Happy Birthday IKEA

     Ok, so today's post really isn't about IKEA's birthday.  Sorry IKEA.  No, today is about the creative construction, ahem, let me correct that... the deconstruction of a cake.  Not just any cake...a cake for IKEA.  Get it? No...ok, well let me explain.  Awhile back one of my blogger friends, Tamara, over at Confessions of a part-time working Mom posted up this picture.....

     If you a frequently customer of IKEA's they you see the comedy behind this picture.  If not, then I suggest you get yourself to an IKEA!  Just kidding.  IKEA is well known for their ready to be built furniture system.  Why buy a ready made bookshelf, when you can build it at home right?  Get the picture now?  Great! On to the challenge at hand...

     So back to my friend Tamara, after she posted the picture she challenged us to come up with our own version of a birthday cake for IKEA.  After a little bit of brain storming, I accepted the challenge.  Now to figure out exactly what I was going to create was my next step.

     Just for a bit of inspiration, I decided to take a little visit to our local IKEA while the kiddos were in school, which is only like 10 minutes from our house.  Pretty awesome right?   As I was strolling around, which seemed like an endless maze of a showroom, I actually got to observe the other shoppers, inspect some of the items, and just take my time looking at things I wanted to look at, without the nagging of a hungry bored child whining to go home (the first time we tried to go there was on like the busiest day EVER and the kiddos did NOT want to go the kinder play place, needless to say it was as short visit). 

     I was so mesmerized by mommy freedom, I actually wind up purchasing a few items and made some mental notes (and took some pictures) of a few furniture pieces to start setting up the extra room for my office/photo studio upstairs.  Before I knew it, it was almost time to go pick Kinley up from Kindi.  So, thinking back to the challenge...how can I make an IKEA cake?

     The deconstruction of cake ingredients has already been done in the picture above.  So how could I make it interesting and still relatable to IKEA?  Then it hit me as I was checking out.... 

MEATBALLS! 

     IKEA is known for their meatballs in sauce with a side of Lingonberry jam.  It's probably their best seller in their restaurant.  I knew this would be perfect! So there ya go, that was my inspiration for my IKEA Meatball Birthday Cake!  

  While on my little trip I picked up a bag of their famous KÖTTBULLAR Meatballs, a packet of GRÄDDSÅS Cream Sauce, and a jar of SYLT LINGON Lingonberry Preserves and then got creative!

First, I placed the frozen meatballs in the oven according to the package.

While those were cooking I prepared the sauce.  It was really simple, just some water, cream, and the sauce packet, let simmer for three minutes while stirring.

When the meatballs and sauce were done, I made a little pyramid with the meatballs layering a bit of sauce in between.  Then finished it with some lingonberry preserves.  

I know it's not a tradition "cake" but hey, it's for IKEA!  What says IKEA more then a meatballs, right?!  It actually turned out very tasty and the kiddos gobbled it right up!

Happy Birthday IKEA!

Check out these other creative IKEA cakes:

Confessions of a Part-Time Working Mom

Spatulas on Parade

Sarah Nick guest post on Confessions of a Part-Time Working Mom

The Bergham's Life Chronicles

February's Funny Friday

     So here's the deal and how it works....Funny Friday, is a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project.  Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month's picture.  Links to the other blogger's posts are below, click on them and see what they've come up with.  We hope to bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend!

Today's Funny Friday photo is from The Bergham's Life Chronicles

1. This little shopper has her priorities straight....Juice for her and a JUMBO size can of Coffee for momma!

2. "Ok, so I got the coffee, now where's that special organic, free range, grass fed, nonfat, all natural vanilla flavored goat milk creamer everyone has been raving about?"

3. "Shhhhhh, mom won't notice me putting in a few things, right?"

4. A true foodie in the making...shopping at Trader Joes.

5. "Look mom!" "It's a real cart, not like the plastic one Santa brought me!"

