Tangled Party...the food

Our party was at 6:00, so we needed to serve dinner to everyone.  I decided to serve soup; hazelnut soup to be exact, inspired by Mother Gothel who claimed it was Rapunzel's favorite in the movie.  I assumed that most kids (and many adults) would not be interested in hazelnut soup, so I also made a  more crowd-pleasing baked potato soup too.

The hazelnut soup ended up being a lot of work, mostly because I don't have a food processor and our blender is pretty much junk.  But I was determined to get everything pureed and smooth.  It took forever, and I thought I might break our blender, but I finally was able to get a nice, creamy soup.   I used this recipe from Disney Family.   It is basically a squash soup with hazelnuts on top.  I am not a fan of squash, but I thought it tasted okay.  Several people told me it was good.  And several people were afraid to try it!

We had a soup toppings bar, and then we also had "Build Your Own Tower Kabobs."  I can't remember where  I saw this idea, but I saw it several other Tangled parties.  For our kabobs, we kept it simple and had ham, cheese and grapes.  I served the food in frying pans, which was Rapunzel's weapon of choice in the movie.

 

 I also made breadstick braids, which were quite tasty.  I used frozen roll dough.  I let the dough thaw, then divided each roll into three pieces.  I rolled the pieces into ropes and braided them together.  It wasn't hard, but it did take some time. When I took them out of the oven, I brushed on some melted butter and sprinkled garlic and parmesan on top.

 

Besides the cake, I also made cupcakes for dessert.  I used the same buttercream frosting as the cake (the recipe made a ton!).  "Best. Day. Ever!" is a quote from the movie, one that Audrey often repeats.

 I also made a doughnut tower.  Again, this is not my original idea.  I saw several versions of this in different Tangled parties.  For our tower, Daniel drilled a 5/8" hole in a piece of wood, and then we inserted a 5/8" dowel rod into the hole.  Then I just stacked a dozen glazed doughnuts on the dowel rod.  It was very secure.  I topped it with a cupcake, and then a sugar cone covered in purple candy coating.  I used a leaf tip to make the vine in icing down the tower.  The kids enjoyed being able to take a doughnut off the tower and eat it!

November 11: Tangled Party...the cake!

So we finally had Audrey's birthday party on Friday night.   I am still recovering!  The party went well, and I really think Audrey loved every second of it.  She was so excited and happy; it was a lot of fun to watch her.

She wanted a Rapunzel party, so I decided to go with a Tangled theme.  We really like the movie Tangled, and since many of Audrey's friends are boys, I thought Tangled would be better for them rather than a pretty princess party.  Plus, there are lots of fun ideas out there for parties based on the Tangled movie.

I'm going to break up my party posts into different parts, so as not to bore you with one incredibly long blog post.  So let's start with the cake!

Cake decorating is not my best skill, and I have had some very stressful moments making cakes for past parties.  This year, in one of my crazier moments of party planning, I decided to make a Rapunzel doll cake for Audrey this year.  I remember my mom making doll cakes for me when I was a girl, and I wanted to try my hand at it myself.

And actually, it was a much easier process than I expected.  I used Pampered Chef's large batter bowl, following the instructions on their website.  I baked two cakes with the batter bowl.

 I also wrapped Rapunzel's legs and hair in plastic wrap to help keep her clean.

I followed the instructions on how to cut the two cakes to form the dress.  Then I crumb coated the cake with icing and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.  When I took it out of the freezer, everything was looking good.  Until I put Rapunzel into the cake.

 Rapunzel was definitely too tall for the cake.  I'm not sure what happened, as I really thought I followed the directions.  Upon further investigation, I saw that the Pampered Chef recipe says to use an 11 inch doll.  The Rapunzel doll I bought was 12 inches...so that could explain why her legs didn't fit in the cake!

My amazing husband gave me the idea to use the extra part of the cake that I cut off to form another layer on top.  With a little cutting and gluing together with icing, I was able to form the cake around the rest of Rapunzel's legs.  The end result...a cake with a perfect dress shape that covered all of Rapunzel's legs!  Whew, that was a close call!


