Cubbies Bear Hug 22 - Happy Birthday!

Hello again. 

Welcome to a series I'm doing on Awana Cubbies!  I hope you enjoy your time here.  If you'd like, you can visit my previous posts, or dive right in!

Introduction
How I started down the Appleseed Trail
Bear Hugs 3-6:  God is Creator
Bear Hugs 7-10:  God's Word is Truth
Extra Cubbies Fun - Gingerbread Nativities
Bear Hugs 11-14 - God is Faithful
Bear Hug 15 - Story of Abraham
Bear Hug 16 - God is Mighty
Bear Hug 17 - Valentine's Day
Bear Hug 18 - Crossing the Red Sea
Bear Hug 19 - God is in Charge

Bear Hug 20 & 21 - God is in Charge

 

This week was the review week for the 'God is in Charge' unit.  It was also the last week where Cubbie and friends were talking about Timothy's birthday!  And so, we celebrated all our birthdays together!  Hooray!

 

I had a lot of fun putting this all together!  I made a bunch of stuff for the birthday party.  Some of it we never used as I bought some things instead, but I'll post it at the end anyway for anyone who wants to use it for their own Cubbies party (not for resale.  I do not own the rights to the Awana clipart).

 

First, I made an extra large birthday card by folding white paperboard in half, printing and cutting out some of the black and white clipart images, and gluing them into place.

The kids were each to sign their names (or we would for them if they didn't know how) on the inside of the card as they came in.

I also made a party table centerpiece.  This was fun.  I just took the one image, made it as large as I could for a regular sheet of cardstock, and then made one flipped.  Also made 'Happy Birthday' images times two for two strips.  The Cubbie and friends pictures were going to be used as extras for decoration that are not necessarily for the birthday party.  Didn't want to waste paper.

Step one - print your sheets on cardstock.

Step two - glue the two Cubbie Bear's together.

Step three - Cut out Cubbie, then cut slits in the top of both the 'Happy Birthday' strips, and the bottom of the Cubbie bear about 1inch long.

Step 4 - Slip the birthday strips into the slits on the Cubbie picture so that they make a circle.  Done!  Take it apart to store flat.   (I want to laminate this to make it last longer).


Next thing I made were cupcake toppers... because cupcakes are so much nicer for serving kids than cake is.  Easy... no cutting!  And the toppers were such a huge hit!

Here they are!  I printed enough for 25.

Step 1 - First you need to print one sheet on cardstock, and then the mirrored sheet on regular paper (so it will fold around the toothpick easier).  Glue the two sheets together lightly with a glue stick.

Step 2 - Now you can rather easily cut out each topper, and it is already double sided!

 See?  And the edges are even!

Step 3 - Now we open the bottom...

 ... add a bunch of glue...

 ... put in the toothpick...

... and press down.  Doesn't Katie Collie look lovely?  So simple for on the cupcakes, too.  Just push in the bottom of the toothpick.

One down, 24 to go.

The kids loved these!  They were asking for their favorite characters when they saw all the cupcakes.  And I heard a few of the kids exclaim 'this is the best birthday party EVER' when they opened the door to this room.

I couldn't resist decorating!  The tissue paper flowers were some I made for my daughter's birthday.  I kept them around in case I wanted to use them again, which has been great!  The table cover, plates, and napkins I found at a Dollar Tree.  Made for easy cleanup.  Cupcake wrappers also from a dollar store.

Doesn't Cubbie look thrilled to be surrounded by friends and cupcakes?  :)

 

I used my go-to vanilla cupcake/cake recipe called Butter Sponge.  It is so tasty!  The icing recipe I use is different from the one I have listed there, though.  You can find it in the first bit of this video of Disney Princess Cupcakes, here.  I only needed 1/2 the recipe to ice 24 cupcakes as seen above.

 

The birthday party was a big hit!  The kids loved it!  The hats were fun, although they kept coming apart (Dollar store hats... what can I say).  And the party blowers were so much fun (no noise version).  They each got some popcorn in some reusable cups with lids that most of the kids took home.  We also had some really small cups (4 oz, probably) that we used to serve water to the kids (no juice needed... lots of sugar here already).

