Cakes

Blake's birthday preparations have begun. And this year I pulled out my inner Martha to bake my first ever birthday cake. You see, I usually go the cupcake route, and admittedly that usually includes the purchase of cupcakes since frosting is often a disaster for me. I remember going to a cake decorating activity once with my mom thinking that I would never develop skills in the cake department based on the catastrophe I concocted. So a double layer cake (made from scratch), homemade buttercream frosting, and fondant (not from a mix) was kind of a big deal for me. 

And to my amazement, it actually turned out! But I didn't do it alone. My awesome friend Steph was there for me through and through as we learned about the fondant making process together.

Let me back up a little bit and describe how lucky I am to have a friend like her. First of all, she happens to live a few streets over from me. I love having good neighbors nearby that I can swing by and borrow things from or take walks to the library with. Second, she has the cutest family ever including twin girls, Jenna and Lucy, that are three months older than Nash.

Our children happen to love each other too.

Blake adores the girls and has developed slight crushes on them. He points them out every Sunday in church and loves to play with them even though they actually are much closer in age to Nashy. The look-alike factor puts him in awe him every time. 

Steph and her husband Adam moved into our neighborhood a year and a half ago, but it took us a good year to get to know them. They were that family that we always meant to invite over but the weeks went by, then their twins were born, and when they were back in the swing of things, then our baby was born, yada yada yada.

The stars finally aligned and Steph and I were paired together to visit some ladies from church. I remember one of our first conversations where we learned of our mutual affection for blogging and all things creative and we were both gleaming with excitement. We took a photography class together one night during the summer and love to share shooting and editing tips since we are both learning about our cameras. We were eventually split up from doing visits together (sadly), but then she was called to teach in Young Women's with me! And then recently I was released to serve in Primary. It's funny how they keep putting us together and then breaking us up. 

So it's kind of a bummer that it took us so long to figure out that Steph and I are made out of the same mold. But I am so glad it didn't take longer for us to finally start hooking up for dinners and play dates to let our creative juices flow.

The awesome thing about Steph number fifty-two is that she organizes a creative club that meets once a month to make a craft or learn a new skill. She invited me to join. Right up my alley.

Enter Cake Decorating.

Way back in September, a friend of hers taught us how to decorate a cake using fondant made of marshmallows and powdered sugar. Usually fondant tastes terrible, but this stuff wasn't bad!

The two birthday girls of the month got to blow out the candles.

But even after watching the process, occasionally kneading the fondant, and studying the instructions, I still wasn't super confident that I could tackle a cake on my own. So, Steph graciously let me offer to help in the process of making her girls' cakes for their first birthday a few weeks ago. It was so helpful and fun to talk it through with someone before attempting my own creation.

We felt so privileged to spend part of the girls' first birthday with them.

Blake was brimming with excitement over the birthday card he colored for them.

Steph made Jenna and Lucy big cupcakes (or mini-cakes) so that they would each have their own cake to dig into. We put tissue paper under the "present bows" to help them form better.

She was sweet enough to come over and help me make Blake's cake as well. We were much faster this time at rolling it all out and decorating, and Steph even mixed basic food coloring colors together to come up with the perfect aqua and orange (that art degree came in handy).

The final result for Blake's balloon party: