Thanksgiving

I know you all are shocked that I'm late blogging my Turkey Day cookies. I'm skipping Weston's 6th birthday-and all 6 cakes-for now. My computer misunderstood "Cyber Monday" and decided to quit on me. It's at the computer ER (my dad's) and I've taken over Danny's.



How was your Thanksgiving dessert? I'm sure it was yummy but was it this cute?

Now, think about December and how super cool you would be if you took some delicious and beautiful cookies to a holiday party or had them on your buffet or gave them as favors. Stay tuned. The next post will be soon and will feature holiday cuties!

Wedding Time

We are packing for Denver! We are going to see my dear friend Erin get married and then stay a few days to enjoy the place. I made her a few wedding cake cookies to enjoy before the big day.

Erin and I have been friends for what seems like forever. With our big teased up bangs. Learning to drive. All sorts of high school mischief that will now go unmentioned (even though I found one of our journals in the garage just a few weeks ago ). Erin was dramatically swept away to Michigan and since that was waaayyyy before email and such, we lost touch. But her brilliant parents bought FL Prepaid so we both ended up in Tallahassee where we had a little college mischief. Oh, and she's the reason I have the cockatiel that will live forever. I also sent her a copy of Bobby Bowden's new book- signed and all. I had hoped he would write some lovely note inside. Oh well.

Can't wait to see you Erin and to meet Chris! I'm so happy for you!

What have you been doing?

It seems like it's been busy since my last post. I guess I haven't posted anything because I haven't baked hardly anything for the past few months. I just shipped off some cookies to a friend but I don't want to post them until she gets them. Our family is still adjusting to the new fall schedule. We have to get up much earlier to get Wes off to kindergarten and it's been taking it's toll on all of us. Wes loves school. So does Kate. She is disappointed on the days she doesn't get to go to school.

Weston's 1st day. I think Kate asked me 50 times "Where Wessy?"

Kate's 1st day. Weston wearing his school uniform (love it!).

Thanks for checking in. Baking stuff next time!

A late 4th

So much for my commitment to blog at least once a week. I didn't make once a month. It's summer. That's the excuse I'm going with for now.

I made another cake for the 4th. Cakes are fun to make but so expensive! I've got to figure out how to make my own fondant. I think I figured this cake cost about $30 in supplies to make. Gotta have a decent cake under all that work so that costs more. Same with the frosting. Then I was out of coupons for Michaels so I had to pay full price for fondant. The woes of a baker.

I also made some cookies for the occasion. I like how these came together on a platter. Most of the time I am asked to individually bag them so I never see them all piled up and yummy looking.

A little more sweet:

Kate ready for bed with the dolls my mom made me. Don't know how she sleeps with all that stuff crammed in her bed but she loves it as you can see.

Happy July!

Ladybugs

I loved making these cookies! They were made to match the plates and napkins at a little girl's 1st birthday party. The green looks a little more obnoxious in the picture than it did in real life. I think I did a better job for this girl's 1st birthday than I did for my own daughter's 1st! The problem with doing cakes and cookies for my own kids is I have to do all the other stuff too. For Kate's last birthday I didn't even do the cake. Just got it at Sam's. But you won't find personalized cookies like this at Sam's!

Graduation

Here are some of the cookies I made for a very important 4 year old's graduation. First time I've decorated the sandwich cookies. Actually, it was the 1st time the sandwich cookies left the house:) It's dangerous for me to have homemade buttercream frosting laying around. Yummy.

Family picture on graduation day. Time flies! I can't believe I'll be sending him off to kindergarten in 2 months. We shopped for a desk for him because "big kids have lots of homework". Yesterday he easily agreed to doing some reading and math because "I have to practice for kindergarten." I would love to know exactly what he thinks is going to happen in kindergarten!

Hello Kitty Cake

My 1st carved cake covered in fondant. I love Hello Kitty so I was very excited when I had the chance to make this for my class. I have my final exam cake left to get the very valuable Wilton certificate that I can hang on my wall. Or fold up and find in my car a few months from now.

Camping Cookies

I made these camping cookies for a 5 year olds end of year party. Weston thought these were cool which led to a LONG discussion about camping. Discussion=whining about why we don't camp more. More is a stretch since his camping experience is a tent in our backyard. This from a kid who wouldn't go on our porch or in the backyard after seeing a 1 inch frog out there. I will be kind and not describe in detail what happened when he saw a snake in the yard recently. It involved tears and screaming. I think we'll stick to camping cookies and backyard camping for now. Especially since backyard camping is a daddy activity and I sleep in my comfortable bed in the air conditioned house.

