Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Valentine's Disaster... SAVED!

There was approximately an eighteen hour window of time this week that I was beginning to think that I was going to have to keep Reagan home from school on Valentine's Day.  

No, she hasn't been sick.

I was worried that if she did go to school, that she would forever remember this day as the most horrible day possible.  Why, because her mother (that would be me) is an utter and complete failure when it comes to baking.

Seriously, I'm awful.

And I know this.  So why in the world I volunteered to make over 50 cupcakes for her Valentine's Day party is beyond me.

I managed to ruin over 4 dozen cupcakes in an attempt to bake heart shaped cupcakes using heart shaped baking trays.  I had purchased the trays last week, and I was quite proud of myself for finding them and for my plans to make beautiful heart shaped pink lemonade flavoured cupcakes for Reagan and her classmates.  And these were not cheap baking trays that I was using.

I think for the first time in my life, I have found something that does not fall under the category of "you get what you pay for" because all I ended up with was a big pile of crumbled cake pieces over and over and over again.

I scrubbed and washed and rinsed those trays until they looked brand new again, and then I promptly returned them to the store to get my money back!

After doing a little research on Pinterest (I love you Pinterest) I came up with a better idea that barely added up to a total of $5...  Cupcake liners and marbles!  Considering that my husband was beginning to think that I was losing my marbles in this task, this was the perfect solution for me!

And guess what... IT WORKED!  Heart shaped cupcakes, just like that!  And as a dear friend pointed out, had I not chosen to create pink lemonade cupcakes, they could have easily passed as Pac-Man cupcakes!

Crisis averted, Reagan was able to go to school today for her classroom Valentine's Day party.  She took just over 50 cupcakes for the party, as her Kindergarten class was hosting a party for their Grade 4 & 5 buddies as well. She also took a handmade card, that she made herself, attached to a heart shaped twisty-straw for each of her own classmates.

The cupcakes were a hit, as all of the kids quickly gobbled them up during the party!  HALLELUJAH!

I think the highlight of the party, other than the cupcakes of course, may have been Reagan's hair.  All of her classmates and buddies and all of the teachers were very impressed that we had gone through such trouble to really keep with the Valentine's Day theme.  Truthfully, it wasn't that hard of a look to achieve! I have a feeling that we will be sporting this awesome hairdo for multiple occasions in the future...

Reagan came home from school today, super excited to show off all of her Valentine's Day loot.  I have to say, I was very impressed with the idea that her teachers came up with for saving/storing all of the cards that she received from her classmates.  Instead of coming home with twenty cards loose in her backpack, all of the cards had been carefully placed into a memory book! AWESOME idea!

After a quick snack at home, we were off for a very special delivery.  Reagan needed to take her boyfriend Matthew his Valentine's day cupcake and heart shaped twisty-straw!  The two of them were absolutely too stinkin' cute when they made their exchanges...  Matthew gave Reagan a cute little card and a sucker.  And my future son-in-law is already earning brownie points with me as he had a special card and chocolate for me as well.  SO SWEET!

Ryan took us all out for a fancy dinner tonight, (any dinner that I don't have to cook that is served to me at a restaurant is considered to be fancy in my book) and the waitresses were all oohing and aahing over Reagan's hair!  I think I may just have to create and post a video tutorial for how to do it yourself very soon.

Now that both of the kids are in bed, I plan to see how big of a dent I can put into the two pound box of chocolate that Ryan gave me today.  I'll start my weight loss routine next month...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

5 comments:

Mrs. M said...

Nice job on the cupcakes - hooray for Pinterest! I only wish you had discovered it BEFORE the cupcake fail. Love Reagan's hair - I really need to practice my skills so I can do stuff like this with Hannah's hair.

Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too said...

Awww, her hair was adorable!

mr.been there done that said...

Hi,I love to bake and like you ,I like things to turn out well.just a suggestion I have would be to make a point at the bottom of the hearts , one could place something in a V shape,like card board wrapped in foil or anything that won't burn.but they do look great and plan to surprise my wife just because.thank-you for sharing your ideas w/us.

Ida said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ida said...

Did you ever end up making a tutorial on how to do that hairstyle? I'd love to see it... and those cupcakes are adorable!