Creative Bridal Shower Cake

As a co-host for a recent bridal shower I knew that I did not want to pay for an expensive store bought cake! I knew I could come up with something more creative and with a personal touch for one of my best friends.

The bride's favorite cake is, and has always been, Funfetti cake. So that is where we started. While I was at work, my co-host Lisa baked two Funfetti bundt cakes. Once I arrived in the evening it was time to find some way to create the cake I had in my head.

I wanted it to look like two interlocking wedding bands. We cut a chunk out of one of the cakes and put them together:


Once we frosted the cake it looked more like an 8 we decided


An 8 would have been appropriate since it does happen to be the bride's favorite number! Using the chunk that we cut out of one of the cakes we made a diamond to add to one of the rings and it looks more like what it was intended to be!


About half the people who saw the cake thought it was an 8 and the other half knew it was wedding rings. Either way, I was happy with how it turned out! The bride and her cake:


I think she was happy with it!

If you know me well, you know that I am not the most domestic person so this really was out of the ordinary for me to have a creative idea that actually panned out. Lisa and I decided it was because I am a mom now - domestic things are slowly coming more naturally to me :)

No Peanuts :(

It is official - Amelia cannot eat peanuts. We have tried and tried and every single time she looks like this within minutes of ingesting peanut butter:


It's not the best picture but if you enlarge it you can see a little better.

We love peanut butter so this is going to be a challenge for us! There is still the hope that maybe she'll grow out of it. For now though we will steer clear of peanuts :(

Date Day

Yesterday afternoon Jason and I dropped Amelia off with my mom and had a little date afternoon/evening. We browsed a few stores and then went to find something to eat. We decided on Cecil's for dinner and each ordered a sandwich and we shared them:


After we left the restaurant we ran into a little movie theatre and decided to park and see what they had and at what time.


We got there just a few minutes before "The King's Speech" started and we knew nothing about it. Nothing but someone on my Facebook saw it recently and loved it so we went on that and saw it as well. Ironically, we saw it at the same theatre she saw it at too since we were in her neighborhood!

Amelia had a good time with her Nana and Jason and I enjoyed some time on our own.

Cupcakes

After lunch today we stopped by a place called Designer Desserts in Valpo that was recommended by family. It was pretty tasty! Amelia devoured her cupcake faster than lightning.


She wasted no time in letting us know that she wanted another.


We are lucky we don't live here otherwise we'd be in trouble. I split a red velvet with mom and a mocha java with dad. Both were really good! I definately don't need to be eating those things more than once or twice a year - that's for sure!

EAT!

Amelia is constantly eyeing up any and all food:


She even has her own signal to us that she wants the food...


...immediately.

She is constantly dropping that jaw of hers, with intent. It's pretty funny!

Catching Up

Where have I been this week?! We have been busy - that's all.

Amelia's trip to IN last weekend went well it sounds like. She got to see my side of the family - including her cousin, P.


We let Amelia out at Target for the first time Monday night and she loved it! We let her out in the toy section which we thought might be a bit dangerous but all she wanted was a giant ball. She constantly went to the ball cage when we would try and move her to other toys.


We had decided to get her a toy and since the balls were obviously her favorite that is what she got!


All I can say is, way to go Amelia! Balls are only $2!

We spent Tuesday night in St. Paul at Regions Hospital visiting Amelia's Nana. She had a minor heart attack over the weekend and had to stay overnight at Regions after seeing her doctor. She is ok! Amelia had a ball at the hospital so I don't think she minded spending 2 days there ;)





Nana was released Wednesday and we all went to dinner since she hadn't really eaten much in the preivous 48 hours. Amelia had to leave the building at one point...


She just has so much energy lately and has a hard time sitting still when we would like her to!


Yesterday Jason and I went to Once Upon a Child to look for some more PJs for this winter and we found some...along with a few other things!


A couple of these things were brand new!

Last night Jason and I made dinner for my parents at their house. We had steak kabobs and they were delicious!




Tonight Amelia and I hung out with my parents. We dropped off our #5 plastics at the co-op in Stillwater and they had a cart just Amelia's size!



That's the short version of what this week has looked like for us!

Twins Win

Last night Jason and I went to our first Twins game at Target Field!


My parents were given four tickets and they took us with them since Jason is the only actual Twins fan in the family!

We had great seats. This was our view:


It was a little sticky out for us all but it was still a good time and luckily we were in the shade the whole game!




While the Twins were winning, they Brewers were not doing so well...


(It got worse than this even...)

After the game we went to Izzy's for some ice cream!


There were so many flavors I wanted that I had to go with a "Dizzy Izzy" so I could get them all!

By the time we got home we were beyond ready for bed and since Amelia slept at my parent's house we were able to go home and crash!

Quarter of a Century

Today was my 25th birthday. I am now a quarter of a century old! I worked bright and early this morning at 4 so it has been a long day for sure!

I had lunch at Shanghai Bistro with Jason, Liz, Marie and Jordan since I had a free entree coupon for my birthday. Liz works there and signed me up! The coupon is good for up to $20 and our server told us to not waste the free money on a $4 lunch and he ordered us a huge appetizer platter!


What a great idea he had! There was so much food on here and it was all so good! We also had a cake there because Marie was nice enough to make one for us all to enjoy!

We spent the afternoon at grandpa's house and this evening Amelia and I went to dinner at Boca Chica with my family. It was tasty, as usual. After that we went for ice cream at Izzy's where they have Amelia-sized cones! Kim also made a Milky Way cake for us.


My family had some nice things for me including a GPS since I get lost so easily and some new jammies!


Amelia was more interested in the wrapping materials and her Mardi Gras beads than anything :)


I think we all had a pretty good night and I am now officially another year older.

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Today I worked in the yard with my mom and washed my car. It was pretty exhausting. We had dinner out and then decided that ice cream was in order so we went to Izzy's in St. Paul. We went there because a) it is the best and b) they have "Izzy" cones...aka baby cones - perfect for Amelia! She did great with her first real ice cream cone!




She even ate the cone which surprised me!


As you can see, I made her take her shirt off but she really did great with her cone so it wasn't necessary for once! Oh well. Amelia grabbed her grandpa's ones when she finished.


Apparently she wanted some more ;)

The Evolution of the Jell-O Box

Jason and I wanted to make some Jell-O yesterday for dessert and when we were looking through the cupboard with the Jell-O we found all these:


I really love old advertisements and logos so I thought this was pretty neat! I am not sure we will be eating some of the older, "vintage" ones but it was still interesting to see them side-by-side like this!

A "Berry" Good Day

Amelia has hit the jackpot when it comes to fresh berries. At Grandpa Peterson's house there is a huge raspberry patch that we raided this morning:




This afternoon we had a few things to do in Lakeland so we stopped by and raided Nana and Grandpa's wild blackberry patch! Grandpa joined in that fun:



Amelia even shared with Grandpa:



Eventually I just took her clothes off. There was that much berry juice!



She is all cleaned up now. Her and grandpa's clothes are in the wash and we even had a spare change of clothes for once! It has been a good, summer day for us!