Back to School Eve Dinner

My little girl is finally starting Kindergarten. After 5.5 years of having her by my side as my little buddy, I no longer get to cuddle with her in the mornings and hang out in our pj's. She wasn't as disappointed as I was. She has been counting down almost all summer. So much, in fact, that by August 1st I made her a countdown calendar so she would stop asking how many days left!

She loved it right until the very last apple fell!

A fun tradition, I've always thought, to kick off the school year is the Back to School Eve Dinner. I've always loved the idea and so this year we had our first annual fest! She absolutely loved every minute of it, and I loved that just in time for it The Dating Diva's came out with a super cute back to school dinner printable kit. You can check it out and download the fun printables I used here.

Little J had fun helping write everyone's names on their tags...

and loved being the queen of dinner that night!

She got to pick the menu and dessert which was really fun for her to write out.

she decided even the baby needed his own set up!

She had so much fun filling out the back to school interview..

all was well for the queen, she could officially start Kindergarten in the morning!

Little Mermaid Party

I love the idea of a cute little mermaid under the sea birthday party for your little girl. Unfortunately, my little girl's birthday falls in January, so it's not likely we'll be setting up a pool or slip and slide in our backyard anytime soon for her birthday. While I toyed in the past with the idea of giving her an "un"birthday party just so I could do such a theme, I was thrilled when I found out my sister in law was throwing one for my little niece who is lucky enough to have an August birthday!

 Unfortunately shortly before the party she got sick. I had already started the batch of cookies, so we got to enjoy them twice! Theses are from the first batch!

 Then I got to make them again! I loved how cute a blond little mermaid looks on a cookie!

 And what fun colors for a summer party!

The birthday girl with her cookie!

Fun With Cake!

I've been having fun trying new caking techniques this summer. Here are a few new fun things I've played with while learning from a few of the best, while also having fun in Vegas (although not so fun in August when the temp is 119 at 7pm)! But first things first- I must pay homage to the great Bobby Flay and his wonderful Burger Palace that always requires a stop before starting any Vegas trip! My favorite on the menu- the awesome Brunch Burger! Go There. Eat It. LOVE IT!

Mom's Classic Burger "crunchified"
On to cakes!! I always love seeing one of my favorites, Lauren Kitchens of Fancy Cakes by Lauren. She is amazing and always so fun to visit with and learn from! Of course, we had to make a pineapple pina colada cake!

 

 I loved when someone asked me at the pool, where to get the pineapple drinks!
I didn't make this cake, but fully intend to make a version of it soon! I was so impressed when I saw it and the creators were even more impressed that I actually recognized that the photos were the original posters for the Tiki Room at Disneyland when the park first opened. Ya, we do Disney well in this house! What a fun idea for a luau cake! I even love the wafer paper lei!

 It was so much fun meeting Martha Hebert and Becky Guidry of Sweet Southern Ladies Designer Cakes! I got to spend an afternoon with them and they were great to listen to and watch and even better to work with hands on!

Zane Beg of The Sweet Life is definitely a creative mastermind! I loved making this adorable mushroom cake with him! How fun is that!?! Would be so cute with a tinkerbell or woodland fairy theme, maybe even a smurf which was how he came up with the idea!

and yes- it was 119 degrees at almost 7pm while we were there! Absolutely face melting hot! Thankfully only part of one of my cakes melted on the 6 hour drive home!