Happy Birthday Addie...Part 1A

We will be celebrating Addie's birthday for about 2 weeks:

This past weekend: her party.

This next weekend: a family party.

March 19th: her actual 2nd birthday!

Addie loves animals. One of her 1st words was actually cat.  She quickly moved to other animals and sounds (as you may remember here at 15 months and here at 17 months).

One day a few months ago, we started talking about giraffes. Our totally random converstation went something like this:

Addie: giraffe

Mommy: that's right, giraffes. Giraffes are very tall. And do you know why God made giraffes very tall? So they can eat leaves off the tall trees.

Addie: eat leaves

...end of discussion.

A few hours later when Daddy got home from work, totally unprovoked:

Addie: GIRAFFES!!!!!

Daddy: rather puzzled

Mommy: tell Daddy what you know about giraffes.

Addie: VERY TALL!

Mommy: and why did God make them very tall?

Addie: eat leaves trees!

And that was one of many, many conversations we've had about giraffes.  A week or so ago, we went to the bank and the firefighters across the street were testing out their equipment, extending the ladder as far up and out as it could go.  We pulled over in the parking lot to watch. We talked about the ladder being tall and going up and down. Addie busts out with: Ladder very tall like a giraffe!

Seriously. A simile at 23 months. Yes, I'm bragging just a little :)

So when we decided to do a little party for Addie, some sort of animal theme was an obvious pick. I'd have loved to do ladybugs or something really girly, but it is her party! So we went with a jungle theme and pinked it up a little.

And what do you think she wanted on her birthday cake:

A GIRAFFE!

Knowing that I could in no way create a giraffe, I found someone on etsy.com to make some fondant animals for her cake. I've made a fondant cake before, but not for my own child and at the same time being pregnant with child (i mean children!).  Paul quickly got on board and agreed to mix all the fondant and color it for me. Amazing husband! So after baking one tier twice (bc the first one i did fell apart), the cake was baked, iced, covered, stacked, and decorated...all by 11:30pm the night before. Success!

You'll have to excuse the wrinkles and bubbles in the fondant. We're no professionals...but we had fun, and Addie's reaction to her cake with a giraffe on it was priceless and made it worth every minute (hour) we spent on it!

Happy Birthday Addie! More pictures to come!

Happy Birthday Daddy

I keep thinking I'm going to get the pictures posted from our weekend in Atlanta, but Daddy's birthday takes priority for now! Wamsted weekend pictures to come soon though!

Today was Paul's birthday!

He actually started celebrating Friday with the start of a Birthday Weekend Dessert Extravaganza (can those of you who know him hear him saying that?)!

Friday: Andy's Mint Blended Coffee drink from Cafe Louisa

Saturday: Mile High Ice Cream Pie from Red Robin

Sunday: Brownie Batter Blizzard from Dairy Queen

Monday: Donuts and Birthday Cake (pictures to come!)

Why so many desserts? Because he hasn't had dessert in months and won't have another one until Thanksgiving! Clearly there is little restraint when it comes to sweets. So it's all or nothing...and nothing is best!

Paul started the day with donuts from one of his bosses. Then Addie and I showed up with balloons, a card from Addie, and the cake.

Let me give you a little history here: Paul really wanted a special groom's cake. This special cake would be a Simpson's cake. Now, before you judge him...have you ever actually seen an episode (not from season 1) of the Simpson's? Well at that point in our relationship, neither had I; and I was not interested in introducing him to our family and friends via a Simpson's groom's cake.

Do I dislike the Simpson's? Nah. Not anymore. I've actually come to appreciate them. Well, appreciate is a bit of a strong word. I've come to tolerate my husbands obsession with love of the Simpsons: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. See...I even know all of their names without having to Google them.

I digress.

So, years later (almost 9 to be exact) and many viewed Simpson's episodes later, I decided it was time for a Simpson's cake.

And {drumroll please}, here it is:

If you're an Office fan, you'll recognize the banner It Is Your Birthday!

Something weird happened with his mouth/nose. But then again, Bart Simpson isn't the most normal looking of characters, now is he?!

We brought Paul his cake and some balloons to work.

After visiting with Daddy, Addie proceeded to drag lead Paul's boss around the office so she (Addie) could visit with everyone. Visit on her terms that is! I mean, just yesterday, she was shoving people away from her! Apparently she's just choosy with her love right now! And let me tell you, not everyone made that list!

However, there were a select few who made the cut!

Of course Uncle Tim made the cut too...but i didnt' manage to get a picture of them!

After a massage (leave me a comment if you live around here and need the best massage therapist ever. I'll get you her name and number), we headed to dinner at Bonefish. At Paul's request, we took Addie and my mom along too. Addie enjoyed herself thoroughly, coloring with crayons, squealing with glee, and tossing things she'd had enough of! It gets more interesting every time we take her out to dinner now!

After a yummy dinner (and some Bang Bang Shrimp), Paul got his favorite final treat...Grape Expectations Part II hold the banana and add raspberry. Where might he have gone...? I'll let you tell me!

Happy Birthday to the most loving and caring husband and daddy ever!!!

We love you!

xoxoxo

Mommy and Addie

You Can Have Bake Your Cake and Eat It Too!

As I mentioned in this {post}, I had the honor of making my best friend's daughter's 5th birthday cake this past weekend! We explored many options. You know, the typical: ...Princess cake...Hannah Mon@tna cake...B@rbie cake, etc, etc.

But their favorite cake was a 3 tiered cake made with fondant...in Hannah Mont@na colors of course!

Well, it was quite the experience! I'd never worked with fondant, but I was just itching to give it a try. And thankfully Di and Ellie were crazy daring enough to give me the chance! The Wi!ton's fondant we bought was D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G, although it looked pretty! So, I found this recipe for Marshmallow fondant. It was easy to make, but I think I gained a few pounds in arm muscle from kneading it!

I'll spare you pictures of the first two cakes I made for practice, but Paul's co-workers seemed to enjoy them!

So here's my Adventure in Cake Making!

It all started out simple, baking 6 layers of cake in three different sizes. But it got a tad complicated after our dog ate half a layer:

But we I recovered.

So it was onto letting the layers cool, stacking and icing each tier, and waiting for the icing to set.

I'd made the fondant the day before because apparently it's better when you let it sit for a day (in the fridge). But it had to be colored. I managed to color the light pink, dark pink, and purple. But by the time it came to the turquoise, I begged Paul to come in and knead the colors in because my hands were so tired. It turned out to be my favorite color!

Then it was on to rolling out the fondant for the layers and finally cutting out the shapes for decorating! It was really cool to see the progression of:

But then I loved finishing all the layers and watching:

So off we went to the birthday party! It was quite the experience trying to transport it. I know, Ace of C@kes puts theirs together on-site...but that wasn't an option and I'm no Ace of any Cake!

The party was at Pump !t Up.

So imagine this:
4 HUGE blow up things.

2 with slides

a double wide jumpy jump!

10-15 five year olds + moms and 2 dads

and Addie

Well I wasn't going to let her age size or lack of mobility keep her us from having fun. So off we trekked up the very steeply inclined ladder with kid sized rungs meant for climbing with both hands leading up to the top of a very tall slide...held up only by AIR, all while carrying a 30 pound bag of potatoes baby!

and sliding down! Addie strictly forbids you to click on this picture for fear of being dreadfully embarrassed of her mother's fearful look! I love roller coasters, but honestly people, that slide was steep, slick, and FAST!

But you can't have a ball in a room without Addie honing in on it! The 5 year olds were playing with a tennis ball and one kid let it go. Well, Addie was off after it at lightening speed, daring any 5 year old to get in her way! She pounced on it; and as you can see, didn't miss a beat!

One of our friends from church was there and her little sister came along too. Anna (the little sister) has been walking since she was 8 months old. So while she was a tad much surer on her feet, Addie kept right up with her. They were so cute together!

Daddy was a great sport about the whole thing. He drove while I held the cake and yelled kindly requested that he quit taking turns at such high speeds. Ok people, in all reality he probably wasn't driving that fast, I was just trying to make sure the cake didn't melt or slide off!

It was by no means perfect. It had bumps and dimples that I just couldn't seem to smooth out. The top layer wasn't completely centered. And it near about drove me crazy to look at these pictures...but this:

sure did make one precious 5 year old a very happy birthday girl! Happy Birthday El-Bell! We love you!

I think Addie might have enjoyed herself a tad bit too!

...ya think?