Miss Caroline had a coupla birthday parties last month and if I don't post about them now...they'll forever be ancient history.
First off--this little girl stayed adamant all summer long that the one thing she really, really, really wanted for her birthday was a "deck chair". She had dreams of sitting out in the sun with mommy and lounging on the deck at night and watching the stars with daddy. Her Grandpa and Grandma Idaho granted her wish and got her this darling chair. Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma Idaho. Now you need to come visit so you can sit out on the deck with her : )
Caroline requested a pony cake for her birthday. I showed her several online and she picked the most elaborate one (of course). It involved rolled fondant and I was determined to try making my own instead of buying it. However, finding glycerin involves more stops at more specialty stores than I had time to make and in the end I went the butter cream route.
I simply used a pony that Caroline already had. I followed the general idea of the cake picture she had chosen. Since I wasn't using rolled fondant, I couldn't create the flowers and then stick them on the cake. I had to pipe them with frosting tips. And I am not very good at that. So, after piping away and not being happy with the results, I went out to the yard and picked a whole bunch of edible flowers to add to the cake. Real flowers fix anything, in my mind. Taste matters more than appearance to me so I made the cake chocolate with a lemon filling between the layers and then flavored the frosting with orange instead of vanilla. It was rather tasty.
Making the fence around the cake was actually kind of fun. Since I had only made orange flavored butter cream frosting and did not want to whip up another batch of chocolate just for the fence, I improvised. I have a Costco sized jar of Nutella in the cupboard and I used that. The consistency was perfect for piping. And it had kind of a shiny finish that made it stand out against the butter cream. Plus, who doesn't like the taste of Nutella???
We had a few little giggling Gerties over to enjoy lunch, cake and games together. They had such fun. And so did all of us mommies.
They did some coloring and painting and necklace making. And then they headed out for some pin the tail on the pony and gunny sack races.
Is there anything cuter???
Ezra didn't complain too much about being the only thorn at a table full of roses.
A couple days after Miss Kine's actual birthday, we met up with several family members at a park for a birthday bbq. Now that Grandma Idaho's baby sister and her family live in our area our family parties have grown--it's super fun.
Uncle Heffay and Uncle Brettskis went shopping for the birthday girl this year, so very sweet of them.
I did not have the energy to recreate yet another pony cake. We stuck with simple polka dots.
Back when Ezra turned three, he got a trip to "Build a Bear" with Grandpa and Grandma Tractor. Caroline decided she wanted a trip to "Build a Bear" as well...so off we all went to watch her build her bear with Grandpa and Grandma.
We tried mighty hard to talk her out of the pink fluffy bear. But it was her first choice and she clung to it. Never mind the cute soft brown bear. Or the nice neutral tan bear. She wanted pink!
Here everyone is rubbing the hearts that they put into Caroline's bear. It was fuuuullll of love (or something), let me tell you! We even got a couple of strays joining our group at this point.
Build a Bear Workshop goes all out. The new "mommy" gets to bathe her bear just like a real newborn. Don't worry, water doesn't actually come out and soak the poor stuffed animal.
I'll spare you all the painful clothing choices we went through. She passed up a lot of cute classy clothes and went straight for (more) pink and yellow. The blingy shoes are my favorite, though. And the sunglasses. At Build a Bear, the new owner creates a birth certificate for their stuffed animal, complete with a name. Caroline chose to name her bear Mella. Mella is getting along quite well with Petunia (Ezra's bear) here at home. Unfortunately for Mella, Nora decided the sunglasses look better on her and stole them.
Thanks for Mella, Grandpa and Grandma Tractor!
First off--this little girl stayed adamant all summer long that the one thing she really, really, really wanted for her birthday was a "deck chair". She had dreams of sitting out in the sun with mommy and lounging on the deck at night and watching the stars with daddy. Her Grandpa and Grandma Idaho granted her wish and got her this darling chair. Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma Idaho. Now you need to come visit so you can sit out on the deck with her : )
Caroline requested a pony cake for her birthday. I showed her several online and she picked the most elaborate one (of course). It involved rolled fondant and I was determined to try making my own instead of buying it. However, finding glycerin involves more stops at more specialty stores than I had time to make and in the end I went the butter cream route.
