That was the song that played as my youngest walked out of her elementary school at the end of the school year.  We are officially done with elementary here and headed to middle for her and high school for my oldest.  That was the song that was mentioned by the media specialist as her oldest was also in the graduating class.  And it was a very popular song that was played on school breaks when the kiddos were in kindergarten and sitting at home with virtual learning because of the covid pandemic.  

I've had graduation cakes, birthday cakes, gender reveal cakes and more these past 2 months.  My daughter called this one "emo cow".

We have been neck deep in a robotics season, a 40th bday vacation for my husband, and and kids' activities.  Now we are headed into "Maycember".  You know...the season with MORE school activities, bday parties and even more chaos.  Just without the holiday cheer and decorations.  

This bday boy wanted a jaguar and a white tiger on his cake! We went with toys so he could put them on his bookshelf after the party!

I took my Sonic cake on my gallery page and re-imagined it to fit the villain, Dr. Eggman instead.  I had to look up my Sonic lore and replaced the rings with chaos emeralds too!

And who knew Cocomelon was still so popular??  Guess you miss those things when your oldest just had high high school open house.

How cute is that theme for a one year old's birthday party?!?!  The customer was thinking of the movie Grease and knew they were headed towards a 50s diner type of celebration.

I got the initial request for cupcakes in the shape of hamburgers and I knew I was hooked.  When I asked if a smash was needed, my mind went into overdrive.  The mom said she hadn't found anything that spoke to her so I got the creative juices flowing.  

Could a milkshake theme smash BE anymore perfect?  Sorry, we are rewatching Friends here with the kids.  

We just went through our 3rd snowstorm.  That's a big deal for my part of the country.  We haven't had measurably snow in YEARS and this season has hit different.  

So pardon my countertop picture here.  
This cake below was MAJOR.  It needed to feed 70 and have all things pink and pretty.  Even the inside was pretty in lemon and strawberry flavors!

The new year started off great.  One giant wedding cake out the door and everyone was so happy.  

And then time started slowing down.  
Did you know that some high schools have graduations in January?  I didn't.  But January took so long, it felt like we were already towards the end of the school year.  

Add in LOTS of snow days and the month just. kept. dragging. on.

BUT.  It ended in a really cool Wicked cake that I am super proud of.

I took some time off and I don't regret it one bit.  I still kept my orders that were in place but it allowed me to soak in a few moments here and there over the last 3 months. 

My sister in law got married.  My oldest got his second degree black belt.  My youngest entered her first gingerbread contest and took home first place.  And we got our basement repaired from water damage and I got some painting done.  Time well spent.

I also finished up the gingerbread piece that was meant for nationals.  Nationals take place in Asheville, NC and it was understandably cancelled this year as some places are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene that came through in September.  With my mom's advice, I decided to donate our piece to the regional library in my hometown.  They enthusiastically jumped on the opportunity to house the piece. 

Everything is made with food grade materials like construction grade gingerbread, ginger clay, graham crackers, fondant, pasta and cinnamon sticks.

My orders have been slow on purpose lately.  There has been A LOT going on here at the Nadeau household. Kids busy with school and karate, a new robotics club, my sis in-law getting married, prepping for gingerbread nationals, etc.  I'm still posting on Instagram when I can but the blog has been affected. So enjoy just a small snippet of orders here. 

I'm trying to take more  constructive breaks.  I really am.  But cakes and postings and sometimes customers are, honestly, a little draining this year.  I don't know what it is. I am hoping that I get back in the groove of things soon.   

But first up...a vacation to Boston and the Cape next week.

The mom sent me the Moana toys because she was obsessed with the baby Moana on top.  But i just knew I needed to get Tamatoa the crab on there as well.

This one was hard below.  I had to redo the face and hair 3 times.  But I did get to play around with some rice paper and coloring to make some cool edible seaweed.

This was a first for me!  I got to make a cake for a young man earning his Eagle Scout badge!  Don't let the image fool you.  This cake was big enough to feed 50 people!

This next cake had me and the mom going back and forth between plastic toys, sculpted fondant, and printed images.  For budget sake, we stuck with the edible images to make this super sweet first birthday cake.

And...we started baking gingerbread!!!  I am so excited for this year's project!!

I think I just made my 7th soccer cake of the year.  Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe...they have all been represented.

And I also got my first AI generated inspiration pic!  There was a TON of detail so we stripped out some of the confusing parts and came up with a really sweet 70th bday cake for a friend's mom.

And Mario continues to be strong heading into the summer.  It took forever to smooth out the buttercream on this star but thrilled with how it turned out!