cupcake wars

Our girls love watching cooking shows on Netflix, so for another birthday treat they wanted to do cupcake wars with their cousins.  They are lucky their birthday is so close to Thanksgiving so they usually have cousins around.

Leah was so excited when Rider got to my parents

 Gus helped me divide everyone up into teams - huge huge bummer that he was in the hospital and we missed him a ton, so we'll do it again when we are all together.

We did visit a little bit while Gus was in the hospital, Gus was a champ as always and in a good mood and made the girls feel comfortable and impressed us all with his magic tricks

Adie and Natalie made home made vanilla pudding to fill their cupcakes - I didn't realize Adie could separate egg yolks from their whites

 We loved having Granma H. there to help, Eliza and Ila's theme was "the great outdoors"

                    Poor quality but I love this picture of everyone in mom's kitchen together

 The kids had to take turns so Ash and Opal had some time to play before their turn to decorate

 And Rider loved the sweets, but was oblivious to the decorating going on, and was really happy to have Vinny  to play with

                                            Adie and Natalie's theme was fashion

 Saint Vinny took on Ashlynn and Opal as teammates.  Ash and Opal really wanted to make cupcakes that looked like poop. So, we gave them an emoji theme,  Vinny made frosting from scratch even with Ash and Opal's bickering! It was so good

                                 Leah was on my team, she had the "under the sea" theme

                                      Leah and Rider playing while the older kids decorate

 Adie and Nat made homemade frosting and homemade raspberry filling for their fashion theme - they tasted so good

 Leah came up with some sand cupcakes, one with sharks, and a sea urchin she made out of chocolates

                             Saint Vinny, with his home made poop emoji's- and helpers Ash and Opal

 Ila and Eliza won the award for sticking to the theme - so awesome.  They made a ladybug, a river, flowers, worms in the dirt, and a mountain

this was cute, all the kids into cupcake judging and Rider enjoying some peace and quiet with his cars

                        each team had to explain their cupcakes to Ian and Corey for judging

 Corey and Ian were a lot of fun.  Both appreciated the explosions of flavor to their pallets, and could have used a hint of lemon here and there ;-)

                                           The crew, minus the teens Gus and Kayla

                                 The kids waiting for Ian and Corey to tally up the scores
and Ian and Corey being really good sports and missing the end of the first half of the Civil War game to judge

   Leah was so excited and embarrassed when they were complimenting her on her cupcakes - so fun

           And Eliza watching some football with her uncles - pretty awesome bonus birthday party