The Making of the Cake...

Well, I really couldn't decide on what theme I wanted to use for the cake. So, I finally decided on something somewhat easy. I love the star tip! So, someone asked me if I would do a post on cake decorating... and I am totally not that good, but I will share a few little tips I've learned.

First...make sure you always clean up your messes! Just kidding! Here is my mess!

I really love all Wilton's stuff. Most of the cake decorating things I use are Wilton's. Anyways, if you ever have trouble with your cake sticking to the pan, you should get this stuff. It's awesome! It works sooooo well!
This is the idea I finally picked.Well, I wanted to write "Happy Birthday James" on the cake. But the way I wanted to write it would take a lot of room, so I used this huge square cake pan. But... 1 box of cake mix wasn't enough, so I made up another batch of white cake mix, and swirled it in. So it had this cool swirly look. I used the frosting that I gave for Saturday Snacks a few posts down. It spreads very nicely. And yes... we didn't have anything big enough to put the cake on, so we used the bottom of the cake pan! How smart! :D

Here is my interesting "straight line maker"

So I very carefully wrote out my letters. Then I outlined them with the star tip in different colors. I squeezed out big stars to put the candles in, then little ones all around the cake. The I outlined it with a huge star tip in yellow icing. It was so fun!

And here's the finished product!

- Jen

Before the Party...

Here are pics of "before the party" we had for James Peck.

Cheese!

The guys!

Here it is! Instead of upside down "lowes" paper, we had sideways "lowes" paper!

Grampa working on the mud room addition

Ahhhh!

Cute!

Mom making "Pigs in a Blanket"

"Angeled Eggs"

Washing dishes

Britt and Gram

- Jen -

Saturday Snacks...

This is the awesome chocolate Frosting Recipe that I used for Mom and Dad's Anniversary, and also for Jame's Peck's Birthday cake. (Pictures of that coming up soon ) Anyways, Mom says this is the best frosting recipe she has ever tasted! I think so too! It's not that sweet, yet it's very good, so it doesn't give the cake that "too sweet" taste. If you ever make it, let me know what you think.

- Frosting -

2 packs of semisweet baking chocolate ( or chocolate chips ) ( 8 oz. )
3 cups of heavy whipping cream

1. For frosting, melt semisweet chocolate in microwave or a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Gradually stir in cream until well blended. Heat to a gentle boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. When ready to use, whip with mixer for a few minutes. Will turn into a light, fluffy frosting. Immediately spread between layers and over top and sides of cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Both times I made it, I melted the chocolate, added the whipping cream, and the chocolate got kinda hard. Anyways, I melted most of it, but there were still a few bits of hard chocolate. I just scooped those out.

- Jen

Run to the Cross...

Just a good ol' song I thought some of you might enjoy. You'll have to pause the music on the sidebar before you can listen to it.

Single Girl's Shopping Trip...

The other night Jeanna Gill (our pastor's daughter) took some of us single young ladies from church out shopping. It was so much fun and I wanted to share the pics with you.

Our first stop was Hobby Lobby. I think everyone got something except for myself. When we came out, we thought it would be a cool place to take some pics, so Jeanna took some of us. Thanks Jeanna!

After that, we went out to eat at Olive Garden. It was my first time eating there and it was very good! Their bread and salad were great, along with my pasta dish.
Imagine that... me taking a picture of the food? Sorry, couldn't help myself, although I did stop when Jeanna said I was unnerving her. Although I still can't understand what's so weird about taking pictures of your food, especially when you want to do an interesting blog post.

Then we went to the mall.... to ride RIDES! Well, not really but they were right inside the mall and we thought they looked very inviting so we... hopped in! And being conservative and well disciplined in our money, we rode without even inserting the quarter. We will make WONDERFUL, frugal wives some day.

Then we went to DEBS to try on formal dresses! Modestly, of course. It was sorta like trying on wedding dresses. I guess it makes single girls feel better about themselves, knowing that they can try on fluffy, lacy, ribbony, beautiful dresses even though there's no one right around the corner for them to marry.

Jordan looked smashing in the dresses she tried on. They were the most girly, feminine things I've ever seen her wear. And she looked great!

Joanna was the rose between the thorny stems. If you don't get this, picture a pinkish rose and green stems and see if you can see a mental picture emerging in your mind. I was speaking proverbially.

Although I think the thorny stems did look nice together.

Awww... how sweet and cute we are. And because you can't tell by the picture, I'll let you know that we are all wearing like... 4 or 5" heels under those dresses.

Howdy, partner! We suggest, if you wanna have fun, GO WEST!

Because I look astoundingly retarded while doing a "serious" face, I just smiled my good ol' crooked grin that never fails. Jordan can do the serious thing so much better than me. Wow... she's so mature.

We had a great time! Can't wait for the next single girl's activity. It's a surprise... and I personally don't like surprises, but I don't think I will die while trying to patiently wait for next month. But if I do, remember that I died trying.

Thank You

Ode to Kaylen...

"I just wanted to show you all how cute and good I was for my birthday pictures yesterday. I hope you enjoy!"
Kaylen Elise, Age 1

Kaylen's First Birthday...

* Kaylen Elsie Comstock *
Feb 17th

It's Kaylen's first Birthday! She is soo cute! She says a few words here and there, she is crawling, and standing up by holding onto things. She smiles a lot, and she loves to hug and kiss her stuffed animals, although she rarely kisses us. But... she did give Josh a kiss today. It was really cute! Anyways, we made a special cake for her, and took some pics.


Darling! He wanted to help me make a cake for his "Baby Kaylen".

Smartie Pants!

Cutie!

Goofy

Mr. Milkman

We sorta made a mess...

Ya think?

Here's the cake me and Lijah made!

"Ahhh.... what'd you say?"

*Smiles*

Kaylen with her new train

- Jen

Anniversary Surprises...

Us kids had been thinking of a way to make Mom and Dad's Anniversary special. It was their 23rd on Valentine's Day. So, we thought we would try and have a surprise party on Sunday, which was of course, their Anniversary. So, the night before, we went shopping, and we got mom the two plants you'll see, a few pics down. We obviously couldn't hide them very well, so we just gave them to her, and told her it was an early Anniversary present. We gave them a few other gifts as well. But... we wanted to make a cake, and have it be a surprise. So that Saturday morning, I just told Mom that I was making a special dessert for their Anniversary, and asked her not to come into the kitchen. So, I made the cake, and then at night, I took it in our bedroom, and decorated it at night. So then, we asked some friends to come over on Sunday, and we had a party! It was very tasty and we had a blast! But sorry, no pictures of the party.

Here's the pattern I sorta used.
The flowers

The recipe I tried to make, but failed in doing so. ( I made a box instead. ) Well, the frosting worked, but not the cake part.

Here's the smaller plant we got Mom.

And the larger one. Josh aslo got Mom a pretty green candle.

We got Dad pants, and coffee.

And... here's the finished product! It's on the desk in our room. A closer view

And.. that's all! We'll have some more pictures of Kaylen's party in a while!

- Jen