Making Cinder Slippers

 Here's all the steps I took for the cake pops, if anyone is interested.

Bake the cake as the box says. Crumble it up in a bowl and add a couple scoops of frosting.
I chose yellow cake and chocolate frosting because I like how they taste together. 

 Mix.

 Roll into balls and then stick them in the freezer for 15-20 minutes so they hold their shape without crumbling.

 Melt a little bit of chocolate, dip your stick in, and insert the stick in half to 3/4 of the way. Let the chocolate set. I just used those little chocolate discs that you melt in the microwave.

Once it is set you can pick them up by the stick and dip them and they stay intact. I tinted the white chocolate slightly for a more peachy skin color, but I didn't quite to enough. They still look pretty white, but oh well. Nobody complained. After I dipped as above, I stuck on pink and black sprinkles for eyes and cheeks. Then I set them upright in this handy cake pop holder from Walmart to harden up.

 I had some extra white (peachish) chocolate left over when they were all dipped, so I dyed it pink and piped it out onto some parchment paper for hair bows. (seen below) Before I did the yellow hair I used a toothpick and some black decorating gel to add the mouths and eyelashes.

 I used some yellow chocolate for the hair. First I dipped them, like so. And then I let that set.

Cinder Slippers' hair actually is supposed to stick up, but I didn't know how to make that work with melty chocolate, so I gave her a little swirly bun type hair do instead. After dipping her head in yellow, I put the rest of the chocolate in a piping bag and piped on a few layers of swirls for her hair, letting each layer set. I gave her her little bangs and stuck the bow on last.

Ta Da! Cinder Slippers

times 21.

This whole process took about five hours. Chelsea's reaction? "Oh, they look better than the first ones."

That was a little deflating at first because I expected a much more excited and impressed reaction from her. But then I realized she had no idea how much work they were, and she liked them, and that's all that mattered. And I had a LOT of fun with these little pops!

Randomness, Chelsea's Birthday, and Memorial Day

 Daddy's impulse buy. Think they like it?

 Nice teeth that Chels got from a birthday party.

 Here's the kindergarten music performance. Can you find Chelsea? The show hadn't actually started at this point. I didn't get any good photos because it was just me and I wanted to get the songs on video for Daddy.

 Someone was turning six soon and was able to help blow up the balloons for her own party!

 This nice goose egg came from Abby running with glee towards the downstairs bathroom and not making the turn. Bam! Right into the door frame. Ouch! She recovered remarkably fast and was back to laughing and running in no time. Amazing!

 These little gals were a true labor of love for Chelsea's party. It took me about five hours to make all 21 of these. But I enjoyed it! I'll probably post pictures of the process later. Chelsea didn't want a cake at all. She wanted ONLY cake pops. But I did make a regular old cake anyway. 

 Birthday party time! The guests, including Auntie Michelle who was in town visiting, are beginning to arrive!

The boy on the right is David. His mom RSVP'd the night before, which was great, but it was a surprise! Chelsea didn't hand out invitations to any boys at all. I'm not quite sure how he ended up with our address and phone number and party info (because it didn't come from Chelsea) but oh well. He was welcome to come and party with all the girls!

 Limbo! Or slither, your pick.

 Auntie Michelle was nice enough to help prepare for the party by making this cute poster of Crumbs Sugar Cookie for the game of Pin the Cookie on Crumbs Sugar Cookie. It turned out lovely!

 Pizza time!

 Present time!

 Auntie Michelle was a big help during the party, mostly keeping an extra eye on these two since they were in and out of the action with the older kids. Michelle also rescued a tearful situation that arose when one girl got hurt feelings. Whew! Nipped that in the bud! Thanks, Michelle!

 Here's all the party guests! David peeking up on the left, Andelynn our backyard fence neighbor and the only first grader, Abby, Brie, Missoni, Chelsea holding her new Coral Sea Shells, Madisyn, and Leah who is proudly holding up David's socks. She stole them right off his feet.

 The kids found the tub and used it as a space ship. They wanted me to turn off all the lights, so I did. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! They all screamed because it was pitch black. "Do it again!" they all said. That was a game I probably shouldn't have let them play, but it cracked me up so much I had to let them do it.

 Here is the regular old boring cake. But we HAD to have something to stick the candles in for the birthday song. Plus, I used some of the black sprinkles from the can of purple frosting for the eyes on the cake pops. The cake pops, incidentally, went in their take-home goody bags. Some of them even made it out the door before getting eaten.

 I realized after the fact that I didn't take pictures of the decorations. So here is the messy aftermath showing most of the decorations. A few streamers and balloons goes a long way in my book.

 The friend party was Saturday. The family party was Sunday. Here is Chelsea's second favorite (and second most requested) gift. Cinder Slippers! This is the model for the cake pops. The cake pops are all supposed to be Cinder Slippers. I'm really glad Chelsea didn't insist on having a variety of edible characters. 

 We went to Splashdown for FHE Monday. Michelle was able to join us! I'm really glad she was there because it turns out the kiddie pool area was closed. Bummer. But that meant that there was one grown up per kid to guard in the big pool and the big slides. The fourth kid on the bottom isn't ours. She just swam in for the picture. :)

 Big smiles! Chelsea up top, Abby down below. Brie enjoyed herself, but I didn't get a shot of just her. :S

 Here is Chelsea's actual birth day. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner, and she said anything that you can put a candle in. So I made her favorite dish, tater tot hotdish. The crown came from school.

 Who said rain stops a Memorial Day cookout? Not us! We weren't sure it would actually work, but it did! The Heits were nice enough to provide the food and we cooked it and provided the extras like cheese and lettuce and such.

 Grandma and these two were working on a little project, directed by Chelsea.

These menfolk were playing a golf game.

 Randy and Abby entertained each other with squinkies and the crocodile.

The finished (drying) product turned into foam flowers on painted sticks with yarn leaves. (I was having a good time cleaning up and watching the festivities, as well as taking pictures and getting the kiddos into pajamas and fed their snack.)

April

 This is what we get when mommy takes her eyes off the kids while they color. Colorful faces!

 I was actually watching and holding Abby when she was using the blue marker. She just decided she needed to rub her eyes without putting the marker down first. So funny!

 I'm loving Chelsea's pose for this pic. Her and Brie are playing La La Loopsy Go Fish. Abby is munching away at that cereal in the middle. Can you see her mess all over the floor? Mommy needs more eyes and hands.

 So when we picked up the cards we also used the vacuum. I was not allowed to put the vacuum away until Brie was able to sit in the "hot tub." I love it! Chelsea had her turn also.

 Little Bunny FuFu, running through the forest, scooping up the....monkeys....and boppin' 'em on the head.

 Down came the good fairy and she said, "Little Bunny FuFu I don't want to see you scooping up the monkeys and boppin' 'em on the head."

 The good fairy had wings.

FuFu's close-up.

 

 We need a gate. The snow does for a good step stool for the time being though.

 Our traveling potty chair/step stool is good for a chair as well!

 I was washing a few potatoes (that the kids still won't eat, grr) and I looked down at Abby. She had opened the potty and was trying to pull down her pants. So I helped her get situated appropriately. She LOVED it. She will hopefully get the potty thing down before she's 3 1/2, like another daughter of mine. Abby didn't pee in the potty this time. She did pee while standing up next to the potty, and was surprised to find a puddle underneath her though. It was pretty funny. Since then, Abby has loved sitting on the potty and wiping with toilet paper. She's actually peed twice IN the potty. We're not pushing it, but as long as she's interested and happy about it, so am I!

 Circus time! Can't go to the circus without riding the ponies! I'm waiting for the year that they will want to ride the elephant. Brie at the very end of intermission said she wanted to try it, but it was too late. Maybe next year. 

 We let Abby hang out with Grandma this year. I'm glad because I don't think she would have made it very long. These two were basically done after the intermission as it was. But they stuck it out to the end.

 Chocolate was helpful in getting them to the end happily.

 These annoying butterfly things that sing and play music have inadvertently become a traditional circus purchase. Brie's didn't last ten minutes before it got finicky about when it would work or not work. We still have them both though.

  This was my favorite act of the show. This guy had a wind up crank for his "toy" elephant. The elephant would run around a bit and then fall over, broken, repeated with a few variations. It was actually a little puppy in a costume, but they did a great job with the act. It was quite cute and entertaining.