Think Pink

Laney celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday and it was pink, flowery and sparkly and she loved it. We have a tradition of decorating after the birthday child goes to sleep so he/she wakes to balloons, streamers and banners. We of course did the same for Laney and this year it was a sea of pink. When she walked down the stairs yesterday morning I could hear her jumping up and down saying "yeah, yeah, yeah". She had a great day with some play time at an indoor playground, lunch out, a bath with a new ballerina Barbie, and an evening with family, food, cake and presents.

One of the best parts of the evening was watching the boys try to help Laney with her new princess accessories. At one point, they were discussing what to do with something they hadn't seen before - a pair of clip-on earrings. Spencer thought they might slip into her hair and Owen thought maybe they clipped onto her clothes. With a little help they made sure she was all decked out.

This year Laney had a few less presents to open because she took it upon herself to open the box of gifts sent by her Grandma Nette, Pops and Aunt Anna while I was in the shower Thursday. I got out of the shower and she excitedly came running over and said, "look at my new Pony!" I knew exactly what she had done, but hoped she hadn't opened Spencer's too. She had and the little rascal had even thrown the paper away.

I must admit the new pony did come in handy when I was working on her cake. She was trying to "help", so I suggested she have a pony party. She ran upstairs, collected her other ponies, came downstairs, lined them up and like a little girl with two older brothers said, "Ponies, start your engines!".

I finished her cake with no time to spare, but only after another disaster. Laney selected a Barbie cake for the birthday cake after falling in love with the ones she had seen at the grocery store. I baked the sour cream chocolate cake Thursday and in the evening I tried to put the barbie in the middle and, not having been a Barbie kind of girl, I had no idea Barbie had hips. When I tried to push her into the cake her hips split my top layer and sent me to "time out" once again. It was back to the mixer again and, no, I didn't throw this one. Fortunately I had bought a special Wilton doll just in case. The second doll worked perfectly and the cake was just what she wanted - pink, flowery and sparkly thanks to a little shimmer dust.

I am thankful I only have one more cake to go and I'm hoping that the third time is a charm and not three strikes and I'm out.

My Oven Is Getting A Workout

Okay, I had better come clean now - while I can tell it the way it should be told - because sooner or later you are going to hear about it. Spencer (a.k.a. blabbermouth) has already told Owen, his friends at school, the carpenter and anyone who will listen.

Here's what happened:

As a busy mom of 4 who just moved into a new house that is still under construction, I don't have a lot of spare time. Plus, it is October which means 3 kid birthdays in 24 days! The cake request for birthday number 1 was a Bionicle cake and I have to tell you my heart was not in this one. But, I trudged along anyway. Laney and I made the cake (from scratch) and while she napped I made the marshmallow fondant, tinted the fondant, and made the butter cream. It wasn't until Sam got home at 7:30pm that I started to assemble the cake. I baked the cake in a 9X13 so I could cut it up and make the different facets of the robotic creature's head. Owen watched as I cut, stacked and shaped the cake and tried to crumb coat it with frosting. Looking back, the crumb coating was the beginning of the end. The pieces I cut were small and the frosting that was just a bit too thick and kept pulling up chunks of cake. I manged to get things put together so it looked decent, but then real disaster struck. In my haste I forgot to put the cake on a piece of cardboard, so when I tried to pick up the cake to move it to the plate kablooey - it crumbled apart. Fortunately, Owen had already gone to bed and did not witness this disaster especially since what came next was pure ugly.

It was then that I took the cake that I had spent every minute of my free time making and angrily hucked it into the sink. The cake splattered up and hit the window. I admit I was upset and it was unfortunate that it did not happen 5 minutes later when Spencer was already in bed, but it was not like I planned to throw the cake. I was just so frustrated with myself.

By the time it was cleaned up and I had a little "time out" it was 8:45pm, so I quickly got to work and baked another cake - rounds this time - and made some more butter cream. Owen was a bit disappointed to learn of the fate of his cake, but when he saw that he was still getting a cake he was fine.

So there you have it. The carpenter is now afraid of me and what I might throw at him. I'm sure when we are all sitting around the Thanksgiving table in 15 years Spencer will be telling of the evening I threw the cake. So, if nothing else, it makes for a good story.

Birthday #1: The Kick Off, Or Should I Say Throw Off?

Yesterday we celebrated Owen's 5th birthday and like most children's birthdays it was commemorated several times throughout the day. Fruit snacks and a sheet of stickers wrapped up with a birthday message were this year's peanut-free alternative to cupcakes.

Our party at home included opening presents (with lots of help from Laney):

Followed by a meal of his choice: chicken nuggets (not really his favorite, but he wanted Spencer to be included), pineapple, beans and a Bionicle cake. Yes, this year he wanted a vanilla Bionicle cake. Apparently the days of train cakes are long gone and I made the mistake of asking what he wanted. Since he is into Star Wars and Legos, I was thinking R2D2, or a Lego brick. He was thinking a Bionicle and boy was I surprised when he wanted the "biomechanical" Lego toy recreated in cake. Not really having thought it through, I agreed and wound up being very sorry. So, here it is the best Bionicle cake I could make:

Nope, it's not one of my best, but he liked it. Yep, it's supposed to be all bumpy on that side - it's the "evil" side and the eyes were shimmery.

The cake pictured above is actually the second cake I made because I threw the first one -- really, I hucked it. More on that later.

At the end of the day, Owen had a great birthday with only one exception - he was disappointed that the festivities were over so soon.

Smile

Dealing with this:

is always made easier when these come along:

For a tired mom, they can never come soon enough! We hope we put one on yours too. Just in case, here is one for the road: