Minnie Bows

 I just had to do a quick post to share what I got for Mother's Day from my 5 year old, Matthew. Or as I sometimes refer to him on here "Big M" ("Little M" being my 2 year old, Miles). For those of you who don't know him, Matthew loves to make everything out of paper. And I do mean everything. Well for Mother's Day he was absolutely positive that what would make me really happy was a Minnie Mouse bow cookie cutter. So what did he do? He made it for me. Out of paper.

He's such a sweet heart! That's the card he made me complete with Minnie bow "cutter" on the left, and a "cutter" for the polka dots, on the right. He was so excited and so proud of his gift that of course I didn't have the heart to tell him that's not how it worked. So at night after he went to bed I hand cut a few bows and decorated them, leaving one for him to do. 

 I love that he loves making cookies with me, and I love that he tried so hard to think of something I would enjoy. Another bonus is that we got to eat the results, which happens so seldom in this house!

I hope everyone else's Mother's Day was great!

catching up

Life is busy - as always - so I've been neglecting this site. Although if you follow me on Instagram you'll know I haven't stopped baking! But I am way behind on pictures. Some of these will look familiar to those who do follow my Instagram, but not everything. Since this is a picture heavy post just click on the link at the bottom to see all of the pictures.  Ok no more talking, here is a brief view of some of  what I've been up to over the last 3 months or so (I'm saving a couple of my absolute favorites for posts of their own).

tutus and leopard print

I'm getting so far behind in my posts! I have so many cookies I haven't posted, so I'm going to try  getting several short posts over the next week! These were for a baby shower, here is the invite...

I'm a sucker for girly themes - I just don't have enough pink in my life! Not with having 2 boys anyway. This zebra was one of my favorites...

And I got a lot of feedback when I posted the leopard print on instagram!

This little lion was another of my favorites, I love the leopard print in his mane!

I loved these zebra print cookies as well... with a name like Killer Zebras I feel like I should do more of this kind of thing but I really haven't done many animal prints! (so many possibilities there, I'll have to explore it more!)

And here are all of the characters... seriously I could never resist a combo of pink, tutus, and cute animals. So sweet!

pinwheel day

I will not pretend to be the best with words, so bear with me on this one...

 A year ago I made a bunch of pinwheel cookies that I thought were adorable, but I couldn't find it in me to post about them. They were made for a sweet little boy, Lincoln, who loved pinwheels and who tragically passed away far too soon. I have two boys of my own, and the idea of losing one makes me sick to my stomach. Literally. I couldn't think of any possible way to write about it... and to pretend I had made them for something else just seemed disrespectful to his memory. So the pictures were tucked away, and in my mind they were just something that would probably never resurface.

 

 A few months ago I stumbled on them and it occurred to me it had probably been about a year, and I had the thought that maybe I could make a few for the family... but as we are not all that close, I didn't know if it would be received well or if it would just be a painful reminder. So I tucked them away again.

{Matthew a year ago}

 Then a month ago a friend of mine set up a Facebook page in Lincoln's honor for Pinwheel Day, a day to do good things for others in memory of what would have been his 3rd birthday. I couldn't help but think that this was such a great way to remember him. Not to dwell on the fact that he died, but to celebrate the fact that he lived!

 And how could you not want to, with a face like this!

 

Nothing can change what happened, but at least there will be a little more good in the world because he was here. Isn't that what we all want in the end? To have made a difference?

So I made a new set of pinwheels this year, and we are giving them to neighbors to spread the word. March 19th - go do something nice for someone! For that matter, do something nice for someone every day, just be extra nice on the 19th.

Don't forget to go to the Facebook page to check it out, and if you want to learn more about Lincoln and their family you can check out their blog here

Side note - I promise my next post will be cheerier

Second side note - I find it hilarious that in the picture of Matthew holding the pinwheel from a year ago he is dressed like Buzz Lightyear and in the picture from this year he is dressed like Woody. That was not planned, we just have some solid Toy Story fans in this house.

*linking up to Simply Sweets by Honeybee

ahoy it's a boy!

A friend of mine is about to have a baby and about a week ago I made some cookies and a cake for her shower. Another friend of mine was the one throwing the shower and it was adorable. Here is the invitation:

 The party was just perfect, down to the last detail.

 She even made that tabletop out of old pallets! (it's just resting on top of her normal table)

these spoons were just too adorable...

Karen looks so pretty! When I had only a month left to go I definitely didn't look this good.

 Here is my cake - the gradient (or ombre {please do not pronounce that "om-bray"! ...sorry, pet peeve of mine}) color was a bit of an experiment. I wasn't sure how it would look with the color fading diagonally but I like it! If there's any interest I'll definitely do a tutorial on how I did it! The texture ended up looking a bit like fish scales... which is just as well with the theme! But I'm not sure anyone was paying attention once it was served... chocolate cake with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream and vanilla buttercream on the outside. SO. GOOD. Or at least I felt that way! Though I'm guessing I'm not the only one, based on the rate at which it disappeared!

Here's a closeup of the cookies hanging up...

 So congrats Karen, happy baby-making and all of that! I wish you an early delivery (because seriously what pregnant woman wants to drag that last month out any longer than necessary). She's due the same day as my sister... whose shower I never really took photos of since I was the one actually hosting it! I'll have to see if I can scrape together enough photos to do a post on that one because it was so much fun! In the meantime, one last shot of these sweet little whales...

conversation hearts - kid's edition

Valentine's Day is almost here and over a month ago I drew up lots of cookie ideas... and then never had a chance to actually make any. Matthew really wanted to make Valentines this year though, so I came up with a simple idea for him... conversation heart cookies!

 We cut out some heart and frosted them in red, and then I let Matthew pick out the sayings. Then with a black food marker he wrote out his Valentine messages (and I have to say, for a kid who only just turned 4 I think his handwriting is pretty good)!

Then he wrote out the names in his Valentines... he chose Avengers, of course! He is obsessed with the Avengers right now.

Lastly we sealed them in bags and stapled a cookie to the back of each card. So easy to do, and he is so proud that he did the work himself! And these could easily be adapted to something other than a cookie... pretty much anything the food pens will write on. Maybe I'll try chocolate next time!

So these may be the only Valentine cookies I get around to making this year, but I love them. So proud of my boy, maybe one of these days I'll be posting his own cookie designs!

And in case I don't get another post in...

Happy {early} Valentine's Day!

an early Valentine's Day party

 

Matthew has been begging to decorate cookies, so on Monday we invited a few friends over and had an early Valentine's Day cookie decorating party!

  

The kids had so much fun - we had icing and sprinkles to decorate with, and I also iced a few in advance so that the kids could use my food markers to draw pictures.

But of course my child was writing things on all of his cookies, he is so proud to be learning to spell! Here is his "Mommy Daddy Miles Matthew" cookie (complete with cheesy grin)...

There was lots of taste testing going on...

 

But the kids got the hang of it pretty quick, and they did such a good job!

 

And this little lady can certainly hold her own with the boys 

(which is fortunate, because just look at that face)!

 Love the cheesy grins!

The cookies turned out great, if a little over done in some cases.

 

 Wait, I think that one deserves a closeup...

According to Charlie, "Matthew told me that my cookie looks incredible!" 

Seriously, we had a lot of fun. Matthew absolutely loved it and keeps asking to do it again! Which we will, when I'm ready to combat that mess again.

And now for me to start on my own Valentine's cookies...