookies were pretty basic. Seashells, fish, octopus & starfish

I wish I'd had more time to spend on these cookies. I love the cookies that you can be creative with. They are so much fun!

My twins have decided on an ocean theme for their birthday, in just a couple of weeks, so I'll get to play around more. I also have to figure out how to incorporated SpongeBob into the cake without it being all about him. Oh, the joys of twins. Trying to make both of them happy can be infuriating at times.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Finally!

Well, I finally found some time to update my blog. What a crazy couple of weeks!
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes for my son. There's nothing worse than seeing your baby in pain and not being able to do anything for him. He is doing great and back to his old self, I am so glad.

I, on the other hand, am now into my 2nd week on crutches. Boy, does that put a damper on baking.
I hurt my knee last Monday. Hopefully it is just sprained. I had surgery on that same knee 3 times back in high school and college, so I am really praying it is nothing major. I go back to doc tomorrow, hopefully I will get good news.

Anyhooo, on to the cakes!

This was my niece Addison's 2nd birthday. Her mom wanted something pink and girly with daisies, and this is what I came up with. It was chocolate and white cake, with buttercream icing. The daisies, butterflies, ladybugs, candle and letters are all fondant. The butterflies were dusted with luster dust, and I think they turned out pretty good. They were definitely my favorite part of the cake. I really need to work on icing with buttercream. I can never seem to get it smooth.

Take a look, see what you think. Any comments or constructive criticism is appreciated!

My poor baby

My poor little guy. At my niece's birthday party ( see hawaiin cake pics soon), my husband took away the coaster that he was trying to insert into the VCR. Any one who has ever taken something away from an almost 2 year old can probably imagine the tantrum that ensued. As his head was about to hit the sharp corner of the coffee table Mark grabbed his arm to catch him. When he did, there was a sickening pop, followed by immediate screaming. Not just crying, screaming. Screaming like I have never heard after almost 11 years of being a mom.

We spent the next 5 hours in the ER, Christian crying inconsolably most of the time. We finally find out he has a dislocated elbow, which they say is easy to fix and his pain would be gone within 30 minutes.

30 minutes, huh? Mmmm....not so much.

3 HOURS later, they have made 2 attempts to get it back in, and done xrays (have you ever tried to hold an almost-2-year-old down on a hard x-ray table? - I don't recommend it) and he still would not move or try to use his arm in any way. So they wrapped his arm up and put his little sling on him. (Isn't that the cutest thing?)

He is doing much better now. He still isn't moving it as much as he should, but it is getting better every day.

Here is my little man in happier times.

I've got lots of cake & cookie pics to post, so check back!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

My niece Sydney is 9 years old today. She loved the cookies I made for Mother's day, and she wanted to take them to school, so here are some more bugs & flowers. This was a VERY last minute rush job, and it shows. Some look ok, but several I'm not happy with at all. I'll have to make her cake extra special for her. Luckily for me her party is not until next Saturday, because I have to make a cake and cookies for another niece whose party is Monday. I hope to have pics from that by Monday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful & safe Memorial Day! I don't know about you all, but I'm ready to hit the pool!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had a great day with my boys and my hubby. I don't know about everyone else, but to me, being a mom is the greatest thing in the world. Even when my kids are at their most irritating and obnoxious (and 5 year old twins can be Unbelievably obnoxious) I am still proud to be their mommy. I love you Chase, Jacob, Noah and Christian! And my husband Mark, my best friend. I would be nothing without him. My life was not complete until I met him.


On to the cookies...

These cookies were for our church Mother/Daughter banquet, along with the cake (see previous post). I LOVE the little bugs! They are so cute, and so much fun to play around with.


Inching along,,,

I loved the little green guy until I put that 1 eye on him. I'm not sure why I left it like that, but definitely won't again.

This was my first attempt at the caterpillars, bees, and dragonflies, so they don't look so good. Have to keep working on them.

I just love butterflies. The designs and color combos are endless. I have a few other cutters, but only used 1 in this group. I need to try out some of the others now that I'm pretty happy with these.

Colored ladies...

Invasion!! I caught my son Noah playing war with my cookies. He had the Ladybugs, Butterflies & Snails on one side, and the rest of the bugs on the other.

This is the carnage that ensued...

A couple of the finished trays..

Mother's Day Cake

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms. Hope you have a great day with your mom, or your kids, if you're a mom. I am so blessed to have a wonderful mom. I didn't realize until I grew up and had my own kids what a great mom I had. I always took her for granted, I guess.

Our church Mother/Daughter banquet was today. Somehow I always manage to be the one to bring all the desserts. (volunteering may have something to do with it). My butterfly cake could've used a little more work. I can never get my buttercream smooth. I really dont' understand how people get it perfectly smooth and even. Oh well, it tasted good and everyone else loved it. The cake is chocolate/white with buttercream icing. The bugs and flowers are royal icing & cookies. I love the blue butterfly. I also made lots and lots of cookies. I'll get those posted tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Maddie's Baby Shower

We had a baby shower for a lady in our church this weekend. Her beautiful little girl is Madyln (Maddie), 8 days old. Showers for baby girls are so hard for me. I love my 4 boys dearly, don't get me wrong. But I still can't stop wanting a girl. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I know God has his reasons, and I thank Him every day for my boys. Anyhooo.....


BABY SHOWER COOKIES!!



Baby cookies are so much fun. Unfortunately, 2 of my kids were home sick Thursday and Friday, seriously cutting into my cookie time. They were still wet when I took them to the shower. So they don't look great, but I was fairly pleased given the little time I had to decorate.



These were all decorated in 2 hours.











I love the cute little rattles. My piping skills really need some work...After the Mother's day rush I think I'll spend a week just practicing piping. Seems practice is the only way to improve! My kids will enjoy eating the products of my practice, I'm sure.

Mother's day soon....

Spring flowers

I thought I would post a few more from my Spring/Easter collection. I have a big baby shower order this weekend and then Mother's day, be watching for new pics!






The quilted egg is another inspiration by Pam. I think they are just cute as can be, Thanks Pam!

These Star Wars cupcakes were for the birthday of a little boy in our church. (Happy Birthday, Avery!!) I was not super thrilled with the way they turned out, but for a rush job I guess they're not bad. Except for Yoda (the green guy, for those who don't have a house full of boys whose lives revolve around star wars). This was my second attempt at Yoda. The first looked remarkably similar to a turtle. It was actually rather cute, not, however Yoda-like. I didn't think to take a picture of him, and threw him in my junk bowl where he was promptly eaten by my husband. I personally thought this Yoda was much better, and was at least recognizable. Then I spoke to my mom, who said she thought he was a cat. Yoda #2 was then eaten. I won't even get into the disaster that was my C3PO. I'll just say my son was afraid of it, and leave it at that.

Spring Cookies

Since I've been sick for a few weeks and haven't been able to make any new cookies to post, I thought I'd show some from this past winter and spring. Hope you enjoy!

Some Valentine's day...

A small set of green cookies for Easter

Spring flowers

A set of blue..the plaid was inspired by Pam. (http://www.cookiecrazie.blogspot.com/) She is the one that inspired me to start decorating cookies. Her work is just gorgeous! Compared to hers, my cookies look like they were done by my 5 year olds! I guess practice makes perfect, though. Maybe I'll get up to Pam's caliber of decorating someday!