Monkey Cake

Once we got home from the family reunion we went into full party prep mode. Since we had just moved to KC I decided that we should have Duke's 2nd birthday in Vegas, with all our friends. We went with a monkey theme and I tried to keep things rather simple. I was so excited to make another cake! These are so much fun. This was our fastest cake yet! We rocked this bad boy out in 2 1/2 hours during nap time. Mom and I just know what to do now. We each have our rolls and we work really well together. 

We prebaked and froze the cake. We made three cakes at 9" in diameter and and other three cakes at approx 5" in diameter. I really wanted to try a stripped cake. We used green, yellow and brown. 

Cut each cake into three circles and swap out the layers. Next time I would go with only two colors instead of three to get the desired effect or do more layers. 

We staked the three layers toegther and covered it in fondant. Next time we will make more fondant and make it thicker  to hide the wrinkles in the cake better. We added some skewers for support. 

Then Mom's neighbor Roseann stopped by to get a quick tutorial and get her hands dirty. I love this lady. She is so much fun!

Next we layered the three small layers together and covered them with fondant. 

Once they were stacked together it was time to decorate. We got our inspiration for this cake from Pinterest.

Before the decorations. Yup, we totally need thicker fondant.

Then Mom colored the rest of the fondant in green, yellow and shades of brown. 

And then I stopped taking pictures, oops. Voila he is finished! He wasn't our greatest masterpiece but he sure was cute! 

I just {loved} the palm trees. They added a lot of variety to the cake and were super simple!

Compared to our other cakes this one felt a bit underwhelming in both size and creativity. It did the job and it was fun and Duke liked it and that it what mattered!

He really didn't want to let it go!

The inside. 

It was so fun getting back into cake mode! I wonder what our next one will be?

Annie

Our last night in Vegas my dear friend Missy had some tickets to Annie that she wasn't able to use. They were 9th row, with drink vouchers, VIP parking (right in front of the door) and we could go meet the cast after the show. It was the perfect girls night.

I have never been to the Smith Center and it was beautiful!

Can you tell we were a bit excited?

It was an amazing show. My favorite person was Mrs. Hannigan she was amazing! Thank you so much for the tickets Missy and thank you Mom Tobler for coming with me. It was such a fun evening!

Just Something I Threw Together... Not!

I have been wanting to make this dress since before E was born. Do you know how difficult it is to find 1/2" red dots on white fabric? Almost impossible. We found some while we were in Wal-Mart one day and bought the 3 yards that they had. Not thinking that was enough we continued the search. Fast forward to 2 weeks before Christmas. Mom and I were in Jo-Ann and I came across some navy dot on off white fabric. As soon as I saw it I was in love. We bought 5 yards and headed home to begin designing the dress. (Turns out I had enough red fabric the whole time. I'm glad I didn't make the red one though, I love the navy so much more!)

I'm not sure why I insist on designing every dress that I pick but I usually do. I used a separate pattern for the bodice, sleeves and skirt. I also had to design the sleeve (which was Mom Tobler's vision, she always thinks up the cutest things.) One day I will make a dress by following the pattern, one day! Aside from all of that mental labor, three muslin's later I finally had my pattern. I am actually really proud of myself. I made this dress almost entirely on my own. I needed Mom's guidance while we fit and worked on the collar but I almost flew solo, which is a big deal! 

Once my dress was done I had a TON of fabric left over so I decided to make a matching dress for Ethnie. Looking back there were a couple of things I wold tweak but the whole thing came together in a day and that is with having to redesign the pattern as well.

E was really excited that Mommy was making her a dress to match hers and she wanted to help. She was really good at pushing the back stitch button, lifting the presser foot and cutting the threads.

I love having a little helper!

Voila! This final product! Here are way to many pictures of us all matching. I even made a little doll dress out of the same material. Yes I was seeing spots by the end of it!

I {love} the back!!

For Christmas Grammy made us some matching aprons! They were so stinking cute and E was beyond happy to have an "apin wid a skirt!" (apron with a skirt!) She loves the little ruffle, the big bow in the front and the cupcake pattern! 

Thank you for the super cute apron's Mom!!!! 

My favorite blooper from our picture session! Hehe!

I couldn't hardly wait to wear our dresses to church, but the boys had to match us too! So I got Daddy and Duke matching contrasting ties. We looked pretty fancy!

The back of E's dress with her bow and hair up so you can see the flaps. If I was doing it again I would drop the neckline in the back WAY down. 

This was such a fun project and I am beyond ecstatic with how they turned out! I'm going through sewing withdrawals now that I'm all done. I think the next project will be designing a princess quiet book!

December Phone Favorites

 December was a busy month full of work. family and festivity! Here are some of this months phone favorites.

 This wasn't a picture from my phone but a professional picture taken at one of my events with Santa Lou and I love it! I was so blessed to be able to work while I was in Vegas! I had a blast!

 E wanted to do her makeup before church while I did my hair. First she started with the bronzer. 

 Then she got into the eye shadow. She chose blue for the cheeks. We washer her face before church ;).

 We had a play date at Aunt Shellie's house and they had a ton of dress up clothes. E was in heaven! I think I need to start looking for a full length mirror for her room. 

 Playing outside blowing bubbles.

 The flowers in Vegas were beautiful for the first week we were there!

 Arts n crafts!

 A group picture with Santa Lou phone quality because the battery in the camera died as soon as I took their individual ones.

 I was sick one day in Vegas, like can get out of bed, flu sick. Mom Tobler put me on quarantine and she 100% took care of the kids without any questions or complaint. That is totally Mom Tobler, she sees a need and fills it with out any question. She was such a blessing to me and I am so grateful for her.

 Sometimes they love each other.

 I made E a Christmas dress. It took three minutes. She had the shirt and a skirt and she wouldn't wear them. For some reason she simply will not wear skirts but is always in a dress. So, I stitched the two together and she loved it.

 The best Santa photo we got, but it was on my phone. I am just thrilled that everyone is facing forward! :)

 Static hair! 

 Wooohooo! In n Out baby! E was totally loving her shake!

 And the feast! So good!

 Jakob also had a man night Game of Thrones for the Champion of Men cup. The 2014 winner was Chuck. They are trying to plan a destination game for 2015... with t-shirts. Sad thing is, they aren't kidding. 

That's a wrap for December. Until next year Phone Favorites!