Another long weekend has come and gone- and what a shock we got more snow! Honestly a green Christmas and a white Easter were not exactly what I had in mind this year :/

Normally we are out skipping rope, drawing with chalk and blowing bubbles Easter weekend. This year we took advantage of the bit of sun we had to go for a walk and do a little drawing but then we had to find some indoor activities to occupy our time.

Naturally we made Easter cookies. We decided to send these to Amelia's teachers because they are clearly not on the 21 Day Fix program ;)  

We made the sugar cookie and royal icing recipes from Sweetopia.  I love her blog, so many great ideas, tutorials and recipes. I used the cupcake cookie cutter from Cheapcookiecutters.com (a favorite shop of mine). 

Amelia decorated her cookies like this:

I loved her concentration. She was so cute!

I really wanted to try making the lamps like the Flour Box Bakery tutorial on Facebook. I must have watched the video about 15 times before I was happy with the results. The gray was a little too dark for my liking but it is what it is they are still cute.

I have a lot of practicing to do before the big tea party in June if I want my Anna and Elsa cookies to look as good as the ones the Flour Box Bakery or Sweetopia make!

*Disclaimer: I received no money or products from the blogs/companies I linked to in this post. I just like them and shared.

Belated Birthday 3

How is my sweet girl 3 already?! At the time around her actual birthday, my father in law was still in critical condition in ICU and I wasn't able to focus on pulling together a birthday party for Amelia, so Gordon and I decided that we would make her day EXTRA special. I stayed up late making cupcakes and cookies for her to take to her daycare and then decided that while I didn't get a chance to make the dress I had had in mind for her birthday I could make her a quick skirt and t-shirt.

Thank you Little Lemonade Stand for the awesome banner!

I went to bed late and maybe 30 minutes later my darling girl crawled into my bed. I have to be honest, I loved the cuddle. I know this time goes so quickly...relish the little moments... She woke up with a smile and enjoyed her special birthday breakfast. She was thrilled with the balloons and Happy Birthday Bunting. She had a birthday party first thing!

She was so excited to see her birthday dress. She twirled in that skirt like there was no tomorrow :)  I used the Oliver +S lazy Skirt directions with the Children at Play fabric collection from Michael Miller. I absolutely love the balloon print and, thankfully, so did Amelia

She did the chicken dance and sang songs...and then she saw the treats for her school! I though her little face was going to split she was smiling so much and her eyes were killing me! So much excitement and joy in those little eyes. She had a great party with her friends.

Cookie cutters from Cheap Cookie Cutters

In case you are wondering what happened to the Jessie theme...she changed her mind and wanted Minnie Mouse, Mama obliged. Austin had Mickey for his 3rd...must be something about the mouse and three.

We had pizza and a Minnie Mouse cake, she opened gifts and loved them all. Three. I can't believe that my little girl is growing so fast.

A Milk & Cookies Party

I had thought of hosting a milk and cookies party for Amelia's first birthday but then decided on a "Look Whoooo's One" theme...that didn't go as planned. The baker forgot to make her cake and it was the center piece of the whole event. The party went well, Amelia and our family and friends had a great time, but I was devastated that the cake wasn't right.

This year I started planing well in advance to ensure that I avoided all the last minute rushing and forgotten details of the previous year. I decided to keep it simple and a Milk and Cookies party was the way to go! Because clearly this girl loves her malk (milk)!

I spent the week and a bit before the party baking cookies. Cookies freeze so well and thaw quickly so it allows you to get the most time consuming part over in advance. Austin and Amelia "helped" me and I have to admit the extra flour on the floor and the smiles on their faces made the mess worth it!

The decor was pretty simple. I had planned to decorate the backyard but since it was raining and we had to change our plans, I had more than enough decor. It looked like a pink bubble exploded in our home (Miss A LOVES her "pik".

I visited my favorite sites and baked up the following:

1. Kraft Peanut Butter cookies
2. Oatmeal Raisin cookies
3. Homemade Oreos (heart shaped of course!)
4. Chocolate Chip cookies
5. Sugar Cookies
6. Chocolate Sugar Cookies
7. Turtle cookies
8. Cookie Popcorn
9. Monster Cookie Dip

Amelia's cake was a simple chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Four layers of cake, pink frosting and sugar cookie details. Simple, easy and delicious!

I have been decorating cakes and cookies for awhile but I really wanted to make the sugar cookies the star of the sweet table. I recently found a great website where I was able to find cookie cutters at unbelievable prices! Shipping was fast (and free! coming from the States that is virtually unheard of these days). Cheap Cookie Cutters even responded to my tweets. I'm pretty impressed and have another order going in soon. (and no they did not pay me to say any of that...I wish I got paid to blog.)

Once I had the cutters, I searched for the perfect recipes. I found them on Sweetopia. This very talented Canadian momma not only had great tutorials and recipes but she also answered my questions when I tweeted her. I am amazed at what Marian can do with royal icing! (Check out her Kitchen Aid cookies...I feel like I might want to tackle them next.)

I had seen some really cute paper decor on Pinterest and I tracked it down through Etsy. It was inexpensive and with a few Photoshop edits everything was ready for the party.

Vintage milk jugs were a find at Winners

The rain didn't damped our fun! Amelia had a great time playing with her friends and was so captivated by the Cinderella lego that my sister gave her that we had the bring the birthday cake to her! So much about that day was perfect, from Amelia running around in her diaper stealing "cookcook"s from the table to her squeals of delight when I put the cake on the table. My kids were happy and my sister was here to share in the celebration. It was an awesome day.