 

 

And now, just for fun, here are a few things I made for the party!  Feel free to use them for your own Cubbies Birthday Party celebration!

 

For the invite below, using the print image program do 4 to one sheet of paper.  The line is blank for you to put the date in yourself.

 

 

Below I have two versions of the birthday party hat I designed using a blank template I got online (I can no longer find the original, but there are a lot of blank templates you can find online through google or pinterest).  The first version is one the kids can color themselves as a coming in craft.  The second is one you can whip up before Club night and put together at home.  Print on cardstock.

If you want to download the pdf file for the cupcake toppers and the table centerpiece, you can get the free download below!

Free Download for cupcake toppers and table centerpiece
Free Download for the party hats and invites

Enjoy!  Please let me know if you used these files or found this post useful!  I love making these things and hope to make more available in the future!  God Bless!

NOTE:  All images of Cubbie and Friends are Trademarked Awana.  You can find them at awana.org.  None of these things may be sold or reproduced for sale in any way.  For personal/club use only.  Thank you.

Lego Mania!

Our household has been in Lego heaven lately since The Lego Store opened in our province.  We are thrilled!  We even went to the opening where they asked for help creating an 8 ft brick Yoda!  Each of us made one mega brick for the Yoda.  I am looking forward to going back and seeing the completed little... I mean, big... green Jedi!

I even made a little video of our experience.

We actually went ahead and purchased a bin of Lego... for no reason except that we wanted to buy Lego!  Go figure!  That does not happen in this household very often!  The kids were ecstatic!  They set to building their own little creations right away.

And this last weekend a friend of mine asked for me to make cupcakes in a Lego theme for birthday celebration for 4 members of her family (yup... lots of people born close together.  Makes for a great gathering!).  I made a video of that as well.

I managed to make enough cupcakes that I could keep enough for one each for my family here at home... minus the Lego bricks.  The kids were very disappointed not to be able to eat a fondant Lego brick.  Ah well!  I didn't feel like making more.  Those little guys were time consuming!

And now my husband is asking for more Star Wars Lego kits for his upcoming birthday....

What is your favorite Lego series?  My husband loves the Star Wars ones, obviously.  My daughter loves the Lego Friends.  Me?  I'm more into the classics... just give me a bunch of multicolored bricks and let me create whatever my heart desires!!  I think my son follows that (although he keeps asking for Star Wars Lego now, too... I wonder why?)

Arrrg, Mateys!

  This weekend was my son's 5th birthday party.  He wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme.  I came up with too many ideas again, and went into overkill mode.  Bram loved it!  He told me he wanted a Bucky cake, a treasure hunt, and treasures.  So, I made a few things from cardboard (like a chest, swords, etc), and filled goody bags with candy, a ring pop, glow bracelet, party blower, and Jake tattoos, and put them in the chest.  Then went to work on the treasure hunt and turning our yard into neverland.

 

First, the goody chest.

 

 

Here's the map with the instructions on how to find the treasure.

 

 

First, we had to dress like pirates at Hangman's tree, then sail three times around skull rock.

 

 

Then Captain Hook wanted to be sure they were pirate worthy by having them play Hook Toss on the Jolly Roger.  If they lost, they must walk the plank.

 

They didn't mind losing. ;)

 

 

Next we went to Shipwreck cove and shot cannonballs at each other... or, you know, plastic balls.

 

 

Then the fairies needed our help blowing bubbles at Pixie Hollow.

 

Off to Tiki Forest for a game of Musical Tikis.  This was fun!  Then time for sword practice at Jake's hideout.

 

 

Off to Neverland desert to dig for gold doubloons (I hid three per child in the sandbox... er... desert)

 

 

Lastly, we had to cross crocodile creek before finding the treasure in Pirate cave (not sure why I have no pics at this point... too busy I suppose).

 

After all that fun, the kids played while I set up the food.  And we had lots of treats.

