cake...in a cup!

they're DONE!! it was really pretty easy (compared to the 300+ i made a few months back) it went so well i felt like maybe something should go wrong. but, all was well.

and here they are!

i was done almost 24 hours before they were to be delivered. i was so happy with how quickly it went. i got my messed all cleaned...
and then i walked into the living room... this is what happens when daddy watches the boys and mama is busy.

all tucked in and ready to go

i even put my logo to use:

it turned out pretty good.

they had LOTS of leftovers. (there were 100 cupcakes and like 30 guests...) so i guess its a good thing thanksgiving is just around the corner so they can feed them to family & friends.
solly helped me deliver them & then we went out for a little date to use his Book-it coupon at Pizza Hut. we had a lot of fun!

♥

after getting home and getting the house all clean we all went to the craft fair in town. it wasn't great, but i did get a great idea for cupcakes...stay tuned for that.
i am spending my last night over at my moms with my grandma tonight. i'm happy to be able to help. but i'll be more happy when i can sleep in my own bed, snuggle up to my man & not use an entire tank of gas in less than a week.

crack-a-lackin'

i talked to a lady at church a month or two ago and she asked if i could do cupcakes for her daughters bridal shower, she told me the date i gave her my number to call me when the date got closer and then we didn't really see each other much after that...so, i get a call on monday from her saying "hey! can you still do the cupcakes for this saturday?!?" of course i can and i will. i was just a bit caught off guard. so, i am gearing up to do 100 cupcakes for a shower on saturday.
i usually store, carry & transport my cupcakes in plastic cases that i buy from safeway, they're super cheep (75¢ a piece) and if they get left behind it's no big deal. but! the downside is people always say "oh wow, those are beautiful cupcakes! where did you buy them??" *gurrr* so i've come up with a little logo i put on the cupcake cases so that even if people think they're store bought at least they'll know they're NOT from a grocery store and at least think that they are from some fancy bakery :)
so here is what i came up with as my logo. it's not great, it needs work. but, i love the general concept of it.
★★UPDATE: (just for rose!) i am doing 4 different flavors! ★chocolate ★coconut ★strawberry ★white cake with raspberry filling!!★★
i went shopping today and got all my baking supplies as well as a frosting tip that i needed. when i got home i started searching through my kitchen looking for all my tips, bags, papers and other party supplies and i found them all...in 3 different cupboards and a drawer. so, fed up with the hunt i did some thinking and came up with a great way to stay organized!!!
i swiped this sweet "toolbox" from the boys (don't worry it was in the back of a closet with random toys tossed in. it's not like it was a functioning for them...they'll never miss it) (OH and a special THANK YOU to ashley who bought this for solly a few years back! he got a lot of use out of it!! and now so will i)
it has handy compartments for my tips, colors & some random balloons!
the bottom part has enough room for all the bags, papers, candles and other decorations!!
OH! another big thanks to my big sister, anna. she spotted these boxes of cupcake papers at cash & carry a while back and told me about them. i went i picked some up today!! the regular size ones were $3.16 for 500 papers!!! (i normally buy 50 for $1.99 so this is quite a deal!) and then the mini papers were on special for the screamin' deal of $1.98 for 500!!! i won't be buying cupcake papers for a while but when i do i know where to get them!!!

★ ★ ★ ★

in other news. i dropped my parents off at the airport this morning. they're off to arizona for my grandmothers memorial service. so, i am house sitting for them...or, grandma sitting. she doesn't like to be alone at night (and i do not blame her one bit!!) so, the boys (jake too) and i will be back and forth from there and home until sunday. so with cupcakes and house sitting i will be one busy bee until saturday around 1. but, life is good!!

the gift that keeps on giving.

my sweet nephew, elijah, gave me a zucchini that he grew in his garden (the kid is 8 and LOVES to garden) so i took his gift and turned into something delicious (not that zucchini's aren't naturally delicious...i just have a tendency to take everything and turn it into dessert)
and let me tell you...it is GOOD!!! i used this recipe with a slight modification that was almost a disaster (i used cocoa & butter rather than unsweetened chocolate but anthony saved the day...with a little oil)
oh, and moses LOVES it!!

homemade goodness!

so, solomon planted carrot seeds back in the spring and now we have a plethora of carrots. when we pulled a bunch he (of course) decided he wanted to make carrot cake.
when he got home from school today i was ready. carrots shredded [√] pans powdered [√] dry mix [√] everything else measured [√] so solly got to crack eggs and mix everything together (for a 6 year old...he's a master egg cracker!)

watching it all mix up

so even though i had homegrown carrots...i cheated and bought a can of cream cheese frosting. (i know, i know. but i just didn't want to bother)

little solly homemaker!

all done! well, almost...

