Happy Birthday Lydia!: Shabby Chic Cookies

As most of you should already know, I have been taking a break from making cookies. This beautiful girl is a big reason why, but I wouldn't have it any other way!  While I am still in a bit of denial that she turned one today, like every other major milestone in our lives since having kiddos, I knew we needed cookies at the event.  Lydia's room is a "shabby chic" design and that led to the inspiration for her party theme. 

 

 

I had so much fun dusting off my cookie supplies and putting my skills to the test to see if I "still got it."  I decided that I had to have the blue background with flowers and then added some more designs to complement that.

 

 

 

 

I also put together a few decorations for the party (please accept my poor excuse of photography)...

 

 

but everyone knows at a 1 year old's party, it's all about the smash cake!

 

Big Brother helping her out

 

 

 

 

We had the greatest time celebrating our baby girl.  This past year has flown by and been one with an abundance of love, joy and laughter.  While I have missed making cookies, nothing could compare to the fullness of being a mommy to my two kiddos!

 



 

Texas Theme Cookies

It might appear that things have been slow around here for the past week or so, but it is actually the opposite! I've been so busy making cookies, that I haven't had time to blog about them.

Before our big move to San Antonio, I was a teacher and I coached cheerleading.  I loved coaching cheer and definitely miss it, in big part because of my amazing girls (yes, I still consider them my girls and always will).  One of these said amazing girls, Olivia, contacted me about making birthday cookies for her grandmother.  She saw my bluebonnet ones and said that is her grandmother's favorite flower.  We decided to go with a whole Texas theme and as the proud Texas I am, I love the results!

The whole collection

Bluebonnets

Indian Blankets

Texas with Texas flag design

 

And now for the close-ups....

I don't know about you, but these Texas cookies make me want to sing out "Texas, Our Texas" at the top of my lungs!  Thank you, Olivia, for giving me the opportunity to make these Texas cookies.  I am so proud of you and am extremely excited for the big changes you have coming with a career in nursing and a marriage on the horizon.

Happy Birthday, Tara: Kentucky Derby Cookies

Right around the time we moved from Houston, our good friends Steve and Tara moved away as well.  Their move was just slighty farther than ours and they ended up all the way in Minnesota! Tara saw my cookies on Facebook and wanted to know if I could make her some cookies for her birthday.  They are doing a birthday party/Kentucky Derby party. How fun is that?!

 

When I heard Kentucky Derby, I immediately thought horses, roses, and big hats.  Tara sent me a picture of some other cookies she found through a Google search.  The picture she found just happened to be cookies done by Ali Bee's Bake Shop, a blog I admire and follow and aspire to be as good as someday. So I used the picture she sent me for inspiration (and a direct copy in some cases J ) and here is the result!

 

Royal Icing Roses on a horseshoe

The horses of course 

Jockey Silks

Roses are a must since it is "The Run for the Roses" after all.

Hats - the bigger the better!

One of these days, we will have to make the trek up to Minnesota to see y'all.  Hope you have a wonderful time at the party this weekend and sip a Mint Julep for me!

Battle of the Flowers Cookies

Every time I make cookies, I always end up with tons of extra icing.  I normally try to either use it to create come other cookies or unfortunately, it goes down the drain.  After this happened several times, I went to the internet to search something useful to do with the extra icing.  I realize I could just figure out how to not make so much icing, but that's another story... Thanks to Sweet Sugarbelle's tutorial, I decided to make lots and lots of roses. 

The end result was this:

Now to some, this may look like a boring, monotonous, burdensome task; however, to me, it was bliss.  I loved tuning out the world, burying myself in the task, and just piping for days... maybe just an hour or two.  Ok, on to the cookies!

This time every year in San Antonio, it is time for FIESTA!!! As a non-native San Antonian (not sure if that's a word), I had no idea what Fiesta was and I asked people about it.  And I found out most people didn't know and it got simplified down to just being parades, music, a drunken festival, and getting a day off of school for the Battle of the Flowers.  After this, I decided to look into it and see what Fiesta is really about. From the Fiesta website:

"In early 1891, Mrs. James Slayden, the wife of a congressman, began a campaign suggesting that a 'Flower Parade' be staged based on a parade she had observed while in Spain. Wanting to honor the fallen heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto, Mrs. Slayden concluded that April 21st would be the best date for the parade...  Today, the Battle of Flowers Parade holds the distinction of being the first celebration held in Alamo Plaza and is considered the founding event of Fiesta San Antonio."

In a nutshell, Fiesta began a with the Battle of the Flowers Parade to celebrate and honor the lives of the brave men who fought and died at the Alamo and San Jacinto, but now it has transformed into also celebrating the rich and unique culture of the city of San Antonio.  Hope you enjoyed the little lesson, but seriously, on to the cookies!

 

 

You may recognize these cookies from Reese's Rainbow Party.  The extra icing was from her cookies, but I thought these were the perfect complement to the Battle of the Flowers cookies, especially the lace ones that reminded me of papel picado.

I'm so happy (and relieved) that I finally know what Fiesta is.  I've always been proud to be a Texan and I am now also proud to be a San Antonian (again, not sure if that's a word)!  If you're in town, hope you can make it to the parade tomorrow!

Texas Wildflower Cookies

I love springtime in Texas.  It isn't too "cold" (I realize my native Texan definition of cold is much different than others') to go outside anymore, but the sweltering heat of summertime hasn't set in just yet.  But most of all, I love springtime in Texas for the wildflowers.  Beautiful bluebonnets, colorful Indian Blankets, and vibrant Indian paintbrushes line every highway and fill previously empty fields.  It adds so much color and life to areas that are usually a monotonous shade of green.  

It is definitely a "rite of passage" for a Texan to take pictures in bluebonnets, and James had to endure two different sessions. The first was over Easter weekend at our family lake house and the second was with some friends at a local park.

 

Photo-bomb from Sophie

James with some of his best buds: Brady, Mark and Fox.  Yes, he wore the same outfit because I liked the way it looked.  Also, in my mind, I built this up to be this adorable picture with all of them sitting there and smiling at the camera.  Needless to say, it was more of a try-to-just-get-them-all-to-sit-still-and-who-cares-if-they're-smiling kind of experience.

So, on to the cookies! I knew immediately I wanted to make some bluebonnet cookies this spring, but I also wanted to make another wildflower to compliment it.  After trying to sketch an Indian paintbrush for what felt like an eternity, I threw in the towel and decided to do Indian Blankets instead.

I tried two different cutters to get the bluebonnet shape.  The first was a carrot cutter and the second was two flower shapes that I squished and then pieced together.

Enjoy these beautiful wildflowers while they last! But once they're gone, at least we can still have some cookies!