the mega-birthday party, that is.
I woke up at 7:30 this morning and immediately got to work. I had a little list of things to do (start crockpot meatballs [which take 3hrs to cook], tidy the kitchen, decorate the cakes, pre-heat the oven, take a shower, etc. etc. The party didn't start till 10:30am so I thought three hours would be enough time.
Boy, was I wrong!
First off, I received a phone call from my dad's ex-girlfriend-who-is-marrying-someone-else-but-still-his-roomie/caretaker (don't ask) exactly three minutes after I rolled out of bed. She proceeded to talk my ear off for nearly 45 minutes. Without going into a bunch of really boring and depressing family stuff, suffice it to say that it was a highly aggravating phone call. Not the way I would like to start the day- especially since I wasted 45 precious minutes!
After peeling my ear from the phone and doing some deep breathing to calm myself down, I started decorating the cakes. I ended up making two complete trains, one that I made "girly" for Ms. Izzy:
The other one I made "boy-ey" for Monkey Boy:
It was actually a lot of fun decorating the cakes. For Ms. Izzy's cake, I used lots of pink sprinkles, different colors of icing, strips of rainbow sour candy, and homemade buttercream icing to hold it all together. Monkey Boy's cake included Twizzlers, rainbow sprinkles, black licorice and more buttercream icing. I was really happy to find rock candy sticks for the funnels, too. The largest rectangular trays I had weren't big enough for the trains so I ended up using circular ones. The white stuff is shredded coconut; the tracks are made out of green sour candy.
Decorating the cakes took a longer than I thought- especially since I had 'helpers'. The small men had to taste test all the candy, try sticking their fingers in the icing and climb up on my stool every time I stood up to get something. At one point Monkey Boy tried running away with one of the half decorated train cars.
In fact I was so busy that I was shocked to look at the clock and see "9:47am". Yikes! The Dearest was occupied blowing up balloons and playing with the small men. I was was still unshowered, had to vacuum up all the sprinkles Monkey Boy had spilled on the kitchen floor, and clean up the kitchen.
Luckily, Chelle (Miss Izzy's mom) showed up and was able to do some of the cleaning for me so I could actually be presentable when the guests started arriving. Thanks to her & the Dearest, everything was taken care of by the time I came back downstairs with my face on.
Guests started arriving, and then suddenly the entertainment showed up:
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The kids really enjoyed riding on the train. It went around our neighborhood about 50 times- and a couple of the grownups jumped aboard too. Every time the train stopped, all the kids would jump out and run to another car so they could sit in a different seat. It was hilarious. Monkey Boy loved, loved, loved the train- he was sad to see it go but we distracted him with the offer of cake. It was time to blow out some candles:
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So the kids ate the train cakes and we big people had cookies & cream cheesecake with a garnish of cream puffs for dessert. Yummmmm.
People started leaving after dessert, which was perfect because it was time for Monkey Boy's nap. Lots of photos were taken, everyone laughed and the kids played together without too much fighting. All in all, a great party and a really fun day.
I'm glad we went 'all out' for this party, since I failed to celebrate Monkey Boy's first birthday at all (I know, I know: bad mommy!). He might even remember this party- when I was rocking with him tonight, he kept telling me about "Thom-y" and "ride" "train" "fast" and "Gwam-ma"...in other words- "Riding the Thomas the train fast with Grandma." I have a feeling he'll be dreaming about it tonight, too.
4 comments:
Looks like fun was had by all. Happy Birthday, Monkey Boy!
Gee, I wish I were your kid!
Hint for the next cake: bake the day before (or several), pop in the freezer overnight then decorate. My mother used to decorate professionally from our home and she always did this...something about making the crumbs brush off easier and having a firmer base to work with.
You throw one fantastic party!
When Schecky was small, he was such a trainiac - into any and all things Thomas... He would have thought he had gone to heaven had he had a party such as this....
Happy happy birthday Monkey Boy and Miss Izzy. I think I need to get that pan. B is 2 in 2 1/2 months (but I'm in denial about it) And the party you guys threw sounds like it was amazing!
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