Bilbo’s Hobbit Hole :: A Hobbit Themed Birthday Cake
After listening to the excellent unabridged version of the Hobbit, and watching the movie, Rascal requested a “Hobbit” themed birthday for his 11th birthday this year! Our cake turned out differently, but was mostly inspired by Charlotte’s recent Hobbit Hole cake and Rascal’s Hobbit Hole Lego Set. Usually I wait until the kids are in bed to decorate their cakes, but today I decided to take advantage of the long nap Bud took this afternoon. So now I get to share it with you tonight!
My Supplies:
2 boxes cake mix (Rascal choose Triple Chocolate)
Oval Cake Pan (I have the Oval Pan set which I love! I first used them for our Nesting Doll Cake and also use them each Easter for Egg shaped cakes! For this cake I used the 13.5″x9.8″ Oval)
Filling/Frosting of choice
2 containers white frosting
leaf green icing color
Wilton Tip #233 (for grass) with decorating bag and coupler
Nutella mixed with a little of the extra white icing (for the ground – chocolate frosting or brown sugar would also work)
1 granola bar (for chimney)
2 large chocolate coins (for windows)
yellow sprinkles (or yellow frosting)
1 green sugar sheet (for door)
1 yellow Sixlets (for door knob)
Candy Rocks (decorations)
Candy Flowers (I used these.)
2 Hershey Chocolate Bars (for around door and walkway)
Assembling the Cake:
Line up the cakes on platter, filling with frosting/filling of preference. (We ended up only using 3 of the 4 cakes halves, and 2 – one cake – might have been enough, but we liked the look of the three cakes halves best.) I then covered the cake with a layer of white frosting. (I usually then stick it in the freezer to harden, but didn’t this time and regretted it later!)
Make the chimney. Slice a granola bar in half and stick the two halves together (we used a little Nutella). Place on top of cake.
Cover the cake with green grass using tinted frosting and the grass frosting tip. This took a little while, and I bounced back and forth between it and other things, but it was fun!
At Charlotte’s suggestion I made the door with a Green Sugar Sheet! The cookie cutter helped with the size I needed and then I cut the circle out with a pair of scissors. For the yellow door knob, I just attached a yellow Sixlets with some chocolate.
My New Year’s Resolution {150 Miles Later!}
One of my resolutions, or rather challenges for myself, this new year was to do my best to improve my health and make time for exercising. It is one of the areas in my life where I have been really procrastinating. I made some great progress early last year, when I had the scare with my liver, but after I lost some weight (10% of my body weight at the time) and the problems cleared up, I lost my motivation. I’ve been struggling to keep up in many areas of my life (blogging, paperwork, emails, laundry, housecleaning, homeschooling, exercising, pretty much everything… there is just not enough hours in the day to do it all!) and my husband keeps gently reminding me that I need to stop procrastinating and JUST DO THE WORK!
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| I had to laugh when I found this on my nightstand one night! |
Not only do I still have plenty of weight to lose (from the last five pregnancies), I’ve also found that exercising greatly lowers my stress levels (along with my angio edema reactions) and helps me be a much happier person in general. This time of year, with all the dark and gloomy days, can be especially challenging, so I started by deciding to stop procrastinating (with exercising at least) and try and get on the treadmill every day during January.
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| A typical breakfast of mine on the 17 Day Diet – 2 eggs with mixed greens, onion, and tomatoes with green tea and/or coffee |
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| 2 pounds lost from Jan 1-Jan 18th, then I started recording my weight daily while on Cycle 1 of The 17 Day Diet |
Celebrating Candlemas
Traditionally called Candlemas, candles are blessed on this day to help us remember the words of holy Simeon who called the babe in his arms, “A light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.” Luke 2: 32.
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| My Pocket Rosary Children’s Prayer Book |
You can scroll through all our past Candlemas celebrations here, including a Candlemas Luncheon.
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| Christmas Angels with Baby Jesus Statue |
State-by-State Baking :: Mississippi Mud Pie
flowing through our land.
The mighty Mississippi River
is awesome, strong, and grand.”
It’s been months since the girls studied Mississippi (sometime last fall) but I am just now getting around to adding it here. Anyhow, for the state of Mississippi, the 20th State to join the Union, the girls read M is for Magnolia: A Mississippi Alphabet and then completed their Notebook Pages.
- 1 quart coffee ice cream (we used Almond Mocha Fudge)
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate wafers (we used chocolate graham crackers)
- 1 1/2 cups fudge sauce, refrigerated
Let the coffee ice cream soften at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Melt the butter over low heat.
Let the butter cool for a minute, while you crush the wafers (graham crackers).
Pour the melted butter it into a mixing bowl and add the crushed wafers.
Mix well.
Press the chocolate wafer mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a pie plate.
Fill the pie shell with the softened ice cream.
Smooth the top of the ice cream evenly with a knife or a spatula.
Put the pie into the freezer until the ice cream is firm, about 20 minutes.
Top with the fudge sauce…
…and spread with a spatula.
Slice and serve.
State-by-State Scrapbook :: Mississippi
Our people, waters, and fertile land
make Mississippi great.“
.: Mississippi by Captain :.
.: Mississippi by Rascal :.
*The links to the worksheets used for these notebook pages can be found here, and here is the link to all of our State-by-State Study posts.
+Sparkle
Those of you who have been visiting my blog since the very early days might remember back in 2008 when we bought goldfish for the four oldest (which were their very first pets), named the goldfish, mourned the loss of Mr. Peter Nemo, quickly followed by the loss of Princess and Flower. Rascal’s fish Sparkle, however, lived a very long life which came to an end this afternoon… Yes, today was another sad day, especially for Rascal, when he discovered that his fish had died! The boys have planned the burial for tomorrow. In the meantime Rascal added Sparkle to his timeline to remember forever… I sure love these sweet, sentimental children of ours!