Check out these other funny bloggers:

Someone Else's Genius

Spatulas on Parade

The Bergham's Life Chronicles

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

Not That Sarah Michelle

Southern Belle Charm

My Brain on Kids

Baking in a Tornado

Love Poems

     Since this is February, the month of LOVE, my blogger friends and I linked up to bring you some poems about love.  Click on the links below to check out some more poetry.

Hazel
Inhale the sweet vanilla from her loving embrace. Hear her laughter, Touch the groves in her aging face.

Her hair a bit thinned and ginger blends to gray. A smile so infectious, it brightens your day.

Eyes hazel full of wisdom, with lovely lashes up they flip. Freckles tickled by kisses, stamped by her coral stained lip.

Her majestic fingers wrap,  around my little hands. Wanting her to hold them forever, but God had other plans.

A daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandma, Five ladies rolled into one. An amazing accomplished woman, full of zest, of wit, and of fun.

I think of her often and miss her in every way. Especially on February second......her birthday.

In loving memory of my Grandmother  Hazel Irene Conley

~ C. M.


Let Love In

Cupid's arrows take aim, targets the lonely souls. Ones that lack love with a heart full of holes.

Why do we love  when love can be broken? Our hearts kicked around, hurtful words spoken.

Open your heart, give love a chance. You are worth the fight, you deserve the romance.

Love takes time it can't be rushed. The true tackles you over,  cheeks slightly blushed.

A stomach full of butterflies a smile across your face. Longing for their touch, missing their embrace.

Feel yourself blessed if you find the "one", To share your love till your life journey is done.

~ C. M.


Spell It Out
L  - is for Lips, so soft and so sweet. O - is for Open, let your heart skip a beat. V -  is for Valentine, from your one true love, E -  is for Embrace, under the stars above.


~ C. M.



    Check out some of these

 other blogger's Love Poems:      Spatulas on Parade Someone Else's Genius Baking in a Tornado The Angrivated Mom The Bergham Chronicles

Minecraft Party

     So when I asked Liam what he wanted to do as far as a theme for his upcoming birthday, he quickly answered "Minecraft!"  Seems like Minecraft has invaded our house taking over Skylanders, Angry Birds, Star Wars, and even Marvel.  So of course it was only fitting I plan his eighth birthday Minecraft style!  To be honest, it did take a couple of months to prep for the party.  Especially, since I had to order most of the party stuff from Amazon (one downfall of living in Germany).  The other decorations I created on PicMonkey and was able to print out.  Pinterest was a great source of ideas too, click here to follow my Minecraft Master board.  

     

     When the big day finally arrived, everything came together perfectly.  All our guests were amazed how I transformed our home into the Minecraft world.  They all had fun, it was such a great day!  

     I ordered these special Minecraft invitations by MonicasInventions on Etsy.  They are so cool, they are a Minecraft block with the party information printed on five sides.  What a fun way to be invited to a party!

     My little Creeper is ready for his party! (I found this cool Minecraft Hoodie on Amazon, he wears it EVERYday pretty much!).

     Decorations were pretty simple.  I took some big green cardboard, green and brown scrapbook paper and construction paper then created some Minecraft trees that got taped to the walls.

     This little set up was in the entry way.  I found the Endermen Head Costume Mask, Minecraft Cobblestone Wrapping Paper (just wrapped up an empty box), both the Diamond Minecraft Sword and the Purple Pixelated Minecraft Sword, and the Minecraft Papercraft Chest  from Amazon.

     I discovered this cool Minecraft Wall Torch on Amazon as well.  Liam was so excited about these.  I had one hanging in the entry way and one in the downstairs guest bathroom.  After the party, we put one in his room and one in Kinley's for a night light.

     To make it easier on me, I ordered one of the Minecraft Papercraft Hostile Mob Set, Minecraft Papercraft Snow Set, and the Minecraft Papercraft Animal Mob Set also on Amazon, instead of trying to print them out.  They were easy to construct and fun to build with.  We placed them throughout the living room, tables cape, and bathroom for some added decor.

