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Yesterday, I had a huge soap box planned for today on the blog. All about how much I love the 4th and how much I love America and how I am sick of American citizens and talking heads on TV bagging on our country all the time but not raising a finger to do a darn thing about it. I was then going to go off about how the 4th of July is not a reason to get really really drunk with all your friends and then drive or ruin the holiday for everyone. Then, I got home this morning and my daughter handed me this:
It's a birthday card she made for America.
I cried.
Now there's no soap box, just me and my family celebrating the fourth and remembering why we do. During your fun filled day today, I hope your family will take a minute to do the same. Remember why we have this holiday. Remember the men and women who have made this country remarkable. Remember all who we have lost. Remember our responsibility the the rest of the world. Then, remember to have a cupcake.
So, for Christmas my mom got me the Wilton giant cupcake pan that pretty much everyone has seen, but I tucked it away and never made anything with it. Then Sydney was turning 6 and I thought AHA! Here's my good excuse. Of course she was thrilled because she loves anything on a giant scale, so a giant cupcake is right up her alley.
I decided to go for a pink and brown sort of scheme, but really I was just wingin' it. Sydney requested chocolate cake on the bottom and cherry chip on top. We went cake mix all the way. The only thing that was going to bug me was that I knew I wanted to layer and frost (being a frosting kinda girl) the bottom half of the cake, but I still wanted it to look smooth and neat and I didn't want to ice the whole cake. THEN I cam across these directions to make a chocolate shell for the bottom from Oh Sugar. She states she got the idea from Wilton cake decorating. Either way, go check hers out because it's awesome.
It turned out great! Probably the neatest part of the cake. Then I layered and frosted the rest of the cake and for the top in order to create jumbo sprinkles I just used the Wilton Candy melts, but turned upside down so the perfectly flat side was showing. The little white polka dots are .... yep, you guessed it, white chocolate chips turned upside down. I finished it off with Wilton's jumbo sprinkles, I just picked out the pink ones.
I had enough cake batter left over to make a dozen cupcakes so I made those up and then frosted and sprinkled. So cute and fun! This pan is a keeper for sure! My one tip is to go low and slow on the cooking time here. I baked this up at 325 for an hour. The cake is moist and did not get over done. My frosting is a bit on the messy side, but I just ran out of time to fuss with it. Sydney was thrilled when it was done, so I figured I could let my OCD go for this one day and have messy frosting.
Oh, and on a side note. Last night at 11 pm I decided to make Sydney her own birthday banner. I have seen all these awesome paper crafters making these amazing birthday banners like this one and this one.
So, I made one too. Now, I know mine looks nothing like the examples, but it was 11 at night and I'm not even a scrapbooker, so I have VERY limited paper supplies on hand. Regardless, I think it's pretty cute and Sydney LOVED IT! Not bad for some ribbon a few pieces of cardstock and then whatever embellishments I could scrounge before midnight. I wish I had thought ahead and I would have acutally made a better effort and even made it to match the cake. Oh well. So all you real scrappers, mock me if you must, but I still think it's cute.
I can't believe it. My little baby is turning 6 tomorrow. I don't know why, but it's hitting me hard this year. I can't believe how fast she's growing up. I really can't get away with calling her baby girl anymore. Right now she's completely sick of me because I've been smooching her face every chance I can get today. I keep telling her I just want to get as many 5 year old kisses as I can. I love this girl. We haven't taken birthday pictures yet, we will sometime in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's some of my favorites of her from the last six years.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
I'll post pictures of the festivities and the cake tomorrow night, but for now, I just wanted to wax nostalgic for a few minutes and sniffle a bit. Happy Birthday, Syd. Your mom loves you more than buttercream.
It's no secret. I love this face...
I love it even when she's trying to be grumpy...
I love it when she's being a goofball....
I love when she's exploring and she has her "interesting" face on...
I pretty much want to smooch it completely off when she's got the big puppy eyes going..
But here's the real secret, I want to smooch her just a little bit more when she's got her cupcake dress on. It's pink and soft and cute and has cupcakes all over and and, well, have you met me?!
Don't tell her, but when she'll let me put the cupcake dress on her instead of a Dora shirt, there's is sunshine in my soul all day.
And the bow? Forget about it, it's like the frosting on top.
You might not believe me, but I'd give up cupcakes for this face. But we have begun to realize she has inherited my sweet tooth, so it's pretty unlikely she'll ask...
I'm pretty sure I could attempt to live on these chips alone. It might not be good for me, but I'm willing to try....
These aren't bad either....
