Party train, continued!

Here's the birthday boy the night before the party~ showing us how old he's going to be!

I didn't want a "Thomas" party, but I had to get *some* stuff since Nova loves it all so much.

Cousin Kolby inspecting the cake~I got engineer hats and bandanas for the kids. Nova really didn't want to wear the hat. Party pooper.


Aunt Joyce's birthday artwork...

PIZZA!

We got the take and bakes from Sam's and I thought they were awesome!

Let the opening begin!

I told him he couldn't open presents unless he wore the hat... mean ol' mommy...

Here he is with Kolby, Aunt Joyce and Grandma Lucille~

Lots of great loot~ mostly train related of course!

The boys had a lot of fun. Here they are playing with Ramone's paint shop from Cars.

Can you hear them spray painting? Pshhh, pshhhhhhh! LOL~

One more look at the cake... I thought Nova would want the engine but he requested the caboose.

Make a wish!!

Ugh, black icing!

The destruction, I can't bare to look!

Ok. I had to post this. This was not planned. My dad asked for a piece with a tree. I cracked up when I saw it tho, and had to rotate the pic for ya...

(got wood?)

And guess who's feeling better? Yes, Miss Melly.... and she's giving me hugs.

Still more to come!! Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments on the cake, : )

All Aboard the Party Train!

WHEW! What a busy week!

If you read my last post, you'll see that 4 years ago on April Fool's Day I was due with my baby boy. Alas, he did not make his debut until April 6th~ which also happens to be my MIL's birthday as well! We have 5 family birthdays in April, (including mine and not cousins!)

So I had been going non stop preparing for Nova's party. Here is what the invites looked like~

Thursday I baked cakes all day. I had a *vision* in my head for the birthday boy's confection.

I would need one huge 11X3" round base= 4 cake mixes.

One "Barbie dress" pan= 2 to 3 cake mixes

And these miniature train cakes =three different cake mixes for more color~

Friday I decorated~

Now I know what you're thinking.... after I had my nervous breakdown over the porcupines how could I possibly attempt to decorate another cake? Well, mom came over to supervise and step in when needed!

Here we have the slope cut, going up the side of the mountain~ also trying to decide where the actual mountain should go. I baked two because the first one wasn't tall enough to suit me!

This is the chocolate "mountain" being added to the base, and I had cut the "peaks" in waiting to be iced. Grey icing with coarse sugar on top for gravel, and graham stix for railroad ties...

You can click on the photos for detail~ I used chocolate for the mountain cake to give a tunnel illusion so I wouldn't have to cut the tunnel all the way through and weaken it.

I thought the track and tunnel turned out so cute I almost didn't want to put the train on it. But those little buggers gave me fits and they WERE GOING ON!

I started shaking like a leaf while piping the leaves on the trees (hmm, blood sugar bottomed out from not eating all day) so mumsie took over. But you know, that LARGE grass tip is the bomb! MUCH better that that hellacious tiny one that gave me so much grief with the porcupines. I was finished with the grass in seconds flat.

I've watched my mom decorate cakes for over 30 years, but being that this is only about the 5th cake I've ever tackled I'm pretty darned pleased with myself!

And it *only* took 6 hours to decorate! LOL!
Kevin came home from work and helped clean up the kitchen, what a man!!

Nova was super excited while watching. I'm surprised I got him down for a nap during the process!

I must plug Cake Wrecks since this is another cake decorating post. With Easter approaching, this post especially cracked me up.

Stay tuned for more party details!

April Fools!

Four years ago today I was due with my baby boy!

Kevin was wonderful while I was pregnant. He brought me flowers~

And made wonderful food for me... in bed!! Mmm, seafood salad sandwich!

We walked in the park and
I watched as my feet puffed up over my shoes... lovely cankles too~

But alas, our boy did not come. What a cruel April Fool's prank, shame on you Mother Nature!