1st Fondant cake

I'm taking a fondant/gumpaste class at Michaels. It's so much fun to get to talk to other women about cakes and decorating ideas. This is my 1st cake for the class. We aren't allowed much creativity. It's a Wilton class and we have to follow the guidelines. Not sure why anyone would have a drape like this across a cake unless it was covering a baby but whatever. Hopefully I will look back at this one day soon and laugh.

This was our last week of school. My baby graduated from preschool yesterday! As my neighbor so sweetly put it, "You're old now that you have an elementary school kid." I'm proud of him. But none of that kindergarten talk for a few months. We have summer to enjoy!

First Communion

These stumped me but I'm happy with the results. Couldn't figure out what to do. My chalice was looking like a margarita glass. The name of the child written across the cross looked a little too crucifix like for me. So crosses with pretty little stuff on them did the trick.

End of year gifts

Wondering what to give the teachers for an end of year gift? How about 5 adorable cookies in a cookie bouquet! Hard to see in this pic but the back square cookie says "Thank you". All of this for just $10!





Cute right? But after you get it home you can personalize it a bit to make it extra special.







Get out a little acrylic paint and have the kid's put hand prints on it. I just used a Sharpie to write "thank you" and "love, Weston 2010". Took all of 5 minutes.

Are you the room mom? This would be a cute and inexpensive way to give a gift card too. Just tuck it in and write the kids names on the pot, the name of the school and 2010.

Thanks for looking! Email me at darlingdesserts@yahoo.com ASAP if you would like to treat your teachers to a yummy treat!

Girls Night

Loved doing these! Made them for an in-home shopping fundraiser set up by my mom's group. I had kiddos that weekend so I didn't get to enjoy the shopping. Shopping and cookies. Sounds like a winning combo to me!

She's 2!

I'm guessing nobody stays tuned to a blog if you don't post but once a month. So much for my idea of making a living off blogging. I haven't posted much because I've been busy with cookies and my sweet baby's 2nd birthday (sniff, sniff). She has embraced terrible twos with enthusiasm. I have started potty training and time outs. Not the best but better than 2 years ago when I was nursing her every 3 hours. Oh, and I've been making cookies too!

Bunnies and Carrots

I love bunnies. I could make these bunnies and carrots all year. Maybe I will. Should have made green ones today. Red, white and blue ones for the 4th. Orange ones for Halloween. You know what happens with bunnies....more bunnies!

Weston and I went to the chocolate festival. It made me want to ditch cookies and go chocolate. So many cute ideas. But it would be very dangerous for me to have melted chocolate around all the time. Can you imagine? A little in the coffee, a drizzle over my Cheerios, fruit in choco...all of that before getting dressed. A few ideas won't leave so I might have to try them.

Hope you had a good St. Patty's day. Two pesky Leprechauns messed up my house;)

Easter Cookie Bouquet

I think it would make a lovely centerpiece for your Easter dinner. Tasty too!

Dr. Seuss Day

Not everyone knows what a big day Dr. Seuss' birthday is. I sure didn't. Until I did 160 some freehand hats and fish! My wrist and hand hurt for days but I think the cookies turned out cute. I even got a thank you note from one of the kindergarten classes that they all signed- extra cute!

1st of the Easter cookies

I am sooo happy to be doing Easter and Spring cookies. The weather is has been perfect for the past few days! I got to do some yard work and exercise outside. I really hope we are done turning on the heat for the year. I know this is annoying to those reading with snow outside but we put up with some crazy hot summer months so it is only fair that we shouldn't be freezing our booties off during the winter. I'm looking forward to some beach weather....and flip flop cookies... in my very near future!

Trying to come up with some cute packaging for Easter. How about 6 cookies in a big egg?

How about an almost 2 year old in a plastic box? No, she's too sweet. I'm keeping her!

Hello Kitty Valentines

Kate picked Hello Kitty Valentines for her class. I loved doing these! I just altered her bow a little for Valentine's day. Hope you had a good one!

Valentines and more Valentines

I've been a busy bee making valentine cookies and trays. So much that I haven't done a single thing for my valentines!

Quilt Valentines

I really enjoyed making these. Notice anything different? That's a chocolate cookie under there. Everyone in my house is sick of the regular ones, which is probably a good thing. But these new chocolate ones are going quick.

Valentine cookies

Took some wine to get in the Valentine cookie mood! Danny and I were trying to come up with sweet things last night but failed misserably. We will not wonder what that means. Tonight went much better. See what you think:

That is Hoppy Valentines for Weston's class. Andria- "Tweet me" for you:) Sorry about the sideways shot but you get the idea.

Now for the monkeys: I love that Wes will play whatever us girls want.