friesenfam.net » birthdays

the chase

janette — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:20:47 +0000

Most of the time I despise summer…it’s hot, it’s sticky, it’s buggy…

But you can’t have an impromptu squirt gun fight in the middle of winter. Well, you could…but i don’t think it would turn out to be nearly as fun.

the process

janette — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:20:38 +0000

As you know by now…I get a little obsessive about birthday cakes. I can’t help it. I get excited. I’ve always loved birthdays…and I want my kids to get as excited about theirs as I get about mine!

They get to pick the theme…I get to do the rest.

Necessities for the process (this just happens to be the rainbow cake process):

a lot of similar sizes bowls…for measuring and coloring the cake batter

Some awesome food coloring…bought it at Walmart. It colors really well!

Yep…this is a necessity in my process too.

some awesome wilton cake pans…a gift for my birthday this year from my in-laws. They know me well…I squealed with delight when these babies showed up on my doorstep. Thank you amazon for your ship to recipient option!

Also…wax paper circles in the bottom of my pans…ensuring nothing is sticking to the top. It has always been my biggest issue…getting cakes out of the pan that is. This usually solves it. Just not on those crazy shaped pans…hmmm.

and plenty of counter space to set it all out.

Pouring the batter in the pan is probably my favorite part. I just love how it looks when it’s sitting there…all yummy in the pan just waiting to be baked.

and after it’s baked, the fun part begins…making it a one of a kind creation just for them. Needed for this: creativity and patience.

Last thing you need…one excited child. Okay, I lied…I think this is my favorite part.

Birthdays are so much fun!

a night on the town

janette — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:15:27 +0000

We started off Ellie’s actual birthday with the traditional birthday donut.

Surprisingly when I feed my children donuts for breakfast, I don’t have to keep telling them to eat or we’ll be late. Hmmm….wonder why they don’t eat their normal breakfast that well.

It was a big day at school that day – a parent program for Ellie’s class…complete with a visit from grandparents.

And that night…

a night out with mom and dad.

We got a sitter for Evan and took Ellie to paint pottery. She was confused at first why Evan wasn’t going with us – shows you that she hasn’t had a lot any alone time with mom and dad since he was born. We explained that we thought it would be fun to just hang out with her and not Evan and how painting pottery and 2 year olds don’t really mix. I think she got it when we told her it was breakable.

She picked an alien to paint…and painted him wild, crazy colors.

And then she got to pick where we ate. She decided she wanted a hamburger, so we went to Toads. I love Toads. It makes my tummy happy, so we didn’t argue. Can i just say I love Iowa’s smoking ban in restaurants. I love being able to take the kids anywhere and not worry about their little lungs.

But before swinging over to Toads, we shopped for one more birthday surprise.

Scratch Cupcakery in Cedar falls. A tasty way to end our night out.

We still have yet to pick up our pottery. This week has been crazy! But we’ll get there…and then I’ll post a picture of the alien that will take up residence at our house, and the Christmas tree ornament that I painted. After all, I couldn’t let her have all the fun!

daddy’s birthday

janette — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:39:31 +0000

So, the last post showed you my awesome baking buddy…

Well, it didn’t stop with making the frosting…he wanted to help frost the cake for daddy and decorate it too.

He started out eating the sprinkles out of the bowl,

moved nicely into putting some on the cake…

and then moved right on into enjoying the frosting.

I’m betting this picture was taken shortly after daddy found out what he was doing. Just look at that face!

Next up…more birthday posts from our other February birthday!

baking day

janette — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 04:19:25 +0000

I had a helper in the kitchen today…

We were busy, busy…making treats for daddy’s birthday, the cake for cakeballs, and frosting for Ellie’s birthday cake. Whew…a lot to get done in one afternoon.