Minion Cupcake Tutorial

In case you want to make these for your next Despicable Me party, here's a brief explanation of how I did it. I think the only thing that needs explaining is the hair and the eyes.
Unwrap about 40 rolls (or whatever number it takes) of Smarties until you get enough white ones for the number of minions you're making. Cut each Twinkie (or if you can't find them, Little Debbie makes "Cloud Cakes," which is basically the same thing) in half. Use a sawing motion, not a straight pushing-down motion or you'll get rough edges. Tint your frosting black and use a #2 tip. Make sure your frosting isn't too thick or it won't pipe well.
Because it was too hard to not mess up the piping to put the hair in after the face was on, I did the hair first. I used a pointy pair of tweezers to poke three holes in the top, with the center hole being poked twice because of the nature of the tweezers. With the hole there, it was easy to slide the brown jimmies into place. I suppose if a toothpick is handier for you, that would work in place of the tweezers.
Next I took the Smarties, one at a time, and piped the frosting onto the back of it, getting close to the edge, but not right on the edge. When you press the candy onto the cake, the frosting will come out from behind the candy and make the black circle around the "eye." Once the eye is in place, dot it with frosting for the pupil, making sure you stop the pressure on the bag before lifting away, as you don't want it to spike out.
Add a line of frosting from the edge of the eye around the side of the cake, then add a little smile. Attach the minion to the frosted cupcake with a toothpick on either side of the cream filling of the Twinkie. Press down gently into the frosting and enjoy your creation!

Cupcake Extravaganza

My stepdad wrote his life story and had the book published, so he gathered his extended family to share the book with them. This involved feeding them as well. When I discussed the menu with my mom, she said she had it all figured out except for the dessert, but thought she'd just buy some pies and cupcakes. Gasp! I told her how gross store-bought cupcakes were, and then, yes, volunteered to make the cupcakes. She told me she'd need 100. After much thought, day and night (I lost three night's worth of good sleep), I knew which cupcakes I wanted to make.

Just getting started

Agnes is always a willing helper

Minions

Here's a quick look

Butterfinger cupcakes. Caramel is in the middle, topped with a peanut butter frosting and chopped Butterfingers.

Lemon cupcakes. Lemon curd is in the middle, topped with a cream-cheese lemon frosting. 

White-chocolate raspberry cupcakes. Raspberry filling is in the middle, topped with a swirl of melted white chocolate and a marion berry jam/cream cheese frosting, and three silver dragees (we'd have preferred using a fresh raspberry instead, but we were "fresh" out).

Banana Split cupcakes- we got the idea for this by watching an episode of DC Cupcakes. They have chopped bananas baked into a vanilla batter. Hot fudge is in the middle, topped with Pastry Pride, chocolate syrup, chopped peanuts and a cherry. 

Let's get them outside for the party.

I had to hire a new taste-tester since my other one moved to Arizona in July of 2012. 

Put the fork down and nobody gets hurt. 

She eats her cupcakes with a spoon?

I couldn't resist posting this picture. 

Here's Walt and my mom, while Cheryl holds the microphone as he tells his experiences with writing his story.

So, which would you choose?

My favorite was the Butterfingers cupcakes because the peanut butter frosting was so divine. Cheryl liked the lemon one best, Amy liked the raspberry one best, and the banana split was my favorite for presentation purposes. The kids thought the minion cupcakes we're awesome. So, I guess they are all winners. I have to make more tomorrow to take to the ERC (Employment Resource Center) on Wednesday. Which ones should I make, because I'm only making one kind, not four.
P.S. My apologies for taking soooo long to update the blog.

Bowling

When Samuel's family was here, we tried to go bowling one night with Laura's family, but the bowling place was too busy. We went again another day, but Laura's family was unable to come that time.

SHOES

Bowler number #5

Bowler #3

Pick a ball, any ball. 

Bowler #4

Bowler #6 (and winner of everyone except her mom)

This explains a lot

She looks a little handicapped here, like she's using a walker. No matter, she's still cute. 

Bowler #2

Mia, twirling her hair, as usual. 

Bowler #1 on the left, #3 on the right.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

I barely scored three digits. 

Here's my kiddos. Fun times! 

My Favorite Birthday Cake

My favorite cake is not cake, it is Kake. That's what I've called this girl (okay, so technically I shouldn't say "girl") for years. This is my Kake the last time I saw her in person, which was just three weeks ago.

Karen and Caleb

Karen at Cheesecake Factory

This is Kake just over a year ago when we had her farewell lunch at her favorite restaurant. You can bet she will be going there today, but in a different location, because it's her birthday, and because it's National Cheesecake Day. 

Outside Cheesecake Factory

This is what we all looked like a year ago (Laura, look how short your hair is!). 

These are my two amazing daughters. 

Happy Birthday, Kake! I hope your day is amazing! I love you so much!

The Book is Done!

I have been majorly preoccupied with typing, setting, editing, rearranging, fixing, and finishing Bud's life history to be self-published. I finished it today and sent it to the publisher, ordering one copy so we can preview it to make sure it's perfect before we order multiple copies. The last time I ordered multiple copies without viewing it first, my mother ended up being named Eerie, and my stepfather, Waltz. So, I've learned my lesson and I will check the book while it is in my hand before I stock up. At almost $90 a book, I don't want any mistakes!
Speaking of which, as soon as I uploaded it and ordered it, and it was a done deal, I noticed that the picture on the front cover needed to be repositioned because it chops off part of Bud's hair (that was back when he had some). Drat. Too late to fix that now. If there are no other mistakes, I might let that go rather than uploading the book again, but if you know me...well, I might not be able to live with that and will have to upload anyway.
The whole point of this post is to let you know I have a life again, and might just get back to blogging one of these days.

The Bounce House of Death

Because Samuel's family was coming to my house for vacation, and because there was a great deal on it, I rented a bounce house for an afternoon. We had a big family party and everyone in the extended family came except for one nephew and one niece. Here's Samuel helping the bounce house guy set it up.

Everything was going well until I decided to get in there and bounce a bit. 

Once I did that, all the kids joined me. 

Evidently the fun thing to do was try to "take Nana down." 

And then it happened. The blower disconnected from its tube and the house collapsed. I was trying to get all the kids out, and some were trapped between the net wall and the side of the house. I was freaking out. All I could imagine was that the house was going to swallow us all up and that would be the end of the story, although I have never seen a newspaper headline reading "Bounce house eats grandmother and small children." But there is a first time for everything, right? The parents of the children came over and extracted their babies one by one while I was trying, but failing, to hold the roof up so they could get out. In the meantime, my claustrophobia kicked into high gear and I turned into a puddle of panic. 

Since no one grabbed a camera to document the disaster, I'll refer you back to this photo of the house as it was just filling with air at the start of this post. Now imagine me still inside. No, don't. Just the thought of it makes me crazy again.
I finally got out after the last kid was accounted for, and melted into the grass, trying to breathe. Instead of breathing, I hyperventilated instead. My sister brought me a cup of water, thinking I was over-heated. My other sister thought I was collapsed on the ground looking for something. Both were wrong. Long story short, we all survived and there are still no headlines reading grandmother and small children eaten by carnivorous bounce house. But you'll never ever EV-ER catch me in one again! It took me hours to recover. Now that I've relived the story again to post it here, I think I'll go lie down for awhile.