Wordless Wednesday - 2.22

Oh how you have grown over the past 4 years, Payten Elisabeth! Happy Birthday week!!!

Birth Day: 02.24.08

And off we go. . .

Payten and I are headed to my little sister's Army boot camp graduation. I can't believe its been 12 weeks! I am sure its felt like forever to her but these past few months have flown by! We are super excited to see her and are so so proud of what she has accomplished!!!

Unfortunately the hubby and Camryn are staying behind :-(, since there will be rifles and such Camryn wouldn't do well with the ceremony so we decided it was best for the two of them to stay behind :-(. I know the hubby is bummed but I will be sure to take lots of pictures!!

Hope everyone has a great week! We'll be back just in time to celebrate Payten's "actual" birthday on Friday. And the hubby and I are celebrating our 6th wedding Anniversary on Saturday!!! Can't wait for another week/weekend of fun!!!

New hair!

After Payten's big party on Saturday she got a super cute hair cut! Her hair was getting super long and with the summer coming we figured a new look was needed! Although I am pretty sure it'll be long again in no time. But in the meantime Payten is loving her new "do"! Such a sassy little girl! But I love it!

Payten's 4th Birthday Party

What a great weekend!!! We celebrated Payten's 4th birthday with our family and friends. She had such a blast!

This year we had her party at Jumping Joey's. It's a bounce house place, her choice :-) It was awesome! Payten had a blast, all the kids had a blast and even the adults had fun. Its a pretty relaxed environment considered the type of place it is. Payten loved spending the day with her family & friends and course she missed all that couldn't be there :-(.

Thank you so much for making Payten's 4th birthday a special one! She is so lucky to have all of you in her life!!! We couldn't have asked for better family and friends in our lives!

Almost complete. . Dining Room

I can't believe I am going to say this but this room is almost complete! First one in the house. I am still looking for an area rug for this room but I am sure it'll be a while til I find the "one" I love! I am also thinking of adding two more curtain panels to the window. Now I just need to think what color?! Any suggestions?!

More house pictures coming soon. . .

Please Vote! ~ Photo Contest

Hi readers! My girls are in a photo contest to win a free photo shoot. "Like" Rhonda Elm Photography's page, then "like" their photo. You must like the photo on Rhonda's page for it to count! The contest ends February 29th so you'll be seeing a post like this a lot!! Thank you so much!

http://www.facebook.com/RhondaElmPhotography

Birthday party already?!

How can it be time for Payten's 4th birthday party?! I feel like I just started planning it! I can't believe we are half way through February already. 2012 is flying! It needs to slow down so I can enjoy it!!!

Since we are having Payten's party out it makes prep and clean up super easy for me :-) One of my MAIN reasons why I love having the girls parties out at a place opposed to at the house :-) My check list is getting smaller and smaller by the day and I'm loving it! I can't wait to celebrate my princess' 4th birthday tomorrow!!!

Check List

• Goodie Bags - check
• Paper products - check
• Birthday banner made - check
• Balloons ordered - check
• Cake Pops made - check
• Cake picked up - check
• Birthday outfit ironed and laid out - check

Cake pops in the making.... I can't wait to have one!

Goodie bags done!

I think we are ready for this birthday party!! Woo hoo!!!

Recipe: DIY Cake Pop Recipe

Tonight we will be making this yummy cake pop's for Payten's birthday party! {Thank you to pinterest for another awesome recipe}

Materials:

• 1 box of white cake mix (and whatever ingredients you need to make the cake)
• 1 container of white frosting (I used whipped frosting, which is lighter, so I ended up using an entire XL container)
• 2 packages of candy melts
  
• 1 bag of lollipop sticks
  
• 2 tb of shortening
• sprinkles (optional)

Step 1: Bake the Cake

You don’t need to do anything special. Just follow the instructions on the back of the box. Let it cool off completely before you work with it.

Step 2: Crumble the cake and mix in the frosting.

You really don’t need to over-think this part. Add half the can of frosting and start mixing. Keep adding more frosting to the mixture until it gets sticky enough to roll into a ball. I used a spatula to mix the cake and frosting together, but you can also use your hands to get the job done.

Step 3: Roll the cake/frosting mixture into balls.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Next, take small portions of your cake/frosting mixture and use your hands to roll them into small balls and place them on the lined cookie sheet. The balls should be the size of a large gum ball. If you make them too big, they will fall off the stick during the candy coating process. Also, their circumference grows when you coat them with the candy, so start out making them smaller than you want your end product to be.

Step 4: Insert the lollipop sticks.

This is what makes the cake a pop! Prepare your candy melts using the directions on the back of the package. I used the microwave directions and melted the candies in a small round Tupperware container. Follow the directions carefully. If you burn the candy melts they will taste really, really bad. Not that I would know or anything. *wink, wink* Dip one end of the lollipop stick into the candy melt and then insert the same end directly into the cake ball. After all the cake balls have lollipop sticks in them, put the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer to set.

Step 5: Cover the cake pops with the candy coating.

You might need to re-heat your candy melts again. If the mixture still seems too thick, you can add a tablespoon or two of shortening to thin it out. I suggest putting the shortening in before you re-heat the candy melts. Carefully dunk the cake pop into the melted candy. Turn it around until it is completely covered. Then, take the cake pop out and gently turn it over and over until all the excess candy melt has dripped off. You only need a very thin layer of the candy melt.