Savanna's First 1st Birthday Party!

As I previously mentioned we decided to split up friends and family for Savanna's 1st Birthday since we could not fit everyone inside.  We decided to have the friends party early so we could attempt to have it outside.  Luckily the weather cooperated for us and we had a nice day, it wasn't crazy sunny but it was a great temperature.  We had the party at an outdoor picnic area near one of the town parks.  It worked out great and we were very happy we did it there.  I ordered a full printable paper package from Little Birdie Prints on Etsy and was super happy with them. Kim was very responsive and easy to work with.  I used most of the package, the only things I did not use were the hats (Savanna hates anything on her head) and the thank yous (I already had personalized stationary for her and didn't think it was worth printing and buying envelopes).  I printed everything myself at home and it was super easy and I did not go through a crazy amount of ink.  I highly recommend if you want to add some fun custom detail to your party!

It was a late afternoon party so we decided to keep the food fairly simple.  We ordered sandwiches from a local deli and I made a pasta salad with broccoli and pine nuts and a mixed green salad with roasted butternut squash, walnuts, craisins and pumpkin seeds.  

Pumpkin Breads were the favors :)

Savanna had a blast playing in the ice and any water that had fallen....

For dessert, I of course had to go all out :)

I made chocolate chip ganache cookies, pumpkin cookies, chocolate cupcakes, pumpkin patch cake pops, and sour watermelons and pumpkins.  

Savanna had a personalized soy and dairy free pumpkin cake.  I took the fondant off before she dove in!

We cannot wait to celebrate again!

Savanna's 10-11 Month Update

I wanted to share a much delayed update with you today.  I mentioned earlier that we did not see as big of a difference between 9-10 months as we had seen between all the other months.  I am not sure why, we just didn't, but boy did she make up for it in month 11.  The biggest update was she finally started WALKING!!  Around 10 1/2 months she took a few steps and then 2 weeks after she was walking more than she was crawling and now she barely crawls at all!  We welcomed the walking, we were tired of her crawling through the mulch at the playground and on the cement and she was with the walker for so long we were ready.  It is soooo cute how they waddle and look like little drunken sailors when the first start :)

She also started to "play ball". If you tell her to go get the ball she will and then bring it back to you. She also does does a miniature throw.  She loves to climb the steps at the park and goes down a small slide while holding your hand.  We started a Mommy and Me Gym class and we also go to a music class at the library twice a week which she LOVES.  She just enjoys being around other kids.  She waves when she walks into class and always follows the big kids around the playground.  She only likes the swings when there are other kids on them. 

She has become more affectionate and will actually give you a little cuddle once in awhile, along with lots of hugs and kisses when you ask.  The cutest is when she reaches for your hand to hold while walking.  

In terms of communication she says mama and dada, but still not directive.  She did learn "more" in sign language and when you ask her where her head is she will put her hands there and of course we learned SO BIG!  We are working on nose next along with eat and drink in sign language.  She now knows "in" and "out", so she no longer just empties baskets :)  In general she seems to understand a lot more when you talk to her.  

Savanna now has 8 TEETH!!! I believe it is a lot for her age, but luckily they haven't been too terrible and I guess we are closer to being done! She used to eat anything you put in front of her, but she has definitely become more picky.  I cannot complain she is a pretty good eater in general, but there are things she will spit out if she does not like them.  She will eat sweet potatoes if I roast them, but not if they are mashed.  She eats broccoli some days....loves pasta, peas and turkey and most. She won't eat frozen carrots but will eat them plain if I boil them.  Her favorite fruits right now are blueberries and grapes.  We are still off all dairy, but luckily I found some great coconut milk yogurts.  We are starting to test the soy right now.  

Luckily, she gave up her stroller strike and is a lot better in the stroller now, but hates the car.  It is good that we are in a walkable town because we can go to all of her classes and dinner without having to go in the car, but once the winter comes we will be in trouble.  

I cannot believe she is going to be a year in less than 2 weeks!  It is true what they say - it goes fast!  

Weekend Recap and Carrot Cake Roll-Out Cookies

Sorry, I was never able to post last week, I had a ton of baking and prepping to do for our first of two parties for Savanna's first birthday!  We had a super busy Saturday this past weekend.  In the afternoon we had her party. We decided to split up friends and family since we cannot fit everyone inside if the weather was not nice.  We did our friends first so we could hopefully have it outside.  Luckily the weather cooperated for us:)  I will share the details of the party with you after I get pictures uploaded later this week. Before the party Chris took Savanna to the Rye vs. Harrison football game which is a long time rival.  There were 5000 people at a high school football game!  From what I heard Savanna loved the crowd and really enjoyed the action.  I made this cake pop tower (sorry not a great picture) for the boys tailgate on Friday night.  

While they were at the game I had my good friend Katie's baby shower at the Larchmont Yacht Club (where her and her husband got married).  I did some cute favor boxes for which I want to share the details with you today.

I worked with her sister to make personalized boxes for Katie.  We decided to make a trail mix of all of her favorite items; almonds, dried mango, raisins, yogurt covered pretzels, gummies and m&ms.  She is having a boy so we did blue for the gummies and m&ms.  

I then made a baby onesie carrot cake cookie (since carrot cake is her favorite).  I also wanted to share the recipe for the cookie.

I had made a soft drop carrot cake cookie before but, I was afraid that wouldn't hold the icing and I would have a ton of waste from cutting the cookies out.  I searched for a roll-out cookie but failed to find one, so I decided to modify one of my own recipes.  My gingerbread cookies have a fairly wet dough which I thought I needed since the carrots would moisten the dough.  So I substituted the molasses with the carrots and altered the spices and it worked :)  The dough was super moist but it worked as long as you let the dough sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours (overnight is best) and used a decent amount of flour.  

Carrot Cake Roll-out Cookies

3 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar 

3/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

6 ounces butter

6.5 ounces shredded carrots 

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer mix dry ingredients

2. Add in butter in pieces

3.While machine is running add carrots

4. Refrigerate dough for at least 4 hours

5. Roll out on floured surface and floured pin to desired shape and size (will need a lot of flour) 

6. Bake 10 - 15 minutes depending on size

A Weekend of Baking Firsts

Last week was a fun but crazy week.  It started with my first cake pop order for the Field Hockey team in town. This was especially fun for me since I played Field Hockey in HS and college :) The Rye Mascot is the Garnets, a precious stone.... yes I know pretty weak.  I was a frog growing up and I did not think I could do much worse but it seems I may have... Oh well they are really good, undefeated actually and that is what counts!

I think the most exciting was my first Gluten Free Cake! It took a few failed flour blends and then I found Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix and that was the winner.  It has no rice flour in it which is why I think it works.  I think rice flour tastes like sand. It is a mixture of garbanzo flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, sorghum flour and fava flour.  My standard vanilla cake had the same great texture and the flavor was very close. My customers were only gluten intolerant so I did not have to worry about cross-contamination.  

After the cake turned out really well I decided to try these pumpkin cookies that we love and they turned out really good too!

Lastly, I made my first cupcake cake! I had attempted one about 3 years ago and did not have a lot of success and put it on the back burner. Someone asked me to do one last week and I was really excited to finally be able to complete one!