Happy Birthday Grammie!

We celebrated Grammie's birthday on the weekend with decorations, presents and most importantly, cake! Fondant is her favourite so we tried a new design this year and it turned out quite nicely. Bright colours and polka dots made for a tasty festive treat! I almost hated to cut it, it was so pretty! Luckily we did because it tasted as good as it looked (if I do say so myself, and as the writer, it's up to me to report these important details!)

                              

Parrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrty!

The girls love a party! Getting ready for Murray's birthday was quite an event in itself! They dug out all the decorating stuff they could find and set to working together to make the place as festive as possible. I was busy cleaning up and baking the birthday cake. They were not only getting along, but working TOGETHER COOPERATIVELY, no way was I going to mess with that! However, i decided to have a look at one point and all I could think was "too bad that isn't a rolling desk chair she's using!" Safety is paramount here at our house you know! Luckily their innovative methods were successful and no trips to emergency were required.

Grammie, Grandad and Uncle Dale came to help celebrate and we had some of Murray's favourite food for dinner, salmon! The fancy stuffed kind from Costco! It was delicious but the price is a bit of a deterrent as a regular menu item! I also got a roaster chicken for the anti-fish folks (that'd be everyone except Mum, Murray & I!)

Murray enjoyed his party and gifts (nicely restocked his candy stash!) and the kids got some Super Mario time with Uncle Dale after supper. He zipped them through another level before leaving so that was an exciting development!

Room Makeover!

While the kids were away at M&D's I enjoyed a leisurely few days of bubble baths, bon bons and books. NOT! I had been prepping for this very moment for a looooooooooooong time! I redid Sweetie's bedroom in Dec 2012 and after hers was done, the other two finally decided they were ready to give up their teddy bear border!

After some intense discussions, they finally came to an agreement on a colour scheme. This is partly the reason for the long delay between their room makeover and Sweetie's!  They chose pink & purple and turquoise like Sweetie had in hers. I couldn't figure out a good way to work all three colours in there so decided to work with just pink & purple. Last summer I found half price comforter sets in those colours and snapped them up and stashed them away.

As March Break got closer, I started gathering my supplies and getting everything ready. Shopping during the last room makeover took too much of the weekend that they were away and I almost didn't finish in time! This time I was way ahead!

Or so I thought! Their room was so full of junk that it took the entire afternoon to empty things out of there! It took me the rest of the night to remove the wallpaper border. In the beginning it was a little sad "ohhhh this is what I brought them home to when they were released from the hospital!!!' and by midnight it had turned into "die you buggers, DIE!!!" Finally the room was empty and bare and ready to start painting Wed morning!

Taking a decorating break, I brought Murray to my circuit cardio training class at the gym. I thought he'd enjoy a change of pace in the exercise department and it's a fun group with an instructor that puts us through our paces. I'm always red faced by the end and it was nice to see Murray sweating hard too, he wasn't bored! After class we went to the restaurant next door for some delicious food. He got his precious salmon salad and I went for the steak and everything was delicious!

Painting on Wednesday was sloooooow! I forgot to have any crack fill stuff on hand to had to make one run out for that and then got started. I taped off the ceiling and all trim. Then I started blocking in my colours. Then I made a mistake on the layout and had two half walls the wrong colour. Then I tipped a bucket and made a biiiiiig mess. Luckily the disaster happened while I was standing on some plastic sheeting and the carpet was spared.... that time. There were a few direct hits with that hot pink but with some quick scrubbing and Varsol action, there's only a slight mauve tint in the bluish carpet and isn't noticeable without close inspection (don't do it! let's pretend it never happened!)

Around midnight I called it quits, I was tired and needed to get out of that wet paint smell! Murray had come in to assemble the bed and found the stink too much so by that time I'd definitely had enough.

This morning I put on the last coats of pink and packed up the paint supplies before lunch! Hooray! That only left a bit of decorating and I was home free! I thought I'd probably do some grocery shopping, then pick up a pizza and come home for dinner! Except that all those little things took longer than I expected and even with Murray making his own pancake supper, it was still 7pm before I'd hung the curtains and gotten some pictures for the before & after composites.

I asked Mum to have them get ready for bed there so they wouldn't need to do that after we got home. On the drive up I was excited but nervous too. I thought it looked great but would they???? Lovey is quite particular and hadn't approved the plans... could be dicey. Murray had gently cautioned me earlier, when I was just getting started, to not be disappointed if they didn't like it and to not take it too hard. With everything complete and all the hours and hours of preparation, googling, Pinteresting, and then the actual work itself, it would be impossible not to be disappointed if they didn't like it!!! I was sure Honey would be pleased, I'd included purple, that alone would rock her world. I'd left out the requested turquoise though and that could be enough to lose Lovey's vote! I decided that if she didn't like it, it was her problem not mine. That room was to die for!!! Once it was done, even Murray thought they'd both love it.

