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Another Big Bite

Another Big Bite

Category Archives: Party Hearty

The Cake that Almost Wasn’t

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in Bitchfest, I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Party Hearty

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birthday cake, elsa, Elsa Cake, frozen, Frozen Cake, party

Another Big Bite - Elsa Frozen Cake

Thanks to Heidi over at Sassy Crumpet for taking a WAY better pic than I did. 🙂

“Don’t spend that much on an Elsa cake!  I will totally make one for you.”

Ah, ha.  Famous last words.  Why is it that whenever I expect things to go smoothly, I end up with chunky peanut butter?

One of Finny’s preschool friends was turning five, and like just about every girl under the age of fourteen, she is a major fan of Frozen.  Surely you have heard of this small, independant film?  You know the one; made by Disney, starring not one but TWO sparkly princesses…  The same one that people are spending hundreds of dollars on merchandise on Ebay…  The movie whose soundtrack I have managed to tune out much like a seasoned mother tunes out the tantrums of her two-year-old…

alice bday1

In December, I made Alice and Ariel cake and I thought I would tackle this one in much the same manner.  A plain, round cake with a VERY basic princess on top.  Nothing too fancy, and “not Ace of Cakes or anything, so don’t get too excited.”  The internet is chock full of Elsa cakes.  I’d find a little inspiration, get to try my hand at marshmallow fondant (to get rid of the marshmallows taunting me from the pantry) and maybe even get super fancy with sugar “ice.”  Hell yeah.

Hell no.

My first batch of sugar ice never got any harder than maple syrup.  Many YouTube videos and and two hours later, I was proudly admiring my second batch of perfect blue sugar glass.  And I was ready to tackle a fondant Elsa as soon as the kids went to bed.

Fondant Elsa had other plans.  Turns out marshmallow fondant isn’t quite as stiff as regular fondant.  Just as I was working on her head, I noticed her slowly slumping to one side.  I went to cut another toothpick to hold her up and as I turned around, I watched the skewer holding her up poke through her shoulder.  I gave up and waited for her to dry out a bit before I kept going.

She dried up enough to stand on her own by the next morning.  The cakes were baked, frosting was made, and the following evening I got to assembling everything.  Purple and blue marbled cakes got a coat of teal frosting and marshmallow fondant snow.  I made a fondant Olaf which turned out much better than expected.  The blue and purple sugar ice was set to go on the next morning before the party.

photo 3

photo 4

Just as I was finished putting the sugar ice on, I stopped to snap a picture of my handiwork.  It turned out pretty cute and just as I was patting myself on the back, Alice decided she would take a taste.  She gouged out a hunk of fondant and cake from the top of the cake and I completely lost it.  I started crying and yelling; it was as ugly as the time Finn knocked over the Christmas tree and smashed half of my childhood ornaments.  A few minutes later I realized I was being an idiot.  I smooshed in a few more shards of sugar ice and packed everything up in the car.  I may or may not have sung “Let it Go” to move past my drama.

photo 5

It was hot that day.  We stopped to get lunch at McDonalds on the way to the party.  Just like every Saturday afternoon, the place was packed, but the kids were so excited to get to the party that they didn’t ask once to go in the playplace.  We headed over to the gymnastics gym.  And we were the only ones there for Ava’s party.  Because I was an entire day too early.

photo 1 (2)

On the way home, I noticed that the whole cake was slumping…  It was too hot, and all the movement in the car was making all the frosting slide down around the cake’s ankles.  By the time I got home, I was crying again.  (Might I mention I was more than a little hormonal?)  I did the only thing I could think of; I pulled Elsa and Olaf off and we ate the cake.  I drug the kids to the grocery store and gathered all the supplies to make a whole new cake.

“The cake never bothered me anyway….”

photo 2 (2)

As I was putting it all together the next morning, Finn was more than a little confused.

“Didn’t we eat that cake yesterday?”  Yes we did, son.  Yes we did.

Cake 2.0 made it to the party relatively unscathed and the birthday girl loved it.  Which made it all worth it in the end.

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Captain’s Log, Stardate 04-05-14: Report from Planet Lego…

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Nerd Alert, Party Hearty, The "Joy" of Parenting

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

birthday party, finn, lego man cake, lego man goody bags, lego party, little boy birthday party

Another Big Bite - Finn

Saturday was a big day for us.  Finn’s birthday party started at two, which meant we started our day at six…  Cleaning, prepping, decorating…  And that was the easy part.  Once the house was packed with four- and five-year olds, the cake really hit the fan.

