I Can't Bee Stopped.

I couldn't help myself. Even though Bea requested no "Bee" birthday cake this year, I still managed to talk her into letting me make beehive cookies for her class treat.

What's the fun in naming your kid Bea if you can't enjoy it?

Using my favorite Kansas Sugar Cookie recipe (substituting the almond extract for lemon), I baked five different sizes of cookies. Stacking them to make mini beehives, I added a dollop of frosting in between each cookie. For the openings, I attached black candy melts to the fronts of the beehives with more frosting. Then, I secured a tiny sugar bumblebee to each one with another dab of frosting. (I bought a bunch of these candy bees from Williams-Sonoma when Bea was just a baby, knowing I'd want to use them someday.)

Easy-peasy. And Beasy. 

If you'd like a complete tutorial on how to make them, check out my post on SheKnows.com.

Bea's Bee-free B-day

It was bound to happen. After 6 years, Bea finally requested that I not make her a bumblebee birthday cake. Sigh. (See her previous bee-inspired birthdays here, here, here and here.)

She requested Hello Kitty instead.

A trip to Party City helped carry out the Hello Kitty theme: balloons, plates, napkins, buttons, and of course... tiaras.

Bea wanted to go to Build-a-Bear. Again. But she only wanted to invite one friend - our neighbor and best buddy, Morgan. Needless to say, the girls had a great time and loaded up on all things soft and fuzzy. They both picked out calico kittens. Bea named hers "Cookie" and Morgan named hers "Squishy."

We made a stop at Pizza Hut for lunch and then there were  presents, presents, and more presents.

It's sooooooo good to be six, isn't it?

Vintage Book Dessert Table

I've been baking and book-crafting for the last couple of weeks in preparation for a baby shower that my friend, Adriene Rathbun (and friends), hosted on Saturday.

The theme of the baby shower brunch was "Vintage Books." The idea stumped me at first, but then I realized that there are so many food references used in classic children's storybooks and nursery rhymes. Here are a few of the ideas that I came up with:

Alice in Wonderland = "Eat Me" cookies
The Gingerbread Man = Gingerbread cookies
Little Red Riding Hood = Basket of cakes for grandma
The Three Little Kittens = Pies (made from Reece's BIG cups and M&M's)
Jack and the Beanstalk = Magic (jelly) beans

I also incorporated vintage book-like elements wherever I could into the display:

A four-tiered cupcake stand 
(made from hardcover books and wooden candlesticks that I painted gold)

Mini-book cupcake toppers 
(made from book pages and color printouts of classic children's book covers)

Book-page pillars 
(made by tearing off the book covers and folding the book pages in half)

Book-page table cover 
(torn pages from old books that I got at the DAV and Goodwill)

Once Upon a Time wall graphic 
(cut from a 40x30-inch piece of foam core)

Happily Ever After banner 
(covered a piece of cardstock with torn book pages and then cut the letters out)


Knowing that the party guests would probably be full of quiche, breakfast pastries and mimosas, I tried to package the dessert table treats into baggies, boxes or containers for easy transporting. That way, they could take everything home and enjoy later.