How to make Hello Kitty Fondant Toppers

I recently bought some special characters cutters (Hello Kitty, Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Winnie The Pooh and Tigger.)  I would like to share the pictures when I was doing Hello Kitty cupcake toppers using fondant.

Roll fondant then use the cutter to cut kitty figures

Press the embosser firmly to imprint the ribbon, eyes, nose and whiskers

Roll yellow and black fondant for the nose, eyes and whiskers

Use small oval cutter for the ribbon

I used the same cutter for kitty's dress

Adorable HK in baby pink, green, blue and lavender

This is the very first order I accepted from a mommy friend.  Her daughter will be celebrating her 1st birthday party this Saturday and she needed cupcake toppers only. I made more than 60 toppers during my free time.  I just can't wait to see them on top of the cupcakes :)

Next is an Angry bird fondant cake for March 11!  I can't resist accepting small orders from mommies especially when it will be for their kids. I know my cake will make them happy on their special day. But that will be the last for March.  I need to make an extra special birthday cake for hubby on the 15th and then graduation cakes for Matt and Belle :)

Mommy matters

Two of my FB friends posted this on their walls which is very true for full time mommies like me.  They say that there is no job, career, office, position or opportunity that remotely compares to the importance of being a mother. 

It's alright if there's no log-out,  no pause, no stop, no day-off nor salary as long as I get lots of hugs, kisses, "thank you's" and "I love you's" from my kids. I feel blessed that I can stay at home to take care of their needs most of the time. I can visit them in school and meet their friends and talk to their teachers.  Assist them in their homework and school projects. Bond with them whenever we have the time - cook their favorite pasta, bake cookies and decorate cupcakes and make homemade birthday cakes for them. There's always something memorable happening everyday!

Baking cookies

Swimming time!

I can attend school programs all the time

Meet and bond with their friends

Witness how happy when they are together

And when I get burned out, my hubby will take me out on a date or give me some me-time by taking charge of the kids.  

 No way I will resign from being a mom!  I guess a mom will be a mom until she dies.

Special Greetings

Today is the 14th wedding anniversary of one of my favorite couples in the universe, my Bff Hazel and his one and only Dade Ed Garabiles.  1998 was a memorable year for me and my friends because we also got married that year!  We got jealous of Hazel and Ed so we decided to get married few months later.  LOL!  Seriously, that year was full of love, love, love!

Feb. 28, 1998

Wow! 14 years and ? pounds ago....

I am very thankful that we have maintained our friendship through the years and I know it will continue with our kids. Cheers to both of you! We pray for God's abundant blessings for your family. 

Forever and ever!

Late-night bonding - Belle with Ate Chyn and Ate Ceejay

Sending lots of love from Alabang to Los Banos :) Miss you all and we hope we can get together soon! 

Stay happy and in love!

Thank you Kyle!

Dearest Kyle,

I just want to say "Thank you!"  because you are such a wonderful friend to Matt.  He's very proud to tell everybody that you are his best friend :)

I am so thankful that both of you had a very fruitful and productive time this school year. I'm also very proud of your talent in playing the piano.  Thank you for being very patient with Matt whenever you accompany him during your presentations. Thank you for understanding him most of the time. Belle likes to play with you, too.  She said that he loves you because you are very kind to his Kuya Matt. She also would like to spend more time with you and Keesha next time.

You and Matt will soon be graduating from Grade 6.  I hope you will stay best friends forever.  Keep on improving yourself until you realize all the things in your wish list.  Congratulations for a job well done!

God bless you always, Kyle!

Love,

Mommy Sharon

Christmas program

United Nations presentation

HELE class

Art Class

The  Pianist and the Singer

 

Kyle is Matt's classmate since Grade 5 but they really bonded really well this school year.  Both of them loves to read books, their memory banks are amazing! They are partners all the time, Kyle plays the piano and Matt likes singing.  They may have moods and tantrums sometimes but they understand each other in their own special ways.  There are so many things to be thankful for and one of them is the special friendship between these two smart boys!