 

 

On the menu were Hooks Pirate ships (pigs in blankets with paper sails), Tick Tock Crock's Swamp Water, Bones Popcorn, Sharky's raisin pearls, Cubbie's fresh veggies, Jake's Sword fruit kebabs (sword toothpicks made this a hit!), Smee's Blue Lagoon Jello cups, and of course, a Bucky cake centerpiece.  I decorated with grass skirts as a 'roof', gold doubloons and red rubies scattered for treasure around the trays, and Dollarama came to the rescue with the blue table cover I cut for the cake tray cover.

 

 

The boys loved the cake.  And I was thrilled with how it turned out as well!!  I spent hours on it... no idea actually how long with all the interruptions, but I was super thankful for the purchased fondant, even if I had to color it.  Oh, and pretzels make the perfect railing and ladder!

 

The cake turned out looking 'just like Bucky' to the delight of my five year old.  He insisted on there being a slide, and a bell.  A tip... let the fondant harden/dry out before adding it to the cake, and you should be good!  Took a lot of patience on my part to let the pieces dry before adding them (the back panel and the bell, mostly.  I let the slide mostly dry around the handle of a soup ladle before adding it while still a little pliable to get the shape right).  The back panel is my favorite!  And I love the portholes... even added the little hinges to the top of them (forgot to take a close-up photo of them though... darn).

The party was fantastic!  The boys seemed to have a great time, my son loved it, and there was enough food for everyone.  I'd call that a success.  It didn't rain either!  Which was exactly what I was hoping for!  :)

Happy Birthday to my little man... how is it that you've grown so big already?  I still cannot believe you are 5 years old, and will be off to school this next fall (WHAT?!).  You have such a big heart, you are super smart (I think math will be your strong point as you are amazing with patterns and numbers already... counting past 100 with ease, and noticing the pattern of balloons above the window for your party of red yellow blue yellow red yellow....).  I look forward to watching you grow.  Hugs to my not-so-little-anymore boy.

Cake

This last week was a baby shower for a very special lady, and I was asked to make cake...

 

So I did.

 

 

I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I hope to do an instructional on what I did later this month (perhaps... if my program will cooperate with me).  And it tasted yummy!  I really would like to find more cake recipes that blend other flavors that I can attempt for making nice cakes, but it needs to be a solid cake (I've tried other recipes that are just not solid enough for decorating... they want to fall apart and crumble too easily).

I was actually thinking that I'd love to do a facebook page with pictures of all the cakes/cookies I've decorated over the years, showing a progression of the decorating over time.  Is that a good idea, or a bad one?  I am NOT looking to do this as a job or anything... I get super stressed each time I need to make a cake for anyone else but my kids (because my kids love it even if it doesn't turn out exactly like I was aiming for).  I really want to start making cakes just for fun... something where I attempt new things for no reason whatsoever... however it is just so busy lately that if I have any time to do anything, I am not wanting to spend it working on cake (because interruptions during anything where one is working with food is not an easy thing to deal with, and when you have a 2 month old, a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 6 year old, interruptions happen in abundance when you happen to find yourself in the kitchen).

I do really want to do more fun cakes, though.  Especially the flowers.  I love the flowers!  They turned out so well, and I've never done fondant flowers like these!  And the baby was a last minute thought that I put together the morning of the shower.  Made it while working on breakfast.  I was unhappy to see that it squished the head a little when we were driving (the ear squished... sniff), but it still turned out fairly well.  I need to learn more on sculpting babies to make them more realistic... or cute.  I didn't like the lips on this one, but I tried.  :)  It isn't as cartoony as my first fondant baby was... and I ADORE the little feet/bum.  ;)

What do you think?  I see myself making many more cakes in the future (hey, I have 4 kids now that I'll be doing cakes for now!), and I've noticed a lot of progression in my decorating style.

Now if only I could make the fondant smooth on the sides of the cake.  Perhaps I need to take a fondant course like I did with buttercream.

Mom-E-xhaustion

Sometimes, I dream about being in a fairy tale.  You know, something like Sleeping Beauty... only I wish to fall asleep and have my Prince actually wait for a few days before waking me up.

 

Actually, eternal sleep doesn't sound too bad right now.

 

Speaking of 'sleep'...

 

How you know you've had an exhausting day... not even enough energy to take off your jacket and lay down somewhere besides the floor you were placed on.

