Christmas Tree Cupcakes

It's December so it's time for lots of festive baking! I love making cupcakes (and we all love eating them). Most recently I tried my hand at a very festive Christmas Tree Cupcake. The cupcake itself was made using a Christmas packet mix from Pillsbury and the icing was a can of green icing from Betty Crocker. A bit of cheating there but the actual making of this cupcake wasn't important to me, it was all about the decoration.

This was my first attempt and I must say I am quite proud of how they turned out. 

To make the Christmas Tree start with a blob of icing in the center of the cake and then work your way out to the edge of the cupcake in strips (about 4 or five should do). Next start on the upper layers using the same technique and so on until it forms a tree shape.

Calleigh loved them, she didn't care much for the shape she just wanted to dive into eating it.. And she did! 

Snow Day

So it snowed last night... Yay! 

We went outside to play in it this morning but it was -6 outside and still snowing a little bit so we didn't play for too long. When we had finished we came in and warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate each. 

Calleigh is wearing her Christmas Pudding hat which Mee-Maw brought us over from Next.. I love it!

Brilliant!

Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light (Book Review)

Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light is a book by the author Jaimie M Engle. I was delighted when I was contacted by Jaimie and sent a copy of her book to review.

The book follows the story of a boy and his discovery of a magical arrow that sends him back through time to embark on an epic adventure. The story is filled with history and fantasy along with snippets of life as a average teenage boy. 

The thing that really got me about this book though was the fact that it is English history with an exciting twist.
It is based on the story of King Richard III and his two nephews.

I think the book would be great for older children both boys and girls aged around 8-11. The chapters are not too long and always filled with adventure. And if you are anything like me then you will definitely enjoy it too, there is no age limit for this book. I can't wait to read it to Calleigh when she is older.

Jaimie was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent her way.

Where did you get your inspiration for the book from? 

The first spark came with a scene of a boy getting ready for archery club in his bedroom. He found a strange arrow, while searching for his sneakers, and took it with him before leaving the room. Then, I saw a pointy nose press through the darkness of a closet, followed by the face of a dwarf. And all he said was, “But the boy had found it first.” This intrigued me to do some research, which led me to the discovery of two princes forgotten by time. I wanted to tell their story under the question: what if they had been rescued?

The history in your book is very accurate, did it take a lot of research?

Yes. I actually used a lot of books from the juvenile section on daily life and clothing, mainly because they use lots of pictures and cut to the chase. The majority of the battle scene was collected from The Battle of Bosworth, an in-depth study by Christopher Gravett, who has his master's in Medieval Studies from the University of London. I don't think you could find a better source than that. And of course, good old Wikipedia filled in a lot of holes.

I remember as a child visiting the Battle of Bosworth where the War of the Roses took place. Did you ever visit there whilst researching/writing the book? 

Only virtually. I would love to take a visit there one day.

I think the book is great and there is definitely room for another one.. Is this something you have planned? What's next for you? 

Thank you very much. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I do have some ideas for book two and three, but I wanted to see how book one was received before I got started. I am actually shopping a manuscript with agents right now, which is completely different: a YA fantasy, taking place in Viking Era Canada, with some pretty scary creatures I call the 'ferine' that are basically female werewolves. I like to post pictures and descriptions of all the projects I'm working on at pinterest.com/jaimiengle.

Author Bio:

Jaimie Engle has run a body shop, managed a hip-hop band, modelled bikinis, and danced at the Aloha Bowl halftime show. This wife and mother of two currently tutors in creative and essay writing, and offers a manuscript critique service for aspiring authors. She has published many short stories online and in print, including Writer’s Digest and a children's piece appearing in Clubhouse Jr. in 2014. She was awarded honourable mentions for her sci-fi novella in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writer’s of the Future contest and second place in the 2012 Space Coast Writer's Guild's short story competition. Her debut middle grade novel CLIFTON CHASE AND THE ARROW OF LIGHT is available through Amazon and on her website. Drop in on her at www.jaimiengle.com to read some of her short tales.





You can connect with Jaimie on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest or visit her Website for more information or free printables. 


You can purchase the book for yourself on Amazon or via her website.

Macy's Festival of Lights

It's Christmas time! We went down to St Louis a couple of weeks ago for the Macy's Festival of Lights. It was a very cold night but it didn't bother us too much. We stayed for the tree lighting and the fireworks and then made our way home. Calleigh enjoyed being out as always but wasn't too keen on the fireworks. They didn't upset her as much as last time on July 4th but I still wouldn't say she is a fan of them haha. 

We did think we had found an amazing spot to watch the fireworks from because there was only a handful of people there. But as we discovered when we were rained on by the ashes and bits of cardboard from the fireworks there was a reason for that. 

Calleigh's Birthday Celebrations

Calleigh's second birthday was a huge success! She loved all her presents and we had a great day. 

When Calleigh woke up in the morning we all went into her room wearing party hats and singing Happy Birthday.. I don't think she really knew what to think but I enjoyed it.
We brought her downstairs to where all her presents were laid out and she had such an excited look on her face.

Opening the presents didn't go as well as planned and I ended up opening most of them as Calleigh was more interested in throwing balloons at my head. But she did manage to rip at a few. The best part was when we took her into the other room where we had set up her new toy kitchen and table and chairs. She was so excited and went straight over to the table to sit with her kitties.
After all the presents had been opened Calleigh spent some time playing with them all before having a well needed nap in the teepee we brought her. It was the cutest thing. I didn't even know she was asleep until I walked past and saw her in there fast off with her arms wrapped around her steering wheel.

When she woke up we let her blow out her candles.. which she did very well and then we all tucked into the gorgeous cake!

As Calleigh's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, and this was to be our first one living here in America, we all had a Thanksgiving dinner. Calleigh didn't eat much (I think she was too full of cake) but nevertheless it was a great dinner.
Calleigh then spent the rest of the night playing with her new toys in her teepee (she loves that thing) before heading off to bed.
I am so happy with how the day went. I knew it would be a little different because family wouldn't be there but Calleigh was happy and that's all that mattered in the end.