Lila's 4th Birthday

This year for Lila's birthday, we celebrated in Wichita with family. I asked Lila what she wanted for her cake. She told me, very specifically, "I want a blue ladybug with purple spots." YES! No character shaped pans! Woo-hoo! Ok, so since we were not at home and I didn't want to lug all my cake supplies with me... I used icing from a can. Gasp! But I thought, it's a simple round cake. I can tint the white icing with some blue coloring, and I purchased a small tube of purple icing for the spots. Easy enough. I also used purple pipe-cleaners for the antenna.

It turned out pretty cute, I thought. Did I mention I decorated the cake the night before we were going to eat it? 'Cuz that's key to this story. Yep, after dinner while the kids were playing nicely, I decorated the cake. Now, some of you already know that canned icing is not as stiff as homemade icing but again, I wasn't trying to do anything fancy with it. Well, I don't know if it was the humidity in the air or what, but my cute cake the night before turned into...

THIS the next day.

Actually, I didn't even think to take a picture of what it looked like in the morning. This is actually what it looked like after I "repaired" it. Basically, the only thing left on top of the cake were the antenna. Everything else had slid down the sides. I was able to rescue the spots (sort-of) and we went ahead with our celebration.

Here Lila is blowing out her 4 candles.

She was very proud she did it all by herself!

And the cake still tasted good.

Wyatt thought it was finger-licking good!

He wasted no time at all devouring his piece of cake.

Then she got to open some presents. Here she is hugging a little puppy dog she got from Grandma and Grandpa Amey.

Before I go any further, let me tell you what I learned from this experience:

1. Always, ALWAYS, take a picture of your cake as soon as you finish decorating it (which I did). Lila also got to see it finished that night, so she at least knew what it was supposed to look like!

2. Canned icing is only for cakes that are still in a pan - where it can't slide off.

3. Cake will still taste good even if it's not so pretty.

4. If you are turning 4, as long as you get to open some presents, your birthday will not be ruined by a slightly deformed cake. (Phew!)

When we got back to Texas, we celebrated her birthday again (on the actual date) with Aunt Janina. We let Lila pick the restaurant she wanted to eat at - she chose Panera Bread. She loves their broccoli-cheddar soup! Here she is opening a present which came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Brandt.

Wyatt wanted to check out the gifts too. He loves to play with Lila's "dortcake" dolls!

Some new books to read. (And she's sporting a new outfit from Uncle Duey and Aunt Sarah). All in all, a good birthday!