I’ve been wanting to experiment with cake decorating for quite some time now and Kimber’s birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

With the help of my very talented SIL Kim, I was able to get the cake done in time for the party.  If it wasn’t for her I’d still be rolling out the fondant for the bottom layer.

I used a couple of different fondants.  The bottom layer of white was MMF (Marshmallow Fondant), the two top layers were actually rolled buttercream.  All of the colored fondant was also MMF.

The MMF was definitely easier to work with.  It held together well which allowed it to be rolled thinly and still be able to cover well.  The rolled buttercream tasted better but was difficult to work with and was kinda slimy.  But it made the cake sooo moist.  I really don’t like cake at all, but I had two pieces that night and leftovers the next day, which NEVER happens.  Go ahead, ask my husband.

The moist cake may have to do with a couple of other things I did with the cake mix.  I added a banana cream pudding mix in with the cake mix (it was the only non-chocolate pudding I had on hand) and I substituted milk for all of the water.

I was able to borrow the cake pans from a neighbor and she had lots of cool tips for me as well.

It was fun to do.  Kinda like play dough for adults.  And my kids loved it.  They even at the fondant.  Kimber actually got into the cake before we served it, just so she could eat the fondant.  LOL!  I’m not sure that I’ll ever do anything this big again but it was fun to do once.

It was the day before the school’s valentine party and I had yet to decide what we were going to do.  I searched for homemade valentines on the internet and saw an idea that came up in a couple of blogs.  I thought it was too cute and would be so easy so when the kids got home from school I grabbed them and took their picture before they could even come in the door.  This was the finished project.

It was probably the easiest Valentines I’ve ever done.  The hardest part was finding lollipops.  Even these dumdums were hard to find.  They were a big hit though.  The kids’ friends loved them.  Lex enjoyed giving his to his cousins and Kimber had fun giving hers to her Grandmas.

For Valentines day Jared made me breakfast.  It was from Pioneer Woman’s cookbook.  I think Jared loves that book as much as I do.

It made me gag though.  Sorry honey, I’m just not a rawish egg type of person.

But then he made up for it by making this totally yummy cheesecake dish from the Magic Bullet recipe book.  NumNum.

I made a version of Outback’s Alice Springs Chicken for dinner.  It was super yummy but we all felt like we were going to have a heart attack afterward. I forgot to take any pictures of it.

We then went up to my parents to celebrate and so we could all trade Valentines.  My mom puts so much effort into her gifts for the kids.

They all love it!

This year she made headband/earwarmers for the girls.  They were so cute.

We spent New Year’s Eve at our friends’ house catching up with a bunch of friends.  I just didn’t get out my camera until most of them were gone.   Our evening was spent with good food and good company and our kids were troopers til the end.  I’m pretty sure Kimber only gave up the ghost about 30 minutes before we left, which was quite late.

Once most everyone had left the rest of us started this game.  It’s called Zombies.  I didn’t actually play, I was just an observer, but it was fun.  Here is Jared and Darin–

Amy and Jason, then Rikki, Darin’s wife.  Darin and Rikki were kind enough to have the party at their house.

I was in charge of dessert.  I made these deliciously sinful mini-cupcakes.  I learned that day how to do chocolate curls.

The cake batter was just a mix, but the frosting!! That was the real seller.  I usually make frosting with Dream Whip and whatever pudding mix I have on hand.   This time I had chocolate and cheesecake so I made both.  You mix the 4oz pudding and a packet of dream whip with 1 1/2 cups milk.  I usually only have skim milk on hand and it works fine.  This time I had some whipping cream in the fridge so I used 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1 cup skim.  The end result was this frosting that held it’s shape very well.  I put it in ziploc bags and cut a whole in the corner and piped it onto these little devils.  The kids loved them, and so did the adults!

Janette was invited to a cookie exchange party.  I had just made some snickerdoodles the day before for my own cookie exchange so we decided to kick it up a notch.

These were highly addicting and surprisingly soft even after a day.  I used mint chips and almond bark for the mint mixture and my kids thought it was a little strong but I liked it.

Chocolate Mint cookies *About 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients

* ¾ cups Butter
* 2 Tablespoons Water
* 2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
* 1-½ cup Brown Sugar
* 2 whole Eggs
* 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
* ½ teaspoons Salt
* 2-½ cups Flour
* 1 box(es) Andes Mint Wafers (Not The Baking Chips)

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter, water and chocolate chips together until chips are almost all melted. Add the sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well.

Refrigerate for an hour.

Roll into walnut-sized balls, place on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place one half of an Andes Chocolate Mint Wafer  (0r a mixture of mint chips and white chocolate) on the top of each cookie. Allow the chocolate to melt for a moment and then use a toothpick to swirl it around.

Let them cool and enjoy them with a glass of milk!