Graduation Cake

The Sweet-Toothed Wife hasn't really delivered any sweets the last few (more like 10) months. With summer officially (well after 4 teacher workdays) here, I hope to be baking up a storm :) I've been scoping out what I want to make, thanks to Pinterest, and am getting ready to finally say hello to my kitchen once again.

Two weeks ago, I did spend a couple, more like 6, hours in the kitchen baking my sister's cake for her graduation party. The color scheme was pink and green, so the party planner asked me to make a pink ombre cake. Here was the end result:

I think it turned out quite impressive. Maybe one of these days I will be in the wedding cake business ;) not!

Wednesday Flowers

Hello? Anyone still reading this thing? I don't blame you since I have not posted in over two months :( My bad! I've been out for so long that Blogger got a new look and I can't figure out how to write this post :( Well I am back and I have some exciting news...... I get to have fresh flowers EVERY.WEEK!

My husband signed me up for this local flower-share thing as I like to call it. You basically pay $115ish and you get a bouquet of fresh flowers from May-September/October every week!!! I am super excited :) Today was our first pick up and here is a look at the beautiful bouquet!

In other news, I officially have LESS than ONE MONTH left of my first year of teaching! My last day of school (with the kiddos) is June 8th! I can't believe that the end is so close and that this year is almost over! I have been busy for the past 3+ weeks assessing my students like crazy and I just finished on Monday, so now I feel like I can breath and have some end of the year fun with my kiddos :)

A Very [Late] Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, Valentine's Day was almost a month ago, but my sweet husband out did himself again and had such a wonderful Valentine surprise that I have to share ;)

As many of you know, my husband Justin is very romantic and comes up with the best surprises/ gifts for me. Last year for Valentine's Day, Justin had "The Seven Days of Valentine" and gave me a little something for seven days leading up to Valentine's Day. I wasn't sure he was going to top that, but oh- he did!

On Monday, that day before Valentine's Day [and accidentally came a day early- way to go florist] Justin surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of pink roses to my school. This is how it went- I was in the middle of teaching and over the intercom came,
"Mrs. P- do you have an assistant today?"
Me: "No I'm by myself"
"Oh- we need to see you in the office."
Me: Fear immediately starting because I'm thinking I'm in trouble. "Well.. I don't have anyone here. I'm all alone so I can't come down."
"Ok well please stop by at some point today."

A couple minutes later, my tutor walks in the door so I ask her to cover the class so I can walk down to the office. I thought I should just get it over with, rather than agonizing about it all day. I walked into the office and this is what I found...


On Valentine's Day, as I was rushing out the door, lying with my keys was an envelope. Justin told me to open it during the day when I felt like I was getting overwhelmed and stressed out. Well, I opened that envelope at 9:24 am and this is what I saw...



How creative- Happy V"owl"entine's Day- Love it!

When I came home, Justin had a complete tea spread. The table was beautifully set with a white tablecloth, my flowers, dessert plates, platters of tea sandwiches, scones and fruit and cheese board and desserts. It was wonderful. We sat down and enjoyed all the delicious items that he made/bought!

The spread

Sandwiches, scones, fruit & cheese

Desserts...yum!
I definitely think he made the chocolate covered strawberries himself because some of the greens were stuck in the chocolate ;)

After tea, Justin had another little spread for me.

Going along with his English Theme, he wrote me a love note, that was folding up and sealed the old-fashioned way with wax. It note was in the language of Mr. Darcy writing to Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice). He then had a little present for me, which was Season 2 of Downton Abbey. Justin and discovered Season 1 for me on Instant Stream Netflix one day while I was sick and I became quickly obsessed. I LOVE Old-English time period movies. We sat back and relaxed with a glass of wine and watched 3 or 4 episodes :)

It was a wonderful and very special night [and very relaxing- just what a hard-working teacher needs!]

Oh... and some of you may wonder what I did for Justin. It is nothing compared to what he did, but it was still special. When I woke up at 6:00, Justin had this waiting for him on my pillow.

At every hour on the 14th minute, he was to open an envelope and inside was a little note/memory that correlated to a special time that we shared during that hour. For example: 11:14 was the hour that we were married on August 8, 2009.
*Yes- I found the general idea on pinterest, but I made it more personal by having the note correspond to a memory from that hour :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Sweets

This blog after all is called the Sweet-Toothed Wife because I like to bake, but it seems like I have not baked in more than several months. I guess it is time that I lived up to my name and tell you about some sweets that I made this weekend.

For some time I have been wanting to bake Red Velvet cupcakes. I have actually never made them, and since Valentine's Day is this week I figured it would be the perfect time to make them. My sister, Jessica, was wanting to make them as well, so we had a little baking party on a snowy Saturday. We first made Red Velvet cupcakes, regular and mini size. The recipe was from Bakerella.



A couple months ago, I discovered Pinterest. Pinterest has been GREAT in helping me find lesson ideas for teaching. I also enjoy it for looking up recipes. The other night I found this easy recipe for a Valentine treat. All you have to do is get some Snap pretzels, Hug Hershey Kisses and M&Ms. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place hugs on top of pretzels on a cookie sheet. Place them in the oven for 4-5 minutes until they are slightly melted. Take out of the oven and place an M&M down on top of the kiss. Cool in the freezer.

They turned out pretty cute and are a great snack to munch on!



The plates that the cupcakes are on were a Christmas present from my mom. I L.O.V.E them! They are so dainty, delicate and beautiful :)

Superbowl Party

For Christmas, my sister, Jen, got me this wonderful tasting sampler set. It consists for shooter cups, mini-serving dishes and platters. I was really wanting to throw a party so that I could use my new dishes. The perfect answer- the Superbowl. Now, naturally, I don't really care about football or the the Superbowl, but a party is a party. The only problem is that Justin and I do not get any TV channels. Our solution, throw the party at my parent's house.

Here is a looks at the spread:

1. Mozzarella Balls with Marinara Sauce in Mini-Serving Spoons
Recipe: Marinara Balls

2. Raspberry-Brownie Trifle
Recipe (from my sister in-law Tessa): Brownies cut up in 1 inch squares, chocolate pudding, raspberries and cool whip. Layer brownies, pudding, cool whip and raspberries with three layers.


3. Chicken Nachos
Recipe (from my mom): Marinate the chicken in fajita marinade. Cook chicken and shred. On a cookie sheet, layer tortilla chips, shredded chicken, lots and lots of cheese and bake in the oven until melted. On the side serve, guacamole, salsa and sour cream.


4. Cookie Dough Dip
Recipe: From the Pioneer Woman. Serve with animal crackers and graham crackers.


5. Mini Rootbeer Floats in Shooter Glasses


6. We also served the nacho cheese dip. My dad's fav.

Thanks for all the help, Mumsie! We had such a great time throwing the party and eating the delicious food. Now I just need another excuse to throw a party and use my tasting dishes again :)

Happy 100th Day!

Thursday was the 100th day of school! I have officially survived 1/2 of my first year of teaching :) To celebrate the 100th day, my class dressed up like they were 100 years old. Oh. my. goodness- those kiddos came to school looking adorable. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to share any photos, so I will leave you with a photo of what I looked like....

Goofy Groundhogs

My kiddos made these today [and by kiddos I mean students] and I thought they were too cute and had to share them with you all :)




We were learning about Groundhog Day that is taking place on Thursday. Although the whole idea of Groundhog Day is quite ridiculous, these made pretty cute crafts!