Originally, Finn wanted to have a “Lego Superhero Party,” but I made the executive decision to edit if down to one much simpler theme; LEGO.  Although I’ve been known to blow lots of cash on seemingly useless things in the past, I was determined this was not going to be one of them.  If that meant that everything was going to be cut out of construction paper, I was fine with it.  We had one activity that broke the bank, but more on that later…

Another Big Bite - Lego Party

One of my biggest conundrums was figuring out where to seat a whole bunch of kids; I don’t have an army of folding chairs.  After going over the math on how much it was going to cost to buy enough cheapie end tables at Ikea to have everyone seated on the floor, I had a moment of clarity…  I made Nae take the legs off the dining room table and cut short ones out of scrap wood.  Then we sat everyone on the floor.  We covered the cushions from the House with Wheels (our camper) for seating.  It worked like a charm!

Another Big Bite - Lego Man Cake

The cake turned out pretty good; though I skipped using fondant in favor of taste over beauty.  It was far from my best work, but little kids aren’t what you call sticklers for perfection.  We had Finn blow out the candles on the big Lego Man head cake, but then gave all the kids cupcakes.  No forks, no cutting, and only one kid even mentioned that he wanted some of the big cake.  Major crisis averted.

Another Big Bite - Lego Cupcakes

The cupcakes didn’t exactly turn out how I wanted them to.  I envisioned red cupcake papers, blue cake, white frosting and a yellow candy Lego Man on top.  Meh.  At least they tasted yummy.

We had a bean bag toss and did “Pin the Face on the Lego Man…”

Another Big Bite - Lego Party 2

Only Alice & Finn's faces are still up there, though...

Only Alice & Finn’s faces are still up there, though…

Another Big Bite - Lego Car

Alice, Nathan and Finn's cars.  Ten bucks if you can tell which one is the little lady's.

Alice, Nathan and Finn’s cars. Ten bucks if you can tell which one is the little lady’s.

But the big event of the day was the Lego Derby.  We ordered the parts to make a Lego car base (the plate, wheels and tires) from three separate sellers over on Bricklink and then ordered a giant box of regular Legos from Amazon.  At the very last-minute (the night before), we made the trek out to Denver’s Lego Store to pick up steering wheels, headlights, fins, propellers, shifters, control panels and other random parts from the Pick-A-Brick wall.  In the end, we dropped about sixty dollars on all the makings of fifteen Lego racers, but it was money well spent.  It was our biggest expense by leaps and bounds, but when the kids lost their minds when I said they were for them to take home, it was worth it.

Another Big Bite - Lego Party 4

Since only about half the kids showed up (do not even get me started on how bummed I was that only three of the parents from Finn’s class RSVP’d), we had parts for extra Lego cars.  I asked if the dads each wanted to make one.  One of the dads promptly declared to his son, “Sorry buddy.  You are on your own; I’ve got my own to build.”  And he was equally excited when I told him to take both his and his son’s cars home with them.  It was awesome.

And so we had a “Dad Division” to the race.  The pull of playing with Legos follows us into adulthood, I suppose.

Another Big Bite - Lego Party 3

Nathan built a racetrack out of scrap wood we had leftover from Finn’s bedroom and the kids had a good time shoving the little cars to victory.  Finn cheated (and was subsequently disqualified), Nathan came in DEAD LAST in the Battle of the Dads, but little Alice pulled a third place victory out of nowhere.  In the end, all three winners were girls, and I had to fight the urge to bust out a 1998-Spice-Girls-ish “GIRL POWER!!” Though I totally said it in my head.  With a mental fist-pump.

Another Big Bite - Lego Trophies

Another Big Bite - Eating

We had cake and made our own ice cream sundaes before the presents were opened.  Finny always blossoms in front of an audience, I tell you.

Another Big Bite - Lego Party Bags

Everyone got a goody bag on their way out, though it wasn’t epic by any means.  Fruit snacks, a lollypop, a bouncy ball and some stickers never looked so good.

Both Nathan and I were exhausted at the end of the party; I have no idea how teachers do it for an entire day with three times as many kids…  We ordered pizza for dinner and everyone crawled into bed in a Lego haze.

Another Big Bite - Lego Cake2

Another Big Bite - Finn 3

Another Big Bite - Finn 4

It wasn’t quite over, though.  Finn’s actual birthday was Sunday.  Nathan had a full day of work, so we woke the kids up at six to sing Happy Birthday, open presents and have cake.  Since Alice’s birthday in December, I think we have a new tradition on our hands…  Birthday cake for breakfast is the bomb-diggity, and they kids get all day to play with their new toys.  In Finn’s case, twelve Lego sets to be exact.

