Butterflies and Friends (and a baby)

We made Merrill's birthday official on Saturday with cake and friends and family and butterflies.  Couldn't have been more fun.  Of course, Saturday just happened to be the first day it decided to be summer around here -- meaning it was H.O.T.  Just two days before the temperature was in the 60's.  Now THAT is too cold for July in St. Louis, but somewhere in the 80's would have been nice.  Instead we got 90's and humid.  Which is pretty much right for July in St. Louis.  Because of the heat we bounced from inside to outside throughout the party.  We did crafts and games outside until the kids started complaining about being hot and then we would head inside for snacks, cake, presents, etc.  It was a relatively low-key party in terms of party prep, decorations, activities, etc.  I've done it up big some years and it's hard not to think I have to do that every year -- or even go bigger and better every year.  But, I don't.  'Cause in the end, all that matters is that the kids have a good time and end the day feeling special and loved.  (they also generally feel very tired and cranky by the end of the day, but I don't think that is necessarily a requirement, just a common perk ;) ).

So happy to see her best friend from Kindergarten -- very sad they have different teachers for first grade ...

Teddy was happy to see her too :)

More good friends

The whole crew of butterflies (minus a few little brothers)

catching 'butterflies' -- the air was so heavy and humid that the balloons did not stay afloat very well, but I think the kids still had fun

Lucky to have family join us for the day too

more crafts -- making Eric Carle inspired butterflies

time for cake

making it official 

Parties seem to be extra hard on Millie -- all the food, people, noise really get to her after a while.  By the end of the party she was desperately seeking somewhere in the house where she could be alone and have some quiet.  It was a little rough for a bit.  But, after everyone left and the house was quiet again we had some family snuggle time on the couch for movie night and then I got to slip away to get in some snuggles with this little lady who had arrived earlier in the afternoon (just a little more than an hour before the party started -- we were all so excited!)

She had good timing since I had leftover cake and frosting and was able to bring her her very own birthday cake (that Lauren and Jason got to enjoy)

So happy 

Celebrating Six

Merrill's birthday celebrations started off first thing the morning of her birthday -- waiting for gifts when you are six is just too hard :).  She was greeted at the breakfast table with 6 gifts from her family and a card from Grandma and Papa and then enjoy pancakes made by Scott -- her favorite breakfast.  The rest of the day was pretty typical.  Well, actually, we did a very poor job of sticking to our schedule because swim was cancelled due to the cool temperatures and the girls talked me out of learning time and chores got skipped (sometimes schedules get thrown out the window when I am baking...).  So, maybe not totally typical, but pretty close.  The girls went to piano lessons in the afternoon and then we finished the day with a birthday surprise -- dinner with the family at Duffy's followed by a special showing of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Magic House with Peyton.  Merrill was pretty happy with her birthday surprise, though she said she still didn't feel '6' yet because there wasn't a party.  She had to wait a couple of more days for that final birthday celebration!

new slippers and pancakes to eat make for a happy girl

Happy to see that Lainie and Grandpa and LoLo's family were joining us for dinner out

We were really hoping this little one would make an entrance on Merrill's birthday, but we had to wait a couple of more days for that too

love to see the budding friendship between these three

following the yellow brick road

This was an after-hours event that was by reservation only.  They opened the doors about an hour before the movie started and we had the run of the place until then.  Us and maybe 20 other families ... it was pretty awesome.  

