CrazyJoy =

Wow, yall. So many thanks to all the sweet comments yesterday!

If you're new to the blog, Anna and I started a little weekly photo challenge called CrazyJoy. Each week we rotate on picking a word and then photographing our interpretation of it. You can find out more about the challenge here.

This week it's my week to announce the new word. Drumroll....

So here's a little rundown on the challenge word:

1. Think on it, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent the word
2. Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
3. Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

Make sense?

And to finish up the week of party fun, here's our favorite entry from last week's challenge for CELBRATE.

Thanks for joining us, Our Jubilant Nest. Seriously, how cute is she and I'm quite intrigued by that cake!!

Happy Friday and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Embrace the Camera - Toddler?

I'm just going to continue this birthday week another day. Sorry if there's been too much pink and cuteness for you to handle, but, it's my blog and I can.

It's embrace the camera today and although I already posted this picture on Tuesday, here it is again. The proud parents with our one-year old girl!








And just because I'm getting all sentimental about her being one, here are some of my favorite pics from the last year.

What can I say, I love my girl!

Snap Shop - online!

I know a lot of you guys read my sister's blog but for those that don't, I wanted to make sure you knew about her online Snap Shop!

Several of you have mentioned wanting to take her class or knowing someone that wants to and due to the fact that there's limited space available, you just haven't been able to get in one yet. Well, I'm excited to tell you guys that there's still a few spaces left for her first online class! Check out her information page to register.

I have had the opportunity to take her regular, one-day class and also the online version and let me tell you folks, you won't be disappointed. I think the online version has so many benefits that you don't get with the one day session. Like, you get THREE whole weeks to go through all the material. There's so much great information and helpful tips that having three whole weeks to process it all and go back to is really helpful. Not only that, but you get to do everything at your own pace. You can do it after work, on the weekend, whenever you have some free time.

So why take the class? If you're like me and have a DSLR and want to take better, more interesting photos of your kids, food, family, dog, cat, whatever, and want to break out of the little green automatic square, that's why. The class covers several different sessions from composition, story telling and making the scary switch from automatic to manual. The thing I really liked about this class is all the terminology is easy to understand. It's not super technical and confusing. After taking the class you'll feel excited and ready to tackle your manual setting! Trust me, I did.

Ashley is offering a discounted introduction rate of $150 for the first month. After that the price will go up to $200. Like I said, there's a few spaces left in her first class so if you want to get in on the discount, register before those lasts spots are taken!

P is for... (part two)

Thank you guys for your sweet comments on the decorations yesterday! Now onto part two of "p is for" and it's all about the cake and the rest of the party!



As you know, the birthday girl's nickname is Sweet Pea. Well, she also happens to be our little princess so I thought it would be fun to try to make a "princess and the pea" cake. Hopefully you know the story of the Princess and the Pea because I had to explain it to my husband. Sad.

Anyway, I set out to make a layered cake with each layer representing the mattresses and a little pea at the very bottom. My first thought was to put a jellybean at the bottom but I ended up just saving some of the batter, dying it green and baking a mini cupcake . I rolled it up into a ball, added a little frosting to keep it together and voila, a pea!

I had a little too much fun making this cake! I started with just a box of butter cake mix, mixed it all up and added a few drops of pink food coloring to make a very light pink. I poured it into a small, 6"x2" round cake pan. Once it was done baking, I set it on a rack to cool and started on another layer.

I just added several more drops of pink food coloring to make a darker shade of pink. I poured it into the same pan and baked it, let it cool while I finished up the last layer. I added several more drops of pink food coloring to the remaining batter, baked and cooled it.



Then the fun began!

While the three layers of cake were cooling, I made this frosting. It tasted so good and make plenty for the entire cake, 12 cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes! Plus I had a little left over.

Anyway, next I cut each of the three cake rounds in half so I would have 6 cake layers.

I started to assemble the cake. First I put the "pea" down.



Then topped it with the lightest pink cake layer and some frosting.




Next, I put a darker pink layer on top and frosted it.



Followed by the middle shade of pink and frosting.



Then I started all over with the light, then dark and finished with the last layer and frosted it.



I added a little bunting with her name on it and string it between two pinwheels, and ta-da! Her very own cake!



Now, I realize she totally didn't care what her cake looked like, and I admit, I probably had more fun making it than she did eating it, BUT, I think she'll enjoying looking back at her pictures from her birthday one day and smile. AND, she did enjoy eating it!





Here you can see the pea and a little helping hand from her sister-cousin.



more digging in





Thanks, Ashley, for getting such great pics of her eating her cake!!

We are blessed to have so many close relatives living near and it made for a super fun party for my girl. She was doused with love and attention and tons of gifts. There were a couple of very special gifts I wanted to share with you.

Her auntie had this pillow made by my friend Anna. It's so girly and I love the verse on it. Proverbs 3:24 - perfect.



Anna also sent this amazing little quilt to P to open at her party!



You can't really see it very well in the photo because P thinks she's a matador with it but it has her name and birth stats. Gorgeous. I think Anna might post posted a better picture on her blog soon so check it out.
 
And last up, to finish up the party fun, is P's very own, custom doll house. My sister decorated each little room with fabric from her nursery!!



How cute is that!? Sweet P has already found her picture in one of the rooms and points a talks to it. She also really likes the little rocking chair and putting her play food in the rooms! This is one of those gifts that I might be found playing with and decorating without her.

So there you have it, Sweet P's first birthday party. It's hard to believe she's been here an entire year but I have loved every minute of it! Here's to another fun, kiss, laughter and hug-filled year!