Chihuly Glass

Because the girls were crawling up the walls this morning, we decided it was a good day for a visit to Franklin Park Conservatory. We have a membership for these types of emergencies. It is a nice place for a lovely stroll when it is yucky outside. You can see the whole thing in about 1 1/2 hours, so it is just perfect for the girls.

I had completely forgotten that there was a special Chihuly glass exhibit going on right now. What a lovely surprise! I really love how they tuck the artwork in amongst the foliage. The bright colors against all the greenery is just striking!

Before we ventured into the gardens, we took a gander at the pieces on display in the hall. I especially loved this vase:

If I had a bazillion extra dollars hanging around (and didn't have a houseful of kids), I would totally be all over it! The blue in this one was very vibrant, pictures just do not do it justice:

Mary really liked this one. She "needed" to have her picture taken with it: This one is permanently on display at the conservatory. I think it is really fun. It reminds me of the Heat Miser's hair. I'm sure that is what Dale Chihuly had in mind when he created it! We thought this one looked like a dinosaur egg:

This display was a boat filled with blue glass. Leah didn't feel much like posing with her sisters today. She is conspicuously absent from most of the pictures I took!

Last but not least, here is a wall of glass.

If you haven't been to see the glass yet, I highly recommend it!

I rock! Or maybe I'm a lunatic...

Each year I get this bee in my bonnet that I should bake cupcakes for the spring birthday fest and each year around mid-March I remember why I vow to just buy cake next year.

Once again I was suckered into homemade baked goods for Leah's fourth birthday party. This year the birthday girl picked flowers as the theme. Easy enough. There are tons of ideas for a flower-themed birthday. Then last Sunday hit and she decided she wanted to do a ladybug theme. After I sent out the invites and already had a plan in my head. Fine...I decided to incorporate both.

My first fit of insanity was when I had the great idea of making lady bugs for the cupcakes. I took red hot candies (you could use m&ms, but I had red hots on hand) and used an edible marker to make them into ladybugs. It was totally cool, but took an entire evening. My hands are just not cut out for small delicate work like that. Here is the bug infestation:

Phase two involved making flower cutout cookies. On a stick. Why do I dream up these crazy things? Actually, Marcie#2 was the evil genius. I just implemented the idea. Sarah said the cookie pops were beautiful. I think they look like something dreamed up by a five yr old. Check them out:

You would think that making cookie pops would be enough, but OH NO not for me. I have to make things way more complicated than they need to be. So we needed some cupcakes with green frosting to be "grass" for the flowers:

So once I finished all phases and put them together, I was pretty darned happy with the result. You might even say that I rock!

Or you could say that I'm a lunatic!