A Prayer

Earlier today, I was in a meeting with Matt's teachers and other moms of graduating students. We discussed matters regarding their incoming commencement exercise. Yes! Matt is graduating from grade school this coming March 24!  I feel so proud of my son, in spite of his learning difficulties, he showed us that one can still reach his destination with just small steps at a time. Hard work and perseverance are two of the best components of success.  He never gave up because he knew all along that he can do it and Mommy and Daddy will always be there to support him in everything.

I remembered the prayer that we wrote and shared during their recognition day when he completed Grade 4 in another school.  We were requested to pray for FAMILIES WITH SPECIAL CHILDREN. 

Heavenly Father, we are indeed honored that you have chosen us to be parents of a special child. You have handpicked us among the very few and entrusted to us our son with very special needs. In behalf of all the parents and families with special children, we thank you Lord for blessing us with strength and wisdom to accept our situation, to understand the difficulties and challenges that we face every day and to believe that You will always be with us all the days of our lives to guide and protect our families.

Thank you for the encouragement that our children have shown to us. Every activity that would be simple to the eye of a normal child would be a big achievement for a special child. There is always joy in our hearts whenever we see our kids smile and enjoy simple things around them. Their progress inspires us parents with confidence to hope that someday they would also be achievers in their own special way.

We pray for the years ahead to be fruitful for our families and our special children. We ask for good health so we can work and earn to provide for their needs, for protection especially during the times when we are not together, for endless patience so that we will always understand their distinctive actions and tantrums. Please bless us with faith so that we can fully trust in Your power to give us small or even big miracles every now and then. There are times when life is so tough and our burdens are too much to carry but Your love for us will always sustain us to stay focused in our tasks to be good parents. Fill us with gratefulness in our hearts because we have so much to be thankful for. Lord, be glorified in all aspects of our lives and may our stories be blessings and inspirations to other families.

All these we ask in Jesus most precious name, Amen.

I always read this prayer to remind myself that God has a purpose and a perfect plan for our son. He will make a way even if we think that there's no other way.

We are all excited to witness a very important event in our son's life.  For others, it may be just an ordinary experience but for us, it's one of the miracles that we are praying for. Indeed, we are filled with gratefulness for God's blessings upon Matt and our family.

Congratulations Matt!  We love you very much!

 

Angelina Ballerina

Belle and I had a very special bonding earlier this evening.  She saw me modelling a pig using gum paste and decided to join me.  Lately, I am very interested in doing figure modelling and I am seriously practicing when I have the time.

I was doing Ms. Piggy's hair and Belle wanted to do her own version

Our work :)  The hair keeps falling! Tsk!

I've been wanting to do Angelina Ballerina since I saw this cake topper in one of the blogs I am following. I was requesting the blogger (she lives in Malaysia, a mommy-baker too) to give me a tutorial and promise to take step by step pictures when she has the time.

But I can't wait for her tutorial, I have to do it now on my own.  I was very inspired because Belle is a big fan of Angelina Ballerina and we always watch the show together.

A certified fan!  She has more than 10 cds (3 episodes each)

Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures because Belle was following what I'm doing. You have to work fast because gum paste dries immediately when exposed.

Almost done

My little student's work, Angelina is doing floor exercises

It's already 7:30pm and I still have to do Angelina's hands, I asked Belle to clean up because it's already time to sleep. I can't stop... I have to finish her tonight so I that don't have to dream of Angelina again.

So here's my version of Angelina Ballerina! Not too bad but I need more practice. Belle might want to bring her in school for her Show-and-Tell!

 

Her ears should be bigger!  I forgot her eyelashes and eyebrows!

Oh no! arms too big :( I can hear Belle's ballet teacher "Back straight girls!" 

Belle asked me, "Mommy, why is your work nicer than mine?"  I told her, " Your work is nice too! You did a great job and you're only 5 years old. We have plenty of time to practice."  And she's off to bed after our conversation.

So what's next? I have to bake a nice cake for Angelina to sit on!  And I have to own this book by Debbie Brown which I think is not available locally.

Finally!