For the icing, I used this buttercream frosting recipe.  It was super easy, it tasted good, and it was really easy to work with when icing both the cake and the cupcakes.  I also borrowed Pampered Chef's Easy Accent Decorator from a friend and that was a huge help.  So much easier than dealing with icing bags!  It is most definitely going to be on my Christmas wish list.

Here is the final result.  My only frustration is that when I went to color the pink icing, the food coloring came out too fast.  The pink ended up being much brighter than I had planned, and it didn't quite match Rapunzel's dress. 

I decided that the key to success in cake decorating is patience.  I don't have a lot of patience, but I kept forcing myself to slow down and be patient on this cake, and I am pretty pleased with the final product.  Maybe cake decorating isn't so bad after all.

November 6: 17 months

 Isla was 17 months old last week, but with Audrey's birthday, Halloween and the girls being sick, it kind of went unnoticed.  It probably is about time for an update on what Isla is doing these days.  I took some pictures of her tonight, all dressed up with two necklaces, two "I voted" stickers, and a spiderman sticker.

 These pictures were taken in her favorite spot--sitting on the bottom step.  We have to keep an eye on her, because sometimes she is sneaky and starts to climb the stairs.  But most of the time, she just likes to sit on the bottom step.  She usually has a small collection of toys  that she will carry around with her and bring to her step.  She will line them up and play with them on the step, and it is just too cute.

 I've already talked about how her gross motor skills have improved drastically since she started walking.  She is still probably a little behind normal for her age, but she is so much closer to being right on track.  I have very few concerns about her gross motor development anymore.  She has a physical therapy appointment on Thursday, and I am hoping that this will be her last one!

 Isla is the most communicative yet non-verbal little girl.  It is amazing how much she understands, how much she observes, how much she responds to us, and how very little she says.  The words that she does use are very simple sounds, and she will rarely do them on command.  Her preferred method of communication is to point and use the sound "huh" in about 1000 different intonations.  She is also exceptionally good at nodding or shaking her head to answer yes and no questions.   Here is the short list of words that she can say:

1. Dad:  "da"
2. Duck:  "Da"
3. Dog:  "Da"
4. Down:  "da"
5. Ball:  "ba"
6. Bubble:  "bubba"
7. Mom:  "ma" or "mom"
8. More:  "Ma"
9. Up:  "bup" (she has only done this once or twice, but it was very purposeful, so I think it's legit)
10. Foofa (the yo gabba gabba character):  fff-fa

Do dad, duck, dog and down count as four words when she makes the same sound for each of them? 

 

 I've heard that animal sounds can also be counted as words, so here are her animal sounds:

1. Sheep:  "ba"
2. Cow:  "Moo"
3. Dog:  "Oo, oo"
4. Duck:  "dak, dak"
5. Lion:  "Grrr" (though she refuses to do this one anymore, but she did it in the past, so I'm counting it!) 
6. Elmo (he's not really an animal, but we are counting everything!):  "la, la, la"

Combining words and animal sounds, that is about 15 words total.  I'm pretty sure that is in the range of normal, though probably a little on the low side.  (Audrey at this age was a little ahead of the game with  almost 40 words).  I sometimes worry that she is behind in her speech, but she is just so aware and communicative that it is hard for me to worry TOO much.

 

The other day she found my deodorant on the floor of our room.  She picked it up, brought it over to whereI was sitting, lifted up my shirt and tried to rub it on me!

Another day, she was playing with my wallet.  She took out a credit card and started swiping it on the ground...just like we do when we use the card at a store!  This girl pays attention to everything that we do, and she most definitely knows what is going on even if she doesn't tell us about it.

One time recently, she wanted to watch Elmo.  But she has no words to express this.  Instead, she found her stuffed Elmo toy and brought it to Daniel.  Then she found the remote and brought it to Daniel.  Then she pointed to Elmo, pointed to the remote, and pointed to the TV.  Why would she need words when she can always find a way to tell us exactly what she wants??

