Of Her Cake

Our little girl turns four tomorrow.  Four years old.  On the one hand it's hard to believe it's been four years already.  On the other, I've been mentally (and sometimes physically) referring to her as a four-year-old for a couple of months now, so it almost feels like we're past this point already.

Either way, the point is now that she's finally old enough to remember her birthdays, at least a little (who am I kidding, she's been detailing all of her trip to the zoo on her third birthday for months - I think this girl remembers the moment she was born, really), I've been all aflutter trying to make it something worth remembering, at least a little.

I want her birthday to be done her way, within reason.  Fortunately, for a four-year-old who hasn't watched "My Super-Sweet-Fourth-Birthday-Party", her way is rather simple - a trip to the dollar store for some balloons and party blowers was pretty much all it took.

Well, that and the afternoon of creating a strawberry birthday cake in the form of Belle.

The cake in the beginning process - isn't that a beautiful color?

Batter all ready - it makes me happy.

Home-made whipped cream filling.

Putting the layers together - I may have gotten a little fancy for the parts that would be hidden.

All ready to get dressed.

Her Daddy undertook the task of decorating this one (which is nice because I can't create a beautiful baked good to save my life), but my faulty engineering created quite the challenge.

Also creating quite the challenge - this is maybe the fourth cake either of us has ever decorated.  We're not working with much experience here - we're all about hands-on experimenting.

Going to town.  The icing wasn't exactly a sculptor's dream, but we went with the original recipe that was included with the cake.

Almost done - personally, I think she's pretty darn good considering all that was working against us. 

She's not winning any contests, but she sure does look nice in her party dress.

His work of art.  Micaiah's daddy sure does love her.

In the end, I had to remind both of us that she's four.  And the fact that she has a cake with a brunette doll sticking out the top wearing a bright yellow icing dress is still pretty much the most exciting thing in the world.  So what if it looks like it's melting off her or we're avoiding looking at the back?

Four-year-olds, we remember, are extremely easy to please.  And if all else fails, we'll distract her with the shiny pink Disney Princess balloon.  That'll do the trick.

1,000 Gifts:
861. Bright pink cake batter
862. Cake tasting like Fruity Pebbles
863. Fruit dipped in Chocolate-Peanut-Butter Yogurt
864. Quality time with those to whom we live closest
865. The awaited text
866. Buying birthday surprises
867. Her petting a cow
868. A morning at the fair with my precious little ones
869. Her building a sand castle
870. A mellow mood