     Liam also drew some pictures of his favorite Minecraft characters that I taped up on the windows.

     This tablescape was really fun to create...

     For Liam's birthday banner I knew I wanted to created the Minecraft blocks with the Minecraft font.  But since we don't have a color printer or an Office Max nearby to go get some letters printed, I created this banner using black printed letters that I glued on construction paper and taped to some string.  The Minecraft font I found on dafont.com  for free and I created the Creeper face using PicMonkey.

     As for the menu for the party, it was quite simple.  Love how this video game has food for the characters to eat.  So I made sure to incorporate some of those when I was planning.  Liam helped me decided on which foods to choose.

     The MENU:

(I created the food cards on PicMonkey and printed them out.  Finished my coloring them to look like grass blocks)

Fruit

Veggies

Sandwiches

Snacks

Dessert

Rock Candy

(Watermelon Rock Candy and Cotton Candy Rock Candy)

Creeper Cookies 

(Creeper Cookie cutters from the NeatStuffIWant shop on Easy,

Sugar Cookie recipe)

Grass Blocks

(Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats with Cream Cheese Frosting)

Minecraft Cakes

(Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Whipped Frosting and mini Fondant squares)

Gold Blocks

(Hershey's chocolate nuggets are inside these Gold Bar Party Boxes)

     We added some more Minecraft Papercraft figures to the table.  The tissue paper grass, Steve cardboard box head mask, and gold bar party boxes are from Amazon. 

The drink station

(Minecraft Plates, Napkins, & Cups from Amazon)

Lava

(Strawberry Fanta and Mango & Cream Ice Cream mixed)

Little water bottles

     Time to chow down!

     After some lunch it was time for some games and activities!  The first game the kiddos played was  Minecraft block stacking.  We had a lot of those paper blocks, so I turned them into a game.  The one who could stack the most blocks in a minute would win a prize. 

    

     Next they played a Minecraft version of "fluffy bunny" using green lime flavored marshmallows.  Instead of saying "fluffy bunny" they had to say "creepy creeper" after putting in a new marshmallow.  This game didn't last long since all them hated the lime flavored marshmallows.  However, we did have a winner who had a whopping nine marshmallows stuffed in her mouth.

     The next activity I had planned was making potions at the Brewing Stand.  The kids had a lot of fun with this one.  At first it started with simple potions and then they started mixing flavors.  It was fun to watch them drink them.  The "Base" is sparkling water, the flavors are snow cone flavored syrups.  The idea is to put some Base in the test tube then add some flavoring to make a potion.

     Moving on to the last activity was a Minecraft Cake Recipe scavenger hunt.  I created some Minecraft recipe cards for making Cake (Liam helped me with the ingredients) on PicMonkey, then printed them out.  Plus I printed out the ingredient icons to cut out.  I placed one little slip of paper with the printed ingredient on it in a little green plastic Easter egg that I drew the Creeper face on.  I spread them around the backyard.  All the kiddos were given a recipe card and directions to find all the ingredients on the card before we could sing "Happy Birthday" and have cupcakes.  It was a little windy and chilly, but it was still fun.

     Once all the eggs were gathered we headed inside and sang "Happy Birthday" to Liam and enjoyed some Minecraft inspired cupcakes!

     Every birthday kid's favorite part of their party...PRESENTS!

     After presents the kiddos took turns playing Minecraft together.  

     After a fun filled Minecraft party all the kiddos took home a Minecraft goodie bag, which are just some green bags that I drew some Creeper faces on.  Inside there was a pair of Minecraft Sunglasses, one of the gold bars filled with Hershey's Nugget bars, a Minecraft Figure Keychains, and a Tootsie Pop.

We all had a great time in our little Minecraft world for a day, especially the Birthday Boy!