She's ONE!!!

One.  A little over a year ago, I gave birth to the most perfect little girl in the world.  Well, maybe I can't speak for the whole world, so I'll just say in my world.  And Kyle's world..and our parents, and I'm pretty sure that list goes on a little bit, but I digress..  I gave birth to this perfect, smiling (so what if it was gas?  New parents don't care, it's their baby and she's smiling!!  Whooo!), chubby cheeked little creature that filled me with so much love and emotion that I thought I was going to burst.  Thankfully, I didn't burst and I got to see her grow into this adorable little toddler who loves to jump in the waves at the beach, zoom around the yard while carrying one of her little purses, pat and hug her baby dolls, and pig out on pretty much anything and everything in front of her.  It's amazing how three months ago she was cruising furniture and crawling, still sticking everything in her mouth, and now, she eats off a plate like a little lady (we're still on frisbee watch, don't worry!), drinks with a straw, and likes to eat her food on her own.  As I write this, she's sitting at her little table, playing with her wooden Montessori peg toy, pushing the beads up and down the wires.  It's firsts like this that tug at my heart strings with both pride and sadness as I watch my beautiful little girl become an independent little person.  She amazes me everyday and I just can't believe how quickly the time goes.

Anyway, now that I've totally mushed out, I'm ready to get back to business.  I had big plans for Laela's first birthday, and while I didn't get to do everything I'd planned because of time constraints, visitors, and Kyle leaving on a business trip for a few days following our vacation, I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out.

Ms. Laela had a yummy pumpkin birthday cake with buttercream icing.

I think she enjoyed it, don't you?

I made some basic chocolate and vanilla buttercream cupcakes for the partygoers.

I also made some lemon sugar cookies with royal icing.  I was a bit rushed, so they didn't come out as exciting looking as I'd planned, but everyone seemed to think they were pretty good.

For the favors I made chocolate covered pretzels.

I really tried to keep the decorations more fun and whimsical instead of pink thrown up.  We had butterflies, dragonflies, bees and ladybugs hanging from the trees and plants in our yard.

We even decorated the gift table...

It was a great party.  We had a wonderful time, and it was really fun to see Laela smash her cake and toddle around with her little buddies and our family and friends.

See you Wednesday for Laela and my next foodie adventure!

A Mad Hatter Tea Party and Some Delicious Treats

This was one BUSY weekend!  Sunday was my girlfriend Ali's bridal shower.  Ali's parents and the bridal party did a beautiful job with the food and all of the creative Alice in Wonderland decorations. It was quite the Mad Hatter Tea party!  I whipped up some chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with red and white vanilla buttercream icing, some yummy sugar crusted scones, and some rich chocolate fudge brownies with vanilla buttercream icing. 

I'll post more pictures when I get some better ones!

See you Wednesday for some delicious lemon and herb roasted chicken!

Easter Cupcakes

I don't know what you were like as a kid, but I loved Easter almost as much as I loved Halloween. I knew that my family would stock me up with enough goodies to keep me in sugar shock for at least two months. My favorite part about the entire holiday? Not family dinner, or the Easter egg hunt, but these amazing cupcakes my Grandma would bring me from the fancy schmancy bakery down the street from her house. (Only I would love real French buttercream in elementary school haha.) They were that gooey, fabulous, melt in your mouth kind of cupcake that's so fluffy and perfect that it doesn't even get a chance to stick to your fingers.

So in honor of my favorite Easter treat, I'm making a boatload of my favorite cupcakes- done Caracakes style- Easter bunnies jumping into the bunny holes, grass with jumping beans, and of course, Easter Eggs. It took me years to get even close to that fabulous bakery of my youth's recipe, but I've finally done it..and I can't wait to share with my friends and family this weekend.

Have a great holiday everyone!