As I'd anticipated and hoped, Lovey dilly dallyed getting out of the van but Honey was first in the house. Perfect! I grabbed my camera and brought her down the hall and told her to cover her eyes and then I went to get in position! When she opened her eyes again, she was so startled that she didn't even see anything at first. It was just TOO different to take in at first glance. She wasn't long in deciding she loved it though and thanked me and hugged me repeatedly. "I've always wanted a mirror in my room!" she said. After a few minutes I scooted her out to the kitchen and told her to not say a word! Sweetie was on to us though and was loudly proclaiming "I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!! I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!!! CAN I SEE????"  Thanks for keeping it on the downlow Sweetie!

Finally Lovey got herself untangled from her boots and came upstairs and came to see what the fuss was about. She was in love instantly! and was thrilled with everything, the extra space, the tidiness and all the new stuff. The grin splitting her face was ear to ear the rest of the night!

Now I'm off for a good night's rest. I seem to have developed an allergy to being overtired! I've been sneezing like crazy all day. Lots to do tomorrow that I've been neglecting since starting the redecorating! Grocery day was supposed to be Tuesday and I think we're down to one piece of fresh fruit in the house and I've done no baking so Murray's lunch is looking pretty grim for tomorrow!

Here are the before and afters. Looking at them side by side, it's unreal how cluttered it was before. We should have gotten rid of the unnecessary long before this!

O Christmas Tree!

Getting a tree was a little tricky this year! Every weekend had something going on. During the week there were the usual practices, games, dance lessons, violin lessons, plus extra violin rehearsals for the upcoming concert, Sunday school play rehearsals and I don't even know what else!  We finally just ran down the street on a Tuesday night and picked out a tree and then got it in the stand. I got all the lights on the next morning while they were at school and we decorated after they got home. Grammie & Grandad came down to get in on the fun and snacks (retirement has its privileges!) Right after we finished with the ornaments and snacks, Lovey had to zip off to one last rehearsal before the concert tomorrow!

Dedicated party goers!

 Here's our shy one!

 New tradition, pull ups in between  hanging ornaments...

 Decorating (and growing bones) is hard work! Luckily the cast will be gone very soon!!!

Wasn't that a party?

My birthday celebration in October was quite festive! the girls put up banners and signs and made some sweet cards. They helped Murray decorate the cake and they did a great job! My family came for dinner and Murray's parents made the trip too. The girls got Murray to take them out shopping and picked out their own presents. Sweetie insisted on paying for everything herself and I think she really spoiled me! She also used her sewing kit to make me a purse out of fabric she had.

Murray got these little camera earrings for me, aren't they the cutest!??!? Love them!

The Cake!

When we decided (ie convinced them) to have a backyard pool party, the next topic was "what's the cake going to be???" I turned to my new best friend in all things crafty, Pinterest, and found some great ideas! The winner for me was a cake shaped like a pool. Honey really wanted fondant but the other 2 didn't and this was an easy fix, one section with and one without, perfect!

I started baking the cakes late Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, Lovey got up and came to the kitchen for breakfast and saw the single layers in the cake container. With obvious disapproval in her face and tone, she asked "is that our CAKE???" Bracing myself for an unpleasant scene I told her it was. "Well, is that it??? It's TOO small!" Honey chimed in about the some fondant/some not idea and that made Lovey even more cross. She hadn't been in the kitchen for 5 minutes and I was ready to lose it! I told her I wasn't finished baking all the layers and that she was making me cranky and better get to work on her breakfast and quit critiquing the cake work!

Despite the harsh criticism, I was excited to put this cake together! The design was simple but with the small decorative touches, it was going to be a fun one. Most years the cake takes SO much time (hello castle cake!) and this one was so straightforward but still looked so neat & festive.

I finished all the baking on Thursday night and started assembly on Friday afternoon. The fondant section got done first, then iced the second "pool" and put them together. Making the little pool accessories didn't take too long and added nice touches to the look. Everything except the slide was done Friday night. I had trouble getting the fondant to hold its shape but left it overnight and by Saturday it had firmed up enough to stand in place.

In the end I got 3 gold stars of approval and had more than enough cake to go around. Just in case Lovey's concerns were justified, I baked a 5th layer to have as extra but didn't end up needing it. Instead I converted it to a Happy Father's Day cake for Rick since he'd missed the party :)

The guests at the party were in awe when I brought it out. Then they found out I had made it myself and jaws dropped as they exclaimed "you MADE the cake?!?!?".  Their astonishment cracked me up. I'm pretty sure I could have saved myself quite a bit of time and trips to the store for extra icing sugar if I'd ordered it from a baker. But it's much more fun and rewarding to make it myself and the girls love watching the process. I'm not sure how long before theme cakes get old but for now it's something I can do for them!

So yes, this was a whole post about a cake. I was so excited & proud of it that I decided to give it a whole post of its own! It's my blog and that's how I roll haha!!!

Cookie Monsters

Since it's hard to buy presents for people you don't know well, and because teachers are always so busy, we make treats to give the girls' teachers at Christmas time. 

Honey, Lovey & Sweetie all take this job very seriously and really concentrate on making beautiful designs for their teachers they love so much! It is so cute to see them so focused and dedicated to the task. It's VERY important not to mix the cookies up so that each girl can ensure HER teacher gets the cookies SHE decorated. We also add in some other stuff I make, Butter Toffee Crunch, some Deluxe Party Mix and sometimes some fudge. This year I scored some gorgeous and festive baskets 70% off at Michael's (occasionally procrastination pays!) and made the whole gift look fancier than it really was :)

Here are my little elves, hard at work again, lucky for me they love this stuff! and check out the definition on Sweetie! Those arms are really toning up from all the cartwheeling, handstanding and walking on her hands lately!

Extreme Room Makeover!

A few weeks ago, Sweetie asked me, "Mum, you know how some people have those bedrooms where, you know, everything... matches and looks neat????" with a bit of a wistful note in her voice. I said that I knew what she meant and asked if she'd like a room like that. Here eyes lit up and she responded "COULD I???" So I said we'd try and do it sometime when things calmed down. Her room is pretty small and used to be my scrapbook room that I'd painted a nice sunny yellow years before she was born. We painted and decorated one room to be the nursery when they were born and when she ended up in the other room, it never got any decoration whatsoever. I figured she was due to get a fresh look!

She showed me some colours she liked and as I was doing Christmas shopping I kept an eye out for bedding in that hue. I couldn't find anything quite right in the stores. Finally we went online and browsed there instead and found one she LOVED. Then I hunted around and scrounged up a 20% off coupon and headed out to shop!

We got the bedding set and then went to the paint store and got some paint to match and told her I'd start working on it "sometime when I had free time". :)

Then Grammie & Grandad conveniently arranged a 2 night stay for the girls at their place and once they were off, I set to work tearing down the shelving and pollyfilla-ing. Murray dragged out all the mattresses. A couple years ago she jumped on her bed (despite repeated warnings!) one too many times! The bedframe cracked and she had been sleeping on her mattress & bedspring, plus the mattress and bedspring from the spare bedroom from the downstairs flooded out spare bedroom, a la princess and the pea ever since. While I took the room apart, Murray repaired the bed frame for her. I got the room prepped and ready to start the next day!

The next morning I headed out in search of some accents for the room and hit the jackpot at Walmart of all places! They had exactly the touches I wanted to add and getting everything in one spot was pretty convenient!

I finally got home, slammed down a fruit smoothie for lunch because it was fast and got to work on the cutting in and trimming around the room. It took for-freaking-ever. I haaaaaaaaaaate painting. I'm messy and spilly!!! I don't have a steady hand and there were mistakes everywhere, aaaaaarghhhh!!! I was up til 2am getting the last of the painting done. I woke up the next morning, knowing I only had a few hours til Mum brought the kids back. There were a lot of spots to touch up and the room still had to be reassembled, some trim painted and accents put up!!! It was a whirlwind morning and I was nailing the last piece of trim back on as Mum's car pulled in the driveway.

The night before, Murray asked if I would be disappointed if she didn't like it. My heart sunk! I hadn't even considered that possibility! I'd killed myself all weekend, picking out all the perfect little touches, back breaking labour that I detest..... HOW could she NOT like it???? Yet, I knew suddenly, it was all too possible! This was the girl who disliked pants on sight because she could tell at a glance that they'd be too "rimbly"!!! She MIGHT NOT LIKE what I'd picked or how I'd arranged it!!!! It was too late though, I was already committed by the time he asked and I just had to hope for the best. It certainly didn't look worse than when I'd started so I decided it would just have to do. She had no idea I was doing it while she was gone so it could be a rude awakening...

Here's the before:

 and after!

 and her first look at the room, shocked! (shocked good? or shocked horrified?!?!??)

 annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd YES! It's shocked GOOD!!! Yay Mumma!

She's been in it a week and it still looks neat as a pin! She's been sorting through all the things we took out and discarding lots of things and sorting and organizing what she wants to keep. She doesn't want it getting junked up and has been diligent with it for 7 days straight, which I'm pretty sure is a record!

Before embarking on this mission of gargantuan proportions, I'd talked to Lovey & Honey about their room and whether they still liked their teddy bear & baby block border. They were quite adamant that they didn't want ANYTHING changed. I'd suspected as much. Those two don't like changing their sheets! I replaced Lovey's blankets once and it took a week of bedtime crying before she adjusted to the drastic change! Within 5 minutes of seeing Sweetie's room makeover, both of them did a 180 and are now in the process of fighting over colours and themes. After listening to the bickering for half an hour, I forbid any further vocal discussion and said all future negotiations must be done via text through their iPods so I didn't have to listen to it. So far Lovey is campaigning for some red but Honey's holding out for all purple and until Lovey agrees, she's refusing to part with the teddy bears on the walls. There's no way to work on it while they're around anyway so until someone kidnaps my children again, it's a moot point for now.  :)