Another Big Bite - Finn 6

Over the course of 24 hours, he put every single set together.  I was on hand to affix decals and find little missing pieces that jumped and hid (or were pilfered by Alice), but by four in the afternoon on Sunday, he had everything done.  He was still in his pajamas, but I figured if there was any day where he was allowed to forget the rest of the world, it was his birthday.

We took him to It’z (a bigger version of Chuck E. Cheese) for dinner, and when we got home, there was one last package to open from Uncle Mike and Aunt Tamara…  A robot fish.  Which made him squeal with delight.  And made me breathe a sigh of relief since it was the only toy he had gotten that needed batteries.  Robot fish for the win!

Lordy, I’m exhausted just reliving the whole weekend.  But to see this look on Finny’s face;

Another Big Bite - Finn 5

… I’d do it all over again.

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LEGO Man Pencil Holders

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Party Hearty

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crafts, diy, glass jar, lego head, lego man, pencil holder, recycle

Another Big Bite - LEGO Man Pencil Holders

We’ve been busy prepping for Finny’s 5th birthday party over here.  We’ve been making banners out of paint chips, making LEGO inspired trophies for our very own LEGO Derby and cutting out a bajillion circles out of construction paper for a large-scale LEGO backdrop.  While that sounds pretty exciting (or not), what I have spent the most time on is making all manner of yellow objects into LEGO man heads.  Yellow paper cups, yellow paper bags, yellow paint chips…

Yes.  LEGO MAN ALL THE THINGS!!

Since this is the very first birthday party I’ve ever thrown for kids, I’m terrified.  I’m taking a page out of Finn’s teacher’s playbook.  While everyone arrives, they are going to color.  It was that or play with Play Doh.  I’m sticking with colored pencils.  Which means that we needed something LEGO themed to put colored pencils in.

Sidebar…  When I started planning this shindig, I made it a priority NOT to go into Pinterest-Overdrive-Mode.  Suddenly, I am painting the inside of an empty artichoke jar.  It is a slippery slope, this birthday party shit.

photo 3

I started with two Anchor glass jars; the 32 oz ones that you can pick up at Walmart, Target or Hobby Lobby for about four dollars.  I thinned out some LEGO man colored acrylic paint and swirled around the jar to cover the entire inside.

photo 1

After sitting upside-down for a few hours, I flipped them over and let them dry overnight.

photo 2

For the faces, I printed out a few pictures of LEGO faces that I found online and used the same method to cut them out of vinyl as I did with Finn’s globe light.

photo 4

photo 5

Once all the pieces were cut out, I taped the sheet of paper I cut them out of on to the glass so I’d get the placement right.  I positioned my vinyl and poof!  Done.

Another Big Bite - LEGO Man Pencil Holders 2

This little LEGO family has been chilling out on the windowsill in the kitchen awaiting the big day.  The kids have been on a major coloring spree lately, so they’ve already gotten some action.  I wish I had a little foresight to think about spray painting the insides…  I think it would have been a lot more durable.

For now, they are holding up well!  Next up on my list is to paint our LEGO Derby track that Nathan has been building.  I have to do something, ANYTHING to keep my mind off the fact that not a single individual has RSVP’d.  I suppose the upside to no one showing up is that I’ll have a dozen cupcakes to drown Finn and I’s sorrows.

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Celebrating Half a Decade… With Construction Paper

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Party Hearty, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

birthday invitation, birthday party, lego, LEGO bricks, lego invitation, lego party, party

Realizing that my little boy has been on this earth for HALF A DECADE sends me into a round of dry-heaving sobs.  He just asked me if we could look for his stuffed frog’s friends on Facebook for pete’s sake.  (I don’t know how he knows about the old ‘Book.  He certainly doesn’t hear it from me.)

photo (1)

All this mourning of his little-ness does not change the fact that there is a party to plan, though.  And thanks to the advent of preschool, we actually have more than two friends to invite.  Fourteen friends, to be exact; including the twelve-year-old girl down the street that Finny has a crush on.

The little man decided that he’d like to have a LEGO superhero party, but after begging and pleading with him to have just ONE theme, he settled on plain LEGOs.  (And for those of you purists, I don’t give a rat’s ass about what the proper pluralization of “LEGO” is.)  So we got to planning.  And after spending hours and twenty-five bucks on BrickLink (and thirty at Amazon), Finn had a change of heart.

“Mom.  I want a Skylanders party.  Not LEGOs.”

This was the moment where my fifty-five dollars worth of VERY specific LEGO bricks to build fifteen LEGO racecars said otherwise.  And though we had a very tense few days – once the LEGOs came in the mail, this little man conceded.  LEGO party it was.