We spent a lot of time exploring the China exhibit

cookies before the movie

not a bad way to end a birthday day

Interview with a 6-Year-Old

• What is your favorite color? Purple
• What is your favorite toy? doll carrier
• What is your favorite stuffed animal? big bear
• What is your favorite thing to sleep with? duck blanket
• What is your favorite fruit? watermelon
• What is your favorite cereal? oatmeal
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes
• What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? pb&j
• What is your favorite dessert? ice cream and cake
• What is your favorite drink? hot chocolate
• What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? pizza
• What is your favorite animal? elephant
• What is your favorite book? 10 I Love About You (personalized book about Merrill)
• What is your favorite song? FaFa by Guster
• What is your favorite game? Princess (a cooperative board game)
• What is your favorite t.v. show? Ella the Elephant
• What is your favorite movie? The Last Unicorn
• What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride the scooter
• Who is your best friend? Millie 
• What do you want to be when you grow up? artist
• What is your favorite outfit?  blue romper (new outfit she got today)
• What is your favorite snack? bar
• What is your favorite holiday? 4th of July 

Cake

This was my Monday this week.  Baking lots and lots of cake.  MOST of that cake, well, maybe half, is for Merrill's birthday this weekend (because what 6-year-old doesn't have a 2-tiered birthday cake?! it's become standard fare around here apparently), but there are also two smash cakes in there for clients as well as a 2-layer sheet cake for another client (half yellow cake and half white cake).  (and 3 really small cakes for the kids to decorate).  

This is all of the cake wrapped up and ready to go in the freezer.  Yep, the freezer.  And, it's a good thing.  There is actually science behind freezing cakes -- it helps keep them moist and most bakers do it as a matter of course.  So, there you go.  Bake ahead and freeze -- the cake will be just as good or better made fresh that day :). Oh, and I froze the left-over batter so I can use it later for an order of cupcakes.  (kudos to Scott who managed to get all of that cake in our freezer!)

This is what my kitchen looked like at the end of the day -- and that's after I had washed everything at least twice already ...  So.Much.Cake.

(the jar of murky water is from Millie painting, not from baking ;) )

Tomorrow I'll be making up the filling and frosting for Merrill's cake and working on the fondant decorations so it can all be pulled together for her party on Saturday. 

Next Monday I'll be baking 3 dozen cookies (and freezing the dough) for an order due next weekend, as well as whipping up 2 flavors of buttercream, at least one batch of royal icing dyed 2 different colors, and cupcake frosting.  All to fill an order for cookies for a bridal shower and an order for a sheet cake and smash cake for a first birthday party.  This will be my first test of filling two orders in one weekend -- I'll get to do it again in August!  Wish me luck!

Ooops I Did It Again

Man!  So the plan was to take a week off from the blog after the fun-filled-frenzy that was the end of the school year and then jump back in recording our summer.  I don't know if you noticed, but today is July 1st.  WHAAAT?!  Well.  Looks like I took a month off.  But, not for lack of things going on around here.  We've had a great first 1/3 of summer vacation and pretty quickly got into a groove.  This is the first summer when I've found a schedule that seems to work for everyone.  I think it helps that Merrill has a year of school under her belt and was used to a schedule.  For right now we have an acceptable balance between free play and structured activities.  I found that a tough balance to strike though -- too much free play time and they either 1) start fighting or 2) don't want to leave play time to do anything structured at all; too much structured time and all of a sudden they forget how to entertain themselves and are constantly looking to me to provide them with something to do.  Neither of those turn out well.  BUT, like I said, for now it seems like we've struck a good balance for everyone.  Not that there aren't moments.  There are plenty of moments.  And you moms know what I mean when I say 'moments'.  The kids have all participated in one session of swim lessons and will do one more starting next week and the girls are taking gymnastics and continuing with their piano lessons, but for the bulk of the time we are home.  We're gearing up for Merrill's 6th birthday next week as well as for the arrival of a new niece or nephew (any day now) and trying to soak in lots more summer fun before it's all over.  My goal is to do some back-posting in the next couple of days to (ahem) make it LOOK like I didn't skip all of June and to get back on track with recording our days.  Mostly because I know in a year, two years, 10 years, I'm going to look back and wonder what the heck we did and why it's not on the blog ;).

A gratuitous picture of the kids thrown in just for fun -- Millie rocked those 'glasses' for about the first 2 weeks of summer vacation.  She seems to be over the trend now though.