Birthday Cake

For my youngest girlie's 2nd birthday, I made a cute flip-flop cake.


I used this simple recipe to make a 9X13 sheet cake.

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
5.9 oz instant vanilla pudding
1 cup sour cream (light)
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer.

This is where the cake becomes fun! I wanted to make a rainbow cake, so I divided the cake batter into 3 different bowls. I added different colored gel dye to each bowl of batter.

Layer the colored cake batter into the cake pan. (sorry - forgot to take pics)
Bake for 40-45 minutes.

When cake is cut open, you will find a rainbow of colors! Use as many different colors as you would like. Use this method to make cupcakes too!


To assemble the flip-flop cake, I made two 9X13 rainbow cakes. I made a template by tracing around my husband's flip-flop. Don't worry, I made sure NOT to touch the cake with the side that touched the shoe!! Once the cake had cooled, I flipped it over and cut out the shape of a flip-flop. I made both a right foot and a left foot and I placed the cakes onto a baking sheet.




Next, I made some yummy cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting:
1 8-oz package light cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating well, until it reaches a consistency that will spread easily. This will frost two 13X9 cakes.

Once the frosting is ready, separate it into two different bowls. Using the gel dye, color a small amount green and color the rest pink. Give the cake a thin layer of frosting, which will seal in all the crumbs.


Frost the top and side of both cakes and then let chill for 30 minutes.

Now it's time to decorate the cake. First, using a big pancake spatula, transfer the cake to the serving plate or cake board. Start by frosting the sides of the cake and don't worry if it smears into the frosting on the top. Now frost the top of the cake.

I bought some Wilton decorating icing at the grocery store and I used it to pipe around the border of the flip-flops.


To decorate the sides, I used gobstopper candy pieces.


To create the thong straps of the flip-flops, I used colored twizzlers.

Lastly, I added a silk flower between the straps. (I recommend cooling cake in the fridge until time for the party, especially if you are going to have the cake outside...ours melted a little bit in the heat.)


It's complete - a rainbow flip-flop cake for my favorite little birthday girl!!

Flip-flop party

In celebration of youngest curly girlie's second birthday, we had a flip-flop party at our local YMCA swimming pool.


If your children have summer birthdays, I highly recommend having a swimming party. It doesn't require very much work because the children just swim, which is exactly what my girlies and their friends prefer to be doing in the summertime heat.








The kids had a great time splashing each other, swimming, and playing in the fun fountains.








We even had our newest friend attend the party - sweet baby boy!


In keeping with the water theme, we served SUBMARINE sandwiches from my hubby's favorite new sandwich shop, Jimmy John's. I made some SEASHELL pasta salad and a fun snack mix, consisting of goldfish (representing fish), multi-grain cheerios (representing life preserver rings), and Captain Crunch cereal (representing beach balls and floats). We also had one of my favorite candies, Swedish fish. I served everything in sand buckets with shovels as the serving spoons.






I don't think our birthday girl ever got out of the water...


...except to eat birthday cake, of course!!


I made a very simple flip-flop birthday cake. It was fun to make and I thought it turned out pretty cute! The birthday girl loved it and ate it up!!


For the party favors, my Mom made each of the kids a crayon roll with her monogramming machine and I made each child a pair of flip-flops. The older boys got pirate button flip-flops and the younger boys got frogs. The two teenage girls got ribbon tied flip-flops and the younger girls all got flip-flops with bows.










I'll be posting a tutorial for all of these favors, the birthday cake, and the simple invitations in the next few days.

Thanks to all of our sweet family and friends who came to celebrate little curly girlie's second birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my baby's 2nd birthday! Wow, I can't believe she is two. It seems like just yesterday we were taking her home from the hospital!


Youngest curly girlie has brought our family so much joy and love these past two years.

She is a pure bundle of excitement with lots and lots of energy. She is quite the little adventurer, always looking for something to explore with her hands, feet or mouth.

And yet, in her most quiet and calmer moments, she is our little snuggle bug, giving sweet kisses and big teddy bear hugs!

She enjoys taking care of her baby dolls, reading books, and doing things all by herself, without any help.

She also really really loves her big sister and is constantly watching her, looking up to her and following in her footsteps.


They are already forming a sweet little friendship, even amidst the bickering and fighting that daily takes place in our home.


Happy 2nd Birthday to my youngest curly girlie! I love you so much and am so thankful the Lord has blessed our family with you.