This weekend, I’ll be addressing these f-ing awesome (if I do say so myself) invitations:

Finn's Birthday Invitation ABB

Cutting out another 150 green construction paper circles:

photo 2

And re-gluing 17 letters on to the birthday banner (because spray adhesive is one fickle bitch):

photo 1 (1)

My very biggest concerns?

ONE: Where do I seat a dozen and a half red-frosting-smearing preschoolers?  This is the only time I have ever questioned my sanity after deciding on white slipcovered dining chairs.  They are washable, but Red Dye #40 stains.  Fo’ reals.

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

TWO:  Am I being an asshole for putting a LEGO man head cake up for show, but serving only cupcakes?  I want to make this cake (above), but also those cupcakes.  And cupcakes means no cake-cutting and no forks.  And then we would have our own family-only special cake for his actual birthday.  Can I do that?

THREE:  Finn had his first birthday party to go to last weekend.  I was the only parent that just dropped off.  Is this, like, a thing???  I felt like a bit asshat after I realized I was the only one who didn’t stay.  So, what do I do with a dozen adults?  Do I feed them?  Where will they sit?  What will they do?  Now the pressure is on for my house to look its very best; meaning trim needs to be finished and I should probably spend the next week covered in paint while the 80-something stair balusters get one last coat of paint.

I have a few weeks to get everything together.  Invites have to go our next Wednesday, thanks to spring break and parent-teacher conferences.  Will anyone come?  Oh my god, this is just like giving a speech in freshman-year english class.  But with construction paper.

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Christmas Preppers – Our Life in Pictures

23 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in From the Kitchen, I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Party Hearty

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Tags

christmas, christmas list, gingerbread house, kids, santa

While lotsa folks are all in for the Zombie Apocalypse, we march to a different beat around here…  The beat of the Little Drummer Boy.  Precisely, we are prepping for the Christmas Apocalypse.

I am bracing myself for the onslaught of new toys, mounds of ripped paper and excess pumpkin pie.

ornament

Our fingerprint snowmen turned out pretty cute.

I have a secret, though…  Don’t tell anyone, but if you live too far from family for it to be expressly known that you will be visiting for Christmas, the holidays are WAY LESS stressful.  Not that I wouldn’t love to spend Christmas Eve opening presents with my brothers, it is just that we don’t have to deal with traveling and packing and sleeping on the living room floor on an air mattress.  (My mother-in-law will be dealing with those comforts, though… She comes to visit on the 26th).

Once our shopping was out of the way, the only stressful hurdle we had was to mail everything.  And after forking over fiftty effing dollars to ship four packages, I was running low on Christmas spirit.  Nothing a little baking, wrapping and light-viewing wouldn’t cure, though.

photo 1 (1)

photo 2 (1)There have been many a Christmas activity over here…  We’ve done a few crafts and some baking…

cookies3

cookies1

cookies2

cookies4

Flour. It is FLOUR. She isn’t emulating Tony Montana.

Finn and Alice made their Christmas Lists to give to Santa…  And were not willing to have a seat on the jolly man’s lap.

finn santa

alice santa

santa4

santa1

santa2

santa3Now, I have a thing for bearded men, and this dude did not disappoint.  He even had a bowlful-of-jelly shaking belly that seriously had me scratching my head to whether or not it was authentic.  He could even read every word of Finn’s chicken scratched list.  I was mighty impressed.  Even though the kids wouldn’t sit on his lap (I’m chalking it up to being starstruck in the presence of a celebrity), it was our best Santa visit EVER.  Not that there have been many.

lightsWe went to Electric Safari at the zoo.  And got cozy in our Christmas jammies…

trainsThis week we made a gingerbread house…

cookies7

Sans clothing…

cookies5

cookies6

cookies8

cookies9

The doorbell has rung more times this week than the entire time we’ve lived here.  Each time, the kids chant, “Another package!! Another package!”  It has been hard not to let them rip the boxes open to release the smell of new Legos and Ponies.

And on Friday, Finn had his preschool Christmas party.  It is his teacher’s first year, and she thought it would be a great idea to have a Christmas luau.  Complete with pool party.  Boy, was I THRILLED to don my bikini.  My pasty white palour was the envy of all the other moms.  Oh, yes.

swim1

swim2So, for now, I am reveling in the calm before the storm.  We relocated the mountain of packages to ride out the last few days beneath the tree.  I’ve gotta get bathrooms cleaned and bedrooms vacuumed for the MIL’s visit.  Then it is a mad rush for baking, cooking and green bean casserole making.

And with that, I bid all of you a very happy holiday.  Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Eid Mubarak, Happy Chanukkah, God Jul (better late than never on some of those), and Have A Good Day on December 25th.

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