For Madison’s birthday, she didn’t ask for any kind of special cake.  Just chocolate with chocolate icing~ no theme related cake, nothing fancy,  just your basic sheet cake…with sprinkles!

She made it easy and told me what she wanted for her birthday.  She even went and helped me pick it out- a bright blue ipod nano.  She already had an ipod, but it was a 4gb version that she has had since she was in the 4th grade.  Obviously she knows how to take care of things, since she’s had it that long!

She was so excited to open it, but didn’t want her picture taken since she was not “dressed” yet…

Fourteen years ago today, my sweet Madison was born!  I’ve had the privilege  of watching her grow into the smart, talented, gorgeous young woman she is today :)  The sky is the limit for her and I know she will use her talents and abilities to become whatever she wants to be!  I love you Madison!  Happy 14th Birthday :)

© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.

©2012 Simply Blessed. All Rights Reserved.

Not just any cake though…

A BOOB cake.

So I started by pouring the cake into a small round mixing bowl and baked it.  It took literally hours, and in the end the middle never finished cooking so it fell.  It ended up looking like this…

Well, that just wasn’t going to work.  So I decided to use the rest of the batter and bake a small sheet cake and two cupcakes for the “breasts”.  Here is what the rough draft of that looked like…

So I was pretty pleased with that.  I ended up trimming a “waistline” into the sheet cake and iced it with flesh colored icing.

Now how in the world do you make flesh colored icing, you ask?  I used just a teeny tiny amount of brown gel food coloring.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Here’s the body before I attached the “boobs”.

So then it was time to finish the cake off.  I trimmed the bottoms off the cupcakes so they would lay flat on the body of the cake.  I also shaped them a bit.  It was quite funny since I kinda felt like a sculptor or plastic surgeon or something!  I ended up using gum drops for the nips… I think it was a pretty funny effect since they were most “perky”! LOL

Here is the finished cake…

I’m pretty sure my brother LOVED it!  What do you think??

He was a good sport and posed for these pics :)  We all had a good giggle over it!

Happy 39th Birthday Richard!  I hope I helped make your day a great one :)

© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.

©2012 Simply Blessed. All Rights Reserved.

It sure is hard to believe it’s been four years since you were born.  You changed your Daddy’s life forever.  He never really knew true love until you came along.  I’d like to say I was his first one-true-love, but alas it was you.  I remember the night before you were born, I was packing my suitcase for the hospital and your silly Daddy was packing his as well.  He had a long list of items to take… like magazines, computer games, etc. so he wouldn’t get bored while we were at the hospital.  He took one look at you and heard your first cry and he never thought again about those things to “keep him busy” at the hospital.

Your Daddy didn’t put you down from the minute you were handed to him.  He didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, rarely used the bathroom and most certainly didn’t help me in and out of the bed after my c-section unless the nurse just couldn’t come.  Not because he didn’t care about me, just because he didn’t want to let you go!

You were my first tubal reversal baby.  I’ve always called you and Makenzie my miracle babies since you guys could have never been if your Daddy and I hadn’t paid all that money to have my tubes untied.  We prayed so very hard that it would be successful.  We could have never imagined how successful it would be!

You are an amazing blessing to us and your siblings.  You’ve given us tons of laughs these last four years and I hope we have many, many more ahead.

Happy Birthday to my self proclaimed “Big Boy”!  I love you more than I could ever say :)

© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.

©2012 Simply Blessed. All Rights Reserved.

Happy 17th Birthday Dakota!

You have come a long way since you were born 17 years ago.  Our relationship has been a rocky one as we butt heads quite often, but in the end you know I love you and I know you love me :)

I’m quite proud of the way you are working hard at school (finally!) and also very proud of the way you are working on controlling your anger.  You have so much in life to look forward to if you stay on this path~

I can’t wait to see where you go from here- Happy Birthday to my first son!

© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.

©2012 Simply Blessed. All Rights Reserved.

and now she’s a beautiful young lady who has my heart in her hand.  Here’s a poem for my sweet baby girl on her 2nd birthday :)

Twinkle Twinkle, my little star
Do you know how very precious you are?
Our little teapot with her handle and spout
Getting steamed up and letting it out!
Sweet, sweet Makenzie, our little Miss Muffet
Singing and talking while you sit on your tuffet

Reminiscing about my little girl
I can only smile
To think of how you’ve grown this year
in your own, very unique style

I think about your pretty hair
and how I love to put bows there!
And how my little girl stands her ground
(you have to, with all of your older siblings around)
You’re Queen of the swing set
(better push her just right)
And you do a pretty good mood swing too
(It can be quite a sight!)
Delightful and daring
Ten outfits you’re wearing
As you strip off another
“Clothes can be such a bother!”
How can I be mad, when a rule you don’t keep
when you’re in the corner pretending to sleep!

Late at night, tucked in bed,
we hear a faint pitter-patter, a doornob turning
Round the door peeks your little head
with an impish grin, and a late night yearning
for One More Book, one more song
One more hug, ’cause the night’s so long

As we rock, your sweet head resting on my shoulder
I realize tonight you’re one year older
Quietly we rock to and fro
Quietly I face the truth I know

Times like these will someday come to an end
And you will say goodbye to childhood friends
like your Baby and your Paci, tried and true
That once were such a part of you

I delight to see you grow up, my dear
But sometimes I’d like to hold this moment right here
just like I’m holding your little hand

But then I understand,
and I wonder, was ever a woman
so Blessed?

So grow up my darling, you have my blessing
to continue learning and growing, trying and testing
this world around you.
And Daddy and I will do our best to let you fly
and catch you when you fall
and with God as our guide, to give you our all
That’s all we can do, to Love with full measure
our precious children, our one earthly treasure

So Happy Birthday my two-year-old loveable Miss

And be sure to save your Mommy a kiss!

I love you Makenzie!  Happy 2nd Birthday my little Princess

© 2009, Michelle. All rights reserved.

©2012 Simply Blessed. All Rights Reserved.