 



 

Sunday was a very exhausting day for more than just me, it seems.  Baby A fell asleep in the van on the way home, and since I had to make 3 trips back and forth to get everything in the house, I put her on the floor (she woke up while I was carrying her), only to come in after carting in Baby B, the diaper bag, and various other things to find her fast asleep.  Poor peanut!

 

This has been one massively tiring week!  Baby A had her birthday, and I can still hardly believe she's 2 years old now!  I guess I should start thinking of her as a toddler now, even though she is still my lil peanut.  I baked cupcakes and cake for her, and since she just adores Olaf, we had an Olaf themed birthday.

 

 

For the first time, I 'cheated' with the cookies.  My husband found the Valentine's frozen 'bake them yourself' Pillsbury cookies with hearts in the centers of them for $1 per 24 pack, and bought 3.  I could hardly believe it!  I didn't have to do much to make cookies!  I printed a bunch of Olafs and put them on toothpicks onto the large cupcakes, then using parchment paper on top of another image of Olaf, I used white and dark chocolate to draw out a chocolate Olaf for the top of the cake.  Made a number of snowflakes similarly, and attached them to the sides of the cake afterwards.  Since I got a  bunch of Valentine's day stuff on sale, I used pink sweetheart candies to decorate the mini cupcakes and the table.  And doilies make lovely decorations, too.  I made pop cans into 3D snowflake decorations using my Snowflake cutter with my BigShot machine, and for relatively little work, we had a pretty dessert table (I was so happy).

 

I didn't want to do a big birthday party as I cannot handle a lot of people in my house all at once anymore.  Instead, we had my husband's parents over on Wednesday, his sister came down on Thursday (and we sang Happy Birthday with candles on a cupcake for her), then friends came down on Friday for supper (they have three kids all the same age as our oldest three!  The kids had a great time!).  Saturday was a baby shower for a friend of mine, and then Sunday we were going to have lunch with my family at our house, but I was so tired that my mom said we'd do it there, and I'd bring the cake (hence all the cupcakes and a cake, too.  Instead of one big party, we had 4 mini parties.  I'm so DONE).  It was hard since lately, all I want to do is hide in my house.  I absolutely love doing special cakes and themes and planning parties though... so what's a hermit wannabe to do? 

 

I still cannot believe my lil girl is 2 already!  Where did the time go?  I just love how much she is talking, dancing (she just loves to dance to the Frozen soundtrack), and she loves to give hugs to her baby sister (and crawl all over me whenever I wish to sleep or need to nurse the baby).  Her vocabulary is quite large already, and although we haven't started potty training yet, I really want to (having two in cloth diapers is quite the task).

 

Happy Birthday, Lil A!  You are a joy to watch grow, and will forever be my squishy (even when you don't want to, haha).



Birthday Party Catchups

 So I noticed that I haven't kept up with all the kiddos birthdays!  Yikes!  Anyway, here is a photo post of the parties I missed!

Bram turns 1 year

 Cookie and cake together!  Mmmmm.

 

 Pressies!

 

He LOVED his cake.  We did not get nearly as awesome 1st year cake pics with the girls.  ;)

 

 

M's 3rd (and her daddy's 33rd) Birthday

We had a combo Hello Kitty and Transformers birthday.  Made a kitty and an Optimus out of fondant.

 

 

Bram's Second Birthday

 He loves Mickey's Clubhouse.  So, I made a cake! 

 

 These little figures were part of his gift.  He still just adores these things!  He plays with them constantly!

 

 He just adored his cake.  Adored it!  He stood there and stared at it!

 

M's 4th Birthday

 She chose to do Minnie Mouse... actually, I think she was hoping for some figures of her own.  ;)

 

 We chose to keep it to one family coming over this time.  Made it so much easier on me.  And it was great.  The cupcakes were a hit.

 

 She just loved her Minnie cake.  Dressed as Minnie Mouse slightly as well.

Bram's 3rd Birthday

 Some of the 'cars' snacks.

 

The cake.  And the 'Rusteze' pop. 

He loved it!

 

Happy birthday, little man!

 

Bram's 4th Birthday

 He wanted Angry Birds this time.

 

So much fun!

 

 

It just amazes me how time is flying by!