ONE

Bayli is one.
i have to find some way of breaking my habit of calling her a baby and use the word toddler instead. even though it still has a weird taste in my mouth when i say it. this has been the most surreal and wonderful year. i really cannot believe that its already over.
i have spent the past few weeks stressing about moving into my parents basement, and completely moving out of our old house. my fingers are still recovering from all the cleaning. not to mention all the organizing and cram-packing of our storage unit.
but, the entire time i was moving i just thinking about how sad it was that we wouldn't be able to share our childs first birthday in the same house that we first brought her home to from the hospital. i still remember that week, her tiny newborn body with wandering eyes and flailing limbs. that faint smell of sweet milk on her breath and the way that those wandering eyes could focus for just a moment on your eyes and it felt like she was staring into your soul. garrison and i talked about how much fun we would have watching her walk under our beautiful blossoming trees. sadly enough, the day we finally left the house and said our final goodbyes, those buds we had been day dreaming about were just starting to sprout.
anyway, enough sappy missing-my-old-house-ness but in order for me to shove those sad thoughts out of my head while moving, i decided to divert all my attention to planning one awesome first birthday for my little girl... we may or may not have gone overboard.

que lots of colorful pictures of my happy little girl and her sprinkle birthday cake.

p.s. the cake was made from a box of white cake mix. boring, but... the frosting was amazing! it is unique to make but it doesn't taste as dense or as sugary as most frostings i have had before and so i really enjoyed it. i often get sugar headaches from eating frosting but with this i just couldn't get enough! (and my guest's couldn't either)

here is the recipe. i got it from an antique cook book called "make-a-mix cookery" by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward & Madeline Westover

Rainbow Cake Frosting
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter -room temperature-
1/2 cup shortening -room temperature-
1 1/2 - 2 cups granulated sugar

in a small saucepan, combine milk, flour, and salt with a whisk. cook over medium heat about 5-7 minutes stirring frequently, until thickened. cool. combine butter, shortening and sugar in a medium bowl. beat well. add to cooled milk mixture (it should look like pudding) beating constantly. beat about 7 minutes, until smooth. divide mixture among 4 bowls. add your different flavoring and food dye to those bowls. frost like usual.

suggested flavorings
option 1: "sprinkes" lemon (white), coconut (blue), almond (green), and cherry (red).
option 2: "spumoni" -should be used with a chocolate cake- almond (green), lemon (yellow) peppermint (red), chocolate (3 tbsp cocoa and 1/4 tsp vanilla).