Aniyah's Ballerina Baby Shower

Girls mean pink, tutus, sparkles and ballerinas!

Aniyah J'Lyn Kartchner was born December 17, 2014 at 11:17 p.m. She was 7lbs 9oz and 20 inches long. We had so much fun decorating for the little ballerina! Special thanks to Annie, Molly and Jessie Mese, three real-life ballerinas that provided all the ballet decorations and art!

The dresses and slippers we used to decorate were worn by Molly in many of her performances!

The party meal was a potluck style, but we made special themed desserts: Chocolate dipped marshmallow ballerinas and pink cupcakes.

These simple but adorable goodies were made by dipping a marshmallow in pink chocolate and sprinkles. The "tutu" is a cupcake liner. In retrospect, I would have added a mini cupcake liner to add fullness.

These were delicious white chocolate cupcakes with a simple, yet delicious, frosting! I love to use this type of frosting because it is not as sweet as regular buttercream or cream cheese frosting, and it is so much easier to make! Are you ready for the recipe?

Delicious Frosting:
1 Qt Heavy Whipping Cream
1 box Pudding (any flavor!)

Whisk together and refridgerate.

 Yup! That is all! And I receive compliments on this frosting each time I make it! My wonderful, and very talented, cousin, Jessica Ghitea (an extremely awesome cake baker/decorator!) shared this recipe with me. It is usually used for fillings because it does not keep its shape as well as the sugary frosting, but I like to use it for everything. I just make sure it stays cool in the fridge, so it will not melt/lose shape, until it is time to devour!

Congratulations Ashlynn on the birth of Aniyah!
(Sorry this post is a year late! Hopefully I will be quicker with posting Calinia's Fairy Garden baby shower pictures in February!)

SPEAK

You are walking through the library, wanting something new and interesting to read. Somehow, you end up in the Young Adult section and book catches your eye.

Speak

Its navy blue cover is simple, compared to many of the other books on the shelf. The only image on the front is of a necklace, a silver blooming rose with one bright stone in the center. You turn it over to read the back.

As war descends on Dennon and Renoria, Edith’s father is taken hostage and Edith naively takes it upon herself to rescue him, traveling blindly in a foreign land, braving the wrath of an evil king, and deliberating what is just a story and what is the truth. Through a series of adventures and misfortunes, including stealing from a king, meeting mythical creatures, outrunning ogres, sailing the sea, and confronting decades of hate on the battlefield, she challenges her understanding of the world, her family, and herself, vividly transforming as she discovers reconciliation, persuasion and love.

The question is: Are you going to check it out? Do you want to read it?

MIA

Oh boy! Actually oh two boys! I have been missing in action (in regards to blog posts) since November...of 2014! There are many reasons, such as, um, I had a baby!

Oh, and my laptop died. Thankfully I was able to save everything from it, as I performed my own autopsy...

It was very scary taking it apart and wondering if I would be able to save all my documents, pictures, etc from the hard drive. But I did and it worked! Now, I have my own MacBook. I feel professional! :P

So, now, I need to act a bit more professional and update my blog. My goal is to post once or twice a month! *Crossing my fingers* But, if time allows, expect a tidal wave of posts in the next few days/weeks...because I need to catch up on all the parties I planned, books I read (so excited!), and a special preview into my novel, SPEAK!! While I was MIA here, I was busy tearing it apart and reworking a lot, but I love it even more now....and the beginning is "not boring". (So, thank you to the agent that spoke the truth and made me stronger!)

Deep breath...here it goes!

:) Beca