All Saints’ Day Banner Tutorial {including Printable!}
Since I just finished sharing the Alphabet Blocks that I made using the Saint Letters from Catholic Artworks, I thought now would be a good time to go back and share the tutorial for our All Saints’ Day Banner!
Last year, for our annual All Hallows’ Eve/All Saints’ Day Party, I created this banner using the images from the Catholic Artworks book An Alphabet of Catholic Saints. The clip art I used was on a CD of mine that they no longer sell, but I’ve been told that all the images are all included (with much more) on their current Teach Me to Discover the Saints CD. (Catholic Artworks is the publisher, but for those of you that are hesitant to purchase from them this CD is also available from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts.)
I did call George Nippert, the owner at Catholic Artworks, and was granted his permission to share my document with you all, which includes some of their (copyrighted) Saint Letters resized to the correct size needed for this banner! (Thank you Catholic Artworks)
Note: Since these images are copyrighted, the document I share can not be modified in any way and is to be used exclusively to create this particular banner. It is also not to be used for profit. Also, if you share this post, be sure to link directly to this blog post, and not to the document on Scribd. Thank you!
Supplies:
- Letter/Saint Images Printed on White Paper
- 11 pieces of Colored Cardstock (I used black)
- Paper Cutter and/or Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Small 1/8″ Hole Punch
- Ribbon
1. Print the All Saints Letter Banner Pages on white paper.
2. Cut out each banner letter, using the line as a guide.
3. Glue the letters to the card stock. (As you can see in the picture, I was able to fit two on each piece of 8.5×11″ cardstock.
4. Leaving a border of card stock, trim around each banner letter using a paper cutter.
5. Using a small hole punch, punch a hole in the top two corners of each banner letter.
6. Tread ribbon (I used white) through the holes in the banner to hang.
Our New Archbishop!
Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Alexander King Sample as archbishop of the archdiocese of Portland (area 76,937, population 3,296,705, Catholics 412,725, priests 300, permanent deacons 72, religious 653), Oregon, USA. Bishop Sample, previously bishop of Marquette, Michigan, USA, was born in Kalispell, Montana, USA, in 1960, was ordained to the priesthood in 1990, and received episcopal ordination in 2006. In the national bishops’ conference he currently serves on the Subcommittees on Native American Catholics and on the Catechism. He is also vice-postulator for the cause for canonisation of Venerable Frederic Baraga, first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette. He succeeds Archbishop John George Vlazny, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
We are so excited to welcome our new Archbishop and couldn’t be happier to hear this wonderful news today! We were even more pleased to see that he is supportive of the Extraordinary Form and is known to celebrate it regularly! What an incredible blessing for our diocese!
New Archbishop of Portland in Oregon! (Unam Ecclesiam)
An Alphabet of Saints :: B is for Blocks
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| Snuggles’ Alphabet of Saints Blocks |
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| Cupcake’s Alphabet of Saints Blocks |
Originally I had hoped to make eight sets in various colors/designs to give as Christmas gifts, but ended up with just three, Snuggles’ set plus sets for two of our dear godchildren, since my “extra” time was so limited in November and December. I do still have a fourth set in progress for Rose since she loved these blocks so much! In fact, one day she snuck into my bedroom, snatched a few blocks while I was on the phone and then hid under Captain’s desk with them until I found her… Yes, I’m hoping that she will find her very own set (made with rosy pink-uh paper of course!) inside her Easter Basket this year.
Supplies:
- 1 1/2-inch square wood blocks (I used 13-16 blocks for each set)
- Sandpaper
- Scissors
- Acrylic paint
- Mod Podge
- Paintbrush
- Decorative paper
- Alphabet Letters
- Sponge
Directions:
1. Sand the wooden block with sandpaper to prepare them for painting.
2. Paint the blocks with the color(s) you’ve selected. Allow to dry.
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| Snuggles’ and Cupcake’s sets were painted white |
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| Bear’s set was painted in multiple colors |
3. Cut the Alphabet Letters and Decorative Paper to squares measuring just under 1 1/2″ each.
Note: I used the alphabet saint letters from Catholic Artworks, using a CD that they no longer carry. I’ve been told that all these letters and much more are included on their updated CD titled Teach Me to Discover the Saints which is also available from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts. Unfortunately they are not a free printable. Also, the images are very large on the CD. I resized them to the correct size that I needed for these blocks in Word, creating the document that you see in my supplies picture. I am sorry that due to copyrights I am not able to share it with you all. However you can customize this idea with any letters, stickers, or embellishments of your choice!
4. Glue the paper to each side of the block using all-purpose Mod Podge. Allow the glue to dry.
Note: Using 13 blocks I started with letters A-M on the fronts and then continued with letters N-Z on the backs (in order with N on the back of M and Z on the back of A). Since I had room for three extra blocks in the box for Cupcake’s set I added a few extra vowels and consonants for her to use in creating her names.
5. Very carefully, to prevent the printed alphabet paper from smearing, paint another coat of Mod Podge all over the block to seal. Allow to dry.
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| This is what my husband patiently put up with on our bedroom dresser most of Advent! |
6. All Done! I also found a nice little wooden box at Michaels which held the completed blocks beautifully… I was only able to find one so I’m hoping that I can find more the next time I make it back to the craft store.
{pretty, happy, funny, real}
Somebody was mad, and refused to look at his daddy, when we picked him up at the airport…
However, it didn’t take Bud long at all to forgive him for being gone for three weeks!
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