She will also do sounds/actions for different emotions: happy, sad, grumpy, surprised, excited.  I need to get these on video, because they are pretty cute.  But she will only do them when she is in the right mood.

She knows a lot of body parts:  head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, belly button, arm, fingers, leg, toes.

She also knows all the main characters on Mickey Mouse clubhouse.  She won't say their names, but she can point to them all if you ask who is who.  I'm not sure if this is a sign of her smartness or just a sign that we let her watch Mickey Mouse too often!

November 5: Fluffy the Sheep

For the past two weeks, we have been in charge of taking care of  Audrey's class pet, Fluffy the (stuffed) sheep.  Normally, each kid in her class gets to take Fluffy home for a week, but with pir St Louis trip and Halloween and Audrey being sick, we ended up with him for two weeks.

We were supposed to take pictures with Fluffy and journal what we did with him.  With the girls being sick last week, it was kind of a crazy week.  And we had to put Fluffy in quarantine for a while to make sure we didn't pass any germs onto him.  =)  But we did take a few pictures, so here they are:

 

We brought Fluffy to church on Sunday.  I teach Audrey's first hour Sunday School class.  Our lesson was about Abram and Lot, when their shepherds were fighting because they did not have enough land and water for their sheep.  How perfect that Fluffy the sheep came to visit our class on a day when the lesson was about sheep!  I let Fluffy be our guest teacher and "tell" the story to the kids.  It was fun!

 Fluffy stuck around for Audrey's second hour Sunday School class with Miss Peggy and Anna (who is also her preschool classmate).

November 3: Dollar Store trip

Today Audrey got a birthday card from Nana and Poppa with $4 in it.  I think this was the first time that she really had money of her own, and she didn't know what to do with it.  She wanted to play grocery store with us and use it to buy pretend food.

Then I explained to her that this was real money, and if she wanted, we could go to the dollar store and she could pick out whatever she wanted to buy.  Once she understood the concept, she was very, very excited!

With her $4, she decided to buy:  a wand and tiara, a microphone, a recorder, and a Tinker Bell puzzle.

By the way, everyone is healthy and well again around here.  Thank goodness!!!  We are counting down the days (again!) to Audrey's party. 

October 31: Halloween

I love looking back at old pictures, and old Halloween pictures are especially fun.  So before we get to this year's Halloween, here is a look back at the past few years.

In 2009, Audrey was a ballerina.  In 2010, she was Pippi Longstocking (my favorite costume so far).

2010 was also Audrey's first year for trick or treating, and we started a tradition of going trick or treating with Cael.  Without planning it, they coordinated costumes perfectly as  Pippi had a monkey friend named Mr. Nilsson.

 

Last year, Audrey was a butterfly, and Isla was a caterpillar. 

And Cael was an airplane.  They kind of coordinate because they both can fly...right?

As I said yesterday, the girls weren't feeling the best.  Isla ran a low fever all afternoon and evening.  But I had spent some time making her costume, and I was determined that she should wear it at least for a few minutes!  So we got her dressed up for some pictures, and then she got to go to a few neighbor's houses.  She actually seemed to like the trick or treating and was sad when I took her back home while everyone else was still out walking around.

After much deliberation, I decided Isla was going to be Raggedy Ann this year.  Making a costume seems like it would be a cheaper option, but by the time you add everything up, it can be more expensive (and a lot more work) than just buying one.  I wanted to add a few more touches to Isla's costume, but I didn't want to spend any more money.  Good thing, since she only wore it for about 15 minutes!

Total cost for the supplies for this costume was about $15.  It's not exactly the same as what most Raggedy Ann dolls wear (blue dress, white apron, red/white striped socks).  But with the hair, I think most everyone could figure out what she was supposed to be.

I found the red dress on clearance at Old Navy for $3.99.  It was a little big, but it worked.  For her "petticoat" I bought a cheap pair of white knit pants and some white ruffle trim at Hobby Lobby, then I just hot glued the trim to the bottom of the pants.  The wig is a white knit stocking cap, and then I  glued lots of red yarn to it.  And stuck in a blue bow that we already had.  It was actually much easier to make than I expected.

