Par-tay!

We were able to put off Jillian’s 6th birthday party for a couple of weeks to give the weather a chance to warm up some. This weekend it was just beautiful here in Southeast Texas! We heated up the pool, invited way to many kids, and dove in!

Back Story:  I grew up in rural Louisiana in a home where money was not in abundance… And for my birthday parties, I don’t ever remember having a store bought cake.  I think Mom may have taken a decorating class or something, but all I remember are homemade cakes. And all I could dream of was a triple tier confection worthy of any Fancy Nancy tea party. So there is the reason I’ve always bought my girls “special” cakes for their birthdays…

One day Baby gave me this sad face and said that “Mommy NEVER made her a special cake for her birthday”… which is a total lie. She’s had plenty of cakes… I’ve just never made them myself… So after harassing a total stranger in the baking aisle at Hobby Lobby, here’s what I made…

 

Stranger lady suggested I go pick up the Cake Doctor cookbooks… I did, and she was right. This lady is brilliant. She adds all sorts of things to a box mix and they were FABULOUS cupcakes. I used the Darn Good Chocolate Cake recipe from the cake cookbook (she has a cupcake book, and one dedicated to chocolate recipes).  Dense chocolaty goodness.  On top of the smeared butter cream frosting I dusted the tops with crushed graham crackers (stranger lady’s suggestion) and topped it off with a chocolate shaped like a seashell. Voila!

I even put Baby’s on a special plate… cause I am so Martha Stewart like that… Notice I covered the baked on papers with cute ones… Why can’t the cute ones stay bright and pretty once baked on???

The kids hardly left the pool… except for pizza or cupcakes… and even then I had to coax Baby out of the hot tub long enough to open some presents… Tell me… At your parties, do all of the kids huddle around and smother the kid opening the gifts? This always happens to us, and I never get decent pictures because of it… Just look… And the main culprit is usually Big Sister… right there in the middle of it all… Baby didn’t mind because she likes to do the same thing… I guess it’s a kid thing and I just don’t remember doing it… This pic only shows a few of the kids… there were in fact about 15 others crowded behind these… 

And after much eye rolling and huffing (on my part) over her not loving any other cake she’s had, Baby told her Mommy that this was the most special party she’s ever had. Now how can you EVER bring a Baby like that store bought cake again. Never. Ever. Again.