...solly's final touch. a carrot
(with a bite taken out of it)

so after dinner it was time to try it. and let me tell you, i was not expecting it to be that good. i'm not much of a carrot cake kinda gal. and most cakes & breads i make from scratch turn out too dry. but this cake was wonderful so moist, so good. the only thing i regret is not making my own frosting. it would've been magnificent!

and the boys loved it too

ah, sweet baking success.

cupcake magic

i have a magic wand. (shhh don't tell anyone) it can take all of this:
and turn it into this:
and then eventually it all looks like this:
anthony's brother got married and it was beautiful. oh and anthony preformed the ceremony it was the best wedding i've ever been to!
the reception was a lot of fun...and it's nice that my boys are so charming because other people are willing to run around with them (thanks becca!)
and they seemed to like the cake :)
surprisingly the cupcakes were made & delivered with very little problems. i am so relieved.

death by cupcake.

that is how the obituary will read next week after i die while making 300+ cupcakes for a wedding next weekend. i'm sure it will turn out...i may have a nervous breakdown or 2 but i'll live. so if you're wondering why i am not blogging chances are i'm up to my elbows in cake and frosting!

wish me luck!

you ask, i deliever.

for rachie and rose, who have been waiting about a week for a new blog...here it is. i am still suffering from bloggers block. but i figured i could just get over it and come up with something. so here you have it. pictures from the past week. there aren't many, but they should entertain you for all of 3 minuets :D

solly-mid haircut

driving and talking on the cell phone is not nearly as dangerous as making oreo cheesecake cupcakes and talking on the phone. (and yes, they were SO GOOD)

solly's pumpkin patch is in bloom.
we're gonna have a ton of pumpkins this fall!

alex, nico & mojo rockin out at the stairs house

awwwww, i NEVER get to take pictures of moses sleeping because he's such a light sleeper but last saturday he was so pooped that i managed to get a couple. how cute is he?!?!

last saturday we also visited my lovely kaydee who is "busy" growing a baby. we had fun just getting to see each other again. (the sun was too bright for solly)

OH! also, last saturday was FREE slurpee day at 7eleven they were TINY, but it was hot out so we enjoyed every minuet of it!!!

and this one picture can sum up the past week. hanging out in the back yard while the boys "swim" in their tiny pool. the weather has been wonderful and i am thankful for that.

this next week will bring us all kinds of fun stuff. solomon will be attending art day camp in the woods. rose will be with us for a few days before all my older children (anthony, becca and rose) head off to South Dakota for the annual mission trip. and i'm sure other unexpected things will come up this week.
so there you have it. 8 blogs in one. i hope it was all you dream of girlie's! love you!

i love my boys. i really do. i woke up this morning to the sound of the boys laughing and "talking" to each other. if i don't get up right away solly will get up open their curtains and keep moses company until i get in there to get him.

(he was really happy,
just mad that i hadn't picked him up yet)

so, today we got a nice little package in the mail! (isn't it cute?) inside was a t-shirt for moses from rose for his birthday
and he LOVES it!! he enjoyed showing everyone his new shirt! (i'm just glad a got a picture of him in his new shirt while it was still clean...because after cupcakes & chicken tacos for dinner it wasn't lookin so great)
this is moses idea of a "smile" for the camera...funny kid!
so today i also went on a baking spree...i started with cupcakes as a birthday gift for one of my favorite people, lynette. i don't get to do cupcakes for girls very often so i went for it using pink and purple!! she (of course) loved them!
then i got home from cupcake delivering and made dinner (chicken tacos, as i mentioned earlier) and decided to keep baking. so i started with blueberry muffins (nothing fancy, a mix)
then onto brownies (again, a mix)
and last but not least, chocolate chip cookies.
i'm pretty sure that someone out there lost their "get-up-n-go" this week...and i found it. first with an all day house cleaning and then a full day of baking all while keeping my clean house, clean. that's right my kitchen is spotless right now :) it was a GREAT day!!

please let this be over!

so just when i thought moses was feeling better, just when i thought he might sleep through the night with out anymore diarrhea, just when i thought he was done barfing...it all hit him at once. at about 11:30 last night (right as i was thinking about going to bed) he woke up cover in barf. so we washed him up and tried to put him back to bed...that wasn't working so i got him up and put on kung fu panda i figured he'd get tired soon enough, but then he barfed a little more and then started really whining like he was in some serious pain, so after a few more episodes and about 2 or 3 more diapers i decided to put him in the car and drive around. he LOVES being in the car. so after a nice 45 min drive around town he started whining again so i headed for home but was not quite fast enough and as we pulled in the driveway he exploded again. i got him changed again. by then he was falling asleep. so we put him in bed and tip-toed out of his room...he was quiet (yay) so we went to bed finally at 1:30 but we expected to be up several more times in the night...and we were wrong (yay again) the next thing i knew it was 8am (oh shoot i didn't set my alarm)
so far he seems to be feeling much better today (praise the Lord) he is eating like crazy and so far no poop & no puke. i am so thankful that God answers prayer. now hopefully He heard me when i said that solomon better not get this flu!! (just kidding God...sorta)
it is a very helpless feeling to have a sick baby and not be able to do anything for them. a feeling that i hope i don't have to feel for quite a while!

oh and dinner went pretty good last night. jake ate way to much cause he knew i would kill him if he didn't finish his food. i made yummy potatos and some veggie to go with it:
the banana bread could have been better but it was awful especially when it was warmed up with some butter on it!
i did just make some cupcakes for solly's class. they are celebrating his birthday today in class because his birthday falls on the thursday during spring break. and my cupcakes rock! they are so good!!!

i will try to remember to bring my camera to the "party".

just call me becki crocker!

any one that knows me, know that i am not the best cook. i'm more of a chef beckiardee than a becki crocker...until today

i have had a crock pot for 7 1/2 years and have NEVER used it. so, i put it to work today making a roast:


and then i noticed that the bananas were looking a little dark, so i looked up a banana bread recipe and i just happened to have EVERYTHING i needed to make it:


the true test of my cooking skills will be what jake thinks when he tastes it. and i'll be sure and let you know how that turns out.

oh!! and i found my camera!! i'll be taking LOTS of pictures from now on!!!