purple cupcakes

dear cupcake queen,

I attempted my first solo cupcake order today for dear friend of The Sprout's who is leaving him for the bright shiny lights in Regina. My cupcakes baked up nice and firm thanks to your brilliant recipe tweaks and my icing is fluffy and decadent after following your wonderful never fail directions.

I sprinkled with a smile while thinking about you and Loopy guiding me through cupcake journeys past.

As my cupcakes lay in waiting to be shared with friends I only have one small question left.......how do you keep your family from eating the cupcakes before supper?! (OK, MCDreamy and I BOTH had one tonight BEFORE supper!)

love,

your student, sassy

OK Everyone now you must go over to the iron cupcake challenge and vote for the real cupcake queen Saucy right now! This title belongs to her but she needs our votes to win! Now, for the love of cupcakes, go and vote!

(look at the side bar on the left and put your check by

bloggedy blog blog)

Jones Soda Blue Velvet Cupcake is the one by Saucy of course!

brothers birthday

My Big Brothers 40th birthday was one of the events that kept me busy. It was a great evening of family, friends and laughter. One of the highlights was running into an old friend, we worked at Moxies together many moons ago. I really had a great time chatting with her (hello Dianne! don't forget to leave a comment and let me know when you start up your design blog!) and also chatting with super cool new buddies.......the owner of a great downtown store with shoes, jewelery and bags that I adore, hugs to aunty joy, I loved chatting with you and your bling is still on the top of my wish list! My Big Bro has great friends, it was a great time, thanks everyone!

Happy Birthday Big Bro!

april picnic

My family LOVES picnics.

If you know me well you will know that I NEVER will turn down a campfire and a hot dog. It must be the old camp wakonda teenage counsellor in me.

This was a special bar-b-Que...The Sprouts 1st of many at our local forestry farm just minutes away from our door step. The air was crisp, the hot dogs messy and the company perfect. My sister and the twins who live in Vancouver braved our cool Saskatchewan temperatures for a few eventful days including the picnic. It really feels like a family event when they are with us-it's never the same with out you guys! (move here hint hint)

I remember soooo many picnics as a little girl with my 2 brothers and sister- anlgin lake shore picnics, boat picnics, at the fire tower picnics, picnics at the old bridge, pike lake picnics, borden bridge picnics, rainy picnics wearing garbage bags, eagle creek picnics with grandma k and that's just to name a few-now look at us all with our own children. Wow.

McDreamy and I had a wonderful time on the tandem bike we rented for the kids. I could have pedalled all day singing "alloutee"! McDreamy was the captain and I was the rear admiral....seriously, he looked up the proper tandem terms when we got home. I highly recommend the bike for your next family function, it is guaranteed to bring out laughter and great memories!

cupcake 101

bake cupcakes just like saucy, it is the only way i will ever make cupcakes again. the icing recipe saucy shares is also the best icing ever......use it at your own risk...it is dangerously amazing.

here it is if you are feeling brave...


Saucy's Never-Fail Frosting
1 cup butter at room temperature*
1 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature (ie. Crisco)
1 teaspoon white vanilla (ie. Wilton)
4 cups confectioners/icing sugar2 tablespoons whipping cream
Best made in a stand mixer.
Cream together the butter and shortening thoroughly. Add the sugar, one cup at a time until blended. Beat in the vanilla as you go. When the sugar is completely beaten in, make sure the sides of the bowl are scraped down. Add the whipping cream, beating at the highest speed until super fluffy, about one minute. Use immediately. Store covered in refrigerator when not in use.

Saucy and Loopy schooled me in cupcake class 101. Let's just say professional production line. These gals are pros.
Here are a few of our masterpieces.

prepare preapre prepare

......the sprout here......my mommy has been busy like never before so i thought i'd fill you in on whats been going on around here. one word.......cupcakes. mmmmmmm.

the cupcake queen herself was actually in this very home

ser.i.ous.ly.

she was really here. i know this because i remember the toes..oooo, those perfectly pedicured toes...mmmm....

too bad she covered them up with those super trendy slippers, i'm lucky i caught a glance at all. i know it was that veto who made her hide those perfect feet, guess he's scared of a little friendly competition. well veto, dust off your rabbit hat and we'll just see who gets saucy's kisses. game on brother.

(poor veto, he'll stand no chance once saucy sees me in my BRAND NEW SHARKIE SWIM TRUNKS! hmmm, i hope he doesn't already have a pair)

11 months old today

easter brunch

I love brunch.

Fruit, quiche, the wonderful aromas of fresh from the oven muffins and cinnamon buns, hot coffee and fancy drinks. Great company to visit with, my family from near and far, I love them all.

The Sprout ate his weight in strawberries and bran muffins sitting with Yoda while Sassy ate a hot meal and sipped a steamy tea....delightful day!

the menu....

sparkling pink grapefruit with star fruit

brie and maple ham quiche

broccoli and cheese quiche

hashbrowns au gratin

fresh fruit cups

cinnamon buns

Easter egg cookies

Hoppy Easter Everyone!

The Sprout and I found matching rabbit hats from our new pal Sarah.

Her handmade items are full of sweetness and love!

Check out her great etsy store if you need a special little something for special little someone.

musical mommies

Every Wednesday morning The Sprout and I look forward to music class. We love the songs but the lollipop drum is The Sprouts favorite. It took us a while but he likes the shakers now too.

Here is a photo collage I made for our last class.

What is your favorite childhood rhyme or song?

Unlce Tiffany

Sophie enjoyed Houston as well. She made a new friend at this store that brilliantly gives beautiful white ribbons to squirmy little boys and pretty giraffes so that Mommies can shop in peace. A big thanks to our new friend.....let's call him.... Uncle Tiffany, who divulged top secret information about the testing of the famous "c" clasp on Tiffany's jewelry (they tested them on volleyball players!)and dazzled us with his knowledge of sweet old Saskatchewan.

The Sprout visited Uncle Tiffany twice and received a ribbon each time. He gave his first ribbon to Sophie after soaking it thoroughly with his drool. Sophie didn't care, it looks fabulous on her both wet and dry. We are not exactly sure what happened to ribbon number 2.......it might have been an afternoon snack for the Sprout while Sassy ooooed and ahhhed over her self proclaimed brilliant idea to update her jewelry collection.

Sophie will model 2 styles of necklaces for you now dear readers. Please comment on which you find most stylish.

Style 1 - Short

Style 2 - LongBelow is a horrible picture of the Sophie's photographer modelling the long version. It is a lousy picture but it gives you an idea of lengths. Note the necklace could be worn with the clasps off centre slightly if possible. Do you think another layer of necklace is needed? Sophie and Sassy both agree that black might go well with the silver combination. What do you think readers? How are you wearing your necklaces.....short or long? Did you figure out how Sassy turned short and chic to long and lovely?

just a bump......

who knew playing the drums could be so dangerous!

The Sprout got a hint of a shiner during his latest drum session with Yoda. It's OK Yoda the bump was gone just in time for out trip to Texas.
(more information coming soon...)

Hello Houston

Houston was fun. We loved the city, the shopping, the people and the great restaurants like Good Company and the Adobe Cafe.

What did we do?

We stayed in our jammies to eat breakfast...

The weather was great, the Sprout and I enjoyed walking to the Container store (and using our 25% off coupon which you too can find on their website) only a few blocks away and then re hydrating and the Jamba Juice before trekking back to the hotel.

We also kept busy in our hotel room by playing with the drum sticks Yoda made us. I love these sticks. The Sprout banged on just about everything in that hotel room. Twice.

We also had a grand time shopping at The Galleria.

Sophie (The Sprout's Giraffe) made a new friend she can't wait to tell you about.

baby noah

The Sprout and I had a great visit with our new little friend Noah today. He is a sweet as a fresh blueberry muffin and let me snap pictures until he fell asleep.

The Sprout had a great time playing with Aunty Lilly and had an extra long nap after our playdate. See you soon new buddy!