Super Rex is Three Years Old

Rex turned three on May 2 and I was, frankly, really excited for his birthday. Every time we'd go to a store, he'd ask, "Hey mom, can I have that for my birthday?" about everything he saw. He wanted a superhero birthday cake, and with my new found love of homemade fondant, my mind was racing with ideas for a cool cake. At long last, we took Rex shopping and all he wanted was a $5 DVD, Spiderman 2, and some Spiderman sunglasses. Total cost of his birthday gifts: $9.98. Sweet. We weren't about to remind him that he wanted Legos, Thor gear, the Batmobile, and a slew of other obnoxious, noise-making toys. There'll be plenty of time for that, right?

We celebrated his birthday at home by making these cute minion "cupcakes" and monster faces for dinner (taco salad arranged in silly faces).

Since the minions were made from Twinkies, frosting, and smarties, I decided we'd better sit them atop something sort of healthy, so we made bran muffins for the bases. The kids helped me decorate them and they were a big hit!

Mette helped me with this cake. The innards are fresh banana cake with cream cheese frosting. Fab-u-lous! Everyone loved it.

We had a cute little superhero birthday party for Rex and the cousins a few days later. I cut capes from two plastic tablecloths and the kids decorated them with stickers. Easy! Fun! Cheap! Perfect for toddlers! I cut some masks from felt and attached elastic cord at the edges. It was a perfect way to turn a bunch of motley little ones into adorable superheroes.

The kids went wild for the glittery foam stickers.

Super Parker!

Whitney looks like she'll have a bright future in crime fighting.

Karli is just adorable.

Hannah flew all the way from Denmark to attend. He he. We were so happy to have her there!

Aren't they darling?

Too bad you can't hear Case yelling "Du-per Man!" It's precious.

I love these pictures of Rex in his mask. He's so cute!

Rex is such a funny, sweet, smart little kid. He loves candy, climbing, cars and trucks, and everything else boy. I love the way he describes things and how he always says "HI!" to everyone. I even think it's adorable when he steals my phone, heads to the couch, and hides under his blanket so I won't know he has it. He makes our family fun and we love little Rexy to pieces. Happy birthday, Rex. You are super!

Fabric, Glue, Sparkles, Flour, Sugar, Mess!

We've been (okay, fine, I've been) on a creative spree lately. Here are just a few of the projects I've finished in the last month or two. Sadly, by the time I'm finished making them, I have no energy to blog about them, so it's a grand notion that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Rex's superhero birthday cake, complete with homemade fondant. The inside was fresh banana cake with cream cheese frosting. Delish!

Strawberry and cream cupcakes from Our Best Bites (my new favorite baking info blog). They are divine. Try them out!

Lavender-scented bath fizzies for our moms (here's the recipe). They were so fun and easy to make and the kids helped me. You can also hide waterproof surprises inside!

8 styles of bows for the Lehi Rec Cheer teams to choose from. Now I get to make 160 more. Yay!

What started out as a cute, fairly simple variegated tutu then turned into three ensembles for the Tulip Princess Pageant in which Amber, Karli, and my niece Whitney competed. So cute!

These outfits ended up being a lot of work, but only cost me $7.20 for the whole shebang. I love the light green corset tops and lining (they lace up the back...so cute!); the girls looked like little flower fairies. I'm also in love with the ombre effect of layering three colors of tulle inside each petal.

I found these darling leopard flip-flops at the dollar store and knew they'd be a perfect birthday gift for Amber and Karli's friend Gracie. Since they were only a buck, though, they needed some jazzing up. I added the liquid sequin fabric strips and made a cute little messenger bag to match. Since I needed coordinating fabric, I painted spots on plain white cotton. We filled the bag with goodies and it turned out to be adorable!

I was commissioned to make this robe (ha! That sounds so much cooler than "asked") for a friend of my sisters' who is undergoing chemotherapy. I hope this fabulous, luxuriously silky (and sooo annoying to sew on) fabric makes her feel glamorous. What a sad disease cancer is!

My niece Whitney's "horsey cake" with rainbow layers inside. Love!

This is my first attempt at fondant. It is a mess at the bottom but it tasted great and looked darling. Whitney was crazy about it!

This one was easy. I cut a strip off the bottom of a white t-shirt, drew on the motif with a Sharpie, and tied it around Rex's head. He's obsessed with "The Karate Kid" and he calls it his Daniel San headband. He sleeps in it. Hilarious.

Two adorable Easter ensembles for my two adorable girls. I found tutorials for the skirt and top at Made, one of my very favorite blogs to read. The girls loved these, which made me so happy! Most of the time, I spend hours making them things about which they feel lukewarm, so seeing their excitement upon finishing these get ups was priceless.

Here's to another busy month of crafting, baking, and sewing. I really love it!