• Flashback Friday: Happy 4th Birthday

    Karlie's Shark, Brina's Turtle and the Ocean Cakec

    Happy 4th Birthday!

    Today’s Flashback Friday brings us back to the girls 4th Birthday Party Celebration!  The theme was “Under the Sea”!  We had a great group of family and friends join us for the celebration.  The kids had fun playing games, eating delicious cake, and snacks!

    We had two main games for the party – pin the tail on Willy the Whale and the favorite game for the event, for both the kids and adults, the Goldfish Races!!!  We picked up the goldfish at the pet store the day before the party.  We used a long and flat storage container to put the water in and divided it down the middle with a board.  Two people were given straws to blow on the water to get their fish to swim faster.  The person whose fish to got to the other side first wins!  All the kids got to take a fish home with them at the end of the event (not sure this was the highlight for the parents, but the kids liked taking a fish home with them).

    Brina and Karlie with the Rainbow Shark cakec

    Grandma Kay made Karlie a shark cake!

    Brina's Sea Turtle cakec

    Grandma Kay made Brina a turtle cake!

    Noticing the 4 on the cake - Karlie and Brinac

    Fascinated by the cool cake!  Thanks Grandma!

    Grandma Kay and Brina's fish swimming down the lanesc

    Grandma Kay and Brina racing their fish!  Super fun!

    Jack got a fish, Karlie enjoying her goodie bagc

    Jack showing off the fish he is taking home with him.  Karlie enjoying a treat!

    Jack playing with the tractor book in the ocean roomc

    Hung streamers on the wall and put a variety of fish on them!

    Karlie scaring her fish the wrong direction, ha so much func

    Karlie blowing on the water with her straw to get her fish to swim faster!

    Luke & Kristen demonstrating the fish racesc

    Luke and Kristen racing their fish!

    Mandy and Sam racing their fishc

    Mandy and Sam racing their fish!

    Owen & Karlie - Go Fish GO GOc

    The fish races were so much fun the kids did them several times!

    Uncle Josh and Rachel raced their fish tooc

    Josh and Rachel racing their fish!  Even the adults had fun doing this activity!

    Ocean and fishy snacks in the kitchenc

    Fish snacks anyone?!

    Snacks - Autumn, Karlie, Brina, and Jackc

    The kids enjoying some snacks!

    Kids colored their tails and then played the game, some kids took their tails homec

    Pin the tail on Wally the Great White Whale!  The kids did pretty good with this game!

  • Recipe: Beach Bucket Cake

    Beach Bucket Cake (with cake crumbs for the “sand”)

    I made this recipe a few months ago for my Community Group and it was a big hit.  As we get closer to the Spring / Summer season I wanted to share this one with you.  It was easy to put together and has a fun presentation for get togethers with family and friends.

    Beach Pail Cake:

    • 1 Yellow Cake Mix
    • 1 (8 oz) Cool Whip
    • 1 (3 oz) Instant White Chocolate Pudding
    • 1 cup Milk
    • 2 cups Strawberries
    • 2 cups Blueberries
    • Clean beach pail, shovel and shells

    Made the yellow cake mix according to directions.  Cool and cut up into cubes (see picture below) and set aside.  Mix together the instant White Chocolate Pudding and one cup of milk.  Add the container of Cool Whip to the pudding and mix well.

    Put 1/3 of the cubed yellow cake in the bottom of your clean beach pail.  Next put half of the pudding and cool whip mixture over the cake layer.  Add half of the strawberries and blueberries for the next layer.  Then repeat saving 1/3 of the cake but using the remaining cool whip and fruit mixtures.  Crumble the remaining cake cubes and sprinkle over the top.  Add your shovel to serve the desert and favorite seashells for decorations.

    1. Yellow cake cubed and put in the bottom of the beach pail

    2.  Layer cool whip and pudding mixture over cake layer

    3.  A layer of strawberries and blueberries comes next

    4.  Second layer cubed yellow cake

    5.  Second layer cool whip mixture

    6.  Second layer of strawberries and blueberries

    7.  Cake crumbs on top to make it look like “sand”

    8.  Decorate the top with seashells or beach items. Add the beach shovel and enjoy!

    There are a lot of great variations to this cake.  I used what I had on hand in our pantry but you could do it with a pound cake instead of a yellow cake or substitute vanilla pudding instead of White Chocolate or add in different seasonal fruits!