Sock Monkey FIRST Birthday

My littlest man turned the big ONE a few weeks ago.....I think I am still in denial that his first year has already come and gone....He was a bit under the weather with another ear infection the day of the big soiree... but that didn't put a damper on our day of fun....

Here are a few pictures of my special little guy and of course the SWEET treats!

My first attempt at sock cookies was here....back in December after seeing Callye's Christmas version of these cute little guys.  But when I saw her sanded sock monkeys... I just couldn't resist.  I ordered the cutter and got to work.....They were the perfect accompaniment to my vintage sock monkey theme!!!   Thanks for the tutorial, Callye!

And more cookies...

And because it was a children's party....we HAD to have cupcakes.  This time I made vanilla pound cake cupcakes with my favorite almond flavored cream cheese frosting.

A few snaps of the table....as you can see the color scheme was red and brown....so I had red and brown straws, and tootsie rolls and hot tamales to fill my favorite old fashioned candy jars!

And the most important part of the party (besides the Birthday Boy, of course) is always the cake.  I searched high and low for a sock monkey cake pan but to no avail.  This Wilton monkey mold was as close as I got.  I simply baked my favorite "from scratch" chocolate layer cake recipe, and looking at a sock monkey picture... adjusted the decorations to look like a sock monkey.  

Guests took home sock monkeys and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies wrapped in a cd envelopes.

It was a sweet little party for our sweet little S.  He is definitely my sweet treat every day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a few simple designs to make this day extra SWEET!

I went for some simple pastel hearts and envelopes....

I kinda wish I would have outlined the envelopes with black....but thought the light blue gave it a fun touch...

And this is NOT at all a good picture of these little guys....but these were the Valentine's treats I brought for my second grader's school party today.  A HUGE thank you to Renee and Tara from Dazzle Expressions....who made the darling printable labels for me... I made a bunch of sock monkey cookies for my littlest's FIRST birthday (promise to share that post SOON), and decided I could use that cookie design for Valentine's Day if I tied in a Valentine's saying.... Renee and Tara designed my sock monkey birthday invites and did such a fabulous job.... I knew they could make the cookie labels a hit too!  

Hope Valentine's Day was SWEET for all of you!

A little bit of heart

To tell you the truth.... I have been a little "cookied" out lately after planning not one...but two birthday parties for the two most important little men in my life.  Right after the firetruck party for J... I went right into the sock monkey party plans for little S.    In all the cookie chaos and party planning I realized that I had forgotten to take decent pictures of a few "in between orders" and I realized that Valentine's Day cookies have not even made an appearance on my blog this year....

So before we get back to that very important FIRST birthday party for Mr. S.... I am going to share just a little bit of Valentine's love....

These were inspired by the amazing Glory.....her blog is always full of amazing recipes and beautiful photography.

And because it always feels good to go back and play a bit of "catch-up," here are a few more "random" cookies that I came across in my picture upload tonight...

Panda bear cookies for a sweet friend turning 8 years old...

And "Thank You BEARY Much" cookies for all of my littles' teachers to celebrate Catholic School's Week.....

Sock Monkey Party Pics to come soon!!!!

Substitute for Snow

This little guy got to bring a special snack to celebrate his birthday at preschool.  J's class had been reading books about snowmen....so we decided to make some cookies in keeping with the theme....and since we have had only traces of the white stuff here in Kansas thus far this season....we thought snowman cookies might be a fun substitute for the real thing!

Sound the Alarms

My little J turned a BIG 4 yesterday! I simply can not believe that he has made us smile for 4 years now!  He was such a special little miracle to us......and he has tugged at my heart ever since.  He makes a cloudy day sunny, and though he is a tiny little guy,....his heart is one of the biggest I know.  

He chose a firetruck birthday party....  a perfect little boy theme.  I found the idea for these cookies here, and I knew they would be perfect to recreate for our party.

And because my little man loves chocolate almost as much as his mama does....I made these bite size little cuties.   I used a dark cocoa that I ordered from The King Arthur Flour Company, and made a fabulously easy chocolate roll out recipe on another of my favorite blogs.  And the home-made buttercream came from the Queen of Cakes herself, Miss Amanda of I am Baker!

Here are some of the goodies at the table.

But the best little "goodie" of all is this little man.  Here he is with his cake.  I was not happy with how the cake turned out.  I found the cake idea on Pinterest, and when I read that canned frosting was used to frost the cake.... I.just.couldn't.bring.myself.to.do.it.  Sure... the picture of the cake that I saw looked smooth and creamy...but I felt like I would be cheating if I used a can.  So... I set out to look for a "creamy" buttercream. I found a recipe that actually turned out to taste pretty good...but it was not super spreadable, thus accounting for the "sloppy" frosting job.  But... in the end... J liked it... and that's all that matters!

Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were also on the menu.

And last but not least ....the favor table....and the invite for the party designed by Dimple Prints on Etsy.  Carli and Mike were amazing to work with and have some great designs to offer!  

And though our trip to the fire station was cut a bit short (as the fire fighters had to rush off for a REAL emergency)... I think this Four-year old still had a pretty great time!  Happy, Happy 4th to my little J!

Merry Merry!

Merry Christmas from my kitchen to yours!!

Santa Slices

I was so excited when I saw Haniela's post about her sleeping Santas. I love, love to follow her blog...not only is she an incredibly talented baker...but an amazing photographer!  I have been infatuated with Santa cookies this year...and absolutely loved her sweet little Santas.  The colors....their little overalls and their shape!!

I used my large Christmas tree cutter that I got from Copper Gifts this year!  It truly is like my birthday whenever I get one of their cookie cutters in the mail.  Their cutters are durable, beautifully crafted and copper!!  After I cut the dough with the tree cutter... I cut off the base of the tree and used a template to get the shape I wanted for each cookie.  It took a little extra time to hand cut, but definitely worth it in the end.

I had fun taking pictures of these little guys...but oops.... if you look closely... you will see me in the red ball....not a very good photographer!

They almost look like a little santa pizza!

I still have some more Christmas cookies that I never posted....time slipped away sooo quickly this Christmas season.  My littles were sick much of December so I was very behind on my shopping, baking, etc.  Hard to believe Santa will be visiting tonight!  Hope that you and your families enjoy a Magical Christmas and a New Year full of blessings.