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Official 1st B-day Giant Cupcake

Posted on May 12, 2008 12:13 pm by TheAngelForever

Things have been quite busy here this weekend. My brother and his family were in town and yesterday was JSL’s 1st Birthday party.

We were out and about all day Saturday. Photos coming soon of everyone at the little amusement park (JSL had his first rides). Thanks to being out so late, JL helped me to stay awake long enough to bake the giant cupcake. Here is where the test runs paid off. We knew exactly what we had to do and were able to get it done quickly. Still even with the organized plan, we were still up until almost 1:00 in the morning waiting for the giant cupcake to be ready to put in the freezer.

The giant cupcake stayed in our freezer over night. Sunday morning I took it out for 10 minutes so I could quickly carve it to put together for the trip to my parents house. Once I got there (9:00 for a 11:00 party) I started to decorate it.

Here is a sneak peak of the finished cake:

And a tease of JSL eating the cake and frosting for the first time:

Yes - I think he likes it

More photos and items from the weekend coming soon.

Categories:
birthday jsl photos yummy

A Baby’s Eye View

Posted on May 10, 2008 11:50 pm by TheAngelForever

There are days that I wish I could read JSL’s mind. What does he think of the giant world around him? What exactly are those little blue eyes looking at?

In just a few short hours we will be having JSL’s 1st birthday party with our family. I can only imagine what he will be thinking with everyone at Nana and Papa’s house. Will be love or hate the attention? Is he going to enjoy frosting for the first time? So many firsts all in one day for a little guy who has not seen the world for an entire year.

As I sit here the day before Mother’s Day I have tears running down my cheek thinking about the year that has gone by.

A year ago I sat so horribly uncomfortable waiting for my little guy to arrive. He ignored all of the notices to vacate and came on his own schedule. JL and I tried to cherish the last moments with NHL before he became a big brother.

On Mother’s Day last year I had no idea what the following 24 hours would bring. I was exhausted that day and quite uncomfortable. My body must have known something was going on and made sure I took a long nap. JL brought NHL to the park and had an amazing time there while I caught up on sleep. It was a very lazy day, but a great one none the less.

The following morning I had the surprise of my life as my water broke standing up getting out of bed. The sound of the pop sent chills down my spine. I knew I was going to be a mommy again and was so thrilled to know I would soon meet my new little fellow.

Over the next few days I am going to try to gather things to showcase JSL’s 1st year before he officially turns one on Wednesday.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone – have a wonderful special day!

Categories:
birthday jsl looking back milestone photos

Baby sleep eating 101

Posted on May 9, 2008 9:35 am by TheAngelForever

Just the other day I was looking at NHL’s baby photos. I mentioned to JL that I still recalled the day that he fell asleep mid-bite of baby food in his highchair. We both laughed and thought it was not likely to happen to JSL.

Monday early afternoon I was shocked with the following sequence of events.

At about 11:30 JSL and I sat down at the dining room table to have lunch. He had a cream cheese sandwich (his new favorite) and was quite content. As I was eating my lunch he was babbling away to me. Suddenly I looked a little closer because he was not talking as loudly. Sure enough his eyes were completely closed. He was still talking and shoving sandwich into his face.

I could not believe my eyes and continued to watch. I was afraid to walk by him to get my camera for fear of disturbing him. The poor little guy was obviously exhausted and needed rest before going to get big brother from school. I finally was able to retrieve my camera. This is a shot of his hand soon after he dropped a piece of his lunch onto the tray.

Not too long after this I watched as he was trying to get more comfortable. First he tried this:

Must catch some Zzzz's

Slowly his head moved down onto his shoulder as he was curling up into a good position. I know if I slept like this I would have a stiff neck for day. How about you?

This must not have been the most ideal spot because soon enough he shifted to this pose.

Ahhhh. . . . much better

He stayed like this until I had to clean him off and pack him up to go and pick up NHL from school. Who knew that life as a baby could be such tough work. I guess growth spurts and teething take a LOT out of you.

Categories:
interesting jsl looking back nhl photos sleep

Giant cupcake making – Take 2

Posted on May 5, 2008 11:16 pm by TheAngelForever

Saturday and Sunday it was time to bake and decorate the second test run of JSL’s first birthday cake. The first attempt can be seen here and viewed being eaten here. From the first baking we learned some valuable things. We knew that we had to put a lot less batter into the pan and bake it for less time.

