hug a veteran

this Wednesday we will be celebrating the sometimes looked over holiday of veterans day.
this is a day that we can thank the wonderful men and women who serve our country and protect the freedoms that we enjoy.

c.'s grandfather sam served as a green beret in Vietnam. He fought valiantly and was lucky enough to make it home in one piece- then many years later in 2004 he went over to Iraq as a civilian to drive truck across battle lines to get supplies to our troops. On sami's 1 year and two day anniversary in Iraq his convoy hit a road side bomb and he was filled with shrapnel, lost half of his skull, and one of his eyes. And after many years of hard recovery he is finally getting back to his old self, but will never fully recover from his battle wounds.

there are countless stories of loss and bravery i am sure most of us have heard a few, but on Wednesday please take a moment out of busy schedules to be grateful for the sacrifice that so many soldiers have made for the freedom that we sometimes take for granted.

Well, Grandpa Sami had a birthday last week he turned 60!! happy birthday! c. and i were assigned to make some yummy cupcakes to celebrate! So in honor of his bravery & dedication to his country we made him camouflage cupcakes!


wilton makes the most amazing icing coloring that we used to get these great camo colors. the dye is only $1.70 a piece and come in a wide spectrum of colors and shades- so if you ever have a specific color for a project check em out (i got mine at Michael's) we were going for a camo effect so we did 6 thinner layers of batter instead of the 3 thick layers (like in the halloween tie-dye cupcakes)fresh out of the oven the tops look like this! they didn't even need frostingnow cut it open a look inside! i love how they all turn out so different just depending on how the layers come together. how amazing are those greens? we used chocolate frosting to look like dirt. then decorated with little army men and camo stars. here are all of the different stages together.close ups. i think these little guys look ready for battle.we may have run out of chocolate frosting towards the end- so we improvise. we made some tasty green frosting for the rest- it kind of looked like grass at the front of the battle line. this is one of the best things about baking and decorating, there is freedom to just let your creativity roll. HAPPY VETERANS DAY TO ALL OF THE BRAVE MEN & WOMEN WHO SERVE & FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM!!