Joys of a Mom

Belle's Birthday Series: The Preparations

Belle has been asking me why can't she celebrate her birthday in school just like her classmates. I always answer -- because your birthday falls during summer so there's no class in school! Before the end of the school year, I tried getting phone numbers of some parents of her classmates so we can invite them at home for a small celebration on her 6th birthday. She was very excited then! I'm glad that most of them were available to come last Saturday, May 26th.

Here are some of the preparations we made for the party.

The Invite (made by Daddy)

The Loot Bags (Hand made by Mommy, Belle helped in putting the goodies in the bags)

The Cake - Lovingly made by Mommy and Daddy.

Tangled Castle Cake

The Cookies - I thought of other creative activities (aside from face and mask painting) during the party so I baked some sugar cookies ahead of time for the kids to decorate with royal icing.

I even stamped "BELLE 6" on each cookie :)

The activity was a HIT! Both the kids and the mommies enjoyed decorating the cookies. I also got feedback that the cookies tasted so good!

Beautiful cookie creations

Balloons and other decorations (Special thanks to Tito Nathan and Tita Lani for inflating and arranging the balloons)

Good thing I have some of her 8R solo pictures

Pabitin and Pinata - hanging in the middle of our foyer!

I forgot to take pictures of the prizes, the games were facilitated by Tita Rosevie and Tita Jamie. They also conducted the face and mask painting activities during the party. Belle was so excited to see all her friends again! And she keeps on thanking us for giving her a party :) Next year daw ulit!

Belle's Birthday Series: The Cake

I've been long preparing for my little girl's 6th birthday celebration. She has requested me to bake a cake with Rapunzel on her tall tower! I got my inspiration from a blog shared to me by a Korean Cake Decorator Deborah Hwang. She was kind enough to give me a link to her blog. Unfortunately, it was written in her native language so I just relied on the photos. I am really very grateful to her!

May 25 - one day before the big day. I started assembling the cake although I baked them the day before. I only have limited pictures and I always say "Sayang, I should have captured everything in my camera!"

The Tower

Two batches of chocolate cake

I was too busy and pressed for time I forgot to take pictures. My hands were so messy all the time. After more than 6 hours, with breaks in between, the cake was 90% completed. It's already 3am of May 26, Belle's birthday!

Of course, I wouldn't have done this without the help of his Daddy. He prepared all the fondant for me, kneading them patiently to get the right texture. He also stayed awake even if he was so tired from work and helped with the small decorations. I can't wait for our little girl to see her birthday cake. I promised that it will be ready by the time she wakes up. The sun was almost up when I went to bed!

Here are some more pictures of her Tangled Castle Cake.

What a lovely smile from the birthday girl! We love you so much! Happy 6th birthday!

May happenings

What a shame! I haven't blog anything for this month. I was so busy with so many things lately and can not find time to sit and make even just a short post :(

I just have to have an entry for May so here the first post for the month... the highlights of activities for the past weeks.

May 4-5, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan - Summer Outing with DLSU family (my hubby's college barkada)

The kids and teens

Just before we went home

Mother's Day Week - Many friends have been inquiring if I am ready to accept orders of Red Velvet Cake so I decided to give it a go! I baked around 20 cakes that week! Whew!

Stickers for the boxes

Everybody was happy with their RVC

I also made two customized cakes...

80th Birthday Cake

All edible toppers

Barbie Doll Cake (7th birthday)

4 dozens Red Velvet Cupcakes

Kids' summer program graduation in Tagaytay (May 12) It was held in a very nice retreat house owned by the family of one of their classmates. It has a very good view of Taal Lake.