Thanks to Google I was able to find a great hint. Someone mentioned baking it at 325 (not 350) for 65 minutes (we actually only kept it in 50 minutes). They also said to put 3 1/2 cups of batter into the bottom section and 3 cups into the top. Another pointer was to freeze the cake to make it easier to carve. While out and about we also decided to try something different for decorating. We found a new toy for me to use. Here it is:

Several of the photos of completed giant cupcakes had tops that had used a similar tool. We figured it was worth the small investment since it will be used again.

Given the resources I found we bought two marble cake mixes and whipped frosting and were ready to go. Things were a little more complicated with the marbling. We had to figure how much to leave out of each side to have the right amount left for the little cupcakes (we had a dozen of those this time). It took a bit more time, but we now believe it was worth it and will go quickly for JSL’s birthday. Here is the finished product after it was almost completely decorated Sunday night.

Giant Cupcake Take 2

We ran out of frosting with a bit left to go. Ooops! Thank goodness JL’s co-workers did not seem to care as they devoured the cake rather quickly.

The deal was to send the giant cupcake into work and keep the little ones home. Here are half of the ones we had for all of us to enjoy. They have my favorite frosting from childhood on them that was discontinued for a while. Thank goodness it is back!

Hopefully the cake baking Saturday will go as smoothly. We just need to finalize the topper for the cake that will go along with the giant star sprinkles that I bought especially for JSL’s 1st birthday cake. We think we want something from Sesame Street and have to figure a way to write his name on it. Plus the #1 candle needs to be on top.

Enjoy the sugary goodness of the photos, more will be coming Sunday after the party!

Categories:
birthday food glorious food fun photos yummy

CVS Deals- 4/30 & 5/1

Posted on May 3, 2008 5:36 pm by TheAngelForever

This month I had a really tough time finding most of the April deals at CVS. Pretty much every store I went to after April 2 was out of anything/everything really good. Do not get me wrong, I did really well with other items (especially the M&Ms), but it was frustrating at times. I can only imagine the poor people that work at CVS who had to listen to people all month long about things being out of stock.

Anyway Wednesday night we happened to be near a different CVS so I went in to see what they had. I have had luck at this one in the past. It was unreal – they had everything and tons of it (which when I went back today – was GONE). I was floored that they were overflowing with the 12 and 18 ounce Soft Soap Spa Radiant Body Wash. I quickly maxed out my limit on the 12 ounce and picked up two of the 18 ounce ones as well. They also had three of the rapid release pain relievers that fulfilled my limit. All of these items were FREE once I had my ECB print outs.

In addition to this, the CVS I was at had a great sale on Tide Free. All Tide was BOGO along with the All detergent that was in the ad this week. Although I did not get ECBs for these, I still did great with coupons and the BOGO. For all of the items below with a retail value of $64.89 I paid $2.78 out of pocket after coupons and ECBs. The best thing is I went in with $32 in ECBs and still have over $30!

CVS deals - Part 1 (4/30)

CVS deals - Part 2 (4/30)

The next day (5/1) I made a trip to a different CVS. When I went to check out I found out they were not having a sale on Tide. Strange how some do things so differently so close to each other. I was upset for my mother who was with me to see how the CVS thing is done. During that trip I also received the May montly flier and was able to get the Colgate 360 toothbrushes (free after ECBs) and one other item to try with NHL when brushing his teeth.

My mother had her own CVS card and I helped her with some coupons and was going to do her transaction. When her ECBs printed out I looked at it and saw MY NAME! Ugh, sure enough she had my small card. She has probably had it since I was in college. Problem was – we both were getting 2-3 of the Colgate 360 toothbrushes and could not do this on my one card. This threw me off my came and I had to think quickly. We filled out an application to get my mother her own CVS card and continued. I spent more out of pocket on my items because I was not able to use her ECBs that were mine . . . or maybe it was mine that were hers. You get the picture! My brain was mush at the end of that and I think the poor girl at the counter was too.

We shall see what next week brings.

Thanks to MoneySavingMom for her great scenarios and coupon alerts!