Fisher is One!

My baby boy, Fisher, turned 1 last week and we celebrated with a Little Red Wagon-themed party. He was a little under the weather, so the party had to be downsized; but he still had a great time! Here he is enjoying some of his cake:


Nice & neat at first...

This stuff is awesome! More, please!!!


Mommy's gonna be scrubbing this high chair for days! hehe


For the cake this year, I decided to keep it simple. I wanted to do a red sheet cake and make it a wagon by adding Oreo Cakester wheels (sidenote - if you're wondering what a "Cakester" is, you're missing out on one of the greatest things in life since...well, the Oreo. Check 'em out. Seriously. Stop reading, go to the store, get some, eat some, then tell me they're not one of the best cookies you've ever eaten.) I digress...and an Oreo Funstix for the handle (these are not near as good, but they did serve as a good handle with the help of a skewer). I had also purchased a bottle of this stuff in red:


...thinking I could take a shortcut & avoid having to make the dreaded red icing that I dispise cause 1) I hate the flavor or red icing. It's just too bitter for my taste. & 2) It never seems as bold or as brilliant as some of the other icing colors. & 3) It's a pain to make. I never used this "color mist" before, so I thought I'd try it on a cupcake before I ruined an entire cake with this stuff. Boy, am I glad I did. Warning! - this stuff tastes like chemicals and it runs and smears just like spray paint. Boo Wilton. I had high expectations and this stuff was a major disappointment. Plus, the "red" looked more like maroon. So, I caved and made my own red and at first glance it looked too pink, but once it dried overnight; I think it was much closer to the red I was going for. Here's a look at the cake table:


Here's the cake, plain & simple. I wrote "Happy Birthday Fisher" in white with tip #7, then outlined in blue with tip #2. The "1" was inspired by the "1" on his shirt, only the circles were 2 shades of white on the shirt and I wanted them to stand out more on the cake, so I chose blue.

I also added a little licence plate on the backside that says "FISHER1".


This was my first time using the grass tip #233. It was pretty easy to use. I'm sure you'll be seeing more grass on my cakes in the near future. ;)

We also had cupcakes. This little wagon was supposed to be my cake topper until it came in and I realized how small it was!

And more cupcakes. Bonus points to anyone who can identify what they're supposed to be? A few people that I asked didn't "get" them. :( The winner will receive a free bottle of red Wilton Color Mist icing spray! ;)

A Ballard Birthday

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little obsessed with birthdays, and I make no apologies. Birthdays come but once a year and when you've got kids, you're limited to approx. 18 parties give or take a few milestones beyond that. Then you have to subtract 8 to 10 from that number, cause once they hit a certain age they will likely want to plan their own. So, while I have the chance, I fully intend to go a little crazy on birthdays.

Believe it or not Fisher is turning 1 next week and in the spirit of birthdays, I thought I'd share with you the makings of a Ballard boy's birthday cake. :) It's something I pour my heart into every year and it tends to be somewhat of a production. I have vowed to make my boys' a homemade cake each year for life or at least until they make me stop because they're "too old for a cake". waa waa. With that said, I imagine my kitchen will look something like this a week from now:

My trusty KitchenAid. Best wedding gift ever! My apologies to anyone else who may have purchased a wedding gift for us. ;)

This is actually Trace's 1st Birthday Cake from 2.5 years ago, though it seems like only yesterday. *sniff, sniff *wipe tears. He had a Baby Einstein caterpillar cake, which consisted of 5 - 6 in. rounds, each 3 layers tall. That means I had to make 15 of those suckers, plus the cupcake feet and antennas.

And here's the finished product...Ta Da!

And here's Trace on his 1st Birthday! (I swear it's not Fisher) The funny thing is, after all that work, he barely touched his cake. All he wanted was ice cream. I later discovered that he only likes "brown" cake, aka chocolate. That's my boy! ;)