Another birthday, another cake

I love birthdays. They were fun when I was little, but now that I'm a mom, they're much more satisfying. The kids look forward to planning their birthday meal menu. We've had pizza, mac & cheese...to chicken curry with rice (Abbie's choice) & baked beans with nothing (Grace's choice). It's fun to let the kids pick what kind of birthday cake they want. My mom gave me a book of kid's cakes a few years ago & it has come in handy. My kids love flipping through the pages & they spend countless hours choosing which cake is the right one for them.

Noah ate so much dirt by the time he turned one, that I felt a dirt cake was appropriate for his 1st birthday. Phil found this old Fisher-Price farm set @ our thrift store ("Just like the one I had") & it was a perfect addition the dirt.

Grace was, and still is our ladybug girl. And she wouldn't be Grace if she didn't like to be different, so this one had to be PURPLE (Grammie's favorite color too) & not red, like the real ones.
When Abbie turned four, she wanted a GREEN cake. So I make her a Junior Asparagus cake. At seven, she decided she was grown up & didn't want cake, but chose strawberry shortcake for her dessert instead. But when she turned eight, she chose a horse cake, because aren't all little girls in love with horses?

Poor Daniel. By the time I get to December, I'm just too pooped to party...or too exhausted to decorate birthday cakes...and definitely too overwhelmed with Christmas baking. So far, he hasn't complained. If I start planning now, I can have something spectacular made by December. Maybe...