I simply used a pony that Caroline already had. I followed the general idea of the cake picture she had chosen. Since I wasn't using rolled fondant, I couldn't create the flowers and then stick them on the cake. I had to pipe them with frosting tips. And I am not very good at that. So, after piping away and not being happy with the results, I went out to the yard and picked a whole bunch of edible flowers to add to the cake. Real flowers fix anything, in my mind. Taste matters more than appearance to me so I made the cake chocolate with a lemon filling between the layers and then flavored the frosting with orange instead of vanilla. It was rather tasty.
Making the fence around the cake was actually kind of fun. Since I had only made orange flavored butter cream frosting and did not want to whip up another batch of chocolate just for the fence, I improvised. I have a Costco sized jar of Nutella in the cupboard and I used that. The consistency was perfect for piping. And it had kind of a shiny finish that made it stand out against the butter cream. Plus, who doesn't like the taste of Nutella???
We had a few little giggling Gerties over to enjoy lunch, cake and games together. They had such fun. And so did all of us mommies.
They did some coloring and painting and necklace making. And then they headed out for some pin the tail on the pony and gunny sack races.
Is there anything cuter???
Ezra didn't complain too much about being the only thorn at a table full of roses.
A couple days after Miss Kine's actual birthday, we met up with several family members at a park for a birthday bbq. Now that Grandma Idaho's baby sister and her family live in our area our family parties have grown--it's super fun.
Uncle Heffay and Uncle Brettskis went shopping for the birthday girl this year, so very sweet of them.
I did not have the energy to recreate yet another pony cake. We stuck with simple polka dots.
Back when Ezra turned three, he got a trip to "Build a Bear" with Grandpa and Grandma Tractor. Caroline decided she wanted a trip to "Build a Bear" as well...so off we all went to watch her build her bear with Grandpa and Grandma.
We tried mighty hard to talk her out of the pink fluffy bear. But it was her first choice and she clung to it. Never mind the cute soft brown bear. Or the nice neutral tan bear. She wanted pink!
Here everyone is rubbing the hearts that they put into Caroline's bear. It was fuuuullll of love (or something), let me tell you! We even got a couple of strays joining our group at this point.
Build a Bear Workshop goes all out. The new "mommy" gets to bathe her bear just like a real newborn. Don't worry, water doesn't actually come out and soak the poor stuffed animal.
I'll spare you all the painful clothing choices we went through. She passed up a lot of cute classy clothes and went straight for (more) pink and yellow. The blingy shoes are my favorite, though. And the sunglasses. At Build a Bear, the new owner creates a birth certificate for their stuffed animal, complete with a name. Caroline chose to name her bear Mella. Mella is getting along quite well with Petunia (Ezra's bear) here at home. Unfortunately for Mella, Nora decided the sunglasses look better on her and stole them.
Thanks for Mella, Grandpa and Grandma Tractor!
6 comments:
So many darling pictures! Love the one of Ezra surrounded by girls - that's a good one to hang on to!! I think Julia has the same pink bear (from about 5 yrs ago!), and we tried to talk her out of it, too, but NO, it had to be pink, and with a red dress. :) Little girls!!
Wow! Um, I declare myself the worst mom ever in the birthday party category now. Your cakes look amazing! I love the nutella idea. I have yet to make a layer cake that stands properly and isn't crooked. Mella is adorable. :-)
LOL!!!! (at the bear stuff) ah,smarty gurly, relaxing in the sun on a deck, good stuff!!!!!! ~Cath
It looks as if she enjoyed herself through all of the activities and events. Gotta love little girls! Great job on the cake(s). More than I do, for sure!
I had to do a double take with Uncle Heffay (or whatever you call him), at first I thought it was Jake!
I love Miss Caroline on the deck with her chair...she knows who to pose!!! and the other picture of her with her eyes closed rubbing her heart I guess. Anyway...so very cute! ALL the pics are great to see. Such fun!
And by the way...the cake was fantastic!
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