Maxi Dress 2

Another cute maxi dress for the grands.

Dragons and Knights

 My little man wanted a Dragon and Knight birthday all so he could get a dragon pinata and "kill it" with his sword!  So I went with it...

 We turned the canopy into a campaign tent with flags and banners.  It was so windy that I couldn't get a good picture, but it turned out really cute.

 I used Family Fun's instructions to make the dragon cake.  We lit the curly candles coming out of his mouth for the birthday wish, it looked like he was breathing fire!

I glued jewels to some plastic goblets for the royal guests, and we had "medieval" food.

The wind disrupted our place settings too.  I put silver paper plates and silver plastic utensils with napkins tucked into the goblets.  We had some toy dragons and knight cutouts on the table.  Each guest got a bag with glow in the dark sword and knight stickers inside.  There was also a dragon pez dispenser (it was really the dinosaur from toy story but it was my older son's idea to call it a dragon).

Princess Dinner

My little girl wanted a princess party this year - which was funny since we just had a dragons and knights party for her brother!  I decided to do just a small dinner for our little family and invited my parents to come along (my mom loves birthdays!).
The block castle I had ordered through Groupon for her brother's party, arrived just in time for her party!  It was the perfect center piece to our food table.  I found cute little princess castle food picks at Zurchers along with plates and napkins.

But my favorite thing was the cake!  I finally made a cake that worked, with stiff perfect (well good enough for me to call perfect) frosting, that turned out how I imagined it!

I used this lemon cake recipe from Good Things Utah - delish!

Source: glorioustreats.com via

And this frosting recipe - with my mom's help to get the right consistency.

Source: annaandblue.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I used this color chart to get the right pink color - which totally rocked!

This tutorial for the roses...sweet!

Baby Quilt

I used Ruby by Camille Roskelly for the squares in this quilt top.. The young lady I

made it for chose the borders and the white fabric. I just love this pattern.

It works up quickly and is cute.

Maxi dress

I made Cecily this maxi dress inspired by Melissa at Polkadot chair. Cecily requested a ruffle on the bottom. The t-shirt is from Gap on clearance and I had the fabric in my stash.  Fun and easy to make! Laura

Rainy Day Soup

So we just came from a sunny and warm vacation at the lake to a cloudy and rainy home.  The change in weather was actually really nice.  It allowed for a cozy, and restful day after vacation.  We needed something warm for dinner, so I pulled out this recipe my mom gave me from local chef Brett Winfrey.  It was delicious!  My four year old gobbled it up asking for more and telling me that it was so yummy, that's pretty good for him!

Potato/Bacon Soup:

6oz bacon chopped
1 small onion chopped (sweet or yellow)
1 TBS fresh chopped garlic ( I used jarred)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 flour
1 quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1 cup whipping cream
1 medium potato baked, cooled and cubed 1/2" size (I used 4 and will use 5 next time)
1 to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used 2 cups of sharp cheese)
1/4 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp cumin seed
small pinch red pepper
salt and black pepper to taste

In heavy pot cook chopped bacon on medium heat until almost crisp.   Melt butter with the bacon fat that has accumulated, then saute the onions until tender.  Add chopped garlic and cook until onions and garlic are lightly golden.  ad flour, mix well then add chicken broth and cream, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  add cubed potato and shredded cheddar cheese.  Stir until cheese is completely melted and well blended.  Mix spices together and then add to soup.  Salt and Pepper to taste ( I didn't add any).

Light Fresh Spaghetti

Source: realsimple.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I'm trying to avoid "white foods" but was really in the mood for some pasta for lunch today. I went a head and made this Spaghetti with Garlicky Kale and Tomatoes from Real Simple. Delish! I added mushrooms before the kale and then some balsamic vinegar over all the vegetables. I pulled a small bowl's amount of the veggies out to save for tomorrow's breakfast (slow carb style) and then added the noodles. It really hit the spot!