For Audrey's Rapunzel costume, I got it at Party City.  For her braid, I just made two big braids out of yellow yarn, shaped one to fit her head, and then rubber banded the two pieces together.  I used the ribbon and flowers to disguise the part where the two pieces come together.  It turned out pretty good, and it also was much easier than I expected!

Cael was a knight this year...and again, that coordinated (unintentionally) with Audrey's costume!

Growing up, my mom always baked goods for us to take to our neighbors while trick or treating.  I love her idea of making this holiday more about giving than receiving.  Every year, I say we are going to bake things to share with our neighbors.  But the craziness of the week always stops me.  This year, I was determined to do something.  So I made a couple of loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread to deliver to two of our neighbors.  I hope we can continue and expand on this tradition in years to come!

Audrey tried really hard to have fun trick or treating.  She made it around our block, but Daniel said she started to have a hard time when they got to Cael's block.  She got tired of walking and showed no interest at all in her candy.  That is a sign that something is definitely wrong!

The last stop of the night was at Lisa and Doug's house.  By then, Audrey just looked awful.

She came home with a fever, and she didn't want to move or talk or do anything.  When I tried to take her dress off, she started screaming and crying that her face and head hurt.  She ended up falling asleep in my arms, all curled up like a baby.  Poor little girl, what a horrible end to her birthday! 

October 31: Audrey's birthday

Man, this day did not go as planned!  Isla started acting unwell and running a fever this afternoon.  And then tonight, while trick or treating, Audrey started to feel bad again.  She came home with a fever and nearly hysterical with pain.  Not a fun way to celebrate Halloween or her birthday.

With two sick girls and less than 48 hours until the start of Audrey's birthday party, we decided it would be best to postpone the party until next week.  Audrey is going to be so sad when she finds out, but there is just no way that we could pull the party off with sick kids!  I want Audrey to enjoy her party, and the way she is feeling right now, she is not enjoying anything!

So, back to today, we started the morning with Isla fussy and up early.  But Audrey slept until 8, and she was ready for a fun day when she woke up.  We opened her presents first thing.

She got her very own camera from Mommy, Daddy, and Isla.

 Nana and Papa and Great Grandpa and Great Grandma also sent her presents.  She got a set of Snow White figurines and a Tiana doll from Nana and Papa. 

 And  she got a sticker book from Great Grandpa and Grandma.

Isla was a bit fussy, but I didn't want Audrey to miss out on our planned mall trip for her birthday.  So we went to the mall, where Audrey got to choose if she wanted to ride the carousel or get a bear at Build a Bear.  She has had her heart set on the carousel for months, but she changed her mind and wanted a bear instead.

Build a Bear is a pretty good deal if you just get the $10 bear with no extras.  It's a fun experience for preschool kids.  Audrey went last year for her birthday, and she was just as excited to go again this year.  I was not too happy with the sales lady who was helping us though.  Audrey picked out her bear (well, she picked out the only option I gave her!), and then the sales lady took her hand and led her to the sound table.  She said, "Now you get to pick out whatever sound you want to put in your bear."  Those sounds cost $4-$8 each to put inside the bear...and she didn't even ask my permission first!  How was I supposed to tell Audrey "no" when her eyes lit up when the lady told her "yes" she could have a sound.  Ugh!  So, $4 later, and we now have a bear that sings a happy birthday song when you push his paw.

Isla fell asleep on the way home from Build a Bear.  While she was sleeping, Elliot came over (we watch him on Wednesday afternoons).  I made Audrey and Elliot a special Halloween lunch, mummy dogs and witch broomsticks, plus some apples and caramel for dessert.

Then Isla woke up with a fever, a sign that things were not going our way today.  Elliot went home early to avoid our germs as much as possible.    Soon it was time to get ready for trick or treating.  I wanted to at least get a picture of both girls in their costumes, even though Isla was going to have to stay home.  We did manage to get some pictures of both girls in costume, and I think Audrey had a few moments of fun before she started feeling too awful.  I will post the Halloween pictures tomorrow in a separate post!