Horses and Zebras and Giraffes, Oh My!

We didn't have a traditional 4th of July. Mostly because we celebrated the 4th on the 3rd. We enjoyed hotdogs, hamburgers, swimming, and sparklers at a friend's house. (Pictures forthcoming)

Our Independence Day was actually spent playing with something entirely different.

My sister-in-law, Becky, sent me these Awesome books (Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake?) about making different cupcake decorations. I baked the cupcakes on Friday night, but didn't get to decorating them until last evening, after dinner. While Travis had his Missionary meeting, the girls and I were making a mess at the dining room table, "decorating" cupcakes. It was W I L D.


Don't think that the girls were actually nicely spaced out around the table. No, they were crowded around Mom, and digging into anything that had sugar in it (which was everything on the table!). I think we ate more while making the cupcakes than we did when they were finished!

We made Giraffes first. Megan named one "Star" (after her webkinz Giraffe) and the other was her husband (not named). Megan requested the Giraffes (first she wanted a beaver, but we decided horses might be a better first attempt, and a giraffe wasn't too far off from that).


Then we made Zebras for Zoë. I think zebras are her favorite animal. Next time I think I'll use chocolate frosting instead of melting chocolate. Oh, and I might make their manes more like the ponies below (but I might have to buy another Wilton tip #233 to allow me to switch off between colors without having to wash the tip in between).

Miranda loves horses! So, of course, we made her a few ponies to eat. She was rather sad, but understanding, that she didn't get to eat her horse. She didn't finish her dinner last night. Don't worry, she ate PLENTY of circus peanuts, wafers, frosting, broken cupcakes...


After making them (eight in all), I let the girls choose one to eat. They said they were great! At least, all the outsides were...






Yup, even 'Nica got in on the action. She ate the wafers and the pretzels. She would screech/squawk at me when she didn't have anything on her tray to put in her mouth. She especially loved the wafers.

Thanks so much for the fun books, Becky! We've already enjoyed them (as you can see), and we are all excited to make more! (after I can scrape the chocolate off my floor, and find the table top).