My Balikbayan Box via LBC has finally arrived!  Thank you Lord, the long wait is over. It contained my birthday and Christmas gift from hubby.  He is very supportive of my passion in baking. He's the first to taste test my creations most of the time. Fortunately, he loves me so much and I was able to "convince" him to give me my dream Kitchen Aid Mixer! So I have requested my dear friend Jinky who is now based in Chicago to buy me a red one and other baking supplies. It's way cheaper to buy there even if the shipping cost is added.

Belle is as excited as Mommy!

My mixer, baking pans, cookie cutters, sprinkles, vanilla extract, meringue powder, etc, etc ...

I really wasn't expecting it to be delivered today.  I just realized that I'm wearing red too!  It's really meant to be.

So happy to be able to hold you!

Make way, for the queen of the kitchen is finally here! You already have a special place in my counter :)  Happy baking to me!

A big thank you to my BFF Jinky! Hugs and kisses to you! Sa uulitin....

*Updated on Feb 24.  Hubby already bought a transformer last night so we were able to test it. Isn't she nice in our kitchen?  I love RED!

Red na Red!

You made me so happy, Daddy! I promise to make a very special birthday cake for you 3 weeks from now :)

Consider this

Very timely reminder for parents....

"How aware are you of what your kids pick up from you every day?  As parents, it's safe to assume that the answer is everything.  The Bible says that believers in Christ should live in the Spirit.  So often, people view life as what one does outside one's home -- not behind closed doors when interacting with family.  Yet this is here it's hardest and most important (and necessary) to seek to live by the light of God's Spirit.  Being a parent brings you to the end of yourself and then asks for more.

If parents strive to live by the Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirits are evident in their lives, children will see this light.  They will be drawn to it, and they will want to emulate what they see in you.  There is nothing greater than to have your children drawn to God because of what they see in your life."

The fruit of the Spirit is love,  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. . . .  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. -- Galatians 5:22-23, 25

Source: God's Devotional Book for Mothers

Top 10 Tips II

Top 10 Tips for Giving Your Children Wings (and teaching them to navigate safely)

1. Pray for your child everyday - for safety, for wisdom, for their hearts and souls.
2. Give your children the freedom within the boundaries they can handle.
3. Give you fear and anxiety about your child's safety and well-being over to God.
4. Encourage your children to be a part of situations where you know they'll find success.
5. Challenge your kids to test their limits in ways that build confidence.
6. Recognize and reward your children's accomplishments, but be certain that they know your love is not based on what they do, but who they are.
7. Teach your children to trust God with their lives and their future.
8. Introduce your children to new cultures, languages, food, music, books, art.
9. Don't over schedule your child so he has no free time to be creative or explore his world independently.
10. Give you child the space and freedom to fly and entrust him to God.

I was only 12 when I left home and studied high school at UP Los Banos, Laguna.  It's about 1.5 hours travel by jeep then bus from our hometown in Rizal, Laguna.  My older sister (who was 14 then) was a batch older than me. We come home every Friday afternoon and leave very early Monday morning. We both stayed in a rented apartment with our close aunt who worked in UPLB Campus. We learned to be totally independent and responsible with our studies. We are grateful to God, that he has provided us very good friends that made our high school (and college) life easier and more fun. We've also met their families in Los Banos and somehow I felt at home away from home.

My mother is a retired public high school teacher so she really values education above anything. It must have been very hard to let her two girls go at a very young age. I remember I was very hesistant and very shy then and I really don't know what was in store for me in high school.  New school, new environment and no friends! All I know was I'm going to a very good school and that's what really matter that time. It's a chance that we can not pass up, only 160 students are accepted in UP Rural High School every year.  Even if it was difficult and more costly, it's still the best decision she ever made for us. That experience prepared me for bigger challenges in life.

For this I am very thankful to my Nanay Lita. I realized that she must have had the top 10 list above hidden in her heart long ago. She has totally entrusted us to God and the Lord has been so good to answer most (if not all) of her prayers for us. I became who I am now because my mother allowed me to spread my wings and fly on my own. I learned to value the trust that was given to me and I did my best not to let them down.

Now that I'm a mom, I fervently pray that I will also be as courageous as my mother when it comes to my own kids. To allow them to be independent yet stay by their sides to guide and support them if they fail, to be an encourager and a good friend. And I will always remember that I am chosen by God to carry our His plans for my children.