for ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS, and one BIG BOY ( July's cake)

Princess Lil' turned 4 today. She and her oldest brother are 14 yrs and 3days apart. So once again we had their celebration together.

Lil' is a girly girl through and through. She requested a princess cake, Dora cake, or Barbie. My Boy Mom friend said she had a cake pan you put a Barbie on. Don't ask me why a mother of all boys has a Barbie cake pan. Anyway it sounded fun. I never made it out there to pick it up, so I improvised, out of necessity of course, I hadn't planned my time very well.

A while back I said that maybe I'd try fondant sometime. This was the some time, and I most likely will never use it again, for the whole cake that is. It was very hard to use. Luckily I didn't have to make it, whew. I found already to use pure white and colored fondant at Walmart. When I purchased the fondant I thought this was going to be the easiest cake ever. Wrong! It rolled out very easily but also dried very quickly, and cracked a lot. I think I'll stick with the butter knife, white frosting and color gels.

At home we have a set of varied sized metal bowls. I chose to bake cakes in each one and stack them for the Barbie dress. I bought a $5 Barbie, washed the bottom half, wrap in saran wrap and stick her in the cake. Lil' wasn't quite sure she liked that. She was worried that she wouldn't get to have the Barbie, and was upset that I wouldn't let her play with it first. I didn't think it was a good idea to put a used Barbie in the cake. After promising her several times that she would indeed get to have the Barbie after blowing out the candles at party time she relented.

Our Barbie cake:

varied sized stack cakes ( funfetti, )

new Barbie

ready to use fondant ( apparently a prior knowledge of fondant use is helpful)

patience

Here she is.....

When I finally got the white layers of fondant on the cakes without too many visible cracks, Lil' , I and Riley's girl friend set to adding color. Maddie and Lil' had fun rolling little color balls while I attempted making a rose and vine applique.

Again rushing to finish before party time, plus I still needed to frost Riley's cake. Good thing I made a simple delicious chocolate cake, because the fondant tasted nasty.

Awe... I love them both so much!

Look how much Riley has grown. The cake below was another first.


Birthday fun!!

We bought Lil a Barbie bike. I must apologize to Michelle ( co worker). We purchased the exact same bike as your daughters. It was just too cute. Way better than the Hello Kitty bike. Plus you can't pass up the attachable Barbie bicycle for Barbie to ride. Gee, I remember having a plain blue bike with the old banana style seat. Kids sure are spoiled these days! I'll have no part of that!

Riley isn't spoiled either. We bought him a new cell phone. Of course we had to renew his 2yr agreement to get the discount of about $100. Also aren't boys always in need of new undies and socks.

He also got a family dome tent. Jay (dad) has always said that when the kids turn 18 they have to move out. Now he has something to live in, Ha!

No, we aren't kicking him out yet. He is still looking for a decent regular job. Maybe school this winter. I hope!

Cry for attention!

Grandma I. made Lil' the cutest dress and a matching one for her new dolly she had bought her. No spoiling here either.

Time to blow out the candles and eat the CHOCOLATE cake. My mom